Urban Sustainable Living - Oct 09

Turns out fall has been busy. Sept and Oct came and went in a blur. We’re now busy composting leaves and processing the fall produce. Interestingly Melissa's Mexican Sour Gherkins are the most prolific producers. She planted a couple heirloom seeds in the spring which we thought failed. They limped along with a spindly vine through the summer. To our surprise when the weather began to cool the vine covered a nice section of the fence, took hold of some alley vines and went over ten feet in the air covering a cut telephone pole and the top of a crape murtle tree before it slacked off. Covered in tiny little yellow flowers it has given us hand full after hand full of black berry sized lemony cucumbers that resemble tiny watermelons. We've talked about canning them, but we eat them as a side for the whole family almost every night. The chickens and even the dog like them so it looks like they will be eaten fresh this year until it plays out. Peppers and beans also did pretty well before most of the garden began to go dormant. We decided we were feeding one roster too many so we introduced the girls to the circle of life and will be having Lil' Red in dumplings tonight. The pecan tree did pretty well this year and we're waiting on the persimmon tree to finish ripening up. It's beginning to look so fruity with hardly any leaves..