Seasonal Stirrings

 There is no doubt about it, we are in the midst of everything Autumn!  Colder weather has moved in and nights, though not yet frosty, are quite cold.  The leaves have just about arrived at peak color.  

However, this weekend's winds have sent many of them spiraling to the forest floor.  

Aside from a brief rain shower (just as I was sitting watching Tyler play soccer on Saturday), the weekend was a lovely mix of sun and dark clouds.

The front pasture is now occupied by only Ginger and Faith, with a brief daily visit from the donkey girls.  This pasture was grazed quite heavily through the early autumn weeks and will now rest for the winter.

The horses have moved on to the upper pastures - where thick, lush grass remains green.  Their grazing time is a bit shorter these mornings - to keep them from over-consuming and gaining weight (which can happen quite quickly with these easy keepers.)

Forrest is always quite curious when the horses are out in the fields and, I believe, would love to help round them up when it's time to come in.  But, we have discouraged him from chasing any of the farm animals.  Sadly, for him, we are in no need of assistance.

Between soccer games, we finished up a few of the chores that were on our Autumn lists.  I finished planting the 50 narcissus, and Hubbs worked on taking the rotting stumps (that had been used as planters around the farm) to the woods for their final resting spot.  One particular stump had a rather large nest of yellowjackets inside - and when Hubbs went to move it, they attacked him, stinging him three times.  

One of the stings was on his right hand.  As you can see he reacts quite badly to stings (and actually has had a few anaphylactic reactions to bee stings in the past).  This time he was stung on the hand, the arm and the face.  I will spare you (and him)  the picture of his swollen cheek.  Luckily, swelling was the only reaction he had to these yellowjackets!  It can be quite scary.  

On one of his trips to and from the barn, he spied this cutie crossing the driveway.  Aside from the cuteness factor of these masked bandits, seeing them in the daytime is never good.  Raccoons are nocturnal and are often rabid if seen during the daytime.  Luckily, none of dogs were loose during this sighting.

I do love seeing the wild critters who call the farm home.  We have quite a large deer population, and this summer gained a couple of flocks of mother turkeys and their young.  We see the turkeys quite often on our trips to the woods.  We decided last week to put our game cameras back out in the woods.  We spend so much time during the daylight hours walking these trails - it's fun to see who walks them when we are not around.  Here are a few of the photos from the past couple of days...

Sadly, the camera was a little too high to capture all of this fellow (we have since lowered it).

Here's a couple of wild ones...

This gal had walked across the same path about an hour before we arrived.  I think Forrest smelled her scent.

I don't know about you, but my cooking changes with the season.  Now that colder weather has arrived, I love making soups.  This weekend's soup was split pea...

with rosemary/sea salt sourdough bread...

To me, autumn calls for comfort food... hearty soups, stews, and lots of bread!!

I started a new knitting project this weekend.  I think this will take me quite a well - which is fine because the yarn is linen - perfect for next spring!

I also had a little time to work on a little creative project that was inspired by my walks in the woods.  I am creating a little acorn boy character...

He's a work in progress... still in the thinking/dreaming phase.

I find that the change in seasons stirs my creative juices... and that's a kettle that could use a little stirring!