Pieces of September Beauty

September is such a beautiful month with just enough of Summer left to infuse warmth into the days, and with the touch of fall to lend it's color and crispness.

  The golden rod has already lost it's early brilliant yellow, trading it in for the more subdued golden bronze color of fall.

The earliest leaves are beginning to drop, and the maples now appear, shocking flashes of red and orange in the still mostly green landscape.

It is a rich time of year, do make the most of it! :)

~Chs

Green Tomato Mince

8 cups chopped green tomatoes

8 cups chopped apples (I leave the skin on if it is good, just trim off the bad spots)

3 cups raisins, chopped (I just coarsely chop with a knife on a cutting board)

1 1/2 cups sugar (or less or more - depending on your taste and the tartness of the apples)

1 heaping TBL cinnamon

1 tsp cloves

1 tsp allspice

2 tsp orange peel, grated

1 lemon, grated peel and juice (or 1/4 cup lemon juice)

1/2 cup cider vinegar

Combine all in heavy sauce pan and bring to a simmer, stirring to mix well.  I leave the lid on for the first while (20 min or so) to get the apples to break down and all the juices going.  Then take off the lid and turn down to low.  Simmer another 1-2 hours, stirring often so as not to let it stick, until the desired consistency.  Freeze, refrigerate or can.  Steam/water bath quarts and pints 20 min.  Enjoy!

The Ups and Downs of Gardening

 Another fruitful gardening year has almost come to a close.  With two nights already bringing what we call "Indian frosts," (a-patchy frost) we are scurrying to gather what is left and store it away for the winter.  Every year has its peculiar goods and bads, ups and downs, blessings and frustrations when it comes to gardening - and this year was no exception!  There were times when my little gardening-loving heart seemed about to break with disappointment as I viewed my heavily loaded Tomato plants devastated by blight, or found myself all but pleading with the barren Squash vines to produce some fruit.  But in the end I was able to thank God for all the good, and anticipate with excitement (and some learned-the-hard-way knowledge) next year's gardening season.  So here is a little overview of the both the ups and downs . . . but mostly the ups!

A menagerie of Tomatoes ripening on the porch . . .

 

  . . . plenty of Green Peppers to dehydrate, eat stuffed (YUMMY!!) and to make . . .

 . . . some Salsa!

 

 Jars of canned Salsa and delicious Blackcap Elderberry jam!

  

 The Elderberry bush was loaded this year!  Lots of jam, and dehydrating for winter cough syrup.

 The Peppers in our "pot garden" on the deck did just great!  Lots of Banana Peppers for stir-fries with green beans, summer squash, garlic and lots of butter (my mouth is watering . . .), and these Cayenne Peppers for drying.

 The Golden Bantam Sweet Corn grew taller than the 6'7" Boy . . .

{Thank God for long arms to pick tall Corn!}

 

 . . . and produced enough for several meals and a few bags for the freezer.

 This funny little fellow (Swallowtail caterpillar) was found enjoying some Carrot leaves . . .

  . . . the little Jonathan apple tree has some good looking fruit . . .

 . . . and wheelbarrows full of rich compost, happy Sunflowers and fluffy Duck derrieres make me smile. :)

Flowers are such a wonderful addition to the vegetable garden!  I always try to have at least Marigolds, Calendula and Dahlias interspersed amongst the veggies.  Here are some of the gem-like Gladiolas we grew this year.  So elegant!  One of my favorite cut flowers, these beauties kept our house looking beautiful for weeks and weeks.

 

Not to be out done . . . this lovely vase of Cosmos brightens up a corner in the kitchen.

  

 Mother's Rose has out done itself this year!  It is just full of big, beautiful and oh, so fragrant blooms!

 Now that Summer is briskly on its way out, the mums are beginning to come into their glory, 

and the Rudbeckia, Sedum, Echinacea and "Bird's Nests" make charming little Autumnal bouquets.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 I am very, very thankful that not ALL of my Tomatoes were killed by the dreaded blight.  In the picture below, you see my rows of Martino Roma Tomatoes after we stripped all the blackened leaves from them.  The fruit that was not diseased has continued to ripen and has been (and will be) made up into many jars of Salsa, Chili Sauce, and Tomato Sauce.

 

 

Here you can see some of the Cherry Tomato varieties that seemed to be blight resistant and all the other poor blighted plants.

Ever the optimist, I will end on a happy note . . . here is something to do with those green Tomatoes that won't ripen before frost, (or when your plants die early because they got hit with blight - but enough of that - this is a happy ending!) this rich, sweet and savory pie-filling, ice-cream-topper, just-eat-it-by-the-jar-with-a-spoon . . . Green Tomato Mince!

Maybe I'll post the recipe tomorrow . . .

~ Faith

Metamora Days

 One Friday in late August, we managed to take some time out of all our various schedules to have a fun evening over at the Metamora days.

The main event that attracted us was the horse pull. We had never seen one but were very interested to see how it was done.

It was truly amazing and we entirely enjoyed watching these magnificent animals show their incredible strength.  The horses actually seemed to enjoy it as well.

{the enthralled crowds}

There were 4 teams of horses, and they each got a chance to pull the stone boat at each weight level, and see if they could go the entire length of the measuring chain.

{A very interested and chatty observer}

3 out of the 4 teams were Belgians, the 4th were Percherons (photo below).

 

This beautiful pair of matched Belgians won the contest pulling the full length with nearly 6,000 lbs. of weight!! I have a feeling they could have done more since they did that with seeming ease, but there was no one to challenge them.

 

The next event of the evening, took place right over the hill from the pulling grounds - The annual balloon launch.

It is so amazing to watch these huge limp balloons fill up with hot air and create enough lift and pressure, to raise the basket and passengers up, up and away!

Seeing all the colorful patterned balloons seemingly suspended in the sky was breathtaking.

It was quite the evening, and we are all very glad that we made time to visit Metamora Days this year.

~Chs

The Sunflower Surprise

 I was out picking Sunflowers for a bouquet, one sunny day, and discovered this friendly little guy sitting on one of my flowers. The funny little creature would throw his (actually because of it's size it was probably a female so..) her, arms out in a supposedly threatening gesture whenever you disturbed her, but it kind of comically looked like she was directing music. Upon looking it up I found out that this Spider has the neat ability to change it's color depending on what plant it is on, to a degree. Mainly white and yellow, and green I think.

The proper name for the bright little thing, is Misumena Vatia, but it is more commonly known as the yellow crab spider, the flower spider, or the golden rod spider (named thus for being often found on golden rod in the fall). 

But I think that it should be called the Sunflower Spider. :)

~Chs

The Essence of August

September is just around the corner, and here is a condensed glance at our August.

One thing that just shouts August to me is Blueberry picking.  The crop was a bit low this year due to the awful Michigan winter we had, but we did manage to go picking twice.

On our second outing Theresa and Baby Robert joined us.  Baby didn't really help all that much... :)  Just sat in the shade and snoozed the entire time.

It was classic picking weather, hot and a bit muggy. The berries were a little harder to find than usual but we all had a great time anyway.

Plink, plunk... it's amazing how long it takes just to cover the bottom of the pail, especially when you have to taste half of them... it's important I tell you! :)

We were happy to have both Dad and Josiah join us on this trip; it made things go faster with four of us.

Beautiful blue berries.

Snoozing little blueberry boy.

We called it quits after an hour or so and headed up with 2 full pails of berries.

Queen Ann's Lace is another thing that just say's August!

I love when they turn into green bird's nest, and then morph into the brown winter skeletons that are so picturesque. They are so beautiful at all stages of their lives.

Bee on a Bee Balm! :)

August is also the Monarch season.  I think we have had 3 butterflies hatch out this year.  We collect the caterpillars when we find them on our Milk Weed, and we bring them in and enjoy them while they grow, turn into chrysalises, and then hatch out into beautiful butterflies!

Try in the busyness of life to still take time to appreciate the little things - to smell the flowers, catch the lighting bug, and find the essence of each day.

~Chs