Chores

I LOVE FALL!!!

What splendid fall weather we had yesterday...

partly sunny with lots of wonderful grey clouds, windy, cool and dry.

Perfect!

I spent most of the day outside catching up on extra chores.

While the horses were busy running around the front pasture,

the pigs and I got busy cleaning up walnuts in their yard.

For some reason (some may say it's a sign of a hard winter to come)

we have more walnuts on the ground than any year to date!

There are so many walnuts lying around that it's hard to walk in some areas without

twisting your ankle.

I imagine it cannot be too easy for the pigs to walk around all of these walnuts as well.

As you know... I am never alone when doing chores.

There are always lots of friends interested in what I am doing!

I love these pigs... always so tolerant!

I am not sure what this fellow was up to, but he had his neck feathers ruffled like he was 

thinking about flogging me.  Yikes!

By the time I finished, the gator was full of walnuts.

The dogs and I took a ride over to our hundred acre wood,

where we deposited all of those walnuts.

They will either be winter food for the forrest creatures or eventually grow into trees.

I also spent a little time cleaning up the garden for winter.

I was surprised to find the saffron crocus blooming (for the fourth year in a row)...

so I quickly pulled the red stigma from each of the flowers and took them home to dry.

Saffron is extremely expensive, so growing my own makes perfect sense.

I also harvested the rest of the carrots, some broccoli and kale....

and beets, which I peeled, cut and roasted for supper.

Also for supper was THIS recipe...

I buy a freezer full of local, pasture-raised, whole chickens every year,

so I am always looking for recipes that use a whole chicken.

There is a little extra work associated with a whole chicken...

like cutting it up into pieces.

I also use them for soups and stews throughout the winter.

Although buying local pastured poultry direct from the farm is a little more expensive than

buying chicken in the grocery store,

I feel a sense of satisfaction in not contributing to the inhumane way that commercial

chicken houses treat their birds.

Here is my Halloween jack-o-lantern for this year...