There's something going on out there, in that place called summertime.
The season is twisting and turning.
It is still hot, and will be until Halloween, and the summer has been ever so long and heavy, and oh so hot. I gave myself to the garden this summer, as you well know.
It has not been easy. I won't lie.
It has been a full time job.
But a job I would do gladly, again and again.
As this shift in the season approaches, I begin to gather baskets of goodies.
In my garden it is harvest time for lots of edibles.
I feel a deep respect for farmers, for growing food. It is so easy to access food with grocery stores and such, that I had forgotten all that goes into growing what you eat.
And, can I just say…
Pumpkins really taste like pumpkins.
Cucumbers really taste like cucumbers.
Tomatoes really taste like tomatoes.
(not to steal from Willi Wonka there)
But seriously, the flavors of my oh so organic edibles, are intense.
If you buy organic, or grow your own, you know what I mean.
So scrumptious.
And so, now I collect.
Snip.
Hug.
Love.
(Btw, all the beans you see around, are from the mesquite trees. I have raked up 5 wheelbarrows full already, and they still keep dropping off the trees. We are used to it.)
You know how when you were a kid, and you were going to Disneyland (approaching the entrance to the parking lot), and you got so excited that you bounced on the seats of the car so hard that you would bonk your head on the car ceiling? Whilst clapping, and make all sorts of happy bursting kid sounds?
At least, that is what I did.
Well, this morning, with orange globes a plenty, I felt like that. Giddy giddy giddy goodness.
And, then I was sad. Sad because I realized that, if I got that excited about something in public (as an adult), I might be committed.
🙂
So, the first true collection of the babies for this pumpkin harvest season are trickling in. I have gifted some, and eaten some, and still have some, plus waiting for some…
I have inspected each one…
Lovingly and with care.
Thankfully too.
With butterflies in my stomach, for the autumn they remind me of, that is yet to come…
A few white ghosties are showing their faces…
In a sort of déjà vu from last year, I am in love once again.
There are still a handful of pumpkin patches in my garden. More babies growing. Why do pumpkins make me so happy? I can't figure it out?
Growing by the gypsy wagon…
Crawling up the trees…
Surprises in the flower garden…
A gift below, for my neighbor who grew her own pumpkin vines from some of my seeds. She got 5 babies of her own, but needed one more. You see, she is making pumpkin ice-cream, and she said I would get a taste. Hooray!
The pumpkin patch in the front garden is flowering now, with babes to come within the next few weeks…
I can't wait to see what surprises it has in store…
I am sort of feeling funny.
I have had a very very very very very long summer.
And yet, the rapid change in my garden, shows me that it really is August.
Then September.
Must soak it in, like, now.
Come dance in our jungle at twilight…
We'll be waiting for you….
Love, V
Vanessa…
I just tweeted a few minutes ago that there is a wee hint of Fall in the air today. Now…reading your blog and seeing all the orangey goodness…it makes me so giddy.
I had a terrible patch of days last week. Nothing more than a glitch that worked itself out, but I was sad for awhile. Just knowing that Autumn is creeping up on us and Halloween is just around the corner….I am once again dancing.
Thank you for sharing your garden and gifting us with lovely images of pumpkin goodness.
Love Always
Kim
Gerushia’s New World
Ohhh loving those pumpkins!
Vanessa, your pumpkins are a sight to behold! I can see why they excite you so…how lovely that your neighbour has her own plants grown from your seeds – love that! And how funny, the music clip you have here is none other than my best friend since primary school, Wendy Rule, who has just come back from a big tour of America, so I can’t wait to catch up with her to hear about her gypsy adventures xxx
How gratifying to see your hard work come to fruition! The pumpkins look beautiful. No end to your talents, dearest V. xoxox
I love pumpkins. Just call me Peter.
My summer is too short 🙁
and cold 🙁
there are warm, lovely days and I try to hold on to them but then the weather changes again to really cold, like today, and rainy. Cold, as in spring jacket wearing cold and shivering feet because they don’t have socks on. :'(
I WANT MORE SUMMER!!!!!!!!!
I had to laugh when you said, regarding your childhood excitement at approaching Disneyland,
“…I realized that, if I got that excited about something in public (as an adult), I might be committed.”
I found this quite funny as I once saw a child rolling around on the floor of a grocery store crying like the world was going to end because his mother wouldn’t allow him to have something. I thought to myself, “What if adults acted like that?” Picture the fits in car dealerships or high-end department stores, etc.
Every once in a while, for my own amusement, I picture adults reacting as a child might.
I agree with our beautiful friend Tara, no end to your talents…simply no end.
Your baby pumpkins are gorgeous and make me long for fall. What a lucky girl you are to have all of this at your disposal…I can’t wait to start my own garden.
Yes to the bouncing off the seats for Disney, I still do that!!
xoxo
p.s. one of your pumpkins would make a fantastic coach…wouldn’t it?
”’Snip.
Hug.
Love.”’
INDEED!
🙂
yes, yipeee!
for all your orange goodness
growing…
{{is it just me
or
does it seem like Only Yesterday
you had punkin’ babies
birthing in the field? }}
meanwhile,
back here at the ranch
i am growing
Yellow Aphids
suitable for any Dr. Seuss book.
well,
i did not mean to grow them
but
here they are…
:-\
OOOHHHHHH!!!! If only I could catch a moon bean and gently glide from star to star until I reached your enchanted realm, but alas, for I cannot…the hubby needs my help to install the new garage door opener ;-O. Not as much fun as dancing with you, but it will have to do.
Heehee!!! I love you
cori
well Diddly doo!!! I tried putting a heart before my name and it didn’t work. So, just know that I HeArT YoU!!!!!
My BelOveD FaNciFul FrIeNdLiNg, VANESSA!!!!!!
Pumpkins – magical pumpkins! And you have WHITE ones, too. They are my favorite. I am experiencing pumpkin envy, Miss Vanessa!!!! LoL But in a good way – I know how very hard you have worked to produce these beauties. And I thank you for sharing them – as the promise of fall is soon upon us. I can’t wait to go pumpkin picking! And I SO agree about fresh organic fruits and veggies – there is no comparison at all. Plus, there is the satisfaction of knowing that you grew it yourself. 🙂 Hope you have an enchanting weekend, dear friend. 🙂
I can’t wait for Fall! I love pumpkins….how nice that you have your own growing all around you! You get the first taste of Fall! I want cooler weather too…..the magic of Fall. Have a magical weekend!
Shhhhhhhh! I am listening to the fairy music and watching the faeries dance. They are beckoning me to join them! I am about to harvest a few more orangey globes myself in a couple of days! What is your favorite way to prepare them for your dining pleasure? I would love some new ideas!
Oh my . . . those faeries are really quite persistent, aren’t they! They are tugging my hands away from the keyboard! Gotta go, but wanted to thank you for this post! Byeeee!
Hi Vanessa, Please visit my fairy garden…I know you will love it! I just finished it this week and already have seen fairies sitting on the willow bench. I must add a tiny tea set so that we can all have fairy tea together!!
Bev
http://www.beehavenacres.blogspot.com
twilight then!….must find my fairybells!
Tus calabazas son adorables,me recuerda la fecha tan esperada de halloween.
Mi jardin de hadas esta bellisimo.Besos amiga.
Oooo! I love the ‘Wild Faeire Dance’ video.
What a wondrous collection of fairy illustrations. Did I tell you my brother is in the midst of illustrating ‘The Grey Fairy Book’ by Andrew Lang a special edition only to come out in England. (It is amazing the publishers who seek him out to do illustrations). I hope I can obtain a copy, he said it was going to be a limited edition and over $30.
Your pumpkin babies are so divine, soooo many of them! The pumpkin ice cream your friend is making sounds scrumptious! Maybe spices and honey in it?
Hope your furry babies are doing fine.
Have you seen b.b. flockings handmade fairies? They are exquisite!
May you have a multitude of fairy friends gather in your garden by the light of the glowing moon and starshine.
Miss Teresa
my bad…
it is b.b. flocklings.blogspot
I knew there was another l in it.
Your crop of pumpkins is always amazing.
Summer in the UK has been very mixed weather wise. Hope to enjoy a few more weeks of sunshine before Autumn arrives.
I’m envious of all you do grow. Just beautiful.
Your garden is so AMAZING!!!! I can’t believe you already have such beautiful pumpkins!!!!! So magical and deee-licious…I am jealous :)))))
Summer has me wilted…
your basket of scrumptious orange renews me….I await with great anticipation being able throw open the doors and let the cool breezes blow in and whisk away the summer remnants of the heat out into the wild until next season….
p.s. I started my pumpkie seeds that found their way to Phoenix…..
I am dreaming of cool breezes and sending them your way…
Saguaro Chick
Sis, I die for your garden… If you bounced up and down all giddy like that, you might be committed, but if you were with me, you know I would be committed with you, because I would do exactly the same thing!
Send me some pumpkins, please!
I love pumpkins. Yes, it is true, I do. My dad is trying to grow pumpkins in pots this year for Halloween so we have some homegrown pumpkins to carve, as the previous pumpkin growing years have ended in failure. But your gardening obesssion (don’t worry that’s not a bad thing 🙂 and tips have given me and my dad some great ideas! So thank you for that 🙂
Yes, autumn is in the air, one of my favorite seasons, especially because it invovles colder weather, my favorite. You wouldn’t think that the little California girl would like the cold, but I actually love it. 🙂 Sweatshirts are my favorite! I have decided to try to convince my parents to buy some planting soil and some pots to grow some pink roses. Your roses have given me huge inspiration!
I also wanted to let you know that I have created collages on my computer using the Print Shop 20 computer program using pictures from your blog to make round paper lanterns to use as a garland across my mirror at home. I hope that’s okay…your pictures are just so lovely and beautiful and inspiring….I just love them!
I have been reading your blog for the past couple weeks or so and you have taught me how to live. You’ve given me something to look forward to and I’ve learned so much about how to be positive. Yay! I love life and all of its ups and downs. 🙂 (and I also like cheese, but that’s another story for another time…) tee hee, yes I know, I have been told that I am a little strange. (Okay, a lot strange, please refrain from those comments).
Anyway, thanks for everything!
Vanessa, what a treat it is to see your garden! I currently have no plot for growing such orange beauties, nor for so many of the things I like to grow. Glad for farmers markets here in Vermont : ) But still, it’s not the same as walking out your front door and mingling with the (and picking your own!)garden lovelies : ) Thanks for sharing your gardening exuberance!
~Kim
Bonne Nuit Designs
This is the perfect post to find on a Sunday afternoon. I’ve been longing for fall…craving it actually. It feels like this year is going to be extra special and I can’t wait. We have a tiny urban garden going and my neighbor has pumpkins in flower. I do hope they bear babies!
Awesome garden and produce. I wish I had the time and inclination to grow my own veggies.
Ohh Miss Vanessa saying goodbye to Summer is not so hard when I look at your pretty pumpkins ALL dressed in there beautiful orange AND white. I choose to just dance with the fairies as we put the finishing touches on summer times end and welcome in autumn.
Seeing it all through your eyes, how lovely!!!!!! Thank you and Mother Nature too.
<3& 😉 .
So full of lovely pumpkin goodness! Just what I needed 🙂
You were right, after the last post this one excites me even more.
I know why pumpkins make me giddy, and that is because they are the perfect visual representation of autumn. Within their small (or large) and imperfect form they hold the essence of a lifetime of memories of childhood trick-or-treating, of Jack-o-lanterns carved with haphazard skill, of pre-adolescent and adolescent days working in a pumpkin patch, loading trucks with these magical orbs that would soon go to make pies or become some other child’s Halloween creation.
The hot weather has abated ever so slightly here in Missouri, with lows finally dipping into the upper 60’s in the early morning hours. It is unlikely to last, but for the moment it is just one more tangible thread, pulling my thoughts and desires towards the autumn to come. My longing for it continues to grow despite all the sensory information that tells me that Summer still has much court to hold before relinquishing his throne.
Lovely post, as always.
Finally some pumpkins, your crop is wonderful and filled with magic. I love fall because it makes my heart skip a beat each and every time I see a pumpkin and esp. a few or more, a pile is even better. I love the weather in the fall and all the colors of the leaves and gardens. It is the season for plants to begin their long sleep and I feel that it awakens me.
Thanks for making my day. Kathy
Valery Polito
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