It was a bit of a sad day today.  Fall has started with a vengance and a cold front thas moved in leaving rain and snow in it’s wake.  That left me with one choice today and that was to carry out the final harvest before tonights promised frost hit.

While my son napped I went out and got to work.  Carefully removing the last ripe and nearly ripe fruit from the tomatoes, squash, pepper and egg plant plants.  Then when done I removed the plants and chopped them up to add to that compost salad at the back of the garden.  I know, it will be warm again next week, but some plants aren’t worth messing with after the first frost.  Those that are, I left behind. 

It was a bittersweet parting of ways this year as the garden had not produced as well as it had in past years.  It wasn’t the worst year ever and it certainly was not the best.  It was, however, still a good year.  It was  a year of firsts and that makes it better than any year.  It also makes it hard to say goodbye.

It was the first year I used raised beds and it was the first real summer in the garden for Baby G.  This was where he had his first birthday.   It was where he learned that a Praying Mantis can be ferocious and pill bugs can roll up.  He learned that basil, dill and sage taste good and nasturtiums were spicy.  He found out that grasshoppers were bad and often saw the bottom of Papa’s shoe and he learned earwigs are the bane of the garden and snails are fun to throw.   Best of all he learned  that there is more to this world than Nickelodeon and Noggin.  Dirt can be fun. <Photo 5>  I will never forget the day when after watching me pick tomatoes for about 5 minutes my son started pointing out the rest of the ripe ones.  He knew the green tomatoes had to wait a little longer.  Not bad for 15 months old!

In the coming weeks the little guy and I will spend more time in the garden as we get the beds ready for next year.  We’ll spread the fall leaves on the beds and cover them under blankets of composted mulch.  Letting the plants of years past feed us in the future.  The lifecycle of the garden is wonderful and I love sharing it with him. Just as my father and mother had with me and as their father’s an mother’s had with them. 

In the end I just want my son to learn where food comes from and not just where you buy it. That is more important to me than anything else and something I learned very early on as a child.  By the time I was five I had grown gardens, caught fish, watched my favorite goat go to slaughter and watched our ducks go from the pond to the dinner table.  Heck, I even knew how to castrate a goat. 

So off we go.  Planning next year.  Garden 2010, the year when the chicken coop goes in and my boy finds out where eggs, thighs, wings, breasts and legs come from.  This should be good.