Saturday post

It has taken all summer for our garden to anything remotely resembling a garden...but now, all of the sudden, the squash and cucumbers (I hate when they are referred to as CUKES) are taking off. The kids and I were out for a bit today picking...see pictures below. And I found a source for tomatoes!! Our neighbor at the end of the street has a huge garden and sells produce under a yellow umbrella all summer long...I went over and tried to 'wheel and deal' with her a little bit to see if I could buy some of her endofsummerugly tomatoes--she was so thrilled that we were 'young people getting back to the earth with canning' that she is virtually GIVING me all her tomatoes. I do need to compensate her though...she is very kind for doing this! And Amanda and I may can our first batch of tomatoes tomorrow!! The amount that this excites me borderline concerns me...lol...

Anyone who has never stayed in on a Saturday night....canned tomatoes or pickles or applesauce...and listened to Maine Public Radio's Saturday night lineup (Prairie Home, Thistle and Shamrock, World Cafe) has never truly lived. Add a round of cribbage and you can die a happy man!

School starts on Monday with meetings, etc. I have a fall intern named Alyssa and she goes to UMaine Farmington and I am excited to work with her--I end up learning just as much from my interns (this will be my third) as they (hopefully) learn from me! She will be with me through December and hopefully we will get a lot of cool stuff done.

The fall is such a difficult time for me, as I mentioned in my 'transitions' blog last time--I reallllly and going to miss being with my kids each day and doing nothing (yet everything) all at once on lazy summer days. Cross country adds a whole new dimension to the start of school, and our season is off to a great start. I had the kids for most of last week, since Chris, the other coach, was bringing her daughters to to college. In addition to the runs (we are prescribing MINUTES not MILES this year--ie 'go run for 40 minutes' vs 'go run 5 miles') and I am implementing some core/strength/plyometric components at the end of each practice--when everyone is dead tired. Our first meet is next Friday in Disgusta, and then, the following week, we have our only HOME meet!! Fun!!  I love how excited my own kids get about XC--Callum thinks he is one of the coaches. Jeesh...the kid is a better runner than me anyway!!

Lots of great stuff to look forward to though in addition to XC stuff--we are going to head up to Seawall next weekend with the Willards...we have an awesome Santa's Village NH trip with my family coming up...we have the Clinton Fair...a d, of course, the Apple Farm visits are in high gear!! Then we can start to play musical wood and bring wood into the garage and shed for winter....a very busy time ahead!!

My little indentured servants earn their room and board......

Maira raises her hand to ask if she can go in from the hot sun. The answer is no. JK guy, jk....she was just really proud of the cucumber she 'growed.'

k

 We picked seven cucumbers (and harvested several mint leaves for the homemade lemonade the kids have been making....)

Now, all of this is NOT from this year....we have a lottttt of stuff from the past few years. But thus far this season we have probably done a dozen quarts of pickles...four quarts of strawberries...five quarts of watermelon rind pickles...and some other stuff. Notice on the third shelf down on the right the cans that are upside down? These are sour mustard pickles, and you dont have to 'process' them in a bath...the vinegar and hot mustard kills anything that tries to live...haha