Nuts to you

Acorns are dropping all around us. The woods and forests in our region are filled with oak trees and oak trees produce acorns. When I walk under a stand of oaks I can hear the crunching under foot. Callie will munch on one every now and then.

An acorn still on the tree.

Our tomato harvest continues, and we got a couple more courgettes (zucchini) from the garden yesterday. They're probably the last ones. The winter squash crop, however, is just starting. We have mostly spaghetti squash this year -- it's the first time I've grown that. We also have a type of acorn squash (speaking of acorns), a couple of stray butternuts, and a couple of some other kind of cucurbitacée (the squash family).

We're planning to make a bunch of food for the freezer this week, starting today with a ratatouille using tomatoes and zukes from the garden along with eggplant and peppers from the market. Then Ken's planning some stuffed cabbage leaves and we'll probably make another batch of tomato sauce. We also have the ingredients for a potée, a pot full of vegetables (carrot, potato, rutabaga, cabbage, leek) flavored with a ham hock and some smoked sausages; that'll be lunch for the next day or so. I'm already hungry.