Bearing up the Beans

We had green beans coming out of our ears. Therefore, I was forced to blanch and freeze the surplus. Oh, it is wonderful to produce your own food especially when it is healthy. You can just see the Vitamin A & C oozing out of them while cooking and eating plentifully one pan after another. I can't get enough of them.

I planted my excess pole bean seeds in our park strip making a tri-pod with trimmed branches for them to grow up. The thirty inch high tent wasn't enough to support the burgeoning vines. Thanks to a red antherium plan and a sunflower growing nearby the beans adopted them to continue to grow on.

Now my purple people eating monster, green bean person could scare a child on a dark Halloween night. BOO!!

Sight Seeing in Sleepy Hollow

Sleepy Hollow really is a place. It has a quaint graveyard surrounded by a centuries old rock chapel. The story of the 'Headless Horseman' of this 300+ year old town isn't true, although Ichabod Crane could be a distant relative of mine. Our self-guided tour printout showed dozens of graves and mausoleums to visit as we traversed the grounds.

The large hilly cemetery in the center of town boasts many famous people residing there such as Washington Irving (author of the famous story), Franklin Roosevelt, many Revolutionary soldiers and even a possible relative or two.

I admit having to look up on Wikipedia the details surrounding what portends to have happened that lonely night ages ago when a Hessian (German) soldier's head was shot off by a cannon. His ghost haunted the village and may have visited Ichabod, the local school teacher. Whether it's the tiny creek by the cemetery or the great Hudson River nearby, the ghost tried to chase the instructor to or over the river.

Later, it is said, Mr. Crane dressed up like the feared apparition. One night carrying a pumpkin as a head and riding a horse, he intended to win the love of a sweetheart over another suitor. Did he want to scare her into it or show his bravery? I'm not sure if it was successful, but being family and all, he gets my vote.

October is probably this Hudson riverside town's busiest time. Scarecrow classes, cars lining the streets and art exhibits filled the place with a holiday feeling. Decorated to the hilt I couldn't resist snapping photos as we left the not very dozy hamlet.

'Gourd' geous Growth

Take a minute to enjoy
The ‘gourd-geous’ colors of fall.

I’ll be thinking of you
while you’re out having a ball.

The beauty won’t last long
No, not at all.

Go now with your friends, family or just give me a call.

Instead of giving pumpkin cookies to friends and neighbors, I typed up this catchy poem, attached it to a gangly or multi colored parcel and shared with them.

Growing gourds can take over your whole yard but the rewards are worth it. I planted some dried seeds from a bumpy, colorful gourd I bought at the store last year and saved over the winter. In the spring while looking for something, I spied the dried item and decided to throw some in the ground.

I planted some in good soil, others in clay soil and so on in various spots in my yard. They all seemed to grow where they were planted, no matter the amount of water or soil they we in. I netted about 100 gourds from three areas. As you can see in the photo, one plant took over my front flower and bush garden.