Give thanks to the Lord!

Sr. Fidelis amid the bounty of winter squash produced by the Abbey vegetable garden earlier this year. It is no longer shirtsleeve weather!

Despite the recent very dry weather in Colorado, we had a bountiful harvest from the garden this year. We even raised a unique vegetable, which seems to be the result of cross-pollination between last year's zucchini and pumpkin plants. What we thought were zucchini grew larger and larger in circumference, and eventually turned a lovely orange color. The sisters working in the garden dubbed them "pumpini", and we have been enjoying them in various recipes for several months now.

Sr. Mary Elizabeth shows off a pumpini on the vine late this summer.

Here a pumpini is enthroned as the focus of our Thanksgiving Day harvest display, surrounded by other fruits of our labors: besides garden potatoes and pumpkins, honey, cheese, and eggs from happy hens (and ducks). There are also some decorative item that we didn't raise here at the Abbey, such as the dried beans and the Indian corn.

Sacristan Sr. Maria Gabriel and Sr. Hillary with the artistic arrangement of the fruits of our labors with which they decorated our Abbey Church for Thanksgiving Day. The place of honor at the center is held by a "pumpini", the hybrid pumpkin/zucchini which grew in our garden this year.