Fall in November

October was very cold and ended with a heavy snow storm. 

 Then November popped up with balmy days and lots of sunshine. 

 Go figure.  

What a delightful Fall ... finally.  

  The crops were not even harvested fully before the snow came. 

 So, I linger a little longer each day as I watch the slow changes.   

Then I thought of a grand idea to expand our garden!

Oh My!

This is all happening as I begin making apple chips for the winter.

Can you see the combine harvesting corn?
Soon these fields will be bare.

 As the cool and warm air collide, the haze lingers over the farmland until almost noon.  Then the sun burns it off and the light glistens across the fields. Obviously I did not wait for the sun light to 'glisten' over the fields.

These are the last days for the cows to linger in the meadow
as they chew on sweet grass.

I love to watch each row being scooped up as the
husks are blown back onto the field.
A 'haymaker' machine will then pick up anything left on the field
and turn it into huge balls that are stored for use during the winter
 to feed the cows.  Nothing is wasted.

My sister sent me this shot when visiting
a monastery in Greece. 

                                                                              






The Garden

We saw some tiny spaces that the monks filled with God's creative beauty when we visited monasteries in Italy.

 I decided to design my new herb garden to look like this but ... alas ... mine is not quite so fine.  Perhaps in Spring, when I plant, it might bloom into something as delightful.

The dark mulch will suffice as pathways until we find
slabs of slate to make a more substantial walking path.




 

As you see, we dug out lots of grass.  I got tired of seeing it burned out in the middle of summer so why not plant flowers and herbs that thrive in the hot sun! We moved the Gaillardia and Coreopsis (lower right corner) to the long light-brown patches to the right.   I scattered Day Lilies in between.

Bags of hummus await blending with the rocky shale.  We dug 12 inches down ... with a pick ax ... in order to amend  the soil so that herbs and flowers can grow properly.
I am taking this shot from our wall above the garden.  The fence casts its shadow on this sunny day.

 We are getting there.  Hours of backbreaking work already looks well worth the effort.  Now to transplant all those plants from the shade of the Leyland Cypress to a sunnier spot.

All done amending soil.  A few pieces of slate dot the path.
We are now ready to transplant what we can.

We moved the bench over into the shade of the Leyland Cypress.
Our 'new' garden is already full of transplants!
It will be interesting to see what happens in the Spring.

 St. Francis remains in his same space for now.  The little wild rose next to him seems to climb up his side with sweet little buds.  Who knows where he will end up.  He is now tucked away from the elements for the winter.

A better shot of the herb garden, ready for Spring.
It will get good sun.
Day Lilies and Rose bushes against the wall
 will be a nice backdrop.

In the Spring we will fill these four little triangles with herbs and some colorful annuals in hopes of looking like the little Greek garden pictured above.

                                                             APPLES!
 In the mean time I dehydrate apples daily.  It takes about 30 minutes to prep each batch.  Then I let my little dehydrator do its thing for about eight hours.  Voila ... Apple Chips!  

Cortland apples are HUGE and the pure white insides
make for really nice 'chips' ... as they call them in this neck of the woods.
I have had this little dehydrator for about 30 years and it still works well.
6 Cortland or about 8 Gayla apples fit into each batch.

I keep fresh apple chips handy at all times in this
delightful wooden 'crock' my sister gave me.
It's amazing how we nibble on these until they are gone.
I get about 20-28 chips per apple, depending on the size of the Apple.

It is getting a bit crisp outside so the gardening is done.
                                        I will now be busy until January making Apple Chips!