A Season of Harvest

The month of September has been a busy one... an early frost visit, a wild windstorm, a local fire, heavy smoke in our area, a birthday, new construction and a season of harvest in the middle of it all! I couldn't believe when I sat down to write this post that it is already the last day of September! Where has this month gone... I know it has been a very busy one. 

I'll let my pictures tell the story... 

I held a neighborhood garden harvest party in my garden. Neighbors brought a potluck dish and harvest to share.  We had a wonderful time sitting around and visiting, as many of us haven't seen each other since March with the covid.  It was such a wonderful event!

I used china for the evening, and everyone enjoyed it so much!
Most people don't use china anymore, but I still love to make use of it :) 

I love gathering flowers from my garden for a bouquet. 

My birdbath stayed busy this summer,
needing daily refills as the birds enjoyed daily baths. 

On Labor Day, we had a wild windstorm come through, uprooting trees on our property.
Thankfully there was no damage done. Because of this storm, several wildfires started, one 10 miles south of us.  Thankfully, that fire was not a threat to us. 

With the windstorm, came cold weather and 'Ole Man Frost
visited my garden on Sept. 7.  

My husband helped me to pick all my tomatoes, green beans, squash and potatoes 
because I knew it was going to frost that night. 

Some of the harvest that we brought in before the frost. 

We gathered the potatoes as well into this plastic tub, but I will be storing them
for winter in cardboard boxes. It was a great harvest! I planted about 2 pounds of potatoes. 

Inside my greenhouse, the tomatoes and peppers planted there are still flourishing, safe from the frost! 

Putting up the produce! I always can my tomatoes,
but I blanch and freeze green beans,
as we prefer to eat them freshly frozen. 

Sadly, the frost left its mark... but my sunflowers survived! 

I celebrated a birthday this month!  I met the kids for coffee and enjoyed a nice long visit with them, and then later in the evening, our son cooked dinner for us.  My daughter lives about an hour away now, and it was wonderful to have her come visit for the day :) 

Because of the wildfires in CA, WA and OR, we experienced
heavy smoke in our area for a couple of weeks. 

Captured this picture of the sun was hiding behind roadside weeds. 
An interesting perspective with the smoke-filled sky. 

Thankfully our sunny skies soon returned,
along with the brilliant colors of Fall!

And despite the visit of frost many times to my garden, still this sunflower stands! 
I can't tell you how happy this makes my heart to see this flower loving the bright Fall sunshine!

A late bloomer, this gorgeous rose with a decadent scent, bloomed late this month,
near the end of September, for the first time this year! What excitement to see such a huge bloom larger than my hand bloom this late in the year! 

On our evening walk with the dogs, it was a joy to behold the beautiful sunsets after the smoke had moved out of our area.  We never want to take for granted our clean fresh air that we breathe! 

Well, hasn't September has just flown by!  I can hardly believe tomorrow will be the first day of October.  We look forward to the brilliant colors of Fall in October, and I hope to share some of those pictures with you soon.  

With all the bad news that is in our world today, we can choose to focus on those things, or instead find beautiful things in our world to find joy and happiness in.  That is what I do each day.  As I walk morning and evening, there is something refreshing about lifting my face to the sky, and talking to the Lord, and just knowing that His creation runs in complete order because He has set it in motion.  This makes me know I can trust His ways, and His knowledge about every life situation, because He's been doing it a lot longer than me :) 

So if you are struggling with the worries and cares of life... take a walk into a forest, down by a stream, in a park or somewhere where there is natural beauty, and look into the skies, and around your world, talk to the Lord as you walk, and I do believe you will find your mind refreshed and renewed again to face whatever challenges lie in your world. 

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, 

whose mind is stayed on thee.  

Isaiah 26:3  

This verse has come to mean so much to my family recently, and in a day or two, I will share with you just why :)  

Many blessings to all of you!