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| A foggy sunrise over our garden |
Another full moon and time once again to check in with our family and friends.
Speaking of the full moon, did you see this morning's eclipse? Since we rise at 4:30 am, we had to make no special effort to view it. Cloudiness kept us from watching the entire show, but we were able to see it while the moon was completely orange colored. It was lovely. Sorry, no photos, only pictures in our memory.
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| Filmore Glen State Park |
Our weather has been unseasonably warm and dry this month, with still no widespread killing frost here yet. With our seasonal chores at a bit of a standstill, we've been able to take a couple of days and enjoy some of the local scenery.
One day we drove a ways and walked at the Filmore Glen State Park. It was our first visit there and we enjoyed it very much.
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| Filmore Glen State Park |
On the 31st, we walked at Taughannok Falls State Park. It was another lovely outing.
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| Taughannok North Rim trail |
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| The falls at Taughannok |
The warm weather has rather slowed our autumn garden chores. Since we've not had a frost in the garden, there are still nasturtiums blooming like mad. The bees are still busy (also because of the mild weather). I don't want to pull out the flowers until after they're no use to the bees. So, there they stay. Also, because I'm waiting for cool weather, the beets and carrots haven't been pulled and the garlic is waiting to be planted. They say freezing temperatures are on the way, so I hope to get some of this done on the weekend.
Harvesting chervil
What I have been able to do is harvest some more of my herbs. I had a nice patch of chervil growing by my compost pile.
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| Last picking of parsley |
I've also pulled all of my parsley plants. Since I have plenty in the freezer, I've been drying this and making it into powder.
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| A bit tedious, but worthwhile |
I always leave some of my lettuce to go to seed. I gather some of the seed for next year, and I let some fall on the ground. It gives me a nice crop of fall lettuce with no extra work on my part.
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| Some nice "no work" lettuce |
I've also made and frozen applesauce. The last item to go into the freezer. (Hurray!)
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| Making applesauce |
While I've been busy with all of this, Bob's been preparing for winter. He's picked up leaves (of which we have many!). There are far too many to leave on the grass. He makes a huge pile and composts them.
He's also been doing maintenance work on our various pieces of equipment. The other day he finished filling the wood bin in our cellar.
Indoor bin: full and ready to go
We hope to soon be finished with autumn chores and begin to settle in for our winter rest.
We wish you all well, and success with winding up your own busy seasons as you prepare for a time of rest and restoration.
Follow nature's example in this. It's been around much longer than people and has "learned a thing or two".
Till next time,
Kathleen and Bob
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| Another shot from Taughannok |
