butternuts_lTonight was cool–heck, it was cold. There was a strong wind blowing in off the ocean and last weekend is but a warm memory. Maybe it was the weather and the feeling of fall in the air, but tonight in the garden I was motivated to take out my summer crops to get my beds ready for my winter crops. I took out about half my tomato plants and the big butternut that had taken over part of my backyard and deck. Above you see the final harvest from the butternut, ten big, beautiful squash that will keep for several months. I cooked up one tonight for dinner and look forward to more. This has been a particularly productive plant (actually, two, as I found out when I pulled out the roots). I’ve eaten “baby” butternuts (immature ones, cooked and eaten like summer squash) for a couple of months, and have already eaten or given away a couple of these big ones. So, I had a feeling of losing a good friend tonight. But, I’ll cut up the vines tomorrow night and add them to the compost pile, which I’m building for next spring when I put in next year’s summer crops. With agroecology, what goes around comes around.