Farmgirl Friday Blog Hop #208 and Happy Halloween!

Happy Farmgirl Friday! 

Oh, it did our hearts good to see you all last week! Thanks for comin' round to share your farmgirl talents with us again.  I confess I don't have any cute Halloween crafts or treats to share this week. We had company from Reno, Nevada last week so we were out and about sight seeing all up an down the south coast and Cape Cod enjoying fall in New England. Everywhere you go, people are saying the color hasn't been this beautiful in years and I agree.

  I had to pull over and get a quick pic of this charming little red cape all gussied up for fall. We're also in the middle of a bathroom remodel and putting the garden to bed. I've got dahlias to dig and store and a fallen down greenhouse to clear out before winter comes. Life is GOOD!

Debbie's been busy canning of all things, right in the middle of her kitchen remodel. Now, that's some serious farmgirl'n! As the old saying goes, " where there's a determined farmgirl, it shall be done ". Okay, maybe it's not an old saying, but it's true!

 Speaking of determined and talented farmgirls, it's time to renew my subscription to MaryJanesFarm Magazine. Yes, this IS a shameless plug for my favorite magazine in the whole world. It just gets better with every issue... and that's a lot of issues. 15 years and counting of farmgirl inspiration! 

I couldn't pick a favorite from last weeks hop. I loved each and every entry. So many hit home and inspired me to get moving. I need to make marinara sauce, I cleaned my closet yesterday, ( not photo worthy, but clean), I'm still decorating for fall, and I'm always looking for new homesteading and decorating ideas. Thanks for covering all the bases, once again! 

Let's hop farmgirls! 

Now, where did I put my witches hat?

Garden Notes: Amazing Autumn Asters

 Are these the cutest, frilliest little fall flowers you've ever seen? I'm in love with these adorable Asters from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds.

I planted a few packets of these in a trial bed as a late crop to see how I would like them.

Talk about beautiful and hardy. They survived the first frost and are still going strong in the garden when everything else is done for the season.

See  how luscious they still look!

The variety of colors and petal shapes in one mix of seed packets is brilliant! 

This mix includes single petals, flat petals and curly ribbon-like petals. The multi petal flowers look almost like a Chrysanthemum. My daughter said they reminded her of those big curly ribbon bows you find at the supermarket in the gift wrap section.

It begins with pure white,

  followed by lilac, then  light pink, dark pink and deep purple.

These little cuties are very easy to grow and Baker Creek Heirloom seeds has a near perfect germination rate. Plant them after danger of the last frost all the way until early July and you'll have blooms into late October. They take a while to put on buds but once they do, watch out!

The mix well with the bolder colors of late summer/fall bloomers such as,dahlias, zinnias, pincushion flowers and sunflowers. 

If you've got some extra room in your cutting garden or an extra row or two on your flower farm, I highly recommend them. If some of the other varieties are this easy to grow I'm up for more amazing Asters next season.

Farmgirl Friday Blog Hop # 207

 

Howdy friends! Welcome back to the Farmgirl Friday Blog Hop!

Your place to share your best recipes, crafts, DIY projects, farm stories, farm animal tips, and vintage treasures and what ever else you fancy. 

I hope you are all settling in to fall. It's such a wonderful time of year for getting out and enjoying milder weather, beautiful scenery and delicious food that celebrates harvest season.

Where have we been the last month? I apologize for going missing. This farmgirl had her hands busy with all things flowers this year and somehow our little ole hop ended up at the bottom of the pile. It was a season of growth inside and out!

Apple Stuffed Acorn Squash with Craisins

It's about to get cold and dark out and we're gonna need each-other over the long winter months ahead. To spice things up in our kitchen, I promised myself I would make more " new recipes" rather than fall-back on my old stand-by meals. This week I made a delicious Apple Stuffed Acorn Squash with Craisins and boy was it yummy! I found the recipe online in MaryJanesFarm Recipe of the 

Week. You can read all about it in my Beach Farmgirl post here.

 What have you been cooking up now that the weather has a chill in it? Do tell!

My farmgirl co-hostess, Debbie and I have missed our hop so let's get to it!