Autumn Color

We are at the height (or just slightly past) of autumn color on the leaves. Wind has blown some trees "naked" already, but the majority of the woods I'm viewing from my desk this morning are in full, glorious reds, oranges, and yellows.

There are black walnuts on the ground. They need to be harvested and put out on the driveway for hull removal when the truck drives over them. I don't know if that will happen to any great extent this year, but I'll work on it a little. If not hulled quickly, little worms invade the hard outer shell and the nuts are ruined.

I haven't seen any shagbark hickories this year. 'Good thing I shelled and froze some last year.

As I looked out the window this morning, I thought my eyes were "seeing things" as the white fog bank between the dark mountains and the bright line of trees was moving fast downward. Careful watching revealed that the fog is actually rolling down the valleys, over the ridges, and into the next valley from North to South, quickly as the sun rises. It rained yesterday and last night, so there must be a lot of moisture that is burning off. It was totally foggy up here on the hill for a few minutes, and then totally clear as the fog migrated down to the lower part of our farm. It must be interesting to observe this from airplanes in the early morning.

Right now, the wind is moving the fog bank from West to East, creating occasional high plumes of cloud. It is like a moving river quickly exiting the valley as morning progresses.

Renovations on the greenhouse are progressing. Glass-paned doors are now installed between greenhouse sections so that we can maintain heat zones. We need to replace the broken furnace this coming week before the colder weather comes in. Slightly below freezing nights have made little impact on the plants inside, but soon we'll need some heat to keep the plants alive through the winter nights.

On today's agenda: continue cleaning out the vegetable garden so that it can be tilled sometime during the winter. Start putting the "storm windows" in the chicken house. We'll have a warmer week coming up but it wouldn't be wise to slack off on winter preparations.

Full Harvest Moon

We didn't get to see the full harvest moon last night. It is gray, cloudy, cold, and rainy. I covered most of the brooder top with plastic and a beach towel, so that the babies are basking in 90 degrees out in the chicken house, despite the fact that it is in the 50s today.

There is one tiny quail chick in with the baby quail and chickens. It hatched out extra early and was the only quail to survive. You'd think it would be trampled by the much larger chicks, but they seem to be pretty considerate and it seems to think it is much bigger than it actually is! They are all beginning to grow feathers, which will help them deal with the cold.

We "wasted" this morning picking up building supplies for the interior of the greenhouse re-vamp and going to the Fall Festival in a nearby town. Carhart clothing, which many farmers around here wear regularly, was on sale at the clothing store in town. Live bluegrass music is a part of this festival. The bands were playing inside the tiny movie theater because of the cold. Normally, they'd be out in the midst of the crowds. We sat down in the last row for a few sets to get out of the wind. Speakers were set up to be heard in the street, where we looked at wares set out by intrepid local vendors.

This is bluegrass music country, for sure. There are so many very good groups, which include young and older musicians. It always amazes me how precise the playing is and how the players seem to enjoy themselves. This is still a unique American art/craft.

Two parties of bow hunters have been out in our woods today, the first day of hunting season.

We have about 500 square bales put up in the barn loft, thank goodness, and will cut more if the weather permits.

Teddering

That's "teddering", not tottering, although at my advanced age, you might expect it to be the latter.

A tedder is a whirly-thingy that goes behind the tractor and fluffs up the cut hay.

I learned to drive the new tractor and tedder the hay after my husband cut it. We are hoping that it will be dry enough today to rake and bale it. We only cut a portion of our hay field so that we'd be able to learn without risking the whole supply.

There are entirely too many buttons, levers, gears, and gadgets inside the tractor cab. Although I drive a standard shift truck, I have to think REALLY HARD about what to push, pull, or step on to accomplish whatever it is I'm doing at the time. Hopefully, there are still enough brain cells left and the connections between them that I'll get the hang of it soon. In the meantime, it's a good thing there's air conditioning, because I'm doing a bit of sweating under pressure.

More trees are turning color this week, and the temperatures are cool enough at night that I am slowly taking plants that have summered outdoors down to the greenhouse. I've cleaned up a bit down there, and have plans to replace the ailing furnace and to upgrade some of the interior spaces.

There's a cardboard box brooder full of chicks down in the old house. It's too cool at night to put them out in the chickenhouse brooder until they get some feathers on them.

Summer's End

A few trees have already begun to change color in the back pasture. Cows call like foghorns in the early morning in the pasture as densely gray and misty as the ocean. It is cool morning and evening and the windows can be open in the house.

Goldenrod is blooming and green nuts are visible in the thinning leaves of walnut and hickory trees.

The garden was just totally stunted after prolonged drought and intense heat. Once we turned the corner toward Fall and some rain came, lettuces sprang up and the chard has begun to grow again. The pepper plants did all right in the heat and seem to have a new lease on life now.

What is the farmer doing now? She is tying up loose ends and catching up on apple processing, winemaking, bottle washing, house cleaning, and herb gathering.

It's Raining!

Yay! It's raining; it's pouring; the old man is snoring...

Well, not yet. Anyway, after the coolness came, the hotness came back along with the humidity. I got the worse flu ever; the garden fizzled from the prolonged drought and I felt like if it didn't rain soon my head would explode.

So, it's raining. The house is getting cleaned and sorted. Wash is being done. Fruit is getting processed.

Tomorrow there is the promise of cooler temperatures. In the meantime, here's a neat story about the Minnesota State Fair and farm kids: http://www.slate.com/id/2148618/ for your entertainment.

Coolness Came

Someone turned down the blast furnace and it's cooler. It rained!

The garden and I were both ready to throw in the towel when we turned the corner. Vegetables immediately began to develop again; there are even rosebuds on the poor neglected rose bush. I've been weeding with gusto now that I'm not drenched in sweat after twenty minutes.

My mind turns to chores like cleaning out barns and poultry houses. It can be done now. I can breathe and move. I'm hoping this will last.

I'm picking and selling peaches at the market. I've made two batches of peach chutney, peach pie filling, and peach cake. There are still blackberries to pick -- the thornless variety -- it seems like sissy work. This morning I noticed that there are apricots ready. The cucumbers are abundant and I see some relish in my future.

July Bugs

Why do they call them June Bugs? The drunken July Bugs are flying into buildings after becoming satiated on blackberry juice. At times, I forget that they are knocking themselves out en masse as they fly into the house. I hear the noise and wonder if it is (miraculously) raining.

They fall onto the porches and after sleeping it off, fly off to do it again.

Sometimes, I find one sleeping right on a berry out in the field. Drunken sots.

We don't see or hear them until July, when the blackberries are ripe. The only other activity I'm aware of is that they mate: scads of them were having an orgy on one part of our lawn yesterday. I guess they must assure the world that there will be more July Bugs next year.

Ah, well, at least they have a jolly life during the month of July! What they do the rest of the year is a mystery to me.

Cows and Blackberries

I was engaged in picking wineberries the other evening, when I looked up and found myself surrounded by cows. We have thirty, so if you're thinking that cows are large and noisy, you are wrong. Cows are capable of great stealth and cooperative effort.

I went over to my Kawasaki Mule, and found a note. It said, "Thank you for the thoughtful snack. Next time, don't bother with the buckets, just dump them in the truck bed so we don't have to."

Yes, there had been several buckets of blackberries back there and since I hadn't seen any cows in the vicinity, I didn't think twice about parking the Mule and finishing up.

Oh, well. I wasn't even that mad about it, because the moment was so magical. Cool nights and mornings and berries sweet and plump from the recent rains are allowing for some concentrated picking. The cows are going to have to pick their own from now on, though!

Taliban

I don't normally name chickens, unless their personalities or appearance demands it. The big black rooster has been attacking my bare legs ever since it got hot and I've been wearing shorts. What else would you name him?

While he is attacking at approximately knee level, I reach over him and slap him in the back of the head. He's not expecting it because he's thinking I'll hit him from the front. To his credit, he seems to have associated getting a slap to the back of the head with the act of attacking me. For now, he's under control.

We finally got some much needed rain last week. Unfortunately, if you heard the news, we got it a little too fast for the ground to immediately soak it up.

I'm not complaining, you understand, just hoping we'll get more in reasonable installments.

The garden is producing well, even though it's gotten hot and dry in the last three or so days. I even put on the sprinklers today.

Summer is A-comin' in

The full strawberry moon has come and gone. I made iced tea for the first time this season yesterday -- mainly for the hayers. The first cutting is in the barn: too little too late, but evidently palatable. It is hellishly hot and dry.

We are on Spanish time now, with a siesta in the afternoon to ready us for late days and nights in the barn and garden to take advantage of cooler temperatures. The goats have also adopted this timetable. They snooze in the barn during the hottest part of the day then don't want to come in from the pasture until 9 p.m.

A friend called and mentioned that where he lives, in a very populated part of the county, that a fox is bothering his chickens and that a bobcat has been sighted. How odd, as we have been dealing with a family of foxes and are hoping that OUR bobcat will feast on them. I speculate that it has been abducting cats, as they seem to disappear at a rapid rate. Strangely, kittens appear out of nowhere -- or are perhaps dropped off by city dwellers out on a drive to the country. The two I mentioned in an earlier post have been to all the outbuildings on the farm and seem to have settled on the goat barn loft as their refuge.