Love Is Homegrown!

Thursday or Friday of last week dawned brisk and chilly with this beautiful scene out our front window--

snow on Pikes Peak.

 With frost predicted, we knew we had better cover our gardens or harvest them.

We hated to say goodbye to our mailbox flowers, but summer does come to an end.

 Thursday we spent cutting up Jonathan's deer and hanging Sam's in the garage.

Sam had gotten his buck, too,  just before they were going to start home from hunting!

That put them several hours later than expected, but no problem!

It was so exciting that they brought home two deer.  

I scrubbed our own potatoes and carrots from our raised beds to roast with this venison

we were roasting for dinner to which we'd invited Jonathan's parents.

 It was a joy to share the first and best and freshest with Jonathan's parents.

We had gone out to harvest any tomatoes...

 to dig up the blooming marigold...

and pick some of the bachelors buttons...

 and gather a few of the best flowers blooming around the mailbox.

 I could not stop admiring this beautiful homegrown bouquet that Carrie had planted, tended, and now gathered.

 We picked beets and I scrubbed them to make a dish of hot beets for supper.

 Meanwhile, hunting gear hangs on the line, freshly laundered.

 Cherry tomatoes are gathered.

Potatoes are dug.

 And carrots are pulled.

 Proud gardeners!

 Grandma brought a bouquet of her nasturtiums, which perfectly matched our autumn tablecloth.

And of course there were hunting stories to tell,

 and photos to look at on Jonathan's phone.

Jonathan and Timmy up in the mountains.

We were grateful for God's hand upon Sam and Rose as they narrowly escaped being hit by lightning as an unexpected thunderstorm came through, with lightning striking very near them

as they crossed a meadow on the 4-wheeler.

We were so happy to have Jonathan and boys home again--

with fresh venison this time!

Grandma leans over Carrie's shoulder to look at a pictorial of Rev. and Mrs. Harry Plank

in the most recent God's Missionary Standard.

So we celebrate summer's last treasures...

 and all things homegrown and homemade with love...

 created by God for beauty and glory and joy.