Garden update, & cetera

We salsa.

[heart]

Neighbor Pam gave us a flat of tomatoes from her garden (ours are just now turning) and we decided to make salsa. So I chopped tomatoes and my mom did the assembling of ingredients (peppers, onions, garlic, jalepanos, & cetera) and then I did Taste Testing and it was....DELICIOUS. She's going to can it tomorrow while I'm at work. If I don't eat it all first. All 6+ quarts of it.

And, of course, all the tomato scraps along with this week's food scraps went to the compost pile (of which I am learning a great deal about from The Humanure Handbook)... as in, it doesn't need turning! Revelation!

After a very prolific season from the zucchini plants we decided to bench them. We pulled them up and threw them over the fence to the neighbor goaties.

ones we picked before we pulled the plants
these went to the goats, too

how cute is my dad?!

goats are our friends

Exciting development!!
We are starting to see some actual flowers on the cauliflower! I wasn't sure if they were going to produce. The plants started out so spindly and weak and now they're pretty healthy (healthy-looking enough to support flowers), but so far this is the first sign that we're actually going to get edible produce out of them. Let's hope for more!


And... my sunflowers are finally producing, too! The dwarf sunflowers are getting heads on them!


Another exciting development!! (non-garden related)

My assignment covering Commander John Herrington's visit (first Native American astronaut) was successful and my editor put it on the front page! Also on the front page--one of my photos, the macro shot of the bee covered in pollen. Both can be previewed on the paper's website right now, but it gets updated each week, so check quickly! I told my editor thanks for giving me the opportunity and he said it opens up a whole new realm of possibilities...

Yet another exciting development!!
Keith could be home as early as next week. He's in Billings, not Roundup (not that is matters) and the cool weather we're getting is probably putting the kybosh on the fire. Fire season is winding down. And today he told me he's thinking going to work in Alaska is probably not going to work. The guy who originally invited him told him to "think about it long and hard" w/r/t long hours, limited daylight, increased alcoholism, isolation, etc. and Keith's thinking being back with family and building a tiny house with his wife is sounding a lot more attractive. I have to say I'm glad he's coming to that conclusion because I really didn't want to be the kind of wife who tells her husband he can't do something. But in our relationship all big decision take 2 "Yes"es and I was definitely not wavering on my "No."