So...what do I do now?

The first snow of winter has come only days after the autumnal equinox. MN is a crazy place to grow outdoor plants. And the wet, rainy, snowy, cold, yucky weather has not helped the end of the vegetable garden season. I did manage to gather the remaining (although small) green tomatoes, jalapenos, one green pepper and the only actual egg sized eggplant prior to any frost or freeze warning hit. They sit on my kitchen counter, buzzed often by fruit flies that I can't seem to get rid of, and they are dwindling in numbers as we continue to endulge in fresh produce from our own land.

I work at a full time job that I love, but it's keeping me from getting outside and even keeping me from staying inside to blog. The reality has been that I've not been electronically connected outside of work hours for a while, and I have neglected my own sense of writing. Yes, my sense of writing. I don't even know how to be creative anymore. I'm stuck in details and spreadsheets, room reservations and financial deposits. I'm troubleshooting and strategizing, looking at systems and wondering about possibilities and outside the box thinking all the while having to work within the box like a fence with no gate. It's not a big plastic bubble or a cage by any means...just a large fenced in box. Similar to the fence I keep around the veggie garden. It's not big, and it doesn't keep a lot of the pests out, but it contains the organized chaos of weeds, plants, and stuff that's been growing there for a long time but no one has had the guts to prune and replant in another place.

Yards and yards - (I haven't relaly measured the perimeter) of two foot tall green plastic mesh surrounds the space where I settled my vegetable plants with a large salvia momma and lavendar bush right in the middle of all the edibles. Although looking back at my first endeavor at growing my own food for our family has been interesting, I think I learned a lot about climate, soil, water, insects, pollination, organic and non organic gardening, tools, budget, seeds vs. seedlings, and types of food and herbs. Yes, I did have pests...ants, grasshoppers, and my least favorite rodents who actually chomped down on only the ripest of tomatoes while still on the vine. I have photos, but somehow they're just so painful to look at. I lost more tomatoes per day than I could count on one hand...and right at the peak of harvest. Bummer. Bummer. Bummer. They looked like they tasted good. I'll bet they did, and that's why the little buggers kept coming back for more.

So...where do I go? What do I do now? There is still so much gardening to be done...so I'm praying that the weather will be close to average this weekend so I can pull the rest of the dead brush and clean up wet leaves that have fallen in their green state only to be soggy brown or black on the lawn. Funny, but our gorgeous maple tree in the backyard still has most of its leaves, and they are, too, still greenish yellow.

No brilliant vibrant fall colors on the trees - but the mix of perennials in the front yard are a joy to watch. Even beneath a light covering of white - the sedums, purple asters and yes, fushia colored tea roses are still reflecting the light of God's glorious splendour. What fun to drive up to the house and view the hard work I've put into the landscape this year. So, our lawn hasn't been mowed in almost 3 weeks due to wet weather...so what? It's interesting to see the deep green show up when it was so brown and dry all summer long. The snow has melted for today...but it's going to come back, as it always does. Maybe I can do something to prepare for next year in the end of this one. Maybe I can gather some leaves, pull some weeds, settle some soil so it will overwinter well. Preventing some of the issues I had this spring so they don't happen as fully next spring is what I'd like to do. That means work outside - where God speaks to me as my hands touch the soil, and smell the organic remains of my once fruitful plants. Oh, I can only hope that I get a chance to get out there soon. I miss being in the garden, pulling weeds, checking for fruit, looking for the hole in the fence where the rodents came in...and planning a bigger better fence next spring.