I Think It's Fall!

The temperatures have been nippy in the evenings for the past couple of weeks, and the leaves are falling from the trees...I think that means that Fall is here!

We have had some hustle and bustle going on up on the hill (and off it) in the past month.

L got her driver's license!

The dreaded minions of stink bugs are back - another sure sign of Fall...

...and the black walnuts have been pelting the barn and the chickens!  I picked up an entire trailer load of them from out of the chicken yard so that I wouldn't turn my ankles rolling around on them when I took out food and water for the hens!  They also did a number on the chickens' outdoor shelter!

I did some canning - these are kidney beans and black beans (I did not grow these, but they sure are nice to have in the pantry when I want to make a quick meal!)  And JP has been baking bread again.  (This one is from The Blue Zone Kitchen.  It is made of sourdough, whole wheat flour and semolina, and is very hardy and delicious.

The garden is basically done for the year.  This week I pulled out everything except the 2 cherry tomato plants (they still looked ok) and this watermelon...I don't think it's quite ripe yet.  And I've been bringing in and covering things outside little by little.

All of this (plus 2 more pumpkins) were from 2 
pumpkin plants and 1 squash plant!

This rose was left after I cut off the chard!

My dad had a minor stroke a couple of weeks back, and spent the better part of the week in the hospital.  He is home now and doing very well, but certainly gave me a scare!

J was home for her Fall Break last week - she came home on the train this time.  It was 2 1/2 hours late leaving Toledo in the wee hours of the morning last Friday, and got into Pittsburgh at 7:20 or so.  It was only 20 min late going back to school on Tuesday night.  She is taking an Art Installation class this semester, and worked on a project while she was here.  I'm not sure if she's titled it or not?

I am continuing to do my Fridge Facts every day:

Book Lover's Edition

Courage/Strength Edition

Harry Potter Edition

Lord of the Rings Edition

Napoleon Dynamite Edition

JP also had the idea to install this bulletin board in the kitchen so that we can all be cognizant of the fresh fruit and veg in the house that needs to be used...no more finding a soggy cucumber in the bottom of the veg drawer!!

Well, Happy Fall to you all!

End of Summer

 Both of the girls are now back to school.  J is in her 3rd year of college, the 2nd at BGSU.  She is in an apartment with 3 other girls this year, one of whom is P, her BFF since middle school.  L is a senior in HS this year and has a pretty full plate.

L and I dressed in pink and went out to see the Barbie Movie before school started.  I was a bit underwhelmed to be honest.

J and P came home last weekend to go to the Renaissance Faire with their little sisters.  They all dressed up and had a good time.

In the meantime, I am continuing to use the "new" fridge as my own personal bulletin board.  I have been taking pictures once a week, just so I can remember everything.

Best Movie of All Time - Princess Bride Edition

Happiness Edition

Movie Quotes Edition

Jimmy Buffet RIP Edition

My garden is slowing down, but I'm still getting tomatoes.  The nasturtiums that I planted in the middle of my strawberry tiers are lovely, I have so, so many pumpkins and butternut squash! I also have a couple of little watermelons trying their hardest to become big watermelons.  I hope they make it!

And finally, even though the garden basically sucked this year, this is what I brought in today from the "farm."  Looking at all of this food, makes all the sweat and tears (I don't think there has been any blood loss) almost seem worth it!

I just went out again and found a yellow squash and
2 more eggs!

ABC

It's getting close to back-to-school time.  J leaves for Toledo for her Junior year on Saturday AM bright and early.  I'm sad that our family time is coming to an end.  We have had a good summer though!

In honor of school, we're going through the alphabet today:

A is for apple.  We have half of our apple harvest in, and it was delicious!

B is for beach, boat and bulletin board:

We went for our annual week in Erie the end of July - beginning of August.  The weather was perfect in the mid 70's and mostly sunny.  The water was warm and nice.  We spent a couple of days on the beach, and took a tour on a paddle boat, the Victorian Princess, on the lake.

I have a couple more posts on my refrigerator bulletin board as well.

This is the "Nostalgic Children's Book" edition

This is "Our Favorite Movies" edition

C is for chickens, cycling and cuisine:

We spent a couple of days cycling in Erie - we like to take the 13-mile path around Presque Isle.  We also took a ride close to home on the Greene River Trail.

Once home from vacation, I cleaned out the chicken house and switched the pullets to the larger side, and the old hens and stupid rooster to the smaller side.

We also took a day trip to Wheeling, WV.  We visited our favorite Crepe restaurant, checked out some local antique shops, and came home with take-out from our favorite Italian diner - they make the pasta and sauce from scratch.

This is the kitchen at The Roosevelt - the pots
of pasta and sauce are bubbling on the stove

D is for dangerous:

A couple of weeks ago, we visited Meadowcroft for the day.  The girls tried out their hands at axe throwing and we climbed the 60-some stairs to watch the archeologists digging in the rock shelter.

E is for eggs:

The pullets are finally laying some tiny eggs.  So far, we are averaging about 3 a day.  Hopefully this improves with time!  The problem comes with the fact that 2 of them are still not managing to go outside or return to the chicken house.  I have to go out every morning and evening and shove them through the chicken door!

I could probably go on, but there is laundry and mending to do.  Packing and rearranging to accomplish for J.  And last-minute doctor appointments for J and I.

Enjoy the remainder of your summer!

How My Garden Grows

Just a quick post and a few photos tonight...

My garden is actually starting to produce a few things FINALLY!

I've picked a few tomatoes and enjoyed the thoroughly summertime lunch of tomato sandwiches exactly twice so far.  There are pumkins and winter squash growing to decent size, and tiny cucumbers and yellow squash starting.  The 3rd planting of beans came up, and have since disappeared.  I think I have a total of 8 corn plants after 3 plantings as well.  It's very disappointing.  

I did send a soil sample in for testing.  The results show that the garden is low in phosphorus and high in magnesium.  They gave some suggestions for correcting this, so we will try to make those amendments this fall.

In other news, J and I made these delicious and colorful spring rolls out of crab meat, seasoned rice noodles and veggies last week.  They were lovely!

L and I finally finished painting the grave markers for the kitties and Kali.  Here is our complete Pet Cemetary:

From L to R:  Lizzie, Ernie, Kali...

Kali, Zach, Daisy

And finally, I am enjoying using my new glass fronted side by side freezer/fridge as a giant bulletin board.  I write a "Today in History" factoid on the left, and a quote on the right.

Seldom Seen

We have made a few interesting discoveries up on the Ridge over the past couple of weeks.

I received this box in the mail last week, which contained a bouquet of sunflowers from Chewy.com as a sympathy gift after the loss of our kitty.

They were confused about Lizzie's name...Stella is alive and well.

L and I have been walking around the property and picking wild black raspberries this week.  We haven't seen any up here for a few years.  We already made a peach/black raspberry cobbler this weekend.

On our walks, we found evidence of racoons enjoying the raspberries as well.

I also discovered these in our sad, sad orchard - after 13 years of trying to grow fruit trees, there are 2 whole apples on our apple tree!

There is no end to the surprising things we find up here!