Asia Flew

I'm sipping my mug of peach tisane (we are trying to insert this word into our vocabulary when having herbal "tea",) staying warm inside and knowing that the temperature is dropping outside (and there might even be snow on Wednesday!)  I'm ready for it - we got our firewood stacked over the weekend, and I finished taking everything out of the garden today.

All that's left in there are my blueberries and strawberries, and a pumpkin plant.

I still need to finish cleaning out my flower beds, but I thought that the Solomon's Seal looked beautiful in the sunshine yesterday!

The trees lining our driveway have so many colors this year, it's gorgeous!

The one thing that I can't stand about Fall is the return of the Brown Marmorated Stink Bugs (I refer to them as THE MINIONS,) an invasive species from Asia.  This Fall has been particularly bad - when it is sunny out, the sides of our house and the soffits are covered with literally thousands of them.  Typically they find their way inside the house as well, and are loud and annoying when they fly around, but so far (knock wood) they haven't been bad in the house.  We have been super diligent about checking all the doorways when we go in or out lately to try to keep it this way!  This year, JP found a spray at Walmart, which seems to be significantly reducing the number of these nasties crawling around.  DEATH TO THE MINIONS!

Right before the weekend, I got hit with the bad cold that L had last week.  Numerous COVID tests have been negative, so this seems to be the garden variety corona virus, but it hit when I was not yet back 100% after surgery, so I'm still feeling pretty tired and congested.  Ugh.  Stay well y'all!

Finally Fall

After weeks and weeks of warm weather, it seems that Fall has finally come.  This week we have had cool nights and days, and even some frost in the valley one morning.

Yesterday was misty all day, but I decided to get some things finished in the garden anyway.  I came in damp and muddy, but I got my squashes and flint (Indian) corn harvested.  I spread leaves that my dad swept up and grass that I swept up.  We need to put a LOT more leaves and compostables on the garden yet this fall, but all in good time!  There are still some carrots out there and basil to harvest.

I had 2 butternut squash plants, which went crazy.  Here is my harvest - I will be sharing for sure!  The flint corn came from a cob of corn that I had been using for years to decorate with, but it got dropped several times, and all of the kernels were loose.  I decided to plant some of it, and this is the result (keep in mind that we only got a half dozen ears of sweet corn from the garden this year - apparently not a good corn year in general):

There were a couple of squashes that needed to be used right away, so I started some Curried Butternut Squash soup in the crock pot (this still needs to be blended with a can of coconut milk):

I picked up an eggplant when grocery shopping last week, so I stuck it in the oven to roast with a few cloves of garlic so that I could make one of our favorite dips, Melanzzano.  JP and I first tried this in a restaurant in Alaska that we visited in 2000.  I have googled this recipe many times, and merely find that "melanzano" means eggplant in Italian.  I guess it's a bit similar to Baba Ganoush.  I roast an eggplant cut in half and drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with salt, along with 4 large garlic cloves, likewise drizzled at 350* for about 40 min.  When cooled, I scoop the flesh out of the eggplant peels and whirl it in the food processor with 1 cup grated parmesan, 8 oz cream cheese, and 1/2 cup olive oil until smooth.  Season with salt and pepper and enjoy!

While on the vegetable kick, I grated up the last zucchini from the garden (which has been lying on the kitchen counter for several weeks) and made Zucchini Brownies with Chocolate Peanut Butter frosting.  Although it's a tried and true recipe, L and I plan to "taste test" them this evening, before sharing them with my parents at dinner tomorrow!

With the oven and the crock pot on for several hours, the house has stayed nice and warm on this dreary and chilly day.  You can smell roasted garlic, curry and chocolate, depending on where you stand.  Just don't hang out in the breezeway - it smells like something died out there!  I spent a couple of hours yesterday clearing the entire thing out, shaking out all of the coats and shoes, wiping down doors, baseboards and shelves, and mopping (twice.)  Thankfully the only dead things that I found were spiders and stink bugs.  In any case, it is super clean now, and I feel like I've had a couple of very productive days!

What's cooking in your kitchen?

Boost

I got my Pfizer booster shot last week.  I didn't quite have the strong reaction that I got last time - no fever this time, and bad headache and joint pain weren't as severe as I remember from January.  I was down and out for the whole next day, but am feeling fine now!

We have done some other things to boost our spirits up here on the hill this Fall.

We were gifted a rooster.  He is not the brightest of all birds - it took 3 days of me stuffing him through the door of the chicken house twice a day for him to figure out how to do it on his own - but he is quite gentle and has a lot to say.

The black walnut tree in the chicken yard was well endowed this year.  I have picked up half  a trailer load one time and half a tractor bucket full another.  It needs to be done again.

The hens are laying quite well.  I found this enormous egg last week:

When I cracked it open, it had 2 yolks!

Besides being great layers (we get almost 3 dozen eggs weekly from our 5 hens), the hens also seem to be good excavators.  They scratched such deep holes in the dirt near their door, that it took 4 layers of stones to get them closer to the opening so it wasn't so hard to go in and out.  Luckily we have no lack of big rocks to use.

L volunteered to help out the band in a couple of competition parades last week.  She has also been really busy with the Fall theater production, AND spent the night at the hospital last week for a sleep study (the sleep apnea has been corrected - hallelujah!)

J has been home from YSU for 2 separate weekends.  Most recently, she came home last weekend to take in the Renaissance Festival.  It was an interesting visit, and she went back to her dorm afterwards with a reproduction sword.  

JP stays busy hauling water and mowing grass (and hoping the grass will soon stop growing!)

I have been pulling plants and weeds from the garden and mulching with grass clippings (so I am hoping for the grass to continue growing!)  I got the pool whipped into shape and then closed down for the winter - it takes all 4 of us to get the cover on every year.  

We have somehow slid into Fall, and my brain is still trying to adjust - I'm working on that.  In the meantime, there seems no end to the other work around this place!

Happy Fall!

All Fall

 I have been trying to write for a couple of days, but keep getting distracted by masks that need sewing or Algebra 2 questions, or everyone's unnatural need to eat 3 meals a day.  Today, I am distracted by election results. 

Except for anxiety regarding this election, it has been a really lovely fall.  I have been puzzling about why I was enjoying it so much, and finally realized it boiled down to this:  no soccer craziness and no theater rehearsal craziness.  I miss those things, but I don't...it's complicated. 

We had time to carve our pumpkins early in the month.  Well, J and I had time.  L scooped the goop out of her pumpkin and let it sit on the counter for two weeks where it turned slimy and grew mold.  We had a jack-o-lantern funeral procession to the compost the week before Halloween.

J carved a porg, mine was a wolf howling at
the moon (long story)

L had to wear a mask near her pumpkin since
it smelled pretty bad!  Notice the fungus (arrows)

I took time to make lots of roasted pumpkin seeds - a savory variety (R)  and a sweet & spicy one (L.)

It has given me time to take quilting lessons - I finally started the quilting last week:

JP, who has been putting in lots of hours at work, finally has a large part of the month off.  He is continually worried about not having enough PPE at work, and brings home his masks.  I put a bunch of them in a lingerie bag, ran them through the washer and hung them to dry.  Overall, I think it was successful, although the wire to fit over the nose broke on a couple of them.

A multitude of masks

JP is also FINALLY having time to get his cataract surgery done - first eye this week!

So, it seems that Fall is nearly over.  Most of the trees are bare.  The mornings are frosty and we have been building fires in the woodstove.  Winter is on its way - long, dark winter.  Sigh.

Have you been enjoying fall this year?

Well, Well, Well...

The well drilling rig finally pulled out of our driveway on Sunday, and we have been using water from the new well for about a week (after writing a VERY large check to the drilling company last week.)  Imagine my dismay last night when L shouted up from the shower that there was no water!  Once again, the cistern was empty, once again, JP and I got the water buffalo loaded back into the truck, and once again, JP made several late night trips to the water station to get enough water for us to shower last night.

After footing the bill for drilling 3 wells and attempting to develop a natural spring for water, I am exhausted at the stress, work and expense that the simple matter of having consistent running water is causing us.  Slap all that stress on top of the fact that my daughter is applying to colleges and planning college visits in the middle of a pandemic, and both of my girls are attempting to do cyber school 3 days/week with spotty internet.  Well, it's maddening.

I was not in the best of moods heading in to work this morning.  I do usually manage to forget about everything but my patients once there, however.  My dad called mid-morning to tell me that the well people checked things out and there was an issue with the wiring to a pump in the cistern, and that it was slowly refilling with water from the well.  What a relief!

Things really seemed to turn around for me then.  I was completely slammed with patients all morning, but my patients after lunch cancelled or didn't show, so I was able to leave the office early.  I had time to get a coffee and sit and read my book for 30 minutes (yeah, I was parked in the school parking lot, but still...coffee, quiet, book...not bad!) before J got out of school and we could head home.

J brought home with her some lovely lettuce that her Aquaponics class grew this year.  We had some for dinner - yum!

I got home to find that my friend stopped by while I was away and traded some of the blueberry pie filling that I canned last summer for some apple pie filling that she canned last month.  It's pie time this weekend!

L and I had time for a walk before dinner, and we enjoyed the colorful leaves.  

We stopped by the garden to admire the lush rye crop and the brightly colored cosmos and zinnias, and noticed a preying mantis with a bumble bee in each claw!

I collected a bouquet of flowers from the garden to enjoy inside, and when I checked on Ms. Mantis an hour later, both bees had been devoured!

I am in a much better state of mind tonight than I was last night.  It's amazing what some down time, a walk in the leaves, friends that share their preserves, colorful bouquets and fresh greens can do!  I hope that you are enjoying your autumn as well.

Relief

Here are some pictures to get the bad taste out of your mouth from those rude signs.

I have been enjoying my drives home from work and from the girls' school because the leaves are so lovely.  I don't enjoy the drives there so much, because it's still semi-dark. 

Balloon Flowers and Chrysanthemums in my 
flower garden

Feels a Bit Fall-ish

There is definitely a chill in the air recent mornings, and the woods around us are blooming with color.

They have finished our new well, and we are using (and enjoying) the water.  They have re-seeded grass where they trenched the electric and water lines, and JP re-seeded lower where he scraped off (and then tilled in) the residual slag from drilling.  Hopefully the tiny bit of rain we've receive this afternoon will help it sprout before the first frost.

The winter rye has come up in the garden, so here goes our first attempt at a cover crop!

We all have off for Columbus Day tomorrow, so are considering a trip north to the Pumpkin Patch, weather permitting.

Which End is Up?

Things have been a bit topsy-turvy in the weather department this summer.  It was so wet that many of the things I planted in the garden rotted, but the weeds had a lovely go of it and took over.  It has been quite warm for most of the month so far, including several days in the high 80's...in October!

We FINALLY got a spell of cooler weather, even a frost advisory for tonight, and look what my plants are doing!

This cucumber came up on it's own about 3 weeks ago!

My weeping cherry started blooming again!

Tonight I have that cucumber covered against the frost, along with several pepper plants and my herbs, even though it was warm in the sun today while JP and I hauled and stacked firewood.

J informed me several weeks ago, that it was banned book week.  In honor of that, I decided to finally read One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.  I had started it several times and couldn't make it through.  I did finish this time, and was quite dismayed at the ending.  I'm sorry that I spent all that time reading it!

I don't feel like my head is on straight tonight - my schedule has been absolutely crazy this week and I'm not sure who's coming or going or when or why.  

I think it's time for bed.

Soccer Fall

Instead of "Soccer Sunday" like we used to have with County League ball back in the day, we now have "Soccer Fall."  It's like the Energizer Bunny, it keeps going, and going, and going...

J's team won the championship title for Western PA on Saturday!  They played at the professional soccer stadium in the big city, and beat the team that had been undefeated for the past 39 games. 

It was a very nice day for a soccer game, considering that it is November and could have been REALLY COLD.



Photo by Darnell Graham

 

Instead, it still looks like Fall around here.  Lots of leaves are still on the trees.

 

The girls head to the first round playoffs for the State Championships on Tuesday evening...here we go!

Falling

Last weekend, it really began looking like Fall.  The leaves are coming down.  We've had an "Indian Summer" of sorts, with temperatures in the 80's...so really it's been warmer recently than all of August was!  Just yesterday, it dropped back into the 70's outside, and I've had the windows open to gather in all the fresh air!

 Not only leaves are falling from the trees, the nuts (black walnut, hickory & acorns) have been dropping as well.  The ones in the chicken yard are the size of lemons!  It's a wonder none of the hens have been conked on the head.

Actually, maybe they were - they were acting really goofy last week.  I washed the cover for my futon, and hung it on the highest clothes line, which comes very close to the chicken yard.  Apparently when I pulled it up there, it freaked them out - they squawked and ran and flew to the other side of the yard.  About a dozen of them must have flown out, because for the next couple of hours, we saw chickens happily grazing in our yard, and we had to flush several of them out of the woods.

I finished staining the entire tree house.  JP had to put me up in the bucket of the tractor to reach the highest parts.  That wasn't exactly fun since I'm quite afraid of heights!  It looks much better now, especially since I cleaned the inside really well too, and even scrubbed the decks, which were growing some mildew.

This week has been excessively busy.  J landed a part in the winter play, so she has had play practice AND soccer practice after school.  She also had 2 home games this week.  I estimate that I spent over 4 hours just driving to and from the HS to pick her up or take her to something.  I also spent 5 hours at soccer games, 2 hours in Library meetings, and about 8 hours cleaning.

Today the Sears repairmen were out again to look at my oven.  This was the 6th time, but they FINALLY found the problem - a short in something located in the bottom oven that actually controls the top one!  Of course they had to order another part, so they will be back in 2 weeks.  Sheesh.

After they left, I was able to sow grass seed out by the driveway where my dad cleared a bunch of brush, and also harvest my squash.  I only planted 5 plants, and this is what I got:

38 Butternut, and 12 Acorn Squashes!

This afternoon, I took a leisurely drive out in the country to the apple orchard that I like to use because they don't spray.  I bought 2 1/2 bushels of apples for my mother and I to make applesauce.  It was a lovely outing.

Now I am sitting at the computer, getting ready to pay the bills, and the only thing falling at the moment is me - falling asleep.  I am so grateful for a weekend in which there are no soccer games!

Enjoy your Fall, everyone!

Autumn

I have been feeling nostalgic this week for the walks that the girls and the dogs used to take with me.  Every walk was an adventure, and we were guaranteed to find something interesting.  I would hold the girls' little hands, and we would chat about anything and everything.  J no longer cares to go for walks with me, and I no longer have 2 dogs to walk with.  In fact, I find it so much more efficient to get on the elliptical for 30 minutes, that I haven't walked regularly for a long time.

This afternoon after L's soccer game, she and Stella and I took a walk around the property.  We found turkey feathers, cow hoof prints, and Stella almost had a conniption when she spotted a squirrel.  L held my hand, and we chatted about this and that.  It was lovely.

It did a great deal to relax me too.  This is J's last week of soccer, which means that we can soon eat dinner together again at a decent hour most evenings.  Things are looking up!

Enjoy Fall!

Monkey Ball Hunting

On my way home from PT today, I drove a loop over winding country roads looking for the fruit of Osage Orange trees.  I guess they would technically be called Osage Oranges, but some people call them "Hedge Apples", and around here they are affectionately called "Monkey Balls."

There is an old wives' tale that these sticky fruit can help keep insects away.  I figured that it couldn't hurt to put a few around the house this Fall, so I went out on a Monkey Ball hunt this morning.  I put a couple in the tree house, below the deck, and in the window well outside the girls' room.

While I was at it, I put away more of the pool things in the barn, cleaned up piles of leaves in front of the garage and along the chicken fence, put fencing around my evergreens to protect them from deer during the winter, brought all of the pigs in from my flower beds, and pulled the remaining corn and tomatoes from the garden.

Um...I might have overdone it.  My back is hurting this evening.  I think I'll go sit on a heating pad.

Apples

It has been a strange week.  JP's eye surgery got moved up 2 weeks to Thursday of last week.  I helped in his office in the morning, and then drove him to surgery and home.  He had a short day scheduled on Friday, so I drove the girls to school and him to work, helped out in his office again in the morning, and then drove him to his post op check, then back to the office and finally home.  He was told that he would have gradually increasing vision over the next week to week and a half in that eye, but he seems to be having some complications.  SIGH.  I really hoped that this surgery would be the end of the story about this eye!

Yesterday I drove the country roads out to the apple orchard to buy apples for apple butter.  I have come too late, it seems for the large selection that they usually have.  I was limited to Romes, Granny Smith and a few Pippins, none of which are my favorites.  Nevertheless, I came home with a bag of each, and have had apples simmering in the crock pot ever since.  I may have to run back in a few days to get some more apples for my Secret Ingredient Apple Sauce.

I was hoping that I would get to see lots of colors on the trees during my drive yesterday, but everything was mostly brown.  I nearly got run off the road twice by water trucks, speeding to or from a gas well somewhere.  It was drizzling and chilly.  Oh well, it was quiet, and I actually enjoyed myself!

The leaves are lovely here on Poplar Ridge.

 

JP set fire to the enormous pile of sticks that the girls and I collected over the past 2 or 3 years, and had a massive bon fire raging for most of the morning.  By afternoon, it had settled down to a large pile of coals, so L decided to roast marshmallows in the drizzle.

 

The cool weather and small showers have revived my moss garden.  It is looking good right now!

We have soccer this afternoon, but that, along with Fall is winding down.

Here is my recipe for Apple Butter:

10-12 apples of various varieties, peeled, cored and quartered
1 cup water or apple cider
1 1/2 c sugar
2 t cinnamon
1 t ground cloves

Place all ingredients into the crock pot and cook on Hi for 1-2 hours, then simmer on Lo for at least 12 hours until mahogany in color.  I use the stick blender to blend my smooth before canning in pint jars in a hot water bath for 10 minutes.  Makes about 3 pints.

October Morning

O hushed October morning mild,
Begin the hours of this day slow.
-Robert Frost

I walked in the woods with the dogs this morning.  We were all delighted by the adventure!