Harvest harvest harvest. Our first hard frost came on the 11th, and around the end of the month the night-time low dropped to 11 F. It seemed to catch us by surprise this year, partially because there was just MORE of everything to harvest than usual. Also, things ripened slower this year, possibly due to a cloudy cool wet spring that held up planting, then very hot weather in mid summer that delayed flower maturation into fruit. Compounding the issue, the green growth had been enormous this year, and Linc thought there weren't many winter squash or pumpkins to harvest. When we started to harvest them though, it turned out there was a bumper crop, just good at hiding in all that greenery (as had the raccoon that apparently had spent a week or so camping in a plant-cave near the sweet corn, feasting). So, once we realized the extent of the harvest, and the sudden change of forecast to hard frost, we ran like mad all day long, and harvested the entire garden in a day. Except for beets, carrots, turnips, and leeks, which we covered with row cover for a few weeks.
End of harvest day photos below.
Linc with a nice sized Blue Hubbard winter squash.
More of everything.
Our loft bedroom, turned into it's usual role as winter squash storage, ripening spot for a small portion of the green tomato harvest, pumpkins under the bed.
Linc made three new compost bins, rodent proof this time. That had been on the project list for a few years also.
Friends joined us for a nice hike on the Curecanti Creek Trail down to the Gunnison River at the bottom.
Canyon, sun, sky, jet trails, rocks!
The view from the overlook at the top of the Curecanti Creek Trail, down to the confluence of the creek and river. Our lunch spot just out of sight below rim.
We also got out for a fall mountain foliage hike up into Buckskin Basin. Photos of that area included in last year's blog, so none here other than a look across Beaver Lake in Marble towards Whitehouse Mountain.
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