Some of my favorite garden jewels have been picked! I always try to plant a variety of pumpkins and squash. They're all so unique, especially with the artichokes tagging along.

I didn't even try to resist. Cacti are just so different than Pacific Northwest flora.

It's always fun to look back on how far the gardens have come and cry over the fact that the slugs decimated every last radish before we even had a chance. The carrots, tomatoes and squash were the true winners this year. 

Gourds galore!

I love sharing my hobbies with my kids. This four-year-old planted 25 packets of garden seeds this spring.

It's best to supplement seeds with starters from the nursery, just to hedge your bets.
​She was able to give her friends gourds galore in the fall.

​Invariably, when my husband asks what I need him to pick up at the grocery store, I reply, fresh, bagged dirt! I wonder if other people do the same.

Harvesting pumpkins is always bittersweet. I love seeing them decorate my garden, but when it's time, they decorate my front porch and I get to give them away to my friends.

So, now it's October 5th and summer has passed.

Here in Seattle we are basking under incredible, brilliantly blue sky days in the mid-70s. The deciduous trees are all on fire.

I was so busy outside all summer long, I failed to post updates on my progress building the duck house.

My three runner docs are all grown up, healthy and safe from predators. They have a cast iron bathtub, which I refill daily.

The chickens are comfortable, but their laying is much less frequent. They stay busy churning the compost pile and liberating weeds.

Fall 2015, I'm considering getting a couple Nubian weather goats to keep the blackberries down and have a couple more farm friends. 

While pheasants are gorgeous and territorial (they freak out when predators are near,) they have a very loud call (and freak out when a leaf drops, a fly buzzes by or someone drives up the driveway,) so I'm looking into one of my favorite birds, quail. Quail are cute, quiet and lay beautiful eggs. 

Acquiring rabbits has not worked out yet, but I'm not in a rush. I'm still interested in French Lops and Flemish Giants; both are awesome, big bunnies. 

Fall means that it's clean up time on my farmette. I've pulled up the expired tomatoes and pumpkin vines from the raised beds and this year, we have over 40 pumpkins, of varying sizes and types. Our front porch looks like a pumpkin patch!

It's almost time to break out the Carhartt overalls.