Who would have thought poison ivy could be so beautiful!

The one lone hummingbird who was still visiting our feeder headed south this week.  It boggles my mind to think of those tiny birds flying 500 miles nonstop across the Gulf of Mexico.  I wonder what percentage make it all the way.

October tomatoes

My little toy garden is still producing, but it is slowing down.  The tomato vine is starting to die but is still loaded with tomatoes.  I suppose I will end up making fried green tomatoes with the stragglers that don’t ripen in time.

The banana and bell peppers are still producing.  So are the pole beans.  The eggplant is finally slowing down.  I’m glad!  The yard long beans are dying, but I picked a few stragglers today.  And we are picking lettuce and spinach for

October bell peppers

a couple of salads a week. Beets are ready to harvest.

I planted the lima beans late.  Deer munched on them, but they recovered.  However, I think I planted them too late in spite of what the seed packet said.  They are loaded with

The Japanese eggplant are finally slowing down!

beans, but I don’t think they will mature in time.

I cooked pole beans with ham, onions and new potatoes tonight for dinner.  Also diced patty pan squash from the garden with lots of my green onions.  Skittered them around in a wok with a couple of dashes of Thai chili

Patty pan squash

garlic sauce, seasoning salt and garlic powder.  I can not imagine a better tasting, more satisfying meal!

And I walked around the property today and drank in the crispness of autumn, the warmth of the sun, the October blue of the skies, and almost floated in gratitude and happiness at what a beautiful world we live in.

One last thing I wanted to

Matt's Wild Cherry tomatoes

mention… years ago I planted some Matt’s Wild Cherry tomato seeds.  Since then, every year they sprout up again by themselves.  It is so cool to have wild food spontaneously appear here and there around the property.

Curly mustard greens

Rose hips

Pine tree with two trunks wearing a scarlet necklace of poison ivy

A wood sorrel flower announces that cool weather is here.

English plantain with a ruby accent