News from the garden: Fall Surprises!

Here's the last round of harvest from the summer crop before we cleared it for the fall garden.






Did I hear someone say baba ghanoush???

Via


Here is another surprise. We had strewn some marigold seeds last summer. Nothing ever came up, until this spring. And then it was only a wee flower struggling to survive amongst the other towering plants. In a blink of an eye, that lone marigold grew and blossomed into this:





Isn't Mother Nature amazing?
We now have daikon, arugula, bak choy and some other veggies in our fall crop.
What are you harvesting this season?

Day Trip : Carolina Renaissance Festival!

Huzzah!!

The Renaissance Festival is back! Lots of tankards of mead and turkey legs to be had. This is my first visit and I LOVED IT! There were lots of visitors who actually dressed up in their Renaissance costumes for the fair! If only I'd known!! Next year I want to dress up too!





Do you believe in fairies? I just spotted one!





My favorite shop - the craftsman makes beautiful one-of-a-kind dream catchers, wooden kaleidoscopes and other glass trinkets!! I had my eye set on a Dark-Side-of-the-Moon prism dreamcatcher but it was out of my budget... oh well. I hope some lucky guy picks it out!

There are lots of craft stores, activities, and performances going on at all times. Go to their web page to check out their list of events.


Weekends only, 10:30am-5pm, now till Nov 18th, 2012!
16445 Poplar Tent Road, Huntersville, NC 28078

All things Halloween...

Here's a quick Sunday post:

It was dress up weekend,



plus a pumpkin carving contest at the museum.



All guests are invited to vote for their favorite pumpkin. I'm in team #3!!! We made a house for our hermit crab (based on Eric Carle's book) out of the pumpkin. Isn't it whimsical? And there actually is a LIVE hermit crab living in the pumpkin. Don't worry, it's getting food and water and a warm living environment. And so far we are getting all the girl votes...



while pumpkin #2 is getting all the boy votes with their Monster Pumpkin Strikes Again!



Pumpkin #4 is getting all the Toy Story fan votes



while Pumpin #1 the Dr Seuss fan votes.

I don't know about you, but I think the Woody pumpkin is some serious competition no?



Tallying the results at the end of today. I hope we win!!!

Found: What to look forward to in the fall!

1. Halloween!!

2. Long socks, scarves and boots

3. Soups and broths

4. Blue Ridge Parkway and its changing colors

5. Bonfires!

This week the temperatures dipped. I pulled out my knitted hoodies and long socks. I can't wait to do a wardrobe overhaul! What are you looking forward to this fall???