Autumn Delights!

Happy Autumn!
I'm about as pleased as a pig playing in the mud. I am so ready for some cool brisk days, and we have had those in my part of Tennessee for the last week or so. WEll, actually it has been brisk nights and mornings, heating up at midday through about 3 pm, but I'm not complaining at all.

I'm almost at a loss for something to do in the gardens, can you imagin!
The annual herbs are past the point of harvest and the garden is still producing, well, okra and tomatoes at least.
Soon we will till those under and plant a nice patch of turnip greens.
Nothing better than fresh greens for Thanksgiving.
Turnip greens are so good for you, do you know they serve as a natural detox for the free radicals that take up housekeeping in your body and make you sick.

A fine autumn dinner to please any anyone would be fresh turnip greens cooked with ham bone. Sugar beets simmered in a small amount of honey and dill, and sage cornbread cooked until it is crispy and brown.

Lets get cooking!!

Happy Autumn and be blessed.

Bea Kunz

PS: I've had a few request for a zone map, this is about as good as I could find.
As you can see it is compliments of the NGA.

A Day Of Remberance. 9/11/2006

Today was one of many different feelings for me.
I prayed early in the morning for all the people who were in the towers, the ones who escaped and the ones who did not. I prayed for strength to spend my day doing what would put something useful back into the universe. So it seemed rather natural when I found myself in the gardens digging in the dirt. I feel very close to my maker when I'm there on any given day....today was very special.

The air was warm, but not too hot, a slight breeze to temper the sun. There were no bugs flying around at all, I felt like an artist with a brand new canvas.......so I went to work.

I cleaned the thyme beds, cut the plants back to the ground level so they will be nice and strong by the beginning of winter.

I worked on some new beds for the spring and cut and dried lemon balm and lavender for tea blends.
I hauled compost and treated all the beds to a good feeding of fish emulsion.

I didn't watch TV today, not because I wasn't interested but because I felt moved to be outside "doing" something with my hands, something I could look at and see results when the day ended.

My thoughts ran a marathon during the course of the day....flash-backs to 2001, a friend who escaped the towers just minutes before it collapsed, why this thing happened-always the why...never an answer.

I ended the day with a loving tribute to my mother and father who gave me life, a life I am so grateful for.

May God have mercy on our world.

Bea Kunz
http://www.sagehillfarmsandvintagestore.com