Harvest/Ingathering 2024

A Harvest Basket

The harvest moon has come and gone. Have you been wondering where we are? We've been pinned under the produce cart!

Seriously, the garden has been producing heavily and we've been scrambling to gather it in and preserve it. 

Our weather has been pleasant and a bit warmer than normal. This makes the tomatoes and eggplants very happy. I'm happy because the nights are cool and refreshing.

Husking sweet corn

We harvested our somewhat smaller corn crop.

Bob learning a new skill

Bob helped me get the largest portion into the freezer.

He also dug all of the regular potatoes and the sweet potatoes.

"Who's been nibbling?"

As usual, we had some damage to the sweet potatoes from rodents, but still had plenty to store for winter. And no blimps this year because we dug them in a timely manner.

Another year's stash

We had a bumper crop of squash and ate squash daily for two or three weeks. It's finished now, and we're not sorry.

The green beans have produced quite well. The freezer quota has been met, so now I'm dehydrating the rest. They are almost done now, as well.

Eggplants and peppers are still producing. Tomatoes are going bonkers.

Prepping tomatoes to freeze

I have frozen 48 pints of tomatoes and 14 pints of pasta sauce. That fulfills the freezer quota for those.

Ready for the freezer

Now I am daily filling the dehydrator with tomato leathers, and we're eating tomatoes three times a day! Today Bob took some down to the library for the staff and patrons there.

Both freezers are now full, except for the space that I've reserved for 12 pints of applesauce. I have been very busy. September is easily our busiest month here.

Bob has been able to take time and finish the seating area where our back deck used to be.

New seating area behind the house

All that remains to be done there is digging out the old flower bed next to it. That area will be seeded to grass because there is a nasty invasive there. We will be able to mow it down continually in the hopes that it will finally die out.

We have, remarkably, taken some relaxation time amidst all of this bustle.

Teeter Pond on August 29th

At the end of August, we walked to Teeter Pond in the Finger Lakes National Forest. You can see that the Red Maples were just beginning to change color. They're one of the earliest trees to turn here in the autumn.

Then, just this month, we took our first vacation in 15 years! That's right, we haven't even gone away for a night since our last annual vacation in October of 2009.

We travelled up to Alexandria Bay on the St. Lawrence River. That's the Thousand Islands area. (For non-New Yorkers, there are really 1,826 islands.)

We spent four days and three nights in Alex Bay. We did some very touristy things, and some walks and hikes in local State Parks.

View of Boldt Castle from Alex Bay

We toured Boldt Castle and its extensive grounds. It was a beautiful place, inside and out. It is on Heart Island in the middle of the St Lawrence River and is only accessible by boat. We took the shuttle boat over there.

A portion of the Castle front

The library, an example of the interior

Besides the mansion, there are three large outbuildings; a huge arch structure and swan pond; and many gardens and walks.

The electrical powerhouse 

The arch and swan pond (no swans)

The Italian Garden

The next day we hiked all morning at the Wellesley Island State Park. This was our favorite of the parks that we visited.

The St Lawrence from Wellesley Island

The hike was challenging but the views were lovely. We thought all of the outcroppings of granitic bedrock reminded us of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. 

We encountered a Bald Eagle just a few feet above us on one of the trails.

Bald Eagle at Wellesley Island

We also saw a lone loon on the river there. It's the first we've seen or heard since we left Minnesota. We found it very stirring.

Loon on the river

Later that afternoon we rested our sore feet and took a two-hour cruise on the river from the US to Canada and back again. There were many opulent homes to see, but we were far more interested in the natural scenery and all of the birds we saw.

One of the Ospreys that we saw

 

Swan on a shoal in the river

Cormorant, one of many, drying its wings

The weather was gorgeous for our entire stay, and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

We won't wait another 15 years before our next vacation. Hopefully we can return to our old pattern of a vacation each October.

Of course, one always has to come home. We came home to a garden gone crazy. This is what I picked the afternoon we returned:

A lot to deal with

Well, you can see what we've been up to this month and can surmise what we will be doing for the next month.

We'll be marking the Equinox with good food and fun. Enjoy your autumn.

Till next time,

Kathleen and Bob

Alexandria Bay Point Park

Monarch on Wellesley Island