October's End

The third week of October is traditionally the start of distinctly fall weather, and this year was no exception, if you don't count the earlier hailstorm. Night falls early, the air is chilly, and the slanting sunlight glows of autumn. Leaves are falling and the lettuce that survived the hail is starting to head up nicely. Often the third week of October also means the start of the fall rains, but so far it's been dry and sunny. Actually, it's been some of the nicest weather we've had this year!

My parents came up to visit last weekend. We had a lovely time. We ate various produce from the farm, including some tasty red bell peppers.

I also made edamame hummus with homemade pita bread and all the fixings, including homemade preserved lemons and homegrown onions and zucchini.

And here we are, eating again! It's not all we did, but eating seemed to provide the best photo ops.

Rick got Thursday off unexpectedly when they took down his computer system at work, so we stopped in to the pub. They had 20th Street Ale hopped with three different varieties of hops that they grew in their experimental field: Citra, Chinook, and Cascade. We tried mixing them and liked all three hops in conjunction.

Catherine gets started on her Halloween costume. The theme this year is Superheros: What's YOUR Superpower?

Bill and Laura came to town and we carved pumpkins. This is Laura's pumpkin giving birth...

I can't claim any moral high ground, as I carved this pumpkin to "serve" the edamame hummus with.

Then I carved a chicken pumpkin to go with my superpower.

Rick and Catherine dug up the last of the potatoes yesterday, and we discussed all the delicious ways to cook them up.