The luffa we had growing at the community garden was still going strong when we finally left the garden a little over a week ago. There were fruits growing all over the fence and while I had taken some of the fruits throughout the summer to dry and keep the ‘sponge’ part of the plant for later, I wanted to have a few more. Here are three that I had let dry. The one on the far right I peeled when it was green and the fibers were clearly evident once peeled. I set it outside to dry and ended up leaving it far too long causing it to mold.…

Having a compost pile is something we have been looking forward to since we bought the house. For awhile I stopped keeping my food scraps completely. We’d moved further away from the community garden and I was just not in the mood to keep it up. Back in September Chris decided that we could start a makeshift compost pile in a ratty trash can left by the previous homeowners. I rinsed it out and we stuck it on the side of the storage shed/carport and I started the pile by throwing in the weeds I collected from clearing out the vegetable bed area on the south side of the house.…

On Sunday we dug up our sweet potatoes at the community garden, the last plot we had still growing there. It was a bit sad to leave but it felt right to be leaving. We grew a lot there in the year we spent at the garden but I know we’ll be growing a lot more at our garden at the house in the future. The sweet potato harvest was pretty good, though at first we were a bit doubtful. We kept pulling out the smaller, thickened roots but were finally rewarded with good sized potatoes. The smaller roots and pieces we are keeping for ‘seed’ for next summer’s crop.…