Wrapping Up September: 2016

Is it really October? This cannot be!! I cannot believe how fast this year is flying by. September was yet another whirlwind month. In September...

The tomatoes continue to deliver. This was a crazy year for the tomatoes. It was a rough Spring, with cold temperatures and lots of wind. It seemed to take the tomatoes a while to recover. They are still doing well though. In fact, most of the plants seemed to die down and then regenerate new plants. Very strange. The result is I still have plants growing, blossoming, and forming new fruit. Most years I have the summer garden pulled out and cleaned by now. Not this year. I still have blossoms on the tomatoes, the strawberries, cucumbers, the basil. Every time I think about cleaning the garden up for fall, I find tons of honeybees on the plants.

This is the first year that I let all the basil flower. I usually have harvested all the leaves and pulled the plants by now. But the bees loooooooove the basil. So, I have basil flowers this year. 

I didn't see as many frogs this year, which was disappointing to me. I did however see more lizards and snakes this year than most, which probably accounts for the lack of frogs. I really missed the little tiny green frogs that lived in my basil last year though. 

With the patio furniture came the bats! Almost every time we opened the patio umbrella after having it closed for a night, a few bats would fall out. It was kind of amusing until one woke up and flew at me. Needless to say, I took off screaming across the yard 🏃🏼

This little female cardinal ran into the house. Poor kid. She rested for about an hour but then she flew off on her own accord. 

September brought the monarch caterpillars once again! Same as last year, about the middle of the month. I didn't mind sharing my carrot fronds with them. 

The hubby's family had their usual Labor Day get-together. The hubby's cousin's wife's sister's daughter (whoa, did you get all that?) decided she wanted to take Gizmo home. So, while she wasn't allowed to take our dog home, she did decide to carry him around for most of the day. Gizmo, to his credit, seemed to enjoy it.

One day while we were visiting at the hubby's sister house, the kids wanted to play a new game they called Pie Face. We soon learned that the kids really just wanted to see us get whip cream in our faces. I have to admit though, everyone looked really funny when they put their faces in the hole. My niece was up first!

Our oldest nephew awaiting cream in the face. 

And, of course, the hubby goofing off 😀

In the middle of the month, the hubby and I hiked Raven Rock with friends. It was only about a 1.5 mile like to the top and the view was amazing! This above picture is looking from Southern Ohio into Portsmouth, OH (left of the river) and South Shore, KY (right of the river). 

We took Haloti with us. It was right up his alley, he loved every moment of hiking.

The hubby sitting on the ledge. 

Our hiking group at the top.

Can you believe it's October and I'm still getting strawberries? I picked these on September 30. Not too many, but definitely enough for a bowl of cereal. And I just have a teeny, tiny patch. Seriously friends, if you love strawberries, Alpine's are the one for you! I could plant a bigger patch if I wanted to increase my yield, but our tiny patch works for us 🍓

Again, I didn't share that many recipes in September, so I'll share my favorites that I made (recipes to be posted soon!)-

Untraditional Green Bean Casserole (adapted from a childhood recipe my mom used to make)

Alpine Strawberry Tart (so.darn.good!!)

Pumpkin Spinach Lasagna Rolls

Don't worry friends, I will be posting the recipe to those Pumpkin Spinach Lasagna Rolls next! They were freakin' amazing ❤️

That's it for September folks! Happy October friends! 🎃

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