Is it fall or summer

We are officially in fall, but by Thursday our temperatures are expected to reach 87. One of my Brandywine tomato plants is full of big, beautiful, green tomatoes, and I am moving (movers arrive in 9 days), and I'm wondering if I'll be packing green or red tomatoes.

I'm only moving a few towns over, so taking my garden produce won't be a problem, other than the time to harvest as the movers do their thing.

Packing a household, plus over 40 years of pottery making and the tools and books from my cooking, gardening, jewelry making and the recent soap making efforts, make for a large packing job. I've been at it for weeks and have over 200 boxes packed so far. And that's not counting all the boxes of things that are packed but can't go into the moving van, which include, garden fertilizers, etc., cleaning chemicals, liquor, wine, anything inflammable and even deodorant!

Yesterday I started working on the garden and there are days worth of work in the vegetable garden. At almost 78 years of age, I fade after an hour or two of heavy work after being at it for weeks, and need rest time. But I'm like a quarter horse - I run hard and fast for a short time and I'm done for a while.

Yesterday I gathered up most of the tomato, pepper and pea supports, took the many bags of organic fertilizers, etc. out of the shed, put the poles from the tomato supports in my big old oil can with other garden tools and got the side supports into it's own big bag, moved things around in the shed and swept it out, cleaned off my potting table, etc etc..

Then I decided to empty one of the earth boxes since I would be putting new potting soil in it in the spring. I couldn't pull out the two plum tomato plants which are at their end and had to turn the box over to get the impacted soil out of there. And then there was the job separating that impacted soil, and finding a place for it and washing the planter.

While dealing with gathering these things I saw that some lettuce was starting to go to seed, so I pulled one of the plants, deciding to throw it over the fence for the mamma deer and baby I saw there earlier. By now I was pretty tired, and when I flung the lettuce over the fence, I saw my favorite, little, red, pen knife, which I forgot was in my right hand, fly by as well. It didn't make it over the fence but landed, I think, somewhere between some raspberry plants and a huge, nearby yucca. Two attempts to find it failed and I was way too tired to continue the search. I have a backup for that little knife, but unfortunately, it is already packed, so I had to get back to the house for a kitchen knife to cut some ties on the eggplant and other plants.

We close on the new house Friday, and before the movers come I have other things to do besides packing up this garden. The interior of the new house is being painted the next couple of days, and I have my lawn man going over to the new house today to check out the lawn which is going to need a lot of work, and check the automatic watering to make sure it's still on with this new heat spell and no rain in the forecast for at least the next ten days.

Five days after I move into the new house my daughter and son-in-law will be arriving from Germany for a 3 days visit on their way to Hawaii to celebrate their 10th anniversary, so I will need to unpack enough for basic living before they arrive.

I've numbered each box and made copious notes about what is in each one, so I should be able to find the things I need to get the house guest ready in a few days. So far my energy, although waning in these last 9 days, is still holding enough to me to get a lot done each day. I'm just taking more and longer breaks this week, but there are always phone calls, bills to pay and other paper work to fill in the time during those rest periods.

I'm hoping to pick up a few more free moving boxes today. Someone in town has offered some wardrobe boxes which I desperately need, and I could use a couple more medium sized, heavy weight boxes for my very heavy juicer and a couple of other similar things.

Time for my morning herb tea before I start my work day.

Dealing with lots of eggplants, tomatoes and zucchini

We've been dealing in over 100 degree F days for weeks now. These temperatures are 20 degrees above the norm for this time of year. On top of that, we are surrounded by fires, and the smoke for the past couple of weeks, so I'm not spending much time in the garden.

I check my veggie garden every couple of days to harvest and now wear a small particulate mask when doing it to protect myself from the smoke. I'm busy packing for a move early next month, and I'm trying to use these veggies without freezing or canning. So I've been eating a lot of tomato sandwiches for lunch, making a simple fresh tomato, garlic, basil, hot pepper flakes sauce with my numerous cherry tomatoes, with a bit of anchovy paste for extra flavor, and also, a chunky spaghetti sauce with the Oriental eggplant, zucchini, bell pepper, tomatoes, garlic, onion and herbs. The flavors combine well and make a very nice, satisfying vegetarian meal.

I'm in the middle of packing since I have only a month to pack a whole household, pottery studio and all these gardening supplies. Fortunately, I'm only moving about 50 minutes away, so I can put the things that the moving companies don't allow in their vans in my and friends cars.

I've already started to gather some of those garden fertilizers, insecticides,and   and have them in boxes and buckets for easy loading into the car. The movers can take the large, metal drum that has my bigger tools, and stakes for the tomato cages, all the big and medium pots, earth boxes, and similar.

I will have to disconnect the drip lines to those potted flowers and veggies a few days before the move, and plug the lines. I'll take those drip lines and emitters to use at the new house. This is a pretty  big move. You certainly collect a lot of stuff in forty to five years of pottery making, gardening and cooking. I also have a lot of rocks of all things, as well as a few heavy lapidary machines that I have to move. I do like my hobbies!

My son will be coming two days after the closing with his big car and his 4x8 trailer and I'll have a couple of friends here to help load and unload. We'll have 3 big cars and one sedan to fill up with the garden and cleaning supplies as well as, wine, alcohol, framed family photos, some small pottery buckets of raw materials and glazes and the other other items not allowed in the moving van, as well as lightweight big things like my home made light box, soap drying racks, soaping oils, and scents, garden trellises, bean tower, pea fence, etc. etc.

I'm hoping they get on top of these wild fires in the next couple of weeks so I can get in some garden time to divide and take some perennials with me. My new back yard is a pretty blank canvas which in many ways is a good thing.

Hope every is having better weather than we in the Pacific N.W, are; and hope you gardens are giving lots of wonderful and abundant things to eat and beautiful flower to adorn your home.