Roasted my last pumpkin for pumpkin pudding this weekend. Making a pudding is a cool way to avoid gluten. I don't have a problem with gluten myself nor does my boyfriend, we just don't eat a lot of wheat or other grains. You simply prepare your pie filling, pumpkin in this case, and pour it into a greased baking dish instead of a pie crust and bake as you would your pie. The filling is the best part anyway, if you ask me. 

Early Amaryllis.

I am not sad I started this guy off a little too early. I have lots of paperwhites needing to be planted, to fill in the spaces. Besides, there is still several flowers that are  going to bloom on this amaryllis. Lovely!

The Cold Frame and some Unattractive Onions.

From the outside looking in, bok choy, kale, spinach and arugula corner. 

Hard not to catch a reflection on a direct shot, that's the pea trellis. 

A random clump of overgrown green onions that I'm still using, still tasty! 

Does not look anywhere near as cold as it was! We've had some frosty mornings here.

Uh-Oh!

My amaryllis bloomed! It has two large flowers on it now with at least 5 more following. 

Earlier than I had hoped but lovely anyway, and now i know for next year!

Inside the Cold Frame.

A tiny piece of summer still lives in my cold frame's microclimate, where these guys weren't told it is time to stop growing.  I had planted my cold frame a little later than I would have liked to, although you'd never really know. The crops that do well in the cold frame are doing just that. I can not explain how lovely it is to have these veggies growing in the frame. Any time I need some greens, I take a quick jaunt to the frame and can pick arugula for a wrap, spinach for a salad or kale to steam. The veggies stay their very freshest since they are still in the ground, providing us with their best to offer for nutrients. Powdered 'green' drinks got nothing on this production! 

Bok Choy, perfect for a holiday meal. My mother always made authentic chinese dishes for X-mas eve, Bok choy would have been perfect to have.  

Spinach in the baby stage. 

Radish growing away. 

Transplanted Kale. 

Arugula. 

Outside the cold frame we have some frosty broccoli. 

More frosty broccoli. Can you believe that broccoli freezes like this and then perks back up looking no worse for wear? Very cold tolerant, cold frame not required. 

Tucked In.

My back garden bed, where my three sister's garden grew this summer, covered with oats for a cover crop of green manure. The oats will be killed over the winter, and then can be either raked off the bed and composted, raked to the side and planted through or tilled into the soil. We are really hoping to avoid tilling this year to avoid disturbing the little eco-system that has developed under the soil. The reason we have had to till over the years is mainly because our garden soil consists predominately of clay. Clay compacts harder than concrete over time and after being exposed to elements like pounding rain and heavy snow. The cover crop protects the soil from the elements and erosion, keeps nutrients from running off and adds nutrients when either tilled back in or planted through as mulch.  I go on like a broken record about cover crops and protecting the soil. I have found the rule, no bare soil at any time, to be one of the most important factors in a healthy garden. No bare soil = no weeds, more consistent moisture, more biological activity underneath, no erosion, less compaction and less run off. The roots of cover crops run deep under the soil, keeping it workable. A cover crop keeps the soil where it is supposed to be for the winter and ensures it stays there in the spring rains. 

Chicken Dinner.

After having butchered our 30 meat chickens last Sunday day/night, we could finally bring ourselves to have a chicken dinner. We will leave the majority of our parsnips in the ground covered with a thick layer of mulch to keep the ground from freezing around them until the spring, when we will dig them up to eat then. We will probably steal a few here and there to try, especially now that we have had some heavy frosts to sweeten their taste. I like to cook carrots and parsnips around my chicken not only because they're extremely delicious, also to save energy, time and dishes.  These parsnips were really tasty, and yes I did peel them, the dirt was a bit much to scrub off.