First Fall Fire

Part of todays haul

My goal today was to clear out one of the veg beds where winter squash, basil, leeks and beans have been growing all summer.  I want to clear it to sow a cover crop of clover for the winter, its been on my list for days.  I did manage to get the winter squash out along with the vines and pulled 2 basil plants with which I made a giant batch of pesto for the freezer.  I didn't finish digging the leeks or planting the clover, tomorrow I hope.  I hadn't picked any veggies in a while but the peppers are starting to ripen up again and the eggplant looked like they were going to start becoming pure seed, it's so late in the season, they weren't really growing so I picked most of them.  I read somewhere about eating butternut squash immature, that they are buttery so I'm going to give it a try, I picked a couple of pounds of young green ones in order to pull the vines out.

We had this salad to start dinner tonight, a base of bibb, pears and toasted almonds dressed with a mustard, balsmic and olive oil dressing.  Topped with beets and figs and garnished with crispy croutons spread with Blue d'Auvergne cheese.  So good.  Eggplant roasted with peppers,tomatoes and garlic, tossed with pasta and some of todays pesto made the main course.

We then sat around an outdoor fire, the first of the season, drinking red wine and toasting marshmallows.  Life is pretty darn sweet ain't it?