Long Time No See

Will ya look at the size of those sunflowers! The largest one was over sixteen inches in diameter. They are in the process of drying, but I believe there will be a good ten pounds of seed when dry. The stalks were well over six feet high. Really beautiful.

Harvesting these beauties marks the end of the growing season here in Northwestern PA. The only thing left in the ground are the organic rutabagas. What a great year for those: one of the larger ones after topping off and clipping the root weighed six pounds. They are so sweet you can eat them just like candy (although my favorite way is in boiled dinner....yum).

Summer and Fall
are hard times for me to sit and be dedicated to writing. So many places to go. So much to see. So much to do. But we've had our first snow, so my traveling days have been abruptly curtailed. I'll be here until the wanderlust hits me again.

So far in the Tole You So shop on Etsy six items have been sold. Four hex signs and two trinket boxes. Had a major production problem with the Polyurethane that forced a re-painting of ALL the hex signs, a bird house and flower boxes. Note to self: CRAFT polyurethane serves the purpose and does not yellow. The shop is doing as well as expected based on the time and effort put into it.

Coming soon: ORNAMENTS!!!






Here's a shot of all four sunflowers showing their size about two months before they stopped growing. To keep them from falling over, they were bound together with twine. Their seed will be a feast for the birds on Thanksgiving Day.

Lucky birdies!










Shown here is a rutabaga - one of the smaller ones actually (we couldn't wait to eat one, so this was harvested a bit early). People always ask what they taste like. To me it's a cross between a carrot and a potato. Sweet like a carrot with the texture of a potato. Very good in boiled dinner. We harvested more than enough for the winter.