It was a marigold morning, a joy filled morning, a peach crisp morning, a hoooooray I didn't get all the way sick morning….
I packed myself with so much goodness (oranges, vitamins, tea, every curing vegetable known to man etc.), that I am certain I scared that cold that was after me, away. Although, I think it might be my allergies. We have the healthiest weeds on the planet. So healthy, you can almost feel them in your lungs, eeee! Also, I ate so much healthy stuff, including raw garlic, that the vampires are sure to stay away until 2013.
I felt so much better in fact, that I harvested most of my growing goodies (although we ate a bunch prior to taking this photo). I also got out there yesterday, trenched many dirt rows, and planted winter veggie seeds, plus mulched. Then, this morning, I reseeded my little lawn in the office/gallery courtyard. Phewey.
I am so in love with my harvested goodies, I almost can't believe my eyes!
Growing things is so mind blowingly miraculous, isn't it? I am addicted.
The kabocha, which I planted late (June), from a pumpkin I bought in October 2009, did so well…
And has been so plentiful, that I can't thank the vine enough…
They are soooooo yummmy, that we have eaten a ton.
Brown sugar & butter on kabocha, is 10 steps from heaven, I am certain.
I have to tell you though, there are some positively sinister things going on in my garden. Beautiful and enchanting, and skin-tingingly sinister.
All summer I have stared wide-eyed at these giant prickly globes on this night blooming plant, wondering….
Constant wonderment, as to what it could be (?), this lavender infused flower…
Which lives on a rather large shrub, that volunteered to grow, all on its own…
I bet you already know what it is, don't you?
Why, it's Datura. (details)
Datura. (song)
Devil's Trumpet…
Moonflower…
(happens to smell like peanut butter, to us)
And, it's huge brambles, or pods, are full of seeds.
I have been fascinated, reading all about Datura for days. Have you seen some of the different species? Amazing! (don't worry, we are exerting much caution)
Who knew?
But wait, just as I came to know about the Datura in my garden, my wonderment about the odd berry bush under my orange tree also ceased.
You see, growing up amongst witches and witch tales, you learn of plants and tinctures (that you must beware of). Some made out of the following growing creature.
Deadly Nightshade.
However, it isn't until you read all the details, that you are pulverized. Be warned that Belladonna is extremely deadly if consumed. And here I thought I had such cute little berries in my garden.
The beautiful bush, grew on its own. We have to get rid of it.
Although on a lighter note, the thought of it growing all on its own, is a sinister mood inducer to me, for the spooky time of year. Although, it must be taken very seriously, of course.
So, I'll be a good girl-woman and hang out with the cosmos, and the marigolds, instead…
Ever so tall these two…
Oh and, let's not forget the zinnias.
I had two thick rows of zinnias, and am down to two plants. Thanks to the cutie furry rabbits…(insert sarcasm)
Oh oh, I almost forgot…
Tiny striped, acorn squash shaped punkiiiins, are on their way! (can you spy the one?)
It's a Fairy Paradise out there (to me).
Sadly, I have to run.
I am hot gluing…
Sewing…
Typing this post…
And, boiling eggs for egg salad, all at once…
Have a superbly delightful day!!
ps: Hallllooowwweeeeen fun, details, soon 😉
🖤,V
3 random things.
1) I am sad and happy, that my squash harvest time is over.
2) I still have a handful of teeny punkins and big gourds to pick.
3) Make sure you try that trick for cooking squash that I told you about, it rocks!
Goes like this:
~Wash 1, small to medium size, squash. Dry. Place in Microwave for 3 minutes.
~ (Use Gloves) Remove from microwave, and poke holes in it (all around), using a metal skewer.
~ Place in Microwave for 3 more minutes.
~ Remove (use gloves/mits), promptly cover in foil, tightly, for 5-6 minutes.
~ Remove from foil, slice open, scoop out seeds and muck.
~ Eat (careful, it's hot!), or use as you wish (to make pie, etc.)
Thanks for thr microwave squash tip. I have one here and I’ll try that for dinner.
Love how your garden grows and Coco Rosie too.
Love your pumpkin harvest-amazing! I know about datura-aren’t they called Brugmansia too? An ugly name for a beautiful-if deadly plant. When we went to Northumberland last year we visited the Poison garden at Alnwick Castle-fascinating. We have dealy nightshade growing at school and it comes through the fence to the nursery-but I can’t get at the bottom as it is in a big shrub. I keep cutting it back. We also have a terrible long thorned plant that grows by another fence-inch long thorns and it is rampant-I have to just cut that back too. Plants can be scary!
Today is the forst day I have felt a little bit thrilled about autumn!
Love Coco Rosie ^^
And thaks for the microwave tips for the pumpkin! These will be soon available at the sunday market in my neighborhood, so I’ll try this, yummy!
Thank you thank you thank you thank you!!!! You are getting me so excited for fall!!!!! Beautiful as always and thanks for the squash tip! Mmmm….
Another magically fabulous post! No matter how gray I’m feeling, when I see a new post on your blog I am instantaneously transported to smileville, where I ooh and ahh over your fascinating garden and wonderful life!
xoxo
blessings
~*~
ps…belladona started growing in my gardens the summer after i moved in here… i love having it here… 🙂
I love squash, thanks for the tip.im so ready for fall.I cant wait.Just found your blog its so cute.Loveeeee your artwork as well.Happy September!
Three cheers for sickliness that is short-lived! Yay! So happy for you. I am very impressed by your homegrown display of autumn bounty. Beautiful, and I know you must have such a feeling of accomplishment. Hot gluing and sewing? I hope we will get to see what you are up to! Our Texas mornings here have actually become cool, and I am LOVING it. Now if the rest of the day would only hurry up and follow suit . . . . Hurray for upcoming fall!
You definitely had an incredible bounty come from all your hard work and dedication to the garden! I hope next year we have blooming anything in our garden.
Happy, Happy that you kept the sick monster at bay….it knew not to mess with you! How about your voice?
I have to say in all honesty that that one gals voice (to me) is like nails on a chalkboard while the others is so lilting and hauntingly beautiful. Quite a mixture.
XOXOXOXO
Thanks for the tip super multitasking girl! ( isn’t it what women do best?)
Hope you have a lovely week.
Patricia.
I love, love, love your pumpkin (and squash) pile! They all look so cute piled up together, and it really gets one in the fall/Halloween mood. Can’t wait for all the spooky fun!
ps. I sent you something in the mail, I just wanted to tell you in case it hasn’t shown up.
Vanessa love your pumpkin harvest…glad you are feeling better…when I saw all those “cute” plants in your garden, the first thing that came to mind was that you are a good white witch…….
Just look at all that lovely …fabulous…healthy harvested goodness … I am looking forward to having myself a huge garden next year… you have so inspired me…
Loving all your beautiful flowers and vines … must do a google search about the belladonna though… sounds ominous…
Have fun eating all those yummies
HUGS
JO
OH MY GOSH!!!!!!!!! Belladonna grew in my yard too and I was just showing it to hubby yesterday. He says, “get rid of it now!” Me says, “But hubby look at the sweet little green berries that turn purple.” CREEPY!!!!!!! Do you think your seeds traveled to my garden on moon beams while we were tucked dreamily in our soft beds???????? Me thinks they must have for why else would we have the same plant grow unbeknown’st to us????I must go pull them NOW!!!!!! EEEKKK!!!!
xoxo Cori
I just went and pulled it out and the root structure was over two feet long …scccaaarrrrryyyyy!!!!!
Ooh! I have a lovely tip 4 U my Fanciful Friendlng…did you know that many coffee houses will give you bags full of used grounds for your gardens? A most Excellent treat for our acid loving flower friends. They also LOVE banana shakes ;-).
I am soooo happy for you that you kept that cold at bay.
Ahhhh! Belladonna, another homeopathy remedy, if taken in very minute doses…but us normal human beings have no clue how to concoct that brew! Although, it WAS what the sisters in ‘Practical Magic’ used in the tequlia to ‘do in’ whats-his-name whom they buried under the rose bush and he came back to haunt them! Hee, Hee! ‘Double, Double, toil and trouble’ Scary stuff indeed!
Isn’t garlic amazing? Sounds like you know your stuff about being healed by nature, girl! Way to go!
Those were incredible photos of the Belladonna plant and the Datura plant. Me thinks you live in a fairy land with dark overtones. No? Reminds me of the movie with Tom Cruse… ‘Legend’ Beautiful one moment and hauntingly terrible the next…must be that time of year!
miss teresa
I have missed stopping by Miss V!!
A quick hello my dear~~trying to catch up on my blogging!!So behind!!!
I will try that recipe you suggested~~~
Hugs to you!
xo
Kay Ellen
Loving the harvest V, when shall I come over with the brown sugar? 😉 My tummy is rumbling 😉
Jamie 🙂
I use to plant Datura in my moonlight garden. It is only harmful (along with Belladonna) if it is consumed. I would be concerned about your dog. Just to be on the safe side. You never know what animals are going to stick in their mouths. Absolutely love your website and can’t wait until Halloween! Jackie
Hum, the raw garlic, l’ail cru en français, est un remède incroyable ! Il m’a guérie… Et depuis, j’en mange, j’en mange, j’en mange et plus un seul vampire chez moi !
;-)))
Elles sont magnifiques, ces cucurbitacées d’automne, l’automne est une saison merveilleuse…
Soignes-toi bien, à bientôt !
Tatieva
I had to laugh at you eating raw garlic. My 7 y.o. son has only been in school for a few weeks and has been sick twice! The last time he stayed home, I made him toast and spread minced garlic on it…he wasn’t too happy with me!!!
Oh, how I envy you and your growing gourds! I wish, I wish, we had our own home and a little piece of land! But I will dream away while immersed in your blog post! Thanks so much for taking me away yo Dreamland! l
~🖤~
Kristal
Thanks for sharing how your magical garden grows. Love the pink with orange zinnias! Take care, Martha
Datura!!
http://social.zune.net/bingplayer/?v=1.0#mid=07818D00-0100-11DB-89CA-0019B92A3933&title=Datura&artist=Tori%20Amos&album=A%20Piano%3A%20The%20Collection&artistid=18560000-0600-11DB-89CA-0019B92A3933&albumid=AF808D00-0100-11DB-89CA-0019B92A3933&dto=1&preview=0&explicit=0&lyrics=
Vanessa, I am always impressed by your photos but please tell me how you add those little spots of light to your photos? A special custom filter from photoshop????
Curious Sylvia
I must say that your harvest this year is truly amazing. The vege’s all look wonderful and healthy. You sure beat Michigans harvest of pumpkins and gourds by 2 weeks. The growers will be picking them soon.
I can’t wait for the spooky fun to begin. I have been putting all my ducks in a row to be ready.
The harpist lady is putting me of a mind of that lady who sings the intro to the original star trek!
(who doesn’t love a good cocorosie song??)
🙂
In. Total. Befuddled. Awe. How how how do you grow pumpkins in the desert? Lookit em all! They invited their cousins to come live with them! You have whole generations!
I tried really really really really hard…to grow 2 tomatoes last year. In FLORIDA! EEK!
S’alright, the plans have been scribbled & the Cowboy’s roped in-wait til next year!!!
I want to go eat and giant vegetables now. Micro-pow ’em, sugarize ’em and eat em up nom nom good!
It would be a hoot to send “mystery seeds” to each other and see who can grow what where!
XOXOXVIIIXOXOX
PS. Sometimes I think you don’t live in the desert, I think you live in a DESSERT. 🙂
Vanessa…
This is just amazing to me…amazing that you can grow and harvest such an abundance of Pumpkins and Squash and Gourds in your sizzling hot region! I have tried several times to grow Pumpkins here in the desert of Southern California, but they never get very far until they give up the little Pumpkin ghost.
You are a gardening angel, my friend. Magical and awe inspiring!
Kim
Gerushia’s New World
Oh look at your all your yummy squash! Mmmmm…
Kabocha is my favorite squash. I don’t know if you and Mister eat meat, but I have a fabulous beef and kabocha squash recipe if you’re interested.
It’s os nice to visit your beautiful place here in blogland. SO magical and inspiring!
Oh I must say, that is the most beauteous bounty I have ever seen! **clapping of many hands** You have turned into quite an accomplished little gardener. **blows kisses** Deb
Pumpkins and gourds…oh my! That is TRULY some harvest. I would most definitely love trying the kabocha – it looks delicious. I’m always up for trying new foods. 🙂 I take Dr. Seuss’s words very seriously, you know? Perhaps our local grower will have some this year. I am thinking of nothing but pumpkins. I will shout for glee when my first one is spotted (and I’m sure I will elicit some odd looks at that!).
I am MOST delighted that you did not fall ill – and that you did not turn orange from all the vitamin C. 🙂 Thank you for sharing the CocoRosie video. I like them, too. They are playing the next state over, but it’s too far for us to go. Bah! They MUST visit me here in CT. 🙂 I have gotten my hubbie into them now. Very proud of this!
Have a wonderful evening, dear faerie friend!
xoxo Theresa
I’m growing pumpkins next year.
the harvest looks fabulous.
You know belladonna has a medical use, its used in a suppository to help with bladder spasms. We give it sometimes after bladder surgery.
Great recipe. I do something similar with acorn squash and butternut squash. I saw butternut squash at the store the other day, should have got a couple.
What a great post! I can just imagine you dancing merrily among your “squash babies.” Ha! I love the way you cook them…that’s how we prepare them too…and they are so yummy. And I echo your love for marigolds. Every few days I go out and “dead head” our marigolds…and I love how my fingers smell like them for hours later. Cheers to you! -Dreaming Bear
Always a deLIGHT catching up here..magical and marvelous!!
harvest time, cooler weather…luckily we had some rain showers today and am crossing our fingers that it helped the fires burning in the nearby hills.
x..x
So very beautiful here- I love your garden. I am so excited to try your recipe.
I am in awe of your pumpkins. Amazing! I’ve never tried to grow any. This year I only planted tomatoes and hot banana peppers (as well as my peach tree, but those got eaten by squirrels before I got a single one…). It was a bad year for tomatoes, but the peppers have been good and at least the produce at the markets has been good enough to make up for my dismal crops this summer.
I soooo wish I had a table full of pumpkins and other squash like you do – beautiful!! 😉 First chance I get I’m buying some pumpkins of my own. And I so cannot wait for Halloween – my favorite holiday of the year.
tell me, what is gabocha? that is how i made squash, with butter and brown sugar. is it a type of squash? x
I don’t like the end of summer but I have to say the light is amazing at this time of year. Yesterday the valley outside my cottage was filled with mist with sun above it it was stunning.
Is this a witch paradise…? So much pumkin!
Im so jealous of your beautiful round babies!!! I only had one tiny sad oddly shaped fellow that came off the vine this year… 🙁 Oh well, there is always next year i guess!
Oh how I have missed you my dear sweet friend. I have been so busy…I just didn’t have a minute to myself! And then I come to visit and you play CocoRosie for me. Ahhh! Heavenly!!!! Thank you so much!
Hugging you
SueAnn