Apples R Us

"Take the fruit I give you," says the bending tree.
"Nothing but a burden is it all to me.
Lighten ye my branches; let them toss in air!
Only leave me freedom next year’s load to bear."
~Lucy Larcom (1824–93)


We seriously took this to heart. It was an amazing year for apples. The man got me this load....

and I made apple butter, applesauce, apple pie filling.
　
Then he went back again for another load....and the whole family got to work making cider. The grandsons loved making and drinking it. It has been deemed a new yearly tradition to do with them.

Then a guy hubby works with gave him 6 bags and a tote full of apples...and I made him some apple cider

Then same guy came in with 6 more bags....and I made him some apple fruit rolls ups, apple/cherry fruit rolls ups and apple/blueberry fruit roll ups.

And then same guy came in with a 4 ft long ice chest of apples and 3 more bags...... I am not making him a thing as every time I do he brings more! I asked my husband why he didn't just say no and he said because the guy went through all the trouble of picking them. When the snow comes and I am sure of not getting anymore apples I will make him a basket of apple products as a thank you.

I must say he has some beautiful apples, they are so red that they are almost black,

but I am exhausted trying to find things to do with them. I have dumped some on friends but they are sick of them now too.   I can't stand to see waste so we will be eating a lot of applesauce and drinking a lot of cider....198 quarts that I canned for apple juice so far.

The colder temperatures had us lighting the woodstove for the first time Saturday night the 17th. It was our first frost and freeze and officially ended the garden. We had a fire again on the 18th and now we are back to 70's during the day and 40's at night so no more fire until needed. The freeze made a lot of leaves drop but I was able to get pictures of some of their glory.

 

I put apples aside and went to Rhinebeck this past Sunday. I had not been there since 2013 and I must say I was disappointed. Vendors I was looking for have folded up shop, a lot less spinning oriented and more yarn. I was use to seeing shelves with roving balls, tub after tub of roving, booths with several wheels to test drive, loads of carders/skeinwinder or bags upon bags of fleece. Outside the building with the fleece competiton/sale there were only a few that had a fleece or two for sale.

I did not walk away empty handed....I procured 12 oz of cormo pencil roving, some rootbeer float fudge (for #2 daughter), clover honey, small container of feta pesto, and a pair of alpaca socks for the man.

The weekend before we had the grandsons for a sleepover while their parents celebrated their 5th wedding anniversary. It went very well. They painted two pumpkins each and took them home. Toddler B is very diligent and attacked his pumpkins with such focus and complete coverage. Toddler O is very tidy and didn't like it when he got paint on his hands when turning the pumpkin. They helped with the morning chores and ate like horses. It has been along time without little kids underfoot so we were exhausted when they left!

And time before that I was trying to get pictures of the eclipse. I was able to get some regardless of the clouds until almost full eclipse and then it was total cloud coverage.

So we are about ready for the snowy weather. The sheep are sheared and there is hay in the barn. The turkeys took a short ride. #2 son said they would weigh in at 25 and 18...they ate well and weighed a shocking 37 and 24!

The only thing that has to be done still is butchering the pigs and the longer the weather is above normal the longer they will be with us. This year also saw a bounty of acorns and they are eating their fill. They have an acorn fairy that leaves feed bags of acorns by the milkhouse for them. 

I have been knitting very little but I expect that to pick up once the apples are done.  So until I have something fibery to show I will leave you with this little anomaly....

a road in PA without potholes....or political advertisements!



　

　
　

OMG A year has gone by!!!!!

 
 
The mind ought sometimes to be diverted that it may return to better thinking. ~ Phaedrus

I find it funny that I should return to this blog almost a year to the day. Diversion didn't produce any better thinking but I guess it is true that I do love this time of year. Summer keeps me tied to the garden or the stove canning but when September rolls around I know the end is in sight. I have only to do apples

and sauerkraut and then I get a much needed rest.

Unlike last year the temperatures are above normal. The mornings however are wonderful. A cool fog shrouds the mountains.

 

Unexpected visitors were resting in a tree above the chicken coop. 

 

He did not like his picture taken so flew to a fence post,

 

when that didn't stop me he finally flew to a tree on the mountain. While the pigs were too busy doing their pig thing to notice,

the coop residents would not have liked the visit.

Not much has changed since a year ago. I am still working on the genealogy. I missed a family reunion because the car's (7 more payments but no more warranty) engine died. I also missed the Endless Sheep and Wool again but will be at Rhinebeck.

I did get a great deal on a 30 x 100 foot greenhouse frame. While too much space for my growing purposes, we intend to put part by the garden and the rest will be used for housing animals and storage for tractor and implements.

#1 daughter and Sir T are house hunting. They found a great house but the owners will not work with them, to the point that even the homeowners realtor thinks her clients are unreasonable. So the hunt goes on. The grandkids are getting so big. O starts kindergarten next September which seems impossible. B will be lost without him.

#1 son had a horrible snowmobile accident this past winter while riding with A.....seven broken ribs, three were broken multiple times, broken sternum, broken collar bone, two punctured lungs one collapsed, and a concussion. He subsequently sold his snowmobile but when Spring came they bought the fastest side by side quad to ride. He turned 30 this Spring so healing wont be as fast something he should keep in mind.

#2 son had long wanted to join the marines. Unfortunately he is PDQ because of his hearing. He was always getting ear infections as a kid and had ruptured his ear drum multiple times because of them. He tried for a waiver since he is only off by one frequency but the Marines are not offering waivers at this time. So he started working at the same place #1 son and husband work and will celebrate his one year anniversary there in a couple of weeks.

#2 daughter is working as a CNA at an area nursing home. She loves it but being the mom I worry about her driving as she works 3-11 pm and during the winter they don't always work on the roads at night. In a little over a month she turns 21. How time flies.

As with all gardening years, something's grow and something's don't. It was a great year for peas and summer squash but tomatoes were indecisive. They are loaded with buds now that it is time to pull them! A new thing this year is cotton!!!!!

 

I was given three plants and they had gorgeous flowers and then the boles started. I can't wait to harvest and plant more next year.

Even the farm is pretty much the same. We got three pigs to raise again this year.

We got a couple of turkeys.

A friend got chickens and ducks but his landlord nixed the ducks so he gave them to us.

I am in the sporadic funk with knitting but I have been spinning a lot. I washed a fleece today so as the weather gets cooler I will have plenty to card/dye/spin.

And that about wraps up the year! Pretty boring to put on paper but in real time it has had some pretty good moments.

A chill in the air

“Autumn has caught us in our summer wear” 

~ Philip Larkin

While not yet Autumn, Sunday I could not get warm.  The weather has definitely cooled down (like 10 degrees below normal) and the a/c units are out of the windows.  Along with Spring this is my favorite time of the year.

A walk along the barn road shows dead leaves starting to accumulate along its edge.  

 A look up into the woods and you notice the trees have lost their vibrant green.  They now wear coats of army green and drab olive.  Soon they will be vibrant again in hues of red, orange and yellow.  The wildflowers or weeds depending on who is talking are blooming.

The multi-flora rosehips are turning red.  

 The hops are past their prime.  

 The acorns are plentiful and the black walnuts 

are making walking across the yard without turning your ankle an impossible feat.

Autumn seems in a rush this year.  The bear is a regular visitor as he tries to put on his winter weight.  The puppy doesn’t like him!  He growls with his hackles up while walking from door to door.  Something took down one of the fawns in the field.  It took ½ one night and ½ the next.  We believe it is the coyotes which are getting to be nightly visitors on the mountain behind us….another thing the puppy doesn’t like!  A small buck was in the yard yesterday, the velvet is off his antlers and his neck looked like it had already started to swell.  And at the man’s worksite there were deep marks of hooves being shoved in the dirt where two bucks had been fighting. 

I have spent the last month canning, knitting and working on the genealogy. A friend knew my tomatoes were not producing what I needed and picked me up 125# from a farm near where he works.  I was kept busy enough that I missed the Endless Mt Fiber Fest. 

I did however enter into their completion and I won on both entries!!!!!  Cyndi from Riverrim was nice enough to take them up for me as she vends there with Grace Hatton.  This year’s project was a cowl.  I entered a crocheted version 

(Main Street byKrista Wolf) which won first place and a knit version 

(Beaded smoke Ring by Jackie Erickson-Schweitzer with a few changes due to time restrictions) which won third place!  I know it’s not like entering into a huge competition such as MD Sheep & Wool or Rhinebeck but its fun.

But back to the gardening/canning….With the addition of the 125# of tomatoes, my  shelves are now stocked with all the BBQ sauce, chili sauce, salsa, bruschetta in a jar, rotel tomatoes, crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce and V8 that I need to get through the year.  The green beans which were late to start are still producing.  I slowed down picking so I can save seed for next year.  The summer squash were nothing to write about but the winter squash are doing fantastic.  I planted two spaghetti and one LI Cheese in the regular garden and I must have 10 spaghetti squash still out there and three cheese.  Up by the barn in a manure pile I also planted one LI cheese, 1 striped cushaw and some saved seed from a sugar pie pumpkin I got from Walmart last year.  I intended to keep moving the fence but the vines soon grew through the roll so I couldn’t move it without breaking the vines. 

However I have four cheese, three cushaw and some sugar pie’s.  The chickens have discovered the sugar pie and are pecking at them.  I had to wrap the others that are growing outside the fence in old feed bags so as not to lose them.

We went blueberry picking in August at Herrick Hill Huckleberry Farm and it was awesome. Toddler O kept eating and every time we asked him how many berries he picked and put in his bucket the answer was three.  His brother Baby B went from person to person, stomped his foot, grunted, put his hand out and waited for it to be filled. We brought home 30 pounds.  I froze some, and then canned blueberry/lime jam, blueberry syrup and blueberry pie filling. This past weekend we went apple picking at Roba’s.  You can quickly fill a ½ bushel as the trees are loaded 

so it wasn’t as much fun as berry picking for the adults or the grandkids.  Closer to Halloween we will go back pumpkin picking and after looking at their cut your own Christmas trees we might have to get our tree there this year. And did you know there are less than 100 days until Christmas?

And in genealogy…I got back into it after being contacted by a relative on my father’s side.  This past week I contacted someone about my grandmother’s sister (or daughter as has always been assumed) on my mom’s side and it ended up being her granddaughter.  Now maybe we can make some head way on our great grandparents.  

And that about wraps it up.  

Whether the weather

Whether the weather be fine
Or whether the weather be not
Whether the weather be cold
Or whether the weather be hot
We'll weather the weather
Whatever the weather
Whether we like it or not.

I remember hearing that tongue twister on a Little Bear episode and it has been running through my head all morning.  It is very appropriate as the weather saga continues but we did get some respite. 
On Saturday, April 5^th we celebrated Grandson B’s first birthday by going to an indoor water park.  It was 39 and windy outside but 82 degrees inside.  The kids, old and young, loved it.   

Wave pools, tube and raft slides that sent you outside the building while it dropped you four floors, 

picture from Split Rock's website

flow rider surfing, hot tubs, a separate area just for the little guys.  It was awesome and definitely buoyed our spirits knowing the temperatures would soon be that warm outside.

And they did warm up.  I was working outside in the garden and greenhouse or since I am redoing door I was taking them outside to sand and stain.  Tomatoes need to be transplanted soon.

This past weekend we made a trip south to the grandkids to build them a swing set.  Only 2 ½ hours from home yet much warmer than us.  Their daffodils were blooming, the grass was close to needing to be cut, the forsythia just starting to bloom.  We came home sunburned and eagerly awaiting the grass to turn green and the first blossoms up here and yesterday I saw one of my daffodils was blooming!

This weekend was also when trout season opened. 

 We have all been out several times but we didn’t catch anything but did carry home some of Spring and Summers nemesis, ticks.  
 
Several nights I left the plants in the unheated greenhouse and we even slept with the windows open…and today we wake to two inches of snow so it’s inside work today like knitting… not like that is work!  I have been ignoring the fiber side and only made two dishcloths recently. 

 I have another reason for that….egg watching.  We hatched our first egg on Sunday.  Now we have ten baby chicks.  I originally put in 20 eggs so our success rate was low but it was a test run.  It was all the dark brown eggs that didn’t hatch so will take that into consideration when picking out eggs next time.  And next time will be  May.

Finally April

"Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.  There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature— the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter."
-   Rachel Carson

Our early battle between Winter and Spring is ongoing.  Last week I went to help stock trout and it was 24 degrees with a wind chill factor of 10.  

 They were cutting through 18 inches of ice to continue stocking. 

Monday some places in NEPA got 10 inches of snow.  Thankfully we only got a coating of ice and sleet, just enough to have a two hour school delay. Tuesday I was outside and heard a noise....

some visitors had returned to my pond!

Our lives are in battle too.  The man is splitting firewood but Spring cleaning the barn also.  In the house sometimes I am knitting mittens and other times I am transplanting seedlings. 

Sunday it is suppose to be 60 degrees, the warmest Sunday in 24 weeks says the weatherman.  I have a lot of clean up and fence repair in the garden so I am looking forward to that.  But first we will be celebrating #2 grandson, Baby B's, first birthday.  Why does it seem winter crawled by but this year flew by? 

Now I must go catch up on Game of Thrones so I will be ready for this season.  Have a great weekend.