I guess he's there to guard my field of foam pumpkins?

Before we get into Martha's Calendar for October, I just want to mention that I think something is slightly...off this year. As I noted previously, Martha generally appears insane and resplendent on the cover in some wealthy New England approximation of ghoulishness, but this year there is just a pumpkin. A pumpkin. With colorful crap glued to it. So that's a disconcerting start.

Then there's this:

The "Halloween Trick" is to buy a foam pumpkin? What are you even talking about, Martha? Should I just go buy up the Halloween section at Dollar General? IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT?


Then she goes hard the other direction. Warning--the following image may disturbing for some viewers, it certainly was for me:

I, uh...hmm. 

Anyway, I just wanted to give you some context for why I'm not adhering as closely to the calendar as last year. It's out of laziness fear.

October 1st-5th, highlights:

"Plant garlic." I didn't personally do this, but I did instruct my husband and children gardening team to plant some things, so maybe one of those things was garlic, what do I know.

"Harvest winter squash, make lasagna." One out of two!

This is the Vegetable Lasagna from America's Test Kitchen, which I intended to make it in September. It took three hours top to bottom but it was all worth it when one of my children burst into tears at the sight of it.

"Horseback ride." Ah, that's more like it.

"Schedule regular gutter cleanings." Hey! Dan! Clean the gutters once in a while! Done.

So, we're off to a start. Definitely got started. Just know that my team and I are out there, making the tough autumnal decisions.