abundant marbles
cluster for birdy harvest
feathered bumper crop
bumper crop by Angie Quantrell
photo by Angie Quantrell
Fall in the Yakima Valley
Haiku Moment: bumper crop
Tag Archives: fall
Haiku Moment: lounging alone
lounging alone on
glistening bed, to showcase
my excellent form
lounging alone by Angie Quantrell
Haiku Moment: wearing frost
autumn darkness falls
sprinkles icy trim around
petals wearing frost
wearing frost by Angie Quantrell
Yakima Valley
2024 Pumpkin Report
Despite the disappointing beginning of repeated plantings, low number of sprouting seeds, and nibbling of sprouts by bird and pest alike, we had quite a successful pumpkin harvest. And I say bring on fall! I love pumpkins and I love autumn! Decorating with homegrown pumpkins is so rewarding.
Read to the bottom for the final count. The photo above shows the “big” pumpkins from the garden. In the carving world, they really are medium sized to small, but in my garden, they are the big ones. Also notice the random yellow squash. I harvested 2. I replanted zucchini and yellow squash multiple times. The end results were zucchini: 0. Yellow squash: 2.
The table above was one of our distribution points. Pumpkins available for adoption were placed on the lovely garden table made earlier this year by my honey.
Above is yet another adoption table, covered with the big pumpkins. This table was also made by my honey, but a few years back, so it has lovely weathered wood.
Above is the first harvest of the minis. So cute and adorable, and perfect for every nook and cranny. I will definitely plant these again. They are so much fun, and pretty aggressive climbers. We watched them creep up sunflowers, pine trees, and any other item taller than themselves. Note, this is another table made by the honey. This one is fresh and needs weathering.
The hand belongs to my grand, Donavyn. He is the one who arranged the minis by color. I loved that! Donavyn and Autumn were thrilled to help with the pumpkin hunt and retrieval.
This is the final harvest from the new planting box out in the pasture. Whoa! A surprising number of big and small pumpkins. Plus, I had tossed in sprouting potatoes and other compost at the “fill the box with stuff and dirt stage,” not thinking what might happen. Potatoes happened! I pulled out the “weeds,” and potatoes were attached to the bottom! How fun is that! That’s why I like experimenting in the garden.
Drum roll please. The final totals for pumpkins harvested this year are:
Big pumpkins: 42
Mini pumpkins: 87
Thankful for a great harvest! Bring on fall.
Haiku Moment: possibilities
summer’s seed complete
good food? carved face? fall decor?
possibilities
possibilities by Angie Quantrell
Yakima Valley, from the garden
Haiku Moment: autumn sun
orange beckons me
summer patience rewarded
autumn sun peeking
autumn sun by Angie Quantrell
Yakima Valley
Butternut Squash Soup is a Winner on a Cold Day!
Winter has hit our area with the first snow (followed by icy rain and skating rink roads). As I wondered what to make for dinner yesterday, I noticed the last butternut squash reclining on the bench. Hmmm.
Back in the day (pre-RV life) I used to purchase tons of squash-type produce and decorate the house. Then we would eat our way through the decor. Now, with space at a premium, that practice has halted. But. That butternut sat there looking at me. “Me, me! Pick me!” my over-active imagination called out.
Bundled up from the cold, I realized I had everything I needed to make butternut squash soup. Yay! It was a soup and salad kind of night.
Here is the recipe. Or, I should say, the list of ingredients I included. I did not follow a recipe per say, but I’ve made butternut squash soup in the past, and I always read the ingredients on interesting recipes when I peruse cooking magazines. Also. I did not measure much. Maybe not at all. It was all by look, feel, and experimentation.
Butternut Squash Soup
1 small butternut squash, peeled and chopped into 1-inch pieces
1 sweet potato (red garnet is my favorite), peeled and chopped into 1-inch pieces
1 medium onion, diced
1 tablespoon butter
olive oil
about 2 cups of chicken stock
dried sage (or fresh, which I have but I didn’t want to go out to harvest it), crumbled (lots)
black pepper
cayenne pepper
half and half
1. Melt butter and a few swirls of olive oil in a medium heavy-bottomed soup pot. Add onions and cook for a few minutes.
2. Add butternut squash and sweet potato to onions. Add the chicken stock, enough to nearly cover the squash and potato. I wanted this thick, so I relied more on the boiling liquid and steam to cook the ingredients. Add pepper and sage. I wish I had thought about garlic, which would been delicious, but I didn’t think about it until we were eating the soup.
3. Cover and cook until the squash and potato are soft, between 30-45 minutes. Stir occasionally.
4. Once everything is soft, remove from heat. I used an immersion blender to blend it all together, but a potato masher might work as well. Add a few swirls of half and half, stir, and serve hot.
This was SO tasty and it hit the spot. I’m already dreaming of soup leftovers for lunch today. It turned out nice and thick.
Some other options I considered as we enjoyed the soup: garlic (added at the onion stage), topped with crispy bacon, topped with garlic pepitas, or topped with homemade garlic croutons.
Cheers for soup season! What is your favorite soup?
Haiku Moment: heart chewing bug
a random leaf i
think not, rather a love note
signed, heart chewing bug
heart chewing bug by Angie Quantrell
Yakima Valley
Sunday Joy
Photo by Angie Quantrell
Assisi, Italy
Love, Laughter, and Life 