The Harvest

It's much too early for this frosty weather. Three weeks too early by our average first frost date. With the cool spring I still have far too many tomatoes on my vines and I am not ready to start carting firewood.

The apple trees planted last year produced a small harvest of very yummy fruit. We also discovered this interesting looking creature munching the leaves.

Boogie really enjoys apples (and is asking for one now as he sees these photos LOL).

Looks like there will be plenty of squash and beets. The eggplant and okra and beans were also good producers. The tomatoes were mediocre and I didn't plant nearly enough of them. By next spring I want a better tiller so I don't have to depend on anyone else to get the soil ready.

We did have a beautiful harvest moon.

And a worn out helper.

Still need to get the plastic on the hoop house so the potted tomatoes will have some extra time to ripen. Some of the plants were touched by the frost, but none seem to have been killed off. Here's hoping the warm weather returns and hangs around for a bit.

Orchards, Apples and Pumpkins, fall adventures with Boogie.

We made a number of trips to local orchards and farms this fall.

First we went on a field trip to Kickapoo Orchards in Gays Mills, then we had another

play group outing to Vesperman Farms corn maze and finally a visit to Shihata Orchards in Eastman for their Apple Fest.

Boogie always enjoys a good sandbox, or in this case a good corn kernel box.

He's also VERY fond of apples and, given how many he eats, should keep the Doctor at bay for quite some time.

Given all the animals we have at home, it never ceases to amaze me that he can't stay away from them any where we go.

Halloween is past, it's already time to start looking forward to the holiday season.

I found a nice large roaster at an auction a few weeks ago and should be able to cook a whole turkey on the wood stove. I plan to do a brine again this year, I cannot say how delicious and juicy the breast I cooked last year was after a two day brine bath.

With daylight saving kicking in this weekend, I'll have plenty of time for knitting in the evening. There is still time to order custom hats/scarves for holiday gifts, or buy a pre-made one from my Hyena Cart shop.

Here's hoping the good weather I've been blessed with lately hangs around for a very long time!

Apple Vinegar, Knitting and Matters of Life and Death

Have we had great weather lately! It has been frosty in the morning, but 70's and even 80's in the afternoon. Both lower gardens are pretty much finished for the year and I collect squash and pumpkins every day. The front garden has only been lightly touched by frost and I'm still getting some tomatoes, peppers and eggplants. I even picked two small watermelons this morning!

I stocked a few more hand knit wool hats and a funky eyelash yarn skinny scarf at my Hyena Cart shop, EUC. I've done a few custom hats for friends as well, so if anyone would like something special for themselves or to give as a gift, please let me know.
This is Boogies new hat, knit from some funky vintage wool.And now for something completely different!

Did you know you can make Apple Vinegar from the cores and peels? I've been making a lot of cinnamon apple sauce and pie filling, which produced a lot of peelings!Place the peels and cores in a large, clean jar and cover with water.

Cheese cloth helps keep the fruit flies away.

After about 10 days in a cool and dark place. The peels have all risen to the top and the liquid is a nice pink color. After straining away the peels, you are left with a very tasty vinegar. It smells wonderful! This also works well with peach peelings.Put your vinegar in a clean jar and store it in the refrigerator, or can it in quarts. I like this stuff for cooking and salad dressings, it should not be used for pickling or canning as the acidity is not consistent and may not be strong enough.So now I have to make a BIG decision. I have way too many cockerels and have not been able to give them away. It had gotten to the point that they were beginning to injure the hens so I removed all but two of them from the hen house and penned them up. What do you do with unwanted cockerels? I may have to make the decision to send them off to freezer camp :'(
It is so hard to be the direct cause of a creatures death. No way I can do it myself, Rob has no problem butchering them, but I am still the one who makes the final decision.

Boogie and I will be off tomorrow to meet with my best friend from Grade School, whom I have not seen in over 30 years. (Gotta love Facebook!)
In the mean time, if anybody wants any cockerels...........

The Beginnings of Autumn on the Farm(ette)

With August having been so hot, it's rather nice to have cooler weather, however I am not ready for cold just yet. Yesterday was damp and chilly, necessitating a fire in the wood stove. I took advantage of the 'free' heat source, cooking down a batch of apples for sauce, steaming some squash to freeze and cooking 2 pounds of pinto beans for chili and canning. I just love it when the stove does double duty, both heat and cooking. Today is really pleasant, sunny and warm, and I need to get a lot of laundry done as we are expecting rain most of the rest of the week. The one draw back of not using a dryer is working around the rain.

The harvest color of the day is bright red! The peppers are super sweet and Boogie polished off a small one straight off the plant. Some of these are already in the crock pot as part of a batch of beef chili. The pepper plants are having a surge of flowering at the moment, unfortunately it will frost long before these flowers produce any peppers.

I need to get plastic on the hoop house, now in it's new location out of the wind and with all day exposure to the sun.
It is breeding season for the Oberhasli dairy goats, and boy is the buck stinking up the barnyard. Fortunately I find the musky scent tolerable and Boogie doesn't seem to mind it at all.
I've been working on Chullo hats to stock at my store on Hyena Cart. I really enjoy working with the different wools and all the beautiful colors. It's also nice to have a small, portable craft to take with to play group or on long car rides. It's also one of the best insurance policies against waiting for very long for appointments. It never fails that as soon as I pull out my knitting, they are ready for us! I'm also planning to stock some fun eyelash yarn skinny scarves.I was given a box of Concord grapes and canned them as juice and grape jelly. I used to have wonderful wild grapes here, but one bad winter took them all out. The few vines I have left don't produce fruit. I'll need to plant some grapes of my own next spring. Add that to the list.

The leaves are just beginning to change colors and the nights are quite cool. Days are shorter and frost can not be far off. The shorter days have caused my hens egg production to plummet, I'd better get a light in the coop if we want fresh eggs for breakfast. Boogies third birthday and the holiday season is just around the corner. Hope you enjoy the bounty of the season.