An October Day in Pictures

I spent the day harvesting some of the last vegetables from the garden and photographing them. As this was happening I prepared jars for preserving, had pots of salsa verde and apple sauce on the stove, and packed several jars full of herbed salt. It was a busy day of multi-tasking, but I don’t mind. This is some of my favourite work.

Speaking of photography: This coming Saturday I will be giving a short presentation on photographing food at the Blissdom Canada conference. Will you be attending? Please don’t hesitate to say hi if you are. Few people realize that while I love to talk and give presentations, I am crippled by shyness at conference parties and “mixers.” I can not mingle or work a room to save my life!


These aren’t the last of the tomato harvest, but it is getting very close.


This tomatillo didn’t have a chance to grow into its husk fully. It’s like a floppy, balloon-like bladder.


These green tomatillos from my garden have been made into salsa verde and are in jars.


‘Mini Chocolate Bell’ peppers from my garden. So adorable!

Gayla Trail
Gayla is a writer, photographer, and former graphic designer with a background in the Fine Arts, cultural criticism, and ecology. She is the author, photographer, and designer of best-selling books on gardening, cooking, and preserving.

Subscribe to get weekly updates from Gayla

10 thoughts on “An October Day in Pictures

  1. Beautiful!
    How do you can salsa verde? I made some raw one from a pound of tomatillos I harvested from a lonely plant, so ought to keep it in the fridge…

  2. Salsa verde is a staple in my house. Love, love, love putting it on just about everything. Sadly, my tomatillos did not do very well this year, but my (very generous!) neighbor had a great crop!

  3. There is nothing like photographing fresh vegetables from the garden while in the garden!

    Love your background choices.

    Are you tomatillos taking over your garden? I planted two plants four years ago and each year their offspring magically appears EVERYWHERE in the garden! It does make for great salsa verde though!

  4. New to your site and love it. I’m surprised u have not had a killing frost yet. I’m on midcoast Maine and it got me while I was away. I did make some of your nasturtium blossom vinegar, I have never heard of that, and its so pretty on my window sill. I had swordfish w nasturtium butter at a restaurant, and it was yum.
    Btw, love your book.

    • Thanks! We did have a killing frost but the temperatures climbed right back up and it actually got quite warm again. I lost some plants in the killing frost but many others made it but will die when the next round takes hold.

  5. Wow, nice harvest for mid-October! Here just a few miles north of TO my last tomatoes got frozen to death about a week ago. I am thinking the packet of “ground cherry” seeds I bought was mislabeled, and must actually be tomatillos because they never turn color, their husks never dry out, and they’re way bigger than ground cherries. I’m just afraid to eat them because I’ve heard that unripe they can be toxic. Help?

Comments are closed.