OCTOBER

From the City...

Is it just me or is October just flying by?  I look forward to this month from mid summer on and it seems to me that it just zoomed by on its way to cold, depressing, dreary, grey November. 

Nevertheless, here are some pics I've been saving up from the month.  

 Simon makes the most incredible french toast. He even went to the bakery early in the morning to get a loaf of fresh cakey white bread, which hands down, is like heaven in your mouth.  The brown seedy bread we normally eat just can't be made into french toast, it just isn't fair to the maple syrup or to the cinnamon.  

Ms. Sunshine just sitting beside Yoda in the, handmade, landspeeder.  My brother in law puts on this amazing halloween contest in The City of Kawartha Lakes whereby people haunt their homes.  His entry this year is the most incredible star wars scene.  

You can check out pics of his and all the other haunters here.

 Little baby legs attached to a sleeping Mille in her daddy pouch.

 So, so, so much pastry.  Laura originally wanted to make 5 pies, I drew the line at 3.  

 Laura drank tea during the pie off of 2011, I needed beer to to get me through.  

 Crazy apple pie. Recipe here.

 Two little teeth just perfect for biting.

 Perfect poached eggs....well my version of perfect.

 Current project on my needles.  A shawl that was originally supposed to be a sweater but the cost of a skein of yarn is about $20 making the finished product roughly $3,000 dollars.  Shawls are so much more fashionable anyway.  

Theo's amazing knit slippers.  So cute right??? I've been waiting for his feet to grow so he can wear them and finally the time is here.  Gifted from his lovely Auntie Hayley.  

Man this child is loved.  

-ab

Fall Plantings

snap shot of our behind-the- chicken-coop garden

Arugula, carrots and Swiss chard

 

Up close with the chard and carrots

fall crop of radicchio

late planting of sugar snap peas

 From the country...

The days are getting shorter and the nights are getting colder so we have been busy planting and tending to our fall crops. We have been preparing our cold frames and green houses by seeding short season greens (mizuna, choi, arugula, spinach etc) in order to get a late fall crop for market. Extending the season is an important way to keep the cash-a-flowing and I am learning new tricks every year. Like for instance, this will be the first year we have late season peas, green onions and a fall planting of radicchio (I have 100's of heads in...).  My hope is to keep pulling things out of our passive greenhouses/fields/gardens until the winter holidays- this depends on my skills and ultimately the weather.

Fall Is...

From the City...

My beaten up Blundstones, worth every penny.

Soup, soup and more soup

Layers upon layers upon layers.  Yes, that is plaid on plaid.

Click on the pics for the recipe.

-ab

Fall on the farm

Cylindrical Beets

Carrot piles

Green onion crop in the greenhouse- getting some water

Rogue sweet pea flowers from the compost- before we ate them...

From the country...

The frost came a little earlier this year then expected. And with that we said goodbye to the basil and the beans. Sweaters are coming out of the closet and the rubbers with the liners are being worn. Chores are done in the dark and meals are getting a little hardier around here. Welcome Autumn, I have been waiting for you. I love the seasons, don't get me wrong but I love the somewhat slower pace fall brings us here on the farm. Where the dark brings you into the house at night and the warmth of a pot of soup brings your tired soul comfort.

It is a time to reflect on the season and to list the work that still needs to be done to close the farm down(collecting wood, planting garlic,closing down gardens/field). It is a time when I begin to look at the inside of the house and think up a mental list of chores to be done (how long have those cobwebs been dangling from the living room ceiling?) for the winter months.

That is not to say that we have packed it in, no we are still on our toes tending to the fall crops to harvest before the snow flies. The turkeys are still keeping us busy with their daily shenanigans, breaking through the fencing daily and flying up to the barn roof where I swat them down with a broken kayak paddle and then we proceed to chase them around the farm. It is a job that Nate and I do everyday and he has sure grown into a fine turkey wrangler and he is proud to say that he can catch them faster then anyone here- kind of a farm boy hobby I guess.