The Last Harvest

Okay, it's not strictly the last harvest, as there are still some onions and broccoli out there.  However, given our recent spate of cold days and even colder nights we felt it was time to bed down the garden and pull the last big harvest for the year.  This bounty represents the last big payoff for all our hard work this year (except for the pumpkins, which we didn't grow this year for lack of space).  We spent the day digging countless rows of carrots (look at that big mamma-jamma on the left!), sifting through clods of loam for the last few potatoes (hashed browns anyone?) and pulled the last leeks from the pile (cock-a-leekie soup, on the way). 

The zucchini plants, large in their hubris, are no more - and their few small fruits are ready for our enjoyment.  Their bigger brothers and sisters have already given their all to zucchini bread, which is cooling on the counter as I write this.

The chickens are cooing peacefully with full stomachs from all the off-cuts and less than perfect veggies we tossed their way today, topped off with more than a few slugs and worms for good measure. 

The dogs are exhausted from supervising us and the children all day, whining their dreams into their pillows.

We are exhausted.  We are filthy.  Our boots are caked with mud and our hands are cracked from the cold.  We are happy.