It's the end of another harvest season. At this point every year, Michelle (who more often than not bears the brunt of the canning work) is always wondering why we put ourselves through it. I'm not a nostalgic person, but pictures of past canning years keep popping up on our screensaver, and I love that this is part of my kids' history - picking grapes, washing tomatoes, blanching peaches, cranking the squisher for applesauce. I love working with the earth to grow food, even if it's sometimes more expensive and less convenient than what we can get at the grocery store. I love the connection to the foodways of my ancestors, that my great-great-grandparents could walk in the front door and recognize what we're up to and pitch in. I love that I know where this food came from, that I can point to the exact patch of dirt. I love that all winter long, we'll walk downstairs and grab a bottle of something delicious, fixed in time in the season thereof. 2020 2019 2018 20...

(Originally posted at LDS Earth Stewardship . I don't know what it is about peach season that brings out the philosopher in us, but Michelle got her Deep Thoughts in last year and I figured it was my turn.) I live in northern Utah, and we have two peach trees in the backyard, planted soon after we moved into our house eight years ago. Those Elbertas are about the most delicious fruit I’ve ever tasted, and the anticipation of the peaches coming on brings a smile all year long. The next best thing to a sun-ripened peach in late summer is a bottled one in midwinter. Most of my kids actually prefer the latter, and no sooner have the lids of the Mason jars sealed with a pop then the kids are begging us to open them. Never mind that the branches out back are still heavy with fresh ones. Growing and preserving peaches connects us to something older than ourselves. I do not love every feature of Wasatch Front Mormon culture. In uncharitable moments I can be snide about most of it,...

Nate invited us down for a little spring break visit to his work. The kids were excited to play on the dinosaur playground, and I was excited to see all the flowers. The gardens and trees are just breathtaking this time of year.

We've had a long, wonderful autumn this season. A real live Indian summer. As a general rule, I expect snow around October 25th. It's in the fifties today and I'd say that's the coldest weather we've had so far! Here's what we've been up to. Applesauce! We have friends in the ward who are kind enough to let us have all the apples we want off their trees for free! It's so fun to pick apples. I'm excited for our little apple trees to grow big enough to give us a notable yield. As it is, we ate the first ones from our golden delicious tree this year. The honey crisp tree is about a year behind, I think. We canned lots of applesauce. Hopefully six months' worth. Everyone helped - Leah's the only one we got pictures of, though. Nate went all sappy on me and took me on a hot date to a corn maze. Sappy because it reminded us of that fateful day many years ago when we went on our first date to another maze called Hee Haw in American F...

 Our garden is in! Well it has been for like a month, but give me a break already. I just had a baby. Using the vast wisdom we've gained over the years, we're taking it a little easy on the garden this year. Newborn baby years do not equal great gardening years around these parts. So we've dialed it back a little this time around. For example, instead of 20 tomato plants like we had last year, this year we've only got ten. Here's the list of what we planted. 2 zucchini 2 yellow squash 10 tomatoes (one heirloom cherry, one heirloom called "pale perfect purple." We were intrigued.) 3 cucumbers 3 watermelons, which refuse to sprout 4 rows of green beans, sprouting with various levels of success Carrots Lettuce Beets Peas (only one of which has sprouted) 4 small rows of corn 5 mounds of pumpkins, four of which actually sprouted! As of today, it's time to start weeding. Several weeks ago, really. We'll get around to it. We're excited ...

Well here it is, the annual "look at our crocuses!" post. I almost didn't do it, but let's face it: year after year, I am completely caught off guard and delighted by them. It starts with one little yellow bloom, and after a week or so, our front planter starts to look like someone got a pitcher full of sunshine and poured it in little clumps here and there. The kids count them diligently day after day and say things like "Mom, there's a yellow surprise for you outside!" Leah even sniffs them very carefully. I am in love with just the idea of them, and with my kids' interactions with them, and yellow is my favorite color, which doesn't hurt either. So take heart, everyone, spring is right around the corner!

Here's a hodge-podge of "our summer was great" photos and videos. Coppertone baby. Addison finally let everyone sign his cast the night before he got it off.   Bryn's masterpiece just before she got it off. Addison just wanted to sign with an A. Our kids like each other. We grew and preserved a ton of food this summer. For the record, 20 tomato plants is an overwhelming amount. We canned salsa, tomato sauce, raspberry jam, strawberry jam (neither of which set, but we're using them anyway), green beans and peaches. And we froze peaches and a ton of shredded zucchini. Still to come: apples. This was just a great afternoon. I tossed the kids in the pool and let them go nuts with too-big squash. It was a hit. Leah definitely did her part to ensure that our abundant peach crop did not go to waste. We'd pick a peach off the tree and wash it off in the hose and she'd eat it, in its entirety, at least once a day....