Home on the Hill

Ah, I just couldn't resist. My Auntie gave me four Gem Squash and we just had to try them. We had some winter squash with yesterday's supper. Sweet and flavorful. It got me to thinking about pumpkins. Why is it that we always serve pumpkins with sugar and allspice? It's a squash isn't it. Haven't done any research on the topic but if you have a favorite, vegetable rendering recipe that doesn't include sugar or allspice, for pumpkin I would like to hear it. I was thinking of the thousands of pumpkins that lay rotting in the fields in the lush lower mainland right after Halloween. Today we are continuing with getting in the winter's wood. I have a new chain saw filing jig I want to try out before I start falling more of the Beetle killed pine. I want to get the rest of the fir piled near the basement split up so the dogs can rest easy knowing the resident Pack Rat has one less place to hide. You would think it would get the hint.. God I am so gratef...

To those of you in warmer climes the title of this blog would be "the late May Harvest". My gardening buddy Carol Browne is even harvesting watermelons. However, remembering that less than two weeks ago we were waking to 3C (37.4F.) temperatures, this bunch is a bit of a gardening miracle. The round black object on the squash is a lens cover for Jo-Ann's camera. I really enjoy the white radishes. Large, juicy, not too hot with a solid core. No bug bites or worm holes this year. Knock on wood ..er rubber. The tires make such a huge difference, soaking in the daily sunshine and assisting the yard or so of soil in each unit to maintain an after dark temperature in the tires many degrees warmer than the outside air. Jo-Ann thought the spaghetti squash was getting too large for the tire. I don't know. I think we could have let it get a bit bigger. But it will be a great test. This one is the size of the largest ones we had last year and they were plentiful and a ...