Trick or Treat

Snow halfway up the bathroom window!

Unhappy Fred and Jack

Still it was pretty

Windy Row Splendor

Sunshine was welcome

Yes, Mother Nature pulled a very mean Halloween trick on us. We had a small sample the other day of a couple of inches of snow, which freaked out the young goat kids, but that was nothing to last night's surprise, which was not a treat. Twenty four inches of heavy, wet snow.

We prepared as best we could, thinking that we could get 5 to 8 inches, but that was optimistic, to say the least. The new goat shelter was tarped, the greenhouse windows were fortified, and wood was stacked on the porch. We just did not realize the magnitude of the storm. Thankfully, it was full of wind, so the tree branches were not overwhelmed with snow, most of it blew off. So, unlike 3 million other people, we did not lose power. However, we did get the jackpot of snow amounts with Jaffrey, just south of us with the big prize of 31.5 inches. The roads were dreadful last night on an arduous drive from friends who we had dinner with, but 30 minutes to go 5 miles sure beats being in an accident or off the road - plenty of those.

The critters were not happy, but neither were we, and we had to wade through the snow to get to the barn (which is why the old-timers built their barns attached to their homes). We got the big goats out and kept the little ones in - except for Jack and Fred who, as their photo shows, were less than amused. However, they will have a new place, the Frat House - Gamma Rho (Goats Rule), as soon as the rough plank siding is finished this week and I can put it up.

Other than that, the scenery was beautiful, if off-puting.

Perhaps it will melt, but we aren't betting on it so Allie's gardening season looks over for the year.

Stay warm and safe!

A new Addition

Gigi with the herd

Gigi

Another goat! Don't we have enough? Well, we couldn't resist the price and we couldn't resist Gigi. Gigi (which we pronounce in a french fashion so as not to get her confused with Ginger, our boer goat) was at Alyson's Orchard in Westmoreland where we went on Sunday to get apples and see the sights. She was with her sister Chimchar and both were for sale, but Gigi was half the price (don't know why). And twice as cute, to boot.

So without further ado, here she is.

Color!

Willard Pond #1

Willard Pond #2

Willard Pond #3

Willard Pond #4

Willard Pond #5

Kabaam!

Here it is, the end of the Columbus Day long weekend. Normally the peak of color for this area is now. We’ve had spots of color here and there and a lot of the colors looking really washed out, might be because of all the rain we’ve had since September. Very disappointing for everyone who traveled far to see our normally magnificent colors. Then this morning we got up and Kabaam, amazing colors. We took the kayaks out for a morning paddle on Willard Pond, every turn was a wow, then we took the dogs for a walk up Pitcher Mt. Again, total wow. Enjoy Steve’s photos

First Frost

Frost Barrow

Lone Leaf

Pumpkin

Saved from the Frost

Hauled In

With forecasts of frost and freezing temperatures last night, I spent yesterday afternoon scurrying around the property setting up cold frames to protect the salad greens and starting to “winterize” the greenhouse. That done, I moved onto the vegetables that wouldn’t make the frost. I pulled all of the pepper plants, the last of the good tomatoes and the rest of the lima beans. The peppers and tomatoes will be hung by their roots in the office to continue ripening, and the lima beans will be dried for next year's seed, and the rest for winter soups. Then I harvested the last of the pumpkins and got them on the veranda to cure.

Then onto all the pots and tender plants. I had no idea I had so many plants that had to come in for the winter. My agapanthus, begonias, ferns, fuchsias, all came in along with a 30-plus year palm that barely fits in the house. I put the lemon trees on the veranda up tight against the house, leaving the olives and pomegranate in pace for the moment, knowing that somewhere I will have to find room for them inside before too long.

Sure enough, we had a good frost last night. The pumpkin vines are black, as is the basil, beans, dahlias and everything else that is tender. Of course this morning I remembered about the lemon grass and lemon verbena, I hope that they will have limped through, and tonight I will get them potted up and inside because tonight we are to have a hard freeze. And that they say, will be the end of the official growing season although we will still have plenty of things in the vegetable garden to harvest.

This weekend will be Indian Summer, with warm nights and beautiful days. The foliage will pop now with color, and leaf peepers will be filling the roads, looking at the fall colors, and doing the wool tour and the Dublin Art Tour, where Steve’s studio will be open. Me, I’ll be slaving in the garden enjoying the few remaining summer like days.

Oct 2, The Foliage is a Changing!

Water Beech

Pond Red

Rock Color

Hancock Autumn

The autumn colors are slowly changing, the swamp maples are a brilliant red, the sugar maples are starting to turn gold, and the gardens are just glowing. The swan song of summer if how I look at it. The weather has been unusually warm and wet. We have had a number of stunning days, warm and sunny, but they get forgotten about when they get sandwiched between days of rain.

I have been toying with cutting out two of the apple trees in the vegetable garden, I need more light and space in there, especially this time of year when the light is getting so low in the sky, so the other day I pulled on my chapps, grabbed the chainsaw and “timber!” . Well it wasn’t quite a timber because the vegetable garden fence caught them and because the trees were good size, ( having been in the ground for the last ten years) it was quite a job to get them over the fence. I didn’t want to limb them up because of our friends that use them as sculptural pieces in their shop. We hauled a tree up to the goat pasture for them to work their magic, and it didn’t take them long to totally strip off all the foliage and bark. The trees will now start to get the beautiful sun bleached look, (that is if the sun ever comes out again)

I had a bumper crop of peach’s this year and am glad to see the last of them. I have been freezing and drying them like crazy, now I am drying grapes and apples to be used in my oatmeal this winter. The most of the beans have been harvested, and now I mostly just have the plants left that I am keeping for seed, I have pulled all the tomatoes except those in the little greenhouse, they are still producing quite well, and the garden is looking as though it is really at the end of its season. Yes, I still have salad greens, pumpkins, Brussel sprouts, turnips, carrots growing well, but that deep lushness of summer is gone.

Just got the five day forecast, yeah, showers for the next few days, the a week of high pressure, with the possibility of frost at the end of the week. That will certainly put a kibosh on the gardens.