This is a lush time. I have been remiss in documenting it. Every week I bring home bags of food. My arms are bent from it . Potatoes and tomatoes ( so happy that the rains are gone!)  My new crops are flourishing: greens and brassicas, carrots and beets. Every spare night I cook, freeze or dry; trying to preserve the bounty of now for winter's barren days. My leeks are filling out and the last of the potatoes have yet to mature. Constantly, I am roasting fingerling potatoes, tomatoes or carrots. Only the tomatoes make it to the freezer, but the other vegetables prepared on the weekends or evenings, are doled out across the meals of the week. Tizzy is in school and it seems I have always taken on another project, so we cook in bursts and reap the bounty when we can. 

I am afraid I have harvested the last of the cucumbers. We have used them for Raita and salsa, cold salads and soup. They have been both stars of the show and supporting cast for more than a month now. It is hard to let them go, but the vines are yellowing and weak, the fruits that remain no longer seem capable of maturity. It is hard to imagine the wax- covered and flavourless things that I will endure for the next nine months. Next year, there will be earlier cucumbers -  and later. 

     Julie, who I have come to rely on in so many ways, has taught me anew the virtue of pickles. Next year. That is always the cry of the gardener: "Next Year!" Next year there will be pickles. Sour pickles and sweet. Beans and tomatoes preserved in brine. Next year there will be more preserved than herbs and sauces. Next year I will can everything that I can!

I have taken pictures of my garlic and other storage crops. I promise that I will give a full accounting of that in this blog, but next year there will be even more. 

I will be harvesting what I have planted this year far past Christmas, but still, I grow few of the traditional storage crops ( winter squash, cabbage, potatoes, onions, etc.) My late harvests come from late plantings and simple methods of season extension. Next year, I will leave space for pumpkins and squash, I will be sure to plant the giant drum cabbages for sauerkraut, I will have great quantities of rutabagas to cover in wax. Next year, I will be a better person and a better gardener. Next year, Lucy will not pull the ball away. Next year, Charlie Brown will kick the field goal He has always deserved.