Whew, busy days are keeping me either indoors or out of town, and not so much in the garden. For Harvest Monday last week, I had only three eggs to report, with no fruit or veggies. Not that there wasn’t anything to harvest. I just wasn’t home to cook. I did a little better this week, but not much.
My November garden is looking bedraggled. Time to replant.
Harvest for week ending Nov. 21, 2010
FRUIT
1 Granny Smith apple, the last one, 7 oz
VEGETABLES
1 lb 10 oz. tomatoes
4 oz. yellow onion
TOTAL 2 lbs 2 oz. produce plus 3 eggs
Can you believe that I’m STILL getting tomatoes? Me either. A half dozen tomatoes remain on the vines and one silly plant is still blooming up a storm. I seriously doubt that any of the blossoms will set fruit, but I can’t bear to rip them out while they’re still trying.
The last Granny Smith apple had taken on a pink blush. It was so pretty that I should have photographed it. But I didn’t. I grated it and put it into apple pancakes.
Our chickens are molting and not laying right now except for Chicken Little, so we’re hoarding eggs. I make pancakes instead of eggs for breakfast these days because pancakes take only one egg. We’ll see if we can make it without buying eggs until they start laying again. With only 2-3 eggs a week from Chicken Little and holiday baking season upon us, I may actually have to (GASP) buy eggs.
Our exciting news isn’t from the garden, though. It’s indoor news. Our new family room furniture arrived yesterday. We’ve been busy the past week clearing the family room of the old stuff and cleaning the carpet. I had hoped that a Corps Member at the Orange County Conservation Corps would want our old furniture, but alas, there are no kids setting up a new household right now. St. Vincent De Paul hasn’t returned our phone call, so I’m going to try Salvation Army next. Meanwhile, we have extra furniture tucked into every room just to get the new stuff to fit into its space.
Our new furniture has arrived!
For now, our old sofa remains in the family room to provide additional seating.
Our furniture is from Woodworks, an Amish business based in Indiana. It is quarter-sawn American oak stained a medium cherry, with green leather cushions, all handmade. Even the door handles are hand-forged in the US. Nothing from China.
We got a sofa, glider chair and glider footstool, coffee table, entertainment cabinet, and an additional cabinet to hold my extra cookware. One of the disadvantages of having a hobby of cooking is all those extra pots, pans, appliances and gadgets. They have to go somewhere, hence the new cabinet next to the kitchen counter.
We put our old loveseat into my new artist’s studio in the garage office, which I use regularly. I paint with watercolors a couple of times a week and just love having a nice space in the garage for that hobby.
The old sofa is staying at least temporarily to provide us with enough seating in the family room. One of these days, we may get a loveseat to match the rest of the furniture, assuming that one of the bushes in the garden turns out to be a money plant. Hahaha. Yeah, right.
I want a big flatscreen TV, but for now our old TV will have to do. I haven’t found that money bush yet, but I’m looking.
Our old entertainment center and coffee table are awaiting pickup from some charitable organization. Vic and I actually hated to see the coffee table go. We bought it at a garage sale 30 years ago for $15. It’s homemade with pine 4x4s for legs, very sturdy, stained dark, very 70s. You can’t say that we didn’t get our money’s worth with that piece. Most of our furniture is antique and/or from garage sales, so new furniture is a really, really big deal in our lives.
The other thing that has had me busy is a trip to the Mojave National Preserve with Vic’s birding class, but that’s a tale for another post.
Lou Murray's Green World 
The new furniture is beautiful! Very nice indeed! I love that there is nothing on or in it from China. I wish there was a “USA Only” store around.
I would love to have chickens, but alas, we live in the city. No farm animals allowed. Even if they were allowed, wife says NO.
I like the appearance of your garden. It shows that you are really into it! Each little piece of it was work that you did to produce the results you wanted. I think it looks good.
Thanks for sharing, and Happy Thanksgiving!
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Haha, Veggie PAK, I live in the city too. We’re in the middle of 14 million people in the greater Los Angeles area, but our city, Huntington Beach, allows 6 hens per yard as long as the coop is 25 ft away from neighbor’s houses. Oh, and the city licence to keep chickens cost us $187. Fortunately, that’s not an annual fee. It’s going to take a lot of eggs before I see a profit.
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Congratulations on the new furniture! I have been totally tied up with indoor tasks too but that is normal this time of year. We have been freezing the surplus eggs from our hens – so that when they go into the molt we have a supply of eggs in the freezer to tied us over until they are back laying more regularly. It’s easy to do and might be an idea for you for next year.
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KitsapFG, how the heck do you freeze eggs? In the shell or out? Separated into whites and yolks or not? Actually, the eggs might freeze inside the chickens tonight. They’re piled on top of each other in the coop to stay warm. For some reason, they’ve given up their roosting pole and have taken to sitting in their favorite nest to sleep. Bad habit, as it fouls the nest.
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No I can’t believe you are still getting tomatoes. Nice though. I brought my tomatoes to Thanksgiving for the first time. And probably last time. Strange weather.
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Daphne, we have two big bowls of tomatoes in the refrigerator and maybe a half dozen still on the vine. Very strange weather. Lou
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