Nuts!

What a magical, beautiful time of year it is!  I am enjoying each and every day of this season... whether I am working in the garden, around the farm, or looking out of my sewing room window at the spectacular foliage.  It's been just the best autumn!  I am most definitely in the midst of a love affair with autumn.

We had the perfect autumn weekend here on the farm.  The days were sunny and temperate, but cool enough for us not to be bothered by any little flying insects. 

We stayed home for most of the weekend, with the exception of a run to town to visit with our littlest ones on Friday evening and take dinner to them.  I helped to get them tubbied and ready for bed as the next morning they were to have family pictures taken.  Saturday afternoon, I got to see a sneak peak of some of the photos and thought I would share this one with you...

Our mornings, of late, have been frosty and cold... everything looking like it's been dipped in sugar.

Walking the horses up to the upper pasture, I keep my eyes to the ground... noticing how frost has decorated leaves...

and feathers....

sedum in the garden...

and even the gate to the pasture...

Horses love to graze on frosty grass.  

The frost raises the carbohydrate (sugar) level of the grass.  That is why at this time of year they continue to wear grazing muzzles when out to pasture for any length of time.  That, and the fact that these little guys are a bit chubby coming out of Summer.

Once we have several killing frosts and the grass goes dormant, the muzzles will come off for the winter.

Our horses were also very excited to be grazing adjacent to Becky's horses... Sid and Shirley.

We spent a little time picking up black walnuts from the pig yard.  

Walnut trees are the predominant species in this area of the farm.  

Rather than allowing them to rot on the ground and potentially grow more walnut trees in this area, we transport them over to our 100 acre woods and toss them into sunny areas left by last year's hemlock harvest.  


You might remember, that for the health and safety of our woods, we had out diseased (from the wooly adelgid infestation) hemlock trees removed.  Slowly, over time, this wooded area will become a deciduous forest.  Originally it was half hemlock and half deciduous.

We also tossed some walnuts into the center of the areas in our Field of Dreams that we have allowed to go fallow.  It has been interesting, over the past several years, to watch these areas re-naturalize.  Tossing a few walnuts might help to encourage the growth of trees, here, a little more quickly.


It's more and more evident how important trees are to our environment.  A couple weeks ago I had suggested you watch "Kiss The Ground" on Netflix.  I would like to again encourage you to watch this amazing documentary.  It might be one of the most important things you can do for global warming.  It will fill you with hope... and hope is something we all need these days!

 Watch it and then recommend it to others!   Thank you!

I am happy to report that my greenhouse garden is doing well.  I have several plantings of dinosaur kale coming along nicely. 

 Yesterday I filled a large tub with branches (in the bottom for drainage) and a mixture of soil and compost.  In this tub I have added another planting of kale. 

 It will be wonderful to have our own fresh, healthy kale to use for salads and sautéing this winter.  I am starting with kale because it is so cold tolerant.  I am hoping that I will not need to heat the greenhouse - but that this kale will survive just on the heat of the sun and warmth from the barn.

I spent a few hours in my sewing room on Sunday afternoon - working on masks so that I can restock my Etsy shop with new masks.  Christmas masks will be coming in November.  I have been wanting to make some velvet mushroom ornaments.  Without a pattern, I made this prototype...

I still have a little work to do to perfect these.

Comments

daisy g said…
What a beautiful family portrait.

So far, we haven't had any frost, but the days have been spectacular.
You might try Vates kale, as it grows here in the Piedmont of NC even through the winter. I'e had luck with Premier kale as well.

Your mushroom is charming.
Be Blissed!
littlemancat said…
Sweet portrait of the littles! Baby Eli looks like Easton, to my eye.
And great idea about the walnuts. You may see a grove of them in upcoming years.
And the mushroom ... love it!
Mary
jaz@octoberfarm said…
i love the portrait! we are getting a drizzle today....it's a miracle!!! we are going back to the 80's later in the week though. tell jack i said hi and 5-0!!!
Marcia LaRue said…
Love the little kiddie's picture ... Easton's smile looks a little bit forced -- LOL
Do you not hull and crack any of those black walnuts and use them in baking? I know they are harder then heck to crack and pick ... but they are so doggone good! If you end up with a grove of black walnut trees ... what would you do with all those walnuts?
Another lovely visit to the BHA ... thank you!! I need to order some more masks! I think we'll be needing them for some time to come!!
Lynne said…
Beautiful lacy, frosty post.
I LOVE the threesome picture. Precious!
Liked the info on walnut, hemlock, trees, woods . . .
I was wondering about more masks.
Wool sweaters and Palm tree masks are not “jiving it” . ..
Back to Etsy I go . . .
phyllis said…
Love the photo of the precious children.
Phyllis
This N That said…
Our frost so far has just been on the roofs..Love your pictures..
Nice picture of the littles and Mom and Dad..good looking family.
Good idea to spread those nuts around..Natural propagation!!
Cute mushroom..Try one with frilly edges??
Enjoy your week...Going to get warm again..Crazy
Hugs