A Brief Holiday Message and Fall Round-Up

If you have reached the blog through the Christmas cards we sent out, consider putting your email in the email address box on that right hand side that way when I publish a new post, it will get sent directly to your email. Please enjoy the fall round-up below and know I will try to post something once a month. The next post will be pictures of our fall trip to Napa Valley. By the time this post publishes we will have winter prepped the T@B including removing the TV from the kitchen hatchback and covering it with the winter cover. I just couldn't resist posting this picture of it in the backdrop of the sunset. Andrew took the T@B to Michigan again in October, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

September demanded a lot of gardening still and we were picking tomatoes throughout the month. This picture was taken on a Sunday as I weeded the herb garden. A full Tutu post will be coming this winter.

Here is a shot of a butterfly making weeding a little more fun.

Speaking of gardening, a friend of mine went to visit a private garden open to the public and featured in the Urbana Citizen. This 65 foot tunnel with 10 varieties of gourds was a soothing and delightful experience. So grateful for folks in the community who open their hearts and homes to share what they are passionate about.

Another September harvest included a bumper crop of concord grapes. I have found to my dismay that the tannin in the grapes gives me a headache. I love concord grapes but cannot deny the head throbbing pain that follows. I fed some to the chickens and threw some in the freezer maybe for a future project.

Another harvest from the garden included hops. We've had a few hops growing for several years but this was the first year I made the time to pick some. Rather than brewing, I dried them and hope to use them for some future herbal projects. Hops can help one sleep, and I especially like the Aura Cacia aromatherapy oil called "Pillow Potion." It is lavender and hops and can really help you sleep.

I was cutting herbs into mid-October. I planted some sage this year and was inspired by a recent trip to plant more next year. Pictured here is Sage, Parsley, Chives, and a Goodwin Grey lavender.

Some of the sage dried for the year.

Additionally Calendula. This bloomed late and I lost a lot to the cold in October. I mainly use Calendula for a home made eczema salve I occasionally make for friends. I hear it smells awful, but works well.

The chickens are doing well. I'll try to include more about them in a future post. For now, check out what was left of the ill advised placed robin's nest that I featured earlier in the summer. I think one robin fledged successfully. I like this picture and how it reminds me of change. The moon is a good reminder of how things change.

I certainly hope the coop's resident Toad has found a place to hunker down for the winter. He was also featured earlier, and he scared me half to death on a hot day in September. This was his answer to keeping cool. My Dad asked if he could get out or if I would help him out. I'm not getting any closer to a toad than I have to. I figured, if he got in, he could get out and he did. Nowadays we have the electric waterer set up for the chickens.

Andrew's last race of the season was at Alum Creek. He's qualified for Nationals again next year.

I took this nice picture while he was competing.

Andrew got a jump on holiday baking by trying this recipe from the Model Bakery of Napa CA, cinnamon rolls.

Andrew took the T@B the first week of October to Michigan and went on a salmon fishing trip with my Dad. What a catch!

July Roundup

Guys, I'm tired. The pictures speak for themselves.

Traveling in Style

On my birthday we went to Haydocy Airstream and picked up this little beauty. Pre-owned with more extras and accessories, we took it up for a several night stay in Empire Michigan. God Bless the couple who sold it on consignment with all the gear. It was like an easter egg hunt. We used the air conditioning but not the water, maybe on the next trip. This T@B is made just a couple hours from us in Ohio and they have a real following. Easy to set up and lots of fun, we got questions from a lot of campers about it. The side tent gave us lots of extra space and the white canopy we have used before. We went to wineries, to farm stands, to our favorite small towns, restaurants and stores. We made it to Petoskey one day where I was able to take an Iyengar Yoga class with Mary Reilly. The view of the leaves is from my yoga mat at our campground. The sunshine in the flower field was the view on the way to Andrew's triathlon race on the last Sunday of July. this early everything was cool, dewy and beautiful. By 10:30 it was scorching. Hydrangeas were in full bloom, cherries were on the trees, and the lavender while playing out still garnered bees. Andrew hates having his picture taken, but I did get this shot of him finishing. He has qualified for Nationals for 2020 with another race this past season. We will go to Milwaukee in 2020. I couldn't resist taking this cute sign in one of the many clothing boutiques in Traverse City. I'm sorry the text is so choppy, I'm not that smart of a blogger. July round up coming up later.

Farewell June

I didn't think I'd do another post so soon, but I'm starting to see opportunities for the blog posts again while I work. I also realized that the "instagram-ification" of sharing pictures has sunk into my consciousnesses as I notice "oh hey, there's the pet food lids" on the windowsill or, "look at all those crumbs on this dishcloth." I find it interesting that I'm noticing it when a few years ago I would have never noticed it. The purpose of the blog is really to send out little dispatches on life on the homestead as they happen. If you learn something or find it mildly entertaining that's cool. It's also a nice writing exercise for me despite the typos. Let's start with Food. I bought my first black diamond watermelon of the season on Friday and as I type it's pretty much already gone. It wasn't as sweet as I hoped but still good. Maybe they will get sweeter as we get really into season. Few seeds, very juicy and deep red. Bowling ball shaped and also known as the "cannonball" I buy it at a local produce stand in Urbana. And this means...watermelon toner: It's a bit of a hassle to use on my face at night as I have to walk downstairs to get it out of the fridge. I won't make this with every watermelon or maybe any others this summer. I'll move onto cucumber toner later one. I don't make this year around, it's just the thing I do when they are in season. Here is a preview to another blog post: Beautiful, juicy, sweet black raspberries. My favorite food. Despairingly short picking season. I travel far to get them. I try to pick 20 lbs a year with a family member and freeze for pies and eating from the bag throughout the year. I got these at the farmer's market. I was worried with all the rain, that they would be waterlogged but these were beautiful and just right. I'll take pictures of this year's haul in July. Now, to critters, mostly insect life. I intentionally set the watermelon rind/shell/husk outside for a few hours, just to give the chickens the added treat of ants. They ate the ants first. There are lots of descriptions on egg cartons these days right? Cage Free, Pasture Raised, Free Range, Natural. There are many good internet sources on what all these things mean but in the meantime let's talk about "vegetatian feed." Chickens are not vegetarians. They are omnivores. They eat plants, bugs, worms, and a mouse if they can get a hold of one. I've hand feed the chickens tomato worms and lots of chicken treat includes meal worms. They are ace foragers when they range. The more varied the diet, and the more protein in their diet, the better the egg tastes. That's just a fact. Try it sometime. Get the cheap grocery store eggs with shells super thin and compare to a pasture range or farmer's market egg. You will notice a difference in shell, yolk color and taste. Other bug life includes: Seems like this year and last year have shown a better turnout for lightning bugs. And I snapped a picture of one busy spider's work in the new gravel. Sometime soon I'll be writing about broody hens and black raspberries and whatever else.

June Round-Up

It's hard to believe it's almost July. I realized a couple weeks ago that with all the rain and clouds, I hardly noticed the long days as there have been so few beautiful sunsets. We are finally getting the sun and humidity Ohio summers are known for. I miss the cool weather, but not the rain that seemed necessarily packaged with it. I did manage to get into the herb garden. There is actually an herb garden in this picture, can you find it? I wish I was kidding. On Sunday though it only took me two hours and buckets and buckets of weeds to transform it into... I'll be adding several calendula plants that a green thumb friend started. The basil had already bolted and yellowed. I may have ripped up some of the thyme in my zeal. The two sage and chive plants now have room to grow. Plus I have malabar spinach and goodwin gray lavender. I never got around to planting basil. I also ripped up lots and lots of almost past bloom chamomile. The Chamomile is once again ridden with aphids. Soaking them up with saltwater kills them, but it's very hard to separate them for tea. I know they say we eat a certain percentage of, ah, "foreign material" but it's one thing to vaguely know it rather than absolutely know it. I'll use the chamomile for facial scrub powder and in a bath. If only my lavender was as hardy as oregano. Maybe I should become and oregano farmer. This is taking up probably a third of my herb garden. I'll mow down and rip out after it blooms as the bees do visit it. In other gardening news, the back area that gets overrun with weeds is so much better this year thanks to the hostas a friend gave me to weed out of her yard. I may lament having them lady as I have to rip them out myself as they are prolific. But right now I appreciate the hardiness of them and how they are choking out a lot of the weeds. Kale is interspersed. It's the first year I've done kale and it's nice to have too. Another harvest so far has been our largest cherry yield to date. Andrew picked them all in one night and I froze them so we can have pie later.