Finally Fall

Finally summer has rolled into fall and everything around us seems to be shifting gears a bit.  It is still hot and we could sure use more rain, but there are signs that the cold and wet will be coming even if they aren't really here yet.  But the air smells a bit more crisp, we are starting to see some leaves on the ground, and the days are getting shorter.  We are ready for autumn and wet and cold, but we don't have the same work to do that the animals need to prepare for winter.  We always have work to do however, and we are still enjoying late evenings outside while light allows.

This little nuthatch and its friends spilled so much seed out of our birdfeeders while picking out the little nuts.  The chickens were pleased:

The hot and early summer seemed to stimulate more large fir cones than usual:

Many of our trees suffered sunburn this summer.  Lots of big ones have brown needles near the trunks and several little trees died, but hopefully the young trees like this will be in good shape in another couple years:

One of our late sunflowers catching the sun:

Beautiful twilight and sliver moon:

This sunset was spectacular:

The sky just looked ablaze for a few minutes (this photo is not retouched):

Nearing the end of the atmospheric display:

A dehydrator full of fruit:

This is something unusual - a convention of two lizards and a cricket:

A very exciting harvest including our first cantaloupe!

We loved the dried apples and pears.  They were hypothetically for storage, but we ate them all:

Our cantaloupe was delicious!

Tux is 15 now, showing his years but still happy and spry:

There were so many katydids this year!

I'm not so sure about this whole growing broccoli thing...  It had about a thousand more problems with pests than any of our other plants:

We culled this small side broccoli after we discovered it was demolished from aphids. The alpacas were pleased:

Bringing in dead wood to split for winter:

More delicious produce, including some of our best harvests from our youngest fruiting apple trees:

And the Harvest Moon Eclipse.  It is wild to think about how this might have seemed before astronomers had the scientific understanding to explain it:

It was interested to see a different part of the moon in shadow from a different body obstructing the light:

The broccoli, finally ready for harvest!

Craig showing off our one flower crop:

This was the yield:  One large serving of broccoli for each of us, and almost 3 dozen caterpillars removed.  I can't conceive how many aphids were removed with the leaves, and then subsequently with my prolonged washing around the flowers.  Broccoli is one of my favorite veggies to eat, but by far my least favorite to grow.  It was more work intensive than any of our other plants, requiring as much attention but not producing anything edible until the end of the season, at which point it was covered with aphids and caterpillars and required about an hour of my cleaning before I was ready to cook it.  I'm very happy we tried out growing broccoli, but I had no idea it would be like this.  It was fun but I think we'll stick with squashes and leafy greens next year.

Bountiful

Summer's peak has passed but it's still hot and dry.  We are seeing signs of the drought in the trees this year more than any other year we have lived here.  We are also seeing lots of life out enjoying the hot days, and are ourselves enjoying the bounty of the garden produce ripened by the sun and heat.  And we were very happy to finally get a taste of rain again.

This must be the littlest, cutest snake we have ever found here:

Two honeybees and a cucumber beetle on our late-blooming sunflower:

Look at all the pollen on her legs:

One mantis we caught this year was already a mature female.  We were so excited to watch as her abdomen grew bigger than seemed possible, and one day she laid her eggs, a mass called an ootheca.  We will take care of the ootheca over the winter (ie. leave it alone in a safe, dry place outside) and see if we can help some of her next generation get a good head start next year.  You can see the proud mama-mantis ready for release, and the ootheca adhered to the cork on the ceiling.  We have found them in the wild before but this was by far the largest one we have ever seen, perhaps unsurprising since she was so well fed:

Releasing the mama mantis in case she wants to deposit another ootheca somewhere else, as sometimes they will produce more than one:

She has a pretty choice spot here, although she later relocated, we suspect to the dense brush nearby:

Al and Paco oblivious to the lovely sunset:

Grapes are ripe!

So are pears!

A full box picked:

More pickings from that day:

Craig bringing everything back to the house for processing.  I made dried apples, pears and raisins, pie, and some apple sauce.

The clouds were so puffy and thick this day:

This clutch of chicks decided they were done with their baby-coop area, but instead of going into the main coop they would put themselves away on the roof.  We would then scoop them up one by one and relocate them to a safer place for the night.  This went on for a week or so before they figured it out:

Another mantis:

And another:

Pickles!  I made very tasty pickles this year:

And dilly beans which were garlicky but not very spicy.  I'll aim for more spice next year:

It was a long time before we started getting ripe tomatoes this year, but they did come:

All sorts of tasty stuff:

I was so thrilled with the kale we grew this year.  I would fry it up (in this case, with a lot of garlic) and it was so tender and tasty compared to what we usually get from the store.  Next year I think we'll grow more kale:

Craig found a rather large hive of bald faced hornets:

Summer squashes and fresh basil were another favorite:

We don't usually get sunsets like this until summer is waning:

We love zucchini but this was the first year we discovered that the flowers are also delicious.  I would fry them stuffed with cheese:

The green grapes were really sweet this year.

Swiss chard is another tasty veggie we will grow more of next year:

A very delicious rainbow: