Thanks to the Great Pumpkin

Here is a tasty Pumpkin Bread recipe that my family has enjoyed for years. This one calls for canned pumpkin but I’m sure that you could substitute fresh if you have it at this time of year.

3 1/3 cups flour

2 tsp. baking soda

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. nutmeg

3 cups sugar

1/2 tsp. ground cloves

1 cup oil

4 eggs

2/3 cup water

2 cups canned pumpkin

1/2 cup chopped walnuts, optional

      Grease and flour pans. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

1.  Sift dry ingredients together into a large mixing bowl.

2.  Make a well in dry ingredients, then add all remaining ingredients.

3.  Mix until smooth and add nuts, if desired.

4.  Divide batter into 4 miniature loaf pans or 2 large loaf pans; fill pan 2/3.

5.  Bake at 350 degrees for approx. one hour. Insert toothpick. Remove loaf if it comes out clean.

6.  Cool slightly in pan.

7.  Turn onto rack to finish cooling.

8.  Wrap in foil and store in refrigerator.

So easy... wrap up a mini-loaf and share with a neighbor.

—Thanks to www.MixItandStixIt.com for the Halloween bat!

A new green website

Try out the new GoGreenOnline.com website. It is full of practical ways to be a good caretaker for our changing environment. Through the use of interactive games, quizzes and advice, this site will give you ways to go green one step at a time—without stress! 

Smiley-faced tomato?

Is that a jack-o-lantern tomato, or what? This follow-up photo is from the woman who harvested the first tomato of the season on our blog. She outdid us again!

Virtual fall color

See the fall colors change in Maine through Montana without leaving your chair. 

Live webcams show you minute by minute leaf changing at these areas listed below:

Acadia National Park, Maine- 2 cameras

Glacier National Park, Montana- 6 cameras

Pennsylvania foliage- 4 cameras

Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky- 1 camera

Indiana Leaf cams-5 cameras

EarthCam Fall Foliage Cams- 100s of cameras nationwide

Good local book

I have started to read the new book, ‘Chicago Gardens: The Early History’ by Cathy Jean Maloney and published by The University of Chicago Press. 

What a great resource for information on the Chicago area’s first gardeners. It is filled with vintage photographs, line drawings of garden plans and colorful art from seed catalogs and flower shows. This well-organized book is an easy way to absorb our great horticultural heritage. 

The author is a senior editor at Chicagoland Gardening magazine. She knows her stuff!