The PooPooPaper card stock and envelope are crafted from a giant heap of steaming elephant poo, recycled without one whiff or clue to its origin and now resting between your fingers. Some co-workers were disgusted. I was delighted and now I’ll share the poopy greeting with you!

The envelope, giving only the slightest of hint as to the contents inside

The front...

The inside...

The reveal on the back...

A closeup of the logo

We did and last night marked one of my favorite nights when it comes to the kitchen garden. It’s what I have affectionately dubbed the Hustle Harvest. This hurried effort is brought on once a year, every fall, when the forecast calls for the first frost of the season. When the call for frost is finally made by the National Weather Service, we bundle up and hustle through the garden harvesting every bit of tender produce that will be ruined by frost. Tomatoes, peppers, basil and other tender herbs that are still hanging on need to be picked.  Even all those green tomatoes will ripen over the next few weeks inside your home. You might even have delicious, bright red homegrown tomatoes to share at your Thanksgiving feast.

Last night was no exception. Talina and Everly had picked most of the tomato plants clean by the time I got home and had quite the wagon load waiting for me to haul in. I bundled up and with the fall nip descending as quickly as the sunset, hustled around picking a load of late season peppers and trimming down the basil plants. We ended up with abouts 30lbs. of green tomatoes that will ripen inside over the next couple of months, 2lbs. of bell and banana peppers and several bushels of fresh basil. The kitchen smells wonderful…that heady spicy scent of basil filling the air.

True, the Hustle Harvest means the end to another gardening season. This one was not quite so productive but it means the beginning to a new gardening year is just around the corner. The anticipation will last all winter.

Hustle Harvest 2011 netted about 30lbs. of green tomatoes, another large bushel of basil for drying and a handful of bell and banana peppers.

Despite feeling extremely sick to her stomach for reasons we'd later understand, my Homestead Hottie climbed right in to apple picking.

Looking for a break from the daily routine with our toddler and newborn, Homestead Hottie and I decided we wanted to get out and enjoy one of the fall activities we’ve come to really enjoy: picking apples. The first year we moved here we went to a u-pick apple orchard located in the middle of town. It was the staple of many family traditions in the area. We pulled up into the dusty parking pad to find three children and a horse hanging out in a small plywood shelter. After paying our money we were handed our two picking bags and off we went.

At some point during this excursion, walking up and down row upon row of this apple orchard, we came to the conclusion Homestead Hottie was pregnant with our first Darling Daughter. She looked greener and greener around the gills with each passing moment and at one point thought she was going to pass out. Needless to say, this apple picking excursion was the beginning of our realization we were headed down the path to parenthood. Memories were made and so was a lot of applesauce.

Instead of climbing, I took aim at the tops of the apple trees with one very handing wooden stick and would catch my results as they fell.

Fast forward three years and we’ve been super stoked to see our friend Joe Engelbrecht working on getting his fourth generation orchard up and running. While we couldn’t u-pick at his orchard last year, we bought plenty and plenty of apples from his farm store and turned them into preserved apple slices and several canning jars full of apple butter. In my opinion, they are some quintessential treats of fall.

This year, Joe’s u-pick orchard is up and running and we didn’t hesitate to jump in the first weekend we could. We know the longer you wait in the season to pick, the harder it is to find some good quality fruit so we didn’t want to drag our feet. After purchasing our picking bags at Joe’s store (he was charging $1 per pound and you got to decide between 5 or 10 pound bags), we were given directions on how to access the gravel trail meandering through adjacent corn fields and to the orchard laid out nicely on the slope above the store.

Pulling up to the rustic red barn marking the entrance to the orchard, you could begin reading the signs marking each row of apple trees. Much to Homestead Hottie’s excitement were a row or two of Jonagold apples. These are her favorite “everyday” eating apples and a variety our family chiropractor turned us onto when he discovered Talina didn’t like the texture or taste of most apples.

The orchard was overloaded with apples when we paid a visit with plenty still in our Darling Daughter's reach.

We quickly filled up a 5-pound bag of Jonagold apples after walking just one or two trees deep down the row. I wanted to get a mixed bag of a few of the other varieties Joe has to offer including Red Delicious, Golden Delicious and Braeburn. These three varieties aren’t quite at their peak of ripeness yet but I’m sure several days on the counter will help them get there.

Everly had a blast sprinting from tree to tree and gazing at the trees, overloaded with one of her favorite fruits to snack on. She even had a few apples that were within her short reach that she was able to pick and this made her quite proud. In fact, one of those apples didn’t even make it into the bag but instead landed firmly in her mouth. It was her picking fuel and the ultimate test of the quality of Joe’s apple crop. Everly definitely approved because aside from a shared bite or two, she downed that thing. Baby Adalyn slept the entire time we off-roaded her stroller up and down the orchard rows so she must have been enjoying herself too.

If you’re looking for a fun family activity to do one of these fall weekends, I would definitely recommend heading to Joe Engelbrecth’s Fourth Generation Orchard to pick some fresh apples. Not only are you supporting a local farmer by doing so, you’re supporting a unique local business. Joe and his wife are carving a very unique niche for themselves in the Evansville area and hopefully will find further prosperity here in the future. Happy picking!

A new, healthier vending machine located at Eastland Mall

This new Fresh! vending machine is located in the eastern entrance portal to Eastland Mall, right next to the Old Navy store. It also happens to be placed right next to the new electric train that will drive you and your kids around for a pretty penny, talk about a captive audience! However, the fact that this machine contains some healthy options such as Cliff Bars for Kids, fruit juice pouches, fruit snacks and Stacys Pita Chips makes this granola dad happy.

Sure, I know what you purists are saying: this isn’t good enough and its still processed food and what about those Kettle brand potato chips! What I have to say in response to that is this is a good solid move and I hope to see more trends in this direction here in Evansville. Only then will we begin the road to recovery as the fattest city in the United States…that and eliminating the McDonalds or other fast food outlet on every corner

Our society seems ripe with abandonement. Apparantly many individuals believe that when the going gets tough, get rid of it. Because of that thinking, we see abandonement just about everywhere we go in America. It could be that Sears refridgerator dumped out of the back of a pickup truck in an empty lot. It might be the junked Toyota Corrola pushed over the edge of a canyon, coming to rest in the middle of a stream. It could also be the fluffy persian cat, silently dumped in the middle of the night behind the tv station. Or, in the saddest of circumstances, it’s the infant left on the front steps of the local fire station. While my most recent run-in with abandonement is worth a chuckle, it’s kind of sad at the same time.I took the recycleables out to the recycling dumpster this afternoon when I was greeted by the most unusual “freebie”. Left by the side of the dumpster stood an indoor palm tree…a houseplant. This palm tree had certainly seen better days. I’m not one to let any abandoned object, sitting beside the dumpster, go unnoticed. So, I went in for a closer look. The tall spindly palm tree was tied to itself. Five shoots came out from the soil. Two of those shoots had perfect green leaves on top of them. Another shoot had a brand new leaf, ready to unfurl and spring forth with new life. The other two were as brown as cowhide and crispy. The palm was sitting in a rather large terra cotta pot, complete with a terra cotta drip tray. The pot looked as if a mere sneeze would turn it to dust. Lines of calcium stained the rim and sides of the clay. Another spot almost seemed to ooze blood, like the damn thing had been shot at in one last fit of rage between the plant and it’s owner. The soil was covered with dead leaves…like the thought never occured to simply throw them out.

Abandonement: A houseplant tossed out of the very house it tried to pump oxygen into. It’s not as if the damn thing has given up the ghost, not wanting to grow or participate in life. No. This palm has two good fronds and another on the way! But why bother cut the dead and decay from this horrible plant? I’m just going to place it gently by the dumpster and walk away, hoping someone will save this tragic thing.

And so, I waited until darkness fell around the dumpster and his leafy mate. I skulked through the parking lot, almost fearing for the harsh reaction of the neighbors. The neighbors who would recoil at the thought of picking up someone’s abandoned house plant. With the crumbling pot firmly in my arms, I carried the poor palm back to our front step. Bathed in the porchlight, I knew yet another abandoned object had come to our home to stay. A stay that will breathe new life in the abandoned potted palm. At the same time, I feel sorry for the poor sap that just gives up on their houseplant.

I recorded a vlog from the square foot garden just a couple of weeks ago and totally forgot to post it. Better late than never, right? This will help you get caught up to speed on my next garden update, hopefully coming this weekend. Check it out in my featured video box on the right!

On other random thoughts this morning, I woke up and walked out to the kitchen to get the coffee started when walked by our fish tank and noticed a weird noise. I looked over to see only 1/3 of the water left in our tank! It seems one or our cats had dislodged the tubing to the air stone and it steadily self-siphoned itself all night. The leak is stopped now and the floor is drying. Now we’ll have to slowly fill the tank back up with water. Our poor fish are looking at us through the glass with very concerned looks on their little faces.

I racked over my Honey Brown homebrewed beer on Friday. It smells great and has an awesome brown/amber color quality to it. It’s also rather clear which is another huge plus in the world of homebrewing. It will sit in secondary fermentation for another three days or so before I finally get it into some bottles, just in time to enjoy at Christmas!