So...what now??

For the past 2 or 3 posts I have started it off by apologizing that I don't post more often and I always end with a commitment that I will do more so in the future. Then life happens and I forget.

The summer was lovely. My husband and I booked a trip to Hawaii in July. We went to the Big Island, Maui and Oahu. It was amazing.

Haleakala National Park in on the island of Maui and we went up there to see the sunrise and do some hiking one morning. After the sunrise, we walked a few miles on the sliding sands trail, and this was our view. It is the most breathtaking landscape I have ever seen.

Also during the summer I faced some medical problems. I was diagnosed with IBS which has made me have to make some changes in my diet. The only dairy I have on a regular basis is yogurt. Kashi protein bars are my best friend!

I have also had a long term issue with my left shoulder and I have finally started to go see a chiropractor for it and have noticed wonderful results. I have done physical therapy, acupuncture and cortisone shots and I was amazed at how quickly I have felt better with my chiropractor!

Other personal issues have come up in recent months so with everything going on I have neglected my garden.

I planted peas, carrots, green beans, lettuce, cabbage, broccoli and some other vegetables. The peas TOOK OFF! They grew to be about 6 feet tall. My lettuce did well and my green beans (the three plants that decided to sprout) did well too. My broccoli also did well.

Everything else was either eaten by the deer or didn't grow. I don't know what happened to my carrots. I got one. The one was great and tasted wonderful. It rained really heavy right after I planted my carrots and I think all of them were washed away except for one. My cabbage also did great but a few days before I wanted to pick it, the deer decided that it would be a wonderful nighttime snack and left cabbage remnants and hoof prints in my garden.

I did raised beds for the first time and they turned out wonderfully. I bought just regular white wood (I think pine?) boards and my husband built them for me. Every gardeners book I read recommended cedar but the costs were astronomical and I felt that it was more cost effective to buy the pine boards and replace them if need be in a couple years. So far they are still fine and it has been 10 months since we put them in.

The farmers markets are done for the year except for the one community close by that has the year round market. It is always a sad time for me. I feel that my summer is officially over and all that is left is the cold winter. I know I have Thanksgiving to look forward to and then Christmas but I love being outside and it makes it difficult when the sun goes down at 5pm. I even bought some peaches in a jar at the last farmers market. I told my husband I was waiting for a dreary day in January or February to open those up. Yummm....thinking about those now.

My husband and I are going up to PA/NJ to visit his family for Thanksgiving. That is first for us because it is my favorite holiday and we have always spent it with my family. Sooo..this year I am having a nice dinner with my family the sunday before Thanksgiving and I told my mom I am going to cook everything and that it will be all vegetarian. I promise I will try my hardest to remember to post pics and recipes! :)