pumpkins

The End of the Pumpkin Season

Well, we have certainly had a great season in the vegetable garden with lots of zucchinis, tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, apples – the list goes on! We have also had a fab season for pumpkins and this afternoon we picked them all as we are having an early frost tonight which may kill the vines, but could also freeze the pumpkins so that when opening – say in three months time – they will be slop… not even OK to make soup with potentially.

(PS – I plan to do a painting of these pumpkins – aren’t they gorgeous!)

So not only did we (hubby & I ) pick the pumpkins I then went into the studio to make some platters, plates, coasters, rings and pendants impressed with pumpkin leaves. This idea has been popular in my ETSY shop so I thought I should make more while I still had the leaves available!

And this is an idea of the finished product 🙂

I hope to make more leaf imprinted plates and jewellery using whatever may be in season at the time – so stay tuned 🙂

Sunday Studio Visit – or rather Sunday Kitchen Visit!

The firing schedule is really busy at the moment in the studio due to my ceramic classes and also my own art work …. so I am firing the kiln today, mostly with student works, plus a few of my own artworks.

But my attention today has been in the kitchen – it is that time of year again!

An abundance of produce has meant preserving – so today’s efforts involved squash relish and fermented cucumbers.

We enjoyed a sample of the relish on tonight’s dinner – zucchini (from the garden) and corn patties accompanied by said relish! It was so good…

I wont be able to sample the cucumbers for a week as they need to ferment – but i’m sure they will be yummo!

The other cool thing about having a vegetable garden are the pumpkin and zucchini leaves which leave a great impression on clay. These plates have a pumpkin leaf impressed into the surface which has been highlighted with black copper oxide and finished with a clear glaze. I am pretty happy with them, even though one cracked! I will be making more, and will have to do so in the next month before the plants die off as Winter approaches.

So until next week – have fun! But hopefully I post before then!