December Doings

The good news is, I finally went outside to take pictures of our Christmas lights.  The bad news is that my yard is full of biting mosquitoes.  Yikes, our continuing warm weather must be to their liking.  My Honey and I had a most enjoyable time putting up lights.  The star, in years past, used to lie on the uppermost part of the roof.  Lights outlined every eave and window then, but now we are content to create just a little gaiety.  I hope you are enjoying whatever you are doing to prepare for the holidays.

I'm not doing a tree this year, just bought a few plants to make the house a little festive.

Other than doing a little decorating, I've been gardening, as usual.  I want to show you what the veggie garden has been producing.  This is what the garden looked like a few short months ago, in September.

We've had perfect weather for the vegetable garden.  It's been just warm enough for tomatoes, yet, cool enough for the cole crops.  The broccoli and cabbage have both done better than I thought they would.  On the way to the vegetable patch...

  I picked the first of the broccoli a couple days ago.  It's one of those veggies that you want to grow just as large as possible, but not let go too long.  If not checked regularly, it can get past it's prime rather quickly.  The tomatoes are ripening on the counter, because our bird 'friends' are pecking them as soon as they show the slightest color.

The greens have  been abundant this year, and completely pest free.  These were picked and cooked yesterday, the southern way, with salt pork...served with cornbread.   

From left to right...mustard, collard, and turnip.

The garden has also produced beautiful turnips.  Eaten raw, or cooked in the greens...delicious.

Growing cabbage this year was a first for me, so I was very excited to cut my first head this morning.  It weighed nearly 4 lbs., I'm a proud mama.

If you're still with me, letting me go on about my veggies, thanks for visiting.  I want to wish you only good things for the holiday season, especially...