Return of the Shire (and other random things)

 The Shire is back and better! There are even wooden frames at the top that will eventually become air vents. So far nothing in there has minded the 113* with all the humidity in there...

 Anne's ginormous watermelon is almost ready to harvest! We'll be saving the seeds from this one!

 The cucumbers are making a comeback after cutting back all the aphid-infected leaves, plus the extra protection of getting the plastic back up.

 Peter's selling his hot peppers if anyone wants any- he'll even pickle them!

I really need to harvest the spinach before it takes over the world.

 Looking toward the entrance

 New lettuce bed for the winter on the left, strawberries on the right

Our root cellar! Still needs some ventilation, but at least the mice aren't making their home in the dirt surrounding them anymore (Christian just added the cement). And the happiest thing is that there is no longer a skunk living on top of them anymore!

 Not to be confused with male pattern baldness, the chickens are molting. Which means egg production has dropped drastically (now 2 to 5 eggs/day out of 14 birds). :{

)

 Trying to save coriander (cilantro) seeds

The onions were happy and got big this year!

 Baby potatoes. I learned an amazing way to save potatoes! Just boil or bake them up, grate them (the grater just takes the peels off), freeze them on cookie sheets then transfer them to a freezer bag- homemade hashbrowns!

Though we technically passed our first frost date a couple weeks ago, we haven't actually frozen yet! So we'll enjoy the flowers as long as we can!

And keep on canning tomatoes! This amount will only make about 2-3 jars, but there are still more coming!