GOODBYE OCTOBER, YOUR VISIT ENDS TODAY

 TRICK- OR- TREAT,  HAPPY HALLOWEEN everyone. I'm feeling really wicked tonight for some reason...

October was a breeze and is already gone. I didn't get done all I wanted to do in the gardens but I'm slowly getting it done. Everything is looking so drab with the bare trees and the ragged gardens and leaves littering the yard.  I can't show a decent picture of flowers because half of them are not picture-worthy. 

I've decided that Autumn isn't my favorite season after all. Everyone seems to say that Autumn is their favorite season but for me,  I think that Spring is my favorite season, even with the flooding... There are a lot of good things about Autumn I know, but right now I'm finding it easier saying what I don't like about it.

In his wisdom, God gave us this season to slow us down so I shouldn't complain and I should be thankful. I'm very thankful until I have to adjust the way I used to do things. 

 I love the beginning of Autumn with all the beautiful colors of foliage and cooler temperatures but's that's about it. It's the season of death. Oh, I forgot, no mosquitos. Yes, I love no mosquitos but those darn fruit flies have taken over my compost and even wait at the door to come in.  Pesky little nuisance they are.

Everything ripens at the same time and there are always veggies on my counter that need to be taken care of. The furry little visitors who are looking for a warm place to live rent-free, the mice, and their furry companions are coming into the garage and somehow find their way into the house. I make them pay with their lives, the little rascals.

I never know just how to dress.  I love wearing sandals and I hate to give them up.  The temperature varies constantly and I never know quite what to wear. I've especially noticed that wearing the right pajamas can be quite challenging. One day I have to wear summer pajamas and the next day and change to warmer pajamas and even winter pajamas, especially on cold rainy nights.

Then comes the work that comes with Autumn. The harvesting of root vegetables. It's plain back-breaking work digging out all those veggies. Then here comes the fruit flies. I have no love for those little buggers. Putting the gardens to bed is a lot of work also, especially for me as I have so many.

The sun is so low that it makes it difficult to drive with the sun is in my eyes and working in the garden without a sun visor gives me a headache. The heavy dark clouds are showing up more often.

The songbirds are flying away to warmer places so I miss their songs and the squirrels are planting butternuts all over my flower beds and are digging up my tulip bulbs. 

Then there's the body trying to adjust to the constant temperature swings.  Then, there's the wait for the killer frost and the clean-up after.  I almost forgot the frosty windshield in the morning. Driving in the fog in rush hour is a bit frightening. Autumn is also cold and flu season. 

Many people suffer from seasonal depression starting in Autumn with less sunlight. It's more difficult to get out of a warm bed and it's more difficult to get motivated. When we think we've finally adjusted, there is the daylight time change that everyone dislikes. 

Hello November. What will you bring?

Thanks for reading my Autumn rant. It feels good just to rant once in a while even though no one is listening. I hope that you didn't eat too many Halloween treats. We didn't get a single trick or treater this evening. Oops, I turned the calendar page too soon. Lol. Haloween isn't until tomorrow. 

Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment. 

BLOG BUDDIES, BLOG BUDDIES, WHERE ARE YOU?

 The other day, I was reading some old posts on my blog and felt nostalgic toward my old blogger friends who no longer post on their blogs or comment. I'm so thankful for the faithful blog buddies I still have and they are a varied bunch, but the list has shrunk through the years.  We are all getting older and me included and I'm missing my good old blog buddies and I wonder how they are. I know, sometimes, life gets in the way and we pull back.

I TOOK A LITTLE TRIP IN THE COUNTRY

 Seeing all the beautiful Autumn colors in their vibrant hues just made me glad to be alive. Apple picking was calling me back and so I made the time and went alone, this time.  Do you want to come along with me? 

It was a beautiful day and the place wasn't packed like the first time I went.  The first time, we went on a Saturday and it was crowded. George had a sore back so he picked apples from the trees and I picked apples on the ground. We didn't walk around the farm and returned home as soon as we could. 

It's a beautiful farm with lots of lands covered with a large variety of apple trees, big barns,  a big farmhouse and other buildings,  fields and horses in the pastures. This time I wasn't rushed and I walked around and took some pictures with my cell phone. 

The farm is situated high on a hill, off the highway, with the picturesque St John Valley down below.  What a gorgeous view. There are rows upon rows of well-kept apple trees and a constant picking of apples for market and people picking apples for themselves, like me.  I didn't want to take too many pictures of the people for their own privacy. 

Upon arriving I went to get a little plastic cart to carry the apples and I asked for three plastic bags.  These large plastic bags with string, holds approximately 10 pounds of apples when filled and tied. They weigh the apples, we pay and we can use the little cart to carry the apples back to the car and then we return the little cart to the kid amusement park. There are many carts, and this is only a small portion of the playground.

There were lots of these rocking horses, carts and other kids playground toys.

Don't you just love this old car with the HoneyCrisp licence and their Everettapples.com

Here is the front view and see all the rocking horses in the background and an old Ice cream truck canteen.

Two horses in the higher pasture.

Two more horses the lower pasture. The black horse is hiding his male appendage behind the post. I didn't want to embarrass my viewers.

One small section of the apple trees by the parking area.

This is the long road downhill. It's a very steep hill and I couldn't see the slope from the top.

Some of my dehydrated apples in bottles.  I use the largest wide-mouth quarts jars I had. I made about 17 jars and there are still apples to process. I'll probably freeze some for apple pies.

I dehydrate them at night and by morning, they are dry enough to bottle. It takes about 10 hours to make them nice and crisp.

I can fit more in the oven. My oven has a dehydrator function and I prefer this method. I dip the slices in a mixture of half bottled lemon juice and half water. I place them on a clean tea towel to catch the drips. I place the apple slices on cheese cloths to facilitate the removal so they don't stick to the cooling racks.

After talking to my daughter Christine, I decided to do like her and boil the apple skins and cores and make scrap Apple Jelly. I made 10 one-cup jars.

 A few days ago I made another 2 batches of Rhubarb, Strawberry Pineapple jam as I sold all two cases I made at the church Farmer's Market. Poor George didn't have a single jar left for him. 

We had the usual Turkey dinner with all the trimmings for Thanksgiving but somehow, I didn't take any pictures. I even made 2 pumpkin pies and between 4 people, it's all gone. 

Sorry for the length of the post. Thanks for visiting and leaving a comment. I appreciate your kind comments.

Julia

THE PROPHECY OF THE LAST POPE - Garabandal, Medjugorje, Akita, Fatima a...

Prophesies for our time. It's already happening.

St Michael the Arch Angel, defend us in battles against Satan and his demons.

Julia

OCTOBER CAME KNOCKING AT MY DOOR ALREADY

 Yes, October came knocking at my door and September got a little upset and whirled out of here, with leaves littering my front lawn. I went for a little trip uptown and the leaves are changing so fast. What a beautiful sight, the leaves are so colorful already. I was driving so I couldn't take any photos.

We are still harvesting nature's gifts. My son Vaughan and George are picking crab apples on the front lawn and almost filled a large box. George wants me to make some crabapple jelly again this year.

I got help digging and picking potatoes this year but they speared too many with the fork. This is the upper end of the rows. I was so busy digging that I forgot to take pictures of the helpers.

And this is the lower end. The center was picked a few weeks ago. We gave away a lot and sold some and put the rest in storage for the family.

I made another two large batches of salsa and in all made 35 jars. I'm sure some will go as gifts.

Here are some bottles of salsa in the boiling water bath for 20 minutes. Oh, yummy salsa.

My curiosity got the best of me and I dug up some sweet potatoes from my experiment. I was actually surprised to get some this size as our growing season is short and they need long season and lots of heat to grow.

I dug up the rest as it's been cold and they announced rain for the next three days. I got about 25 pounds.

A friend gave me a bag of apples and I made this apple pie and dehydrated the rest, then my sister-in-law, Pauline gave me 2 big bags of apples that she picked at a U-Pick and I'm still dehydrating some. They are so good, I eat them like candy in the winter. I would like to go pick apples to dehydrate more.

One of George's second crop of cabbage. He sold a lot but this one was starting to split. I put it next to the pie for perspective.

I deadheaded the Rudbeckia to prevent them from growing all over the lawn.

I dug up some daylilies and gave away a lot but I still need to dig up some more on the end of the rows.

I saved all the debris to make mulch to keep the weeds away. I still have so many plants to cut down.

These will need to be cut down as well and I have several other daylily beds to clean up.

That's it for this evening. I hope that you are all staying well and happy.

Thanks for visiting and leaving a comment. I appreciate your kindness.

Julia