Tucking In

Chasing mama bumble from snapdragon to snapdragon

Post 20 degrees and the blooms are done now. Mama bumble tucked away in her wood or bramble winter home.
See you next spring Mama Bumble!

Finishing the apples.  Apple sauce, muffins, and crunch. the aroma of sweetness and cinnamon.

Our peeler makes this job easier.

Apple peel noodles.

Apples piled high.  

Yummy appetizer for Thanksgiving dinner.  Made with our black raspberry jelly and summer honey by Karla our amazing hostess.  We were oh-so-blessed to spend this thankful holiday with Karla and Jason and family.

Simmering apple sauce.

Our beautiful free ranged and pastured chickens - Rocambole garlic powder and rosemary herb rub.

Today's Journey Joys: Planted garlic with abundance of straw mulch - tucked in for winter's cold, chicken broth steaming on the stove - preparing for noodle soup, flocks and flocks of blackbirds flying south, enormous bald eagle soaring overhead, kittens with winter's coat, rosemary in her pot ready to flavor, warm showers, Farmer's Husband making firewood - storing for winter's brrrrr-cold..

Autumn Changes

Crunching down the path

Golden rod fuzzy with seeds

Hard maple in Fall colors

The changing colors over the pond

Shelling popcorn.  We shelled about 10 gallons this year.

Tulip planting time.  1400 whites, yellows, peach, red and purples.  I can hardly wait until spring!

Uncapping the Fall honey.  A dark yummy golden rod honey.  Not much this year but what we did get was super great.

The only filtering we do,

The bees cleaning up their supers before I put them away for the winter.

Seven years ago this oak fell over in a huge wind storm.  The roots still strong.  Even the backhoe couldn't get this out.  I guess my caldron will return to its resting place -not to mention Snowy the cat's favorite summer sleeping area.

Beautiful red berries.  Not sure what these are called.  The birds don't even eat them. Yet they add such lovely contrast to the changing colors of Autumn. 

Today's Journey Joys: The humming of the dishwasher, warm Autumn temperatures, super-finds at the auction, wood mulch delivered, firewood stored in the hoophouse, pumpkins being gobbled by our free-ranged pastured chickens (what orange yolks they have!), cleaning up outside and in, storing and sorting for winter, and the smell of fall leaves.

Autumn's Preparations

Firewood ready to split.  I'm so thankful for renewable resources which are readily available. I'm imagining being toasty warm inside during a cold, breezy snow storm. Drinking hot tea and ginger snap cookies.  Why wait?

Gourds

Harvesting popcorn before the racoons and deer do it for me.

Our neighbor's beautiful young cattle.  They like to look at me while I'm working.  I wonder what they think about?

Lavender - growing but still little.  I sure hope they make it through the winter.

The last of the zinnias.   We had two evenings of frost last week.

Rusty golden colors of autumn

The bones of the hedge apple tree starting to show.    

Cactus & Oklahoma zinnia.

The road less traveled.....

Today's Journey Joys:  Turkey and chicken processing done for the year.  A summer-like warm day after nights of brrr-cold temperatures, kitty-fur thickening, bees tucked into bed for winter, crunching of leaves during morning strolls to meet the bus, sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie, applesauce and muffins, brewing coffee and tea.

Capturing the Beautiful

Today's Journey Joys: early autumn warmth sustaining the colors, safe and restful trip there and back to Indianapolis with warm reception of presentation, munching cotton candy grapes,  popcorn drying in the field, surprise weeds with deep purple flowers, honey bees on golden rod, huge orange pumpkins and pie pumpkins waiting to be made into yummy delights, even more flowers in bloom.... O, the sweetness in blessings noticed!