Blue with Indigo

Japanese Indigo in bloom

My gardening season is winding down. I have to be honest and say that when I pulled all 23 of my tomato plants (actually Kyle, my son did this awful task) my desire for my garden died with those plants. That bloody Irish Famine Late Blight that took all my tomatoes was just too much to bear. No Bruchetta; ouch! How awful is that? I finally got up the nerve and went out last weekend and began cleaning the garden beds up by pulling up fungal infested squashes, beat beans, weeds, weeds, and more weeds.

Yesterday I harvested quite a few carrots and they were delicious. I read that harvesting carrots after a frost, meaning cooler soil temps, makes sweeter carrots. I have found this to be true. I don't know if it makes a difference but whenever I have a choice to buy carrots from New England vs. a southern area I always choose the cooler climate.

This is the first year in many years that I am not going to Common Ground Fair :( I love to go on Fridays but couldn't go this year. What amazing weather for the fair! Oh well; maybe next year.

So instead of spending a glorious day at the fair I will be spending the day harvesting all my Japanese Indigo to dye alpaca yarn that I've been spinning all summer. So while this posting isn't food related I'm sharing because I do plant indigo in the garden. And the indigo this year is spectacular! Each of the 9 plants looks like a small bush and is in full flower. I covered them last night with sheets to protect them from the predicted frost and it's a good thing I did. The middle plant of the row didn't get covered and its leaves are black as are all the pie pumpkin plant leaves.

Off to gather indigo and begin the long but fun process of extracting the color from the plant.

Enjoy the beautiful autumn weather.