Feeling Dandy about fresh food

I'm feeling kind of sad that the weather has suddenly turned cold. If I don't close the windows at night, its so chilly in the morning I have to turn on the oven just to warm up! I've been spending lots of time in the Kitchen, trying to preserve the abundance of food I know I'll be missing in the middle of winter. So far I have made some strawberry+rhubarb, Apricot, and Raspberry jams:

Blanched & froze rainbow chard & kale, made a huge jar of super-yummy bean salad, hubby and friends made a huge batch of apple wine, and we spent a whole night collecting wild saskatoon berries, sour cherries, and wild hazelnuts (below):

Finding the hazelnuts made me so happy- I didn't know for sure that they were hazelnuts but I had a hunch, and luckily it was correct! The ones shown above were collected in late July, we went back about 3 weeks later and there were barely any left; as they ripen & mature, the squirrels raid the forest. The amount of shells I found on the ground was evidence of this phenomenon. But I can't wait till have time to roast & eat the ones I did collect- what a treat!

We have about 40 tomato plants, most of them were planted by my hubby from seed back in March. Some of them were "volunteer" plants that must have sprouted from seeds in the compost heap- oh, how I *love* volunteers! Below is a shot of some of the "tomato bushes", as I like to call them, and some of their fruits. It's been such a cold summer that the tomatoes are only now starting to ripen :(



And lastly (for now), also somewhat garden related, I'm even sad about seeing the dandelions die this fall. I wanted to mention my Dandelion handspun, handpainted yarn is in this week's Etsy Voter. There are some lovely yarns chosen, so please go take a look, and if you feel inclined, please give my dandelion yarn some love! Also exciting: dandelion is off to Holland for my very first international order!!! So pleased that someone there loved it enough to order it!