It’s over.
A hard freeze last week brought the end of the gardening season for the year. This is always a little bittersweet. I’m ready to be done picking and canning and freezing – but yet I’m sad at the thought of how long it will be before we taste vegetables this fresh again.
We picked everything possible that afternoon before the freeze. Now what do I do with a dish pan full of jalapenos?
For now we are eating them as poppers with almost every meal! 
I’ve played with the idea of trying to can some in little jelly jars to use like the canned jalapenos you buy at the store. But that will need to wait for a day with a little more energy and creativity.
I really can’t complain though – how often are we still eating fresh poppers in November? I feel like we went into “post-season play” with the garden this year.
But instead of the going to the Rose Bowl – we got invited to the tomato bowl!
We picked every tomato that had even the slightest hint of red and brought it inside. As they ripened, we cut them and froze them. Almost of these beauties are cooking on my stove right now in one last big batch of spaghetti sauce for the year.
We did save a few out for some more bruschetta, salsa and tomato salad. We need to savor these treasures – it will be a long time before we taste anything this ripe and delicious!
The sweet peppers will go in the fridge and I’ll use them up fresh as quickly as I can. I’ll miss sweet pepper in my eggs and on my salads.
I still have a few apples on the porch and some patty pan and butternut squash from Mom waiting in the basement to be eaten – but for the most part – the harvest is in and the season is over.
The fence is down, the stakes and cages put away for another year, and the plants pulled up and hauled away.
The ground lays fallow and will be soon covered with snow as we sit inside all warm and cozy – enjoying the fruits of our labor.
But then – with those bitterly cold days of January – the first seed catalog of the year will arrive and we’ll start the whole process over again!
Gardening isn’t just a hobby – sometimes I think it’s an addiction!
I’ve linked this post up at A Tuesday Garden Party at An Oregon Cottage.
Our family likes to pass magazines around, round-robin style, and it was in one of those magazines that I found this heart-healthy recipe.
on some and froze them in quart bags to be used all winter in pies and crisps.