Happy Harvesters...

Hey! I was a young mom once! You don't forget that! Just because I'm a gramma now doesn't mean I've forgotten what it was like to try to get something done with three kids under foot being uncooperative. But...today was not one of those days! Today was a magic day, and it sure was productive.

Sara had warned me that it could get as low as 22 degrees tonight so I knew I couldn't ignore the last of the produce any longer. I had planned on leaving the beets and carrots right in the ground for awhile longer but the ground is so soggy and wet from all the rains that I was afraid they would freeze without much provocation at all! Our lives have been so consumed with "flood" stuff of every nature, other stuff has gotten behind. So today I took the kids out with me and we harvested!

They were fantastic help! Those little guys worked hard with GrammaSusie! Even Isaiah! First we searched out all the pumpkins from where the vines had crawled all over kingdom come. We harvested thirteen. We picked a few last yellow squash and one zucchini, several butternuts, a full basket of small cooking onions, a half a large market basket of beets, and a big pile of carrots of all sizes. Hunter helped pull all of the big plant matter and heap it on the compost pile, and we untied all the marker lines and coiled them for next year. Well...Isaiah tied himself up into a knot, but...you know..."me self!"

Back by the house we pulled a few last red and green tomatoes, then took the cages apart and pulled the last of the plants to throw into the chickens. We also threw them some last not-good tomatoes and huge over-grown cukes.

Now the wee children are eating me out of house and home! Exhausted but so happy...not just with our work done, but with my life at large.

Below: Hunter's photo, and two self-portraits.