picking grapes

Yesterday Odin and I went alone to pick grapes and only managed to find a small handful. Today Zak, O, and I went out to Polpis to pick there and managed to find quite a bit more. I love the ability to forage on our little island and I've been finding myself very fortunate. Living on such a tiny island has its downsides, but things like this balance it out perfectly. We made the most delicious jam from all of our blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries. I'm not quite sure what our plans are for the grapes, but we're pretty obsessed with jam-making currently so that may be the way we go.

To celebrate such abundance and to bring me some sort of grounding, I made a little mandala from fall leaves that I collected in Squam, the grapes we found nearby, and a couple dahlias from the garden. 

my two

I love photos of these two. I almost can't resist taking one every time they cuddle. These two are my everything and I am so very grateful. October is a month for filling my life with gratitude and these two make it oh so easy to feel it.

hello blue hubbard

So, uhh.. This beast just came out of our garden weighing in at a pound heavier than my 2T wearing 16 month old. This blue hubbard squash is a whopping 29 pounds! I'm pretty sure it could feed a small village, so we'll have to have a dinner party or something extravagant to share the wealth. Odin seemed fond of our large new friend and quickly ran to hug and kiss it (then wandered off, quickly returning just to kiss his playmate- those two are trouble!).

Plans for next Spring and an update on my crew

So, I currently have three littles attending my "Dancey Pants Daycare." Odin loves having friends over and is thoroughly enjoying our newest addition, a sweet little 3 month old girl! We've been spending as much time outside as possible, as we can smell Fall rolling in. Right behind our back patio is a little grassy nook that no one uses, so I've planned to make a wildflower garden for next summer. Zak has a few fruit trees and some hardy kiwi vines growing, but other than that, I plan to fill every open inch with tall wild grass and beautiful wildflowers. I'm very excited!

family photos

It was so lovely to finally have some family photos taken. Many many thanks to the fabulous Hadar Pitchon for spoiling us with such lovely images.

A Garden Update

Our refrigerator was looking a wee bit bare yesterday, so Odin and I made a trip out to our garden to "shop." There are few feelings that can compete with that sort of self reliance. 

The tomatoes are looking magnificent and bearing more than we know what to do with! Our plants have grown quite a bit and just this week we harvested enough to give away to our upstairs neighbors, Aunt Linda, Zak's mum, and some for ourselves- in addition to canning seven quarts for the winter. And all of that was just from this last week. (A huge thank you to Kaity of Fare Isle for giving us such wonderful plants). The beets are all finishing up their growth and the squash are growing larger every day. I think we're nearing the end of the cucumber harvest, we'll be pickling some tonight! I'm thinking we should pickle some beets too. We pickled some of our beets from last year and Odin loved loved loved them. Pickled beets were one of Odin's first 10 foods, I'm fairly certain.

We have two large melons growing. Well, one now. I couldn't help but pick one to try! I've never successfully grown melon and it's a very exciting treat.

I'm so happy with our garden this year. We started later than we should have but everything seemed to come together in just the right amount of time. Having such a successful harvest and going through the process of pickling and canning to store for the winter has made me think a lot about living off the land and eating seasonally. Imagine not having the convenience of the grocery store where items are shipped from far away and having to wait until a fruit or vegetable was in season! I'm actually craving a lifestyle where we eat seasonally, I feel as though it would create a huge appreciation for the things we eat and where those foods come from. There are many issues with the way our country treats food (Monsanto is evil) and I think that we need to move into a more self reliant direction. I feel as though I am seeing more and more of my friends grow their own food every year and it's very exciting. More people are realizing the harms involved with processed food and the damage it does to our bodies. "Organic" is such a strange word to me.. Shouldn't it just be food? And anything other than food should be labeled otherwise? We have a few things backwards and like always, I think humans need to take a few steps back and rediscover their roots before it's too late. 

raspberry mornings

We have the biggest raspberry patch in the courtyard outside our front door. It's so much fun to wake up with O and sit in the middle of the patch and feast! It's a great distraction for when papa has to go to work and I have a very sad baby. They're all so delicious and I've been trying to save many of them so that we can make jam. Later this afternoon, if time allows, we'll be heading out to forage for wild Nantucket blueberries! I can't wait wait to make a pie from them and hopefully harvest enough to make some blueberry jam too. It's always so hard to make it home with as many as you collect, it's the perfect snack for the walk and the drive home. Life is very good right now and I am constantly being reminded that I am very very lucky.