The cross quarter day of Autumn Equinox came and went last Friday. It was raining here and unnoticed by me due to the amount of school work I have.

The days have been getting shorter since June 20thish, but now I’m really starting to notice it. It’s 7:38p and already it’s black outside, and has been for a while. The dark time is well on its way. I’m not ready yet.

Samhain is on its way and will be celebrated a full month after the lunar day. I wanted to wait until after mid-terms to celebrate so the bonfire isn’t going to be until Nov. 11. It seems appropriate though. Nov. 11 marks the end of World War I. What better than to celebrate peace?

Sunflowers are my favorite flowers. I’ve tried to grow them, without success for years, and this year I actually got some of the seeds I planted to bloom. They came late but I don’t care. I Grew Sunflowers!

In other gardening news, the tomatoes we planted are finally starting to turn. Wolf has enjoyed eating them, as has Charlie and Agnes. I threw a bunch into a pasta sauce I made last week and they were quite yummy.

This Native American way of planting corn, beans, and squash is very cool. I particularly liked this quote:

It’s hardly surprising that these crops – considered by many to be special gifts from the creator – played such an important role in the agriculture and nutrition of most of the Native people of the Americas. Because of the sisters’ central role as “sustainers of life,” a host of stories, customs, celebrations, and ceremonies are associated with them.

Link from Free Range Living

In garden news here at Howling Hill, we’ve had two of the sunflowers bloom small blooms. A couple others look as if they will open any day. Some of the tomotoes have reddened/yellowed, but the plums are still green. I don’t think there’s enough for green salsa, but I’m going to look into it as I don’t want to waste them.

I pulled up most of the garden a couple weeks ago. The carrots are still in the ground and have itty bitty vegetables in the ground, but it’s getting very cold at night. Cold enough to frost.

Today it’s been drizzly out all day which is good. We are having a drought right now. All the streams are very low as is any water source. We need a solid week of rain and a good snowy winter to catch up.

I pulled up most of the garden today. Gone are the bush beans, melons, most of the tomatoes (except those which still have fruit on them, I’m hoping they’ll redden up), many of the dead marigolds, cucumbers (which Wolf seeded) and all the herbs which are now drying around the house. What I left was, as stated, tomatoes, carrots, sunflowers. Last night I pulled the remainder of the potatoes up, and although small, they are tasty.

Wolf will mulch the garden and then we’ll plant the garlic for next year. We’re too late to put the onions in so we’ll have to remember when Mother Earth awakens again.

The garden wasn’t as productive as we would’ve liked. Mostly we need to take down some trees so we get more sun into the yard. And global warming needs to end. This year we had a dry April, killing frost, a very wet May, and low temperatures throughout the summer. Hopefully next year we’ll do better.

Thank you Mother Earth for what you did give. And for teaching us that growing food is much more difficult than anticipated. We have much more appreciation for our ancestors now.

Autumn has come to Central New Hampshire. I’ve been ignoring the signs, but I can’t any longer. The heavy blankets are on the bed, the trees are starting to turn, Sun is less and less each day, the candidate signs litter the roadways.

Our garden gave us two cucumbers, a bunch of green tomatoes, a few small potatoes, and lots of green beans. The herbs did ok, but not all of them: the basil, chamomile, and um, something else just didn’t do well. The sage, rosemary, thyme, oregano, and catnip did ok. I have to harvest and dry them for the winter.

The wild blackberries around our house came in abundance so I picked as many as I could. We have probably two pounds in the freezer to this winter. I had hoped to get the equipment to can (and the lessons on how to) so I could preserve the blackberries and some blueberries but the funds just weren’t there. Maybe next year.

The wheel turns, autumn is here. Soon snow will come.