kittycafe

November Transforming

After that riot of wonderful fall colour, a gentle muting begins. The yellows are all that remain from the palette, and they can glow like gold in the sun.

These were for the most part taken on roads to the grocery store, how romantic is that?

I had to take some of these home for a big floor vase, as they are nearly 5 feet tall.

But November is rarely sunny for long. It is rainy and cold and dark. Storms brew.

And then the rain comes.

(Please excuse my fixation with barns)

And then one morning (this Sunday) you wake up to this:

And the route is transformed yet again.

This is my favourite farm in any season, a little ramshackle cluster of buildings, nestled down in a valley.

I tried to keep these photos small so they would not get automatically cropped width-wise, as that seems to happen. You can click for bigger. They are completely un-retouched, partly because I am always in a hurry posting, partly because of laziness, hence the water droplets and smudges from the car windshield. Truly drive-by photography.

I sometimes leave my shopping list at home but I rarely forget the camera.

Autumn

 

It is here.

Autumn is my favourite season but it is a bittersweet love.

It is not long lasting and then comes...you know.

I'm not so fond of the You Know.

We've lit the fire some nights to take the chill out of the air.

The leaves are starting to turn.

I try to enjoy every moment.

And a-foraging we go...( er, went)

I found that we have a walnut tree.

I remember one Thanksgiving weekend in my teens, sitting outside with a friend all afternoon releasing the walnuts from their casings and staining our fingers black black.

My friend in berry picking, F called to say she found another elderberry spot and the picking was easy, no streams or nettles or mosquitoes. Since she was off to host an eco-tour in the Brazilian rain forest (I know, I know), they were all mine.

I gathered enough for four jars of jam..

and an elderberry pie. Actually apple pear elderberry pie.

We have 6 apple trees on this property but only 3 are bearing fruit this year. And slim pickings at that. Everyone is blaming the wet spring. Not one on the golden delicious tree and a gala type apple tree not on the property but not far away, proved bare of all fruit. And that one I knew was full of apples. Somebody had beat me to it. I did snag a few windfalls earlier though.

If I don't decorate my pie with the leftover pastry bits, I usually make some cinnamon crispies. Just roll out pieces of pastry, sprinkle them with cinnamon and sugar and bake for a few minutes with the pie. The kids devour these. I am guilty of raising pastry fiends.

Even knitting goes autumnal.

It's time to think scarves and mitts and hats.

This one the Bainbridge Scarf by Pepperknits, with mods by flintknits.. It  is a great stash buster and I think I will make a few more for gift giving this year.

There is an annual neighbourhood ritual we were invited to, just after school started.

Imagine coming through a corn filled to a clearing between two properties. There are two long tables set up, complete with white tablecloths and candelabra. There is one of those old fashioned looking popcorn machine carts. A movie screen (a large tarp rigged on scaffolding) rests between cedars. Lawn chairs are set up three rows deep. A large bon fire is blazing .  We are offered martinis and margaritas by the host's wife. (There is power for the blender coming from somewhere) 

The first movie is for the kids (they had a cooler of pop) and then an intermission, which was some downloaded vintage advertisements from theatres and television (remember the dancing hotdog? There was also a very non-PC Flintstone's ad for Winston cigarettes! Oh, how times change)

It got dark very fast, that darkness you only find in the country. 

It also got very cold and sleeping bags and blankets were snuggled into. A  dog was playing fetch with corn cobs from the field with anyone  who would throw one.

That's how we got to meet the neighbours.

 We were very wobbly walking home with flashlights through the corn fields. Although that could have been the martinis...

L is for Local

Or, The Idiot Gardener, Revisited

We were half way through eating dinner the other night when I realised the meal was almost entirely local, without conscious planning.

I had picked green beans earlier, after rejigging my homemade trellis which was leaning dangerously under the weight of the pole beans. I discovered actual beans on it quite by accident while fingers twisted twine, master gardener that I am... snort.  This veggie growing gig still amazes me.* I have been so intent on the box and soil and planting that the vegetables seem more like a happy bonus, than the actual purpose of the whole enterprise.

A roast was in the oven, natural grass fed beef from a local farm, with potatoes from my garden as well.**

Carrots were requested and the fridge bin came up empty so I went and pulled a few of those.

Littlest wanted Yorkshire pudding, the only part of a roast dinner she likes, with lots of gravy.

So fresh eggs, purchased roadside, were put to use and I buy organic flour from Hockley Valley (which has no website and I threw away the bag, dang it). Also in my neck of the woods.

And there you have it. I can say 'neck of the woods' now and really mean woods. Small things amuse... well, you know.

Also local and still a wonder that I have these things in my backyard, the heron (pictured above) has come to the pond several times this week, no doubt eyeing the rainbow trout that is stocked therein.

The Husband took this photo while lying on the grass from the other side of the pond with the telephoto lens, obviously.

I had a bigger treat later when I came out of the house to call the kids in. Unaware that the heron was perched on the roof of the house at the time, my shouting startled him into flight and the view of the massive wing span as he flew over my head was amazing. Much larger than you'd think.

* I do not feel so bad when things like this happen:

 A friend came to stay for the weekend and he was very keen on a garden tour. He was most impressed with the squash/pumpkin patch. He pointed to a small green orb on a stem. "What is this?" he asked.

"A pumpkin."

" Wow. I've never seen one so small!" He exclaimed.

"Well, they've got to start somewhere"  said the dh, with a chuckle.

** The potatoes were not planned as part of this growing experiment. 

But due to an unfortunate and mysterious problem with tomato plants and wildlife in that spot, I picked up some seed potatoes and nilly-willy, pushed them into the soil.

The potato plants were getting very large, very fast and I worried they were going to crowd out the other plants. And when are they ready? And how do you know, what with them hidden underground?

I consulted my one and only gardening book which stated that the early varieties could be harvested when the plants flowered and the later ones, well, much later, like September.

Well, crap on a stick, which kind did I buy?

The plants were flowering so I gave one the heave ho. They were mostly small, but a few were, you know, grocery store-size (go ahead, laugh) and they were delicious. So I still really don't know what kind I bought.

So you see, even those who don't know what the heck they are doing can manage to grow veg and eat well. 

Still can't quite get caught up on the ABC Along but I do have 'Z' planned.

Z is for Zucchini! Can someone save me from the zucchini?

A Week in Pictures

After all the kvetching about winter, we have a week of summer! Particularly the weekend. Everything is rapidly greening and coming alive, myself included.
Gardening is top of the list these days, with plenty of this:

Our new property is a bit of a blank slate landscaping-wise but I did find some of these under the apple trees:

I've also done a lot of equine photography for portraits:

So now I have a lot of this to do:
I love my wicker paint box. It makes me fell very Beatrix Potterish.
Work is always unfortunate when I started two new knitting projects:

The wildlife are back. We watched 6 deer come to drink at the smaller frog pond, 20' from the house last night. No one went for the camera, we just watched quietly. And they watched us.
New visitors included raccoons, which strangely enough we didn't see all winter.
Btw, he's not looking to jump down here. I tapped the window and he was shooting me a 'look' over his shoulder.

Mr and Mrs. Canada Goose have chosen our larger pond as their own. They gave me a very good talking/sqawking to as I followed them around the pond before they had had enough.

Unfortunately, they aren't the only ones using the pond this weekend. The Littlest wanted bragging rights as the first to jump in the pond. Now, it was a very warm weekend (25'C) but there is still a little snow in the shady parts of the woods. But then, I think determined is the word for my girl.

I had a little chat with Lynne this morning on her first day back to work. It was nice talking to you, Lynne.
I am getting to work now , really I am...