Jenn and I celebrated our one-year friendiversary with a visit to Old Man's Cave.

Well, okay, I'll be honest. I meandered so much peering at mosses and liverworts, rocks and roots and rushing water that we didn't make it to the cave in question. But we saw just about everything else...so I supposed that oversight is just an excuse to go back!

Despite temperatures hovering around freezing, the park was crowded with sightseeers. To me, this staircase says it all --- so many people have trod here that the standstone steps have worn away. (The flat ones have been replaced with concrete.)

There was still plenty of beauty despite the crowds though. This shot almost captures the grandeur of the rock formations...but not quite.

Fall flirted with us for three glorious weeks. Then the barely-almost frosts disappeared with multiple nights in the 20s --- our first hard freeze.

The last green peppers escaped me but I picked broccoli side shoots frozen solid and cooked them before they thawed. Now we're down to lettuce, kale, and (possibly) brussels sprouts harvests out of the garden for the rest of the winter. But that's alright --- I'm looking forward to snow!

The biggest reason I rushed to harvest my carrots is because I had that spot earmarked to turn into a flower bed. Two bags of crocuses have been waiting for months to go into the ground there. So as soon as the carrots came out, the crocuses went in.

Huckleberry "helped" with the project, which means he sat on the carrot tops and made it difficult to use them as mulch over my crocus bulbs. I eventually got the job done anyway.

Well, except for deciding what else to plant in my new flower bed for summer and fall color. Ideas for useful or at least low-work perennials to plant in a very deer-trafficked spot?

I almost forgot to run the Honda mower dry before she goes into Winter hibernation.

With some care, it's quite possible to over-winter carrots. But I've found the flavor is best if you instead harvest them after the weather has turned cold but before the ground has started to freeze.

I've been pulling the biggest carrots here and there for a couple of months now, but Wednesday I decided it was time to take the rest out of the ground.

I planted an area about a quarter as large as I used to back in Virginia, which meant it only took about half an hour to clean them all up. An assembly line made the process more efficient, adding to the fast work.

I scrubbed in the filthy bowl to the right, rinsed in the cleaner water in the middle, then let the carrots drip dry in the steamer on the upper left while I processed another batch. The carrots on the towel are either small or injured in some matter --- I'll eat those quickly. Then I ended up with two big covered bowls to store in the fridge for winter meals.

The submersible pump does a good job at draining the water from our foundation.

My Mom tried Dwarf Blue Vates kale this year.

Anna noticed that it did not go to seed, so she pulled it out of the chicken coop and replanted it to see if it will come back next year.

Some perennial kale can live up to 5 or 6 years.