I haven’t been posting because I’ve been crazy busy.
Today I picked an overflowing bowl of green beans. I picked the first bowl full just over a week ago, before an anticipated frost. If there actually were frosts that weekend, they must have been very light, because the only plants that appeared to have been nipped were a few leaves on a couple of the bean plants. There are still lots of little beans on the bush beans. I should get at least one more good picking out of them. Normally I don’t enjoy picking bush beans because it tires my back and knees. However, at this time of year it’s been a pleasure. Even though I know it’s due to pure luck and serendipity that I made such a late planting, and has more to do with determination than skill and expertise, harvesting beans into December feels like a special and personal accomplishment. I don’t know anyone else in the area fool enough to plant green beans in October. Also picked some bell peppers and eggplants.
I also gathered my daily handful of raspberries. They were difficult as all get out to care for in the summer in the southeast. They take constant vigilance because the borers love them, as do every sucking type insect out there, and the plants don’t tolerate our excessive heat very well. They seem to shine their best in the fall. Even though they are ragged looking, they continue to put out new growth at each leaf/branch node to replace the worn out ones, and continue to produce new clusters of berries. They’ve given me fruit every day throughout this soggy, flood addled fall. The berries mature more slowly, but I have less competition from insects and the fruit both more sturdy and more tasty. Those raspberries have been real spirit lifters for me all fall. I hope our winter treats them well enough that they are productive next year, too.
That third attempted planting of spinach and second of beets both managed to get established this time. They did not wash out in the rains we’ve had since then. Both now have true leaves. The spinach is making its second set. Some of the little spinach plants have vanished. Most likely to snails, which I squish daily and keep bait out for.
I’m very apprehensive that the flooding may have brought some new scourges. I’ve always been vocally thankful that deer and skunks were two critters that I did not have to contend with. We have more than enough challenges without them. Thanksgiving Day my 22 yo daughter was sunning herself on the trampoline with her eyes closed. She heard sounds and thought I was sneaking up on her. When she opened her eyes she wound up in a staring contest with a deer. 
She told me, “It was a girl because it just had little horns coming out of its head.” Oh, well. At least she recognized it as a threat to the gardens and trees, instead of thinking of it as cute.
The winter veggies are growing. Slowly, but they are growing. We’re down to barely 10 hours of sun up a day now. It was around 80 yesterday and upper 70’s today, but will cool back down to the 60’s and probably rain over the next few days. No frost expected for at least the next 10 days.
