garden update (radish harvest) and front yard picnic fun

Hello friends! Welp, I have completely failed to provide regular status updates on the growth and progress of this year's fall vegetable garden. However, not to worry. Things have been growing fine (har har) and yesterday we harvested our first fruits... radishes!

Radishes are ridiculously easy to grow and are really ready for harvest in about three to four weeks (a great learning experience for my little girl who both planted the seeds and harvested each one). I let mine stay in the ground for longer, but thankfully they didn't get grainy or fibrous like I thought they would. Instead, there was a certain sweetness to them that was delightful and different. I plan to use them in a salad or something tonight and I am hoping I can squeeze in another crop of them before the winter comes.

The collards are doing great, as well as the turnips (below) which will be ready for harvest very soon. The kale is not doing so well, mostly because I have random squash and tomato plants which I DID NOT PLANT that decided to start growing all of a sudden that are sort of crowding out the kale. I WISH the squash would yield something to make it worth sacrificing my precious greens, but with the inevitable cold snap coming I am afraid that it'll just be a waste. One can hope though, right? Oh and those tomato plants? It will be a miracle if they grow to yield anything at all. I should probably just pull them. Still it has been an interesting experiment. I will say the stalks look sturdy and the plants quite healthy.

After tending the garden the little ones and I had a not-so-fancy picnic under our pretty maple tree... PB & Nutella, apples and the Stonyfield Farm version of Gogurts. Whatever they are. Carried out on a broiler pan (lololol at myself), with a bottle, and a Hello Kitty juice, and paper towel napkins. You know, something so neatly arranged and suitable for a photo. Staged perfectly for my blog. HAHAHA. Sorry.

don't judge me... I put the timer on the camera on the tripod.... (*wants to run and hide in closet*)

After they ate their lunch, the kiddos ventured out into the yard. Noah decided to try to climb a tree. Lord help me! Shiloh started picking leaves from trees, and so began the idea to collect as many different leaves as possible for a leaf craft. I've learned how much she loves crafting and I am trying to find something new for her to do every day.

Here's Shiloh doing her "leaf craft" - originally we were going to do leaf prints, but that was a little too much for her, though we did do some, she just got frustrated and painted a big glob on the paper. So we glued instead and she loved that.

...and here are our radishes after their bath:

...and now it is time for me to be done with this post. My daughter is oh so quietly sitting at the top of the stairs post nap waiting for me... she is being sneaky but I know she's awake!

Much love.

Brooke