Happy Halloween

Pumpkins, Jack-O-Lanterns, Trick or Treats, scary stories...houses decorated with candles and ghosts.

For me it's a joyful holiday which includes honoring my ancestors.  It's the end of the farming season, and many of my ancestors were farmers.  They take in the hay and store it for the animals over the winter.  Then gather those pumpkins, dig the sweet potatoes before the first frost, and store them in a cool dark place.

I grew sweet potatoes and was out digging in my raised bed at the Carver Community. Center last week.

Here are some photos to share, as well as nice dirty potatoes!

Before, some of the leaves have shriveled from frost already

What will lie beneath the vines and weeds?

Not very promising at furthest reaches of the roots!

Out of focus, but most potatoes apparently are right at the vine's connection to roots, I call this the Turning Point, where on a cellular level there are roots going one way, and vine going the other...strange happening in every plant!

Not too promising, many skinny roots, only a few fat enough to be called a potato

And that's my haul.

I gave away a few to a friend!  And these are in my cool dark cupboard waiting for me to enjoy!

 Will I go water them every other day again next summer? Nah.  The tomatoes didn't produce, and I got tired of all the basil (some is still growing inside now)...and I mainly enjoyed the big sunflowers.  I'm going back to pots for gardening on my porch next year.


Today's quote:

What would you attempt if you knew you couldn’t fail?
– Robert Schuller

A fair trade

I have shared many ventures with Cathy, mainly related to selling our pottery.  But we tried a new one a few months ago...she'd decided to also have a raised bed garden plot next to mine at the Carver Center, here in Black Mountain NC.

The aloe is spread out for the first time, with some space between plants!

Alas, Cathy had other things that were always more important to do, and her bed just sat there full of weeds.  My offer was to trade some clay which I'd purchased in exchange for her bed, which she'd rented from the Rec department.  She was agreeable, so last Sat. I pulled all the weeds from it.

She has plenty of clay at this time, but I gladly traded the one bag that I probably wouldn't use for this patch of dirt.

My first plot, with beans, sunflowers, basil, tomatoes, marigolds and coleus!

I've got a lot of things that are root-bound at home, having lived in pots through winters for several years.  They are first to go into this fresh black dirt.

The Kalanchoe is blooming, and will probably become twice this size with room for growth.  I've had this plant for over  30 years, in various growths off the original.

Maybe these giant sunflowers will produce blooms someday soon! I planted some which are deep red, and am looking forward to them.

These are the second crop of sunflowers in a second bed

Two bean plants have begun to produce some little green beans

And I also purchased two sweet potato slips which are hardening up in soil in a window at home.  I've already transplanted a half dozen basil plants also.  I'm afraid my new plot will not be able to contain them all.  So it's going to be first come first planted.

Today's quote:

Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.

Carl Gustav Jung

 

Raised bed garden is great for seniors!

I've got a different raised bed garden over at the Carver Recreation Center this year...and have already planted a lot of things! (Isn't it nice to see the new bushes that are planted along the border between garden and play area.)  The weeds in foreground bed will be going soon as my friend Cathy starts her garden.

Today's quote:

No story can contain you.

Ivan M. Grainger

Now where are the dredgers and dump trucks?

Local news...follow up to the Lake Tomahawk dredging delay...

Check out this article in Black Mountain News.
To summarize, rain has made it impossible to start dredging, the decision as to when is up to the contractor at this point.



The good news is all that is happening at the Lakeview Center, now renamed Lakeview Center for Active Aging.

Here is a link to info about Lakeview Center,
and one to their January Newsletter.

Because I receive these in my email, I just received the Black Mountain Rec. Dept online version of the program guide for Winter and Spring 2016.  It's amazing.  And includes the rec. center that's actually now nearer me, Carver Center.  So I need to see about some of the things scheduled over here!

The first that caught my eye was this:

Carver Community Garden: This community garden will re-open with elevated beds in Spring 2016! These beds are great for people who have limited mobility - no kneeling or bending! Rental fee for the regular growing season is $20. Reserve a bed by contacting Jill at the Carver Center.

As I read through I thought, I have used just pots and planters for years, because kneeling was so uncomfortable.  Whow, I should really get involved here!  Later on I read that the beds have yet to be built, and no way I could help build them.  Drat.  I will still call and see about reserving a future bed.  I did keep some of those giant sunflower seeds from last year! 

Yep, I'm doing what all farmers do in January, thinking about which seeds...

Those catalogs are so beautiful.