
summer fire flames
explode across the landscape
burning with beauty
fire by Angie Quantrell
my summer garden, Yakima Valley
by Angie 2 Comments

summer fire flames
explode across the landscape
burning with beauty
fire by Angie Quantrell
my summer garden, Yakima Valley
by Angie 12 Comments

you didn’t plan for
winter’s ice fog descending
yet look – lace decor
lace decor by Angie Quantrell
Winter 2026, Yakima Valley

by Angie 4 Comments

orange on green surprise
heart shows garden trick, fall joy
love me some pumpkins
pumpkin heart by Angie Quantrell
Yakima Valley
by Angie 7 Comments

Like last year, the “new seeds” portion of the pumpkin crop was off to a slow start. I repeatedly replanted several sections of the various garden areas I have. Not to great results.

BUT the “toss out some old pumpkins and let them rot and self-seed” portion of the crop performed with glee! Pumpkin glee!

Keep reading to find how many pumpkins were harvested in 2025!

Especially productive was the raised bed we have way out in the pasture. That’s where I left several pumpkins from 2024: a white one my son surprised me with after a trip to a pumpkin farm stand, a smaller orange one, and one of those tiny pumpkins. They rested in the bed over winter and sprouted early. Hundreds of sprouts. I had to rip out handfuls to give room to the rest. By pumpkin harvest day, the spread was huge! We actually had to curb the growth as it headed over to the horse pasture (not ours) next door. It took many hours to harvest them. And then more moving them, ripping out the vines, stepping gently to find any lost ones.

Also productive were the tiny pumpkins planted (but also I left some from 2024, so it’s a toss-up which ones actually sprouted) in the sunflower forest bed. I love these, because they vine and grow up. We had them climbing pumpkins, shrubbery, and some of the pine tree (which began as a twig with roots from the Arbor Day Foundation, and is slowly taking over said sunflower forest and patio). I love discovering where these cuties show up.

I had some muscle to help haul in the heavy wheelbarrows!

We even ended up with a wagon of rejects (partially eaten) for the animal farm on the other side of the pasture.

Plus 40 in the trunk to go to church for a potluck!
Finally, here are the 2025 pumpkin harvest totals! Drum roll please . . .

White pumpkins: 17
Tiny pumpkins: 67
Orange pumpkins: 158
For an amazing grand total of 242 PUMPKINS!
So thankful for a wonderful harvest! Can’t wait until next year!
Just for fun, check out totals from last year here.

Yakima Valley
by Angie 5 Comments

you crouch and mimic
wearing the perfect bright hue
artfully hidden
mimic by Angie Quantrell
Yakima Valley

by Angie 4 Comments

fuzzy fat pods hang
drooping from scrawny stems, then
a pop-py bursts forth
a pop-py
by Angie Quantrell
Yakima Valley
by Angie 10 Comments

mournful calls echo
as watchful parents dash, dart
flycatchers nest here
flap, crack-winged warning
startles, drives out predator
hoping for a snack
poofed fledglings appear
flapping, dropping, flight attemps
offspring launch from home

flycatchers by Angie Quantrell

Every year for the past 7-8, we’ve had a pair of flycatchers nesting in the parking shed. It’s fascinating to watch them. And they eat flies (and all sorts of flying insects). Win-win for us.
by Angie 3 Comments

from dark and frigid
unseen grasps for blue and gold
hope springs eternal
hope by Angie Quantrell
Yakima Valley