~
Friday, September 30, 2011, 8:00 a.m.
55 degrees, windy, mostly cloudy
The lowest layer of clouds is dark grey and moving at
amazing speed across the sky.
Above is a pouf of shining white cumulous framing several
patches of pale blue. There is
a slight chance of rain today, but I think the big enjoy du
jour will be sky-watching as the
ceiling shifts and gleams. A large flock of starlings was
roosting in our two big maple trees
when I was out earlier with the dog; they were chattering
and trading places on the branches
for several minutes before finally lifting off in an
amazing unison swoop, turning and soaring as
one organism, disappearing into the treeline beyond the
neighbor’s cornfield. There are seven
deer in the east meadow, gorging on second-growth grasses
and legumes, fattening up for the
long winter yet to come. They have been in the garden as
well, and have pretty much ended
our lettuce crop, having eaten the crisp hearts out of
all of the buttercrunch and romaines.
For some reason they have left the spinach alone, and
have merely sipped at the swiss
chard. They had eaten all of the beet tops, so we pulled
the last of those before they
got around to yanking the roots out of the ground. We
still have one long row of green
beans producing an abundance of fresh snappy spikes, and
our zucchini plants continues
to surprise us with a seemingly never-ending supply of
tender little torpedoes. There are
not enough meals in the day to be able to enjoy so many
fresh and tasty offerings; such
abundance is soon to be a fond memory, like the first
strawberries of spring, fresh wild
leeks, and fiddleheads; all to be savored and treasured,
nourishing the body as well
as reminding us to take each day’s pleasures as they
come, for life is short.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Thursday, September 29, 2011, 8:00 a.m.
60 degrees, breezy, mostly cloudy
Crazy hard rain moved in during the night, accompanied by
gusty wind and even a rumble
of thunder or two. The wind was right out of the south,
and since I had forgotten to lock the
south window, which is the one I always have open at
night, the wind whistled like a teakettle
through that miniscule gap between the panes. It was very
dramatic, but not annoying enough to
make me leave the comfort of my fleecy nest. The rain
seems to have moved on for now, and fog
has settled into the nooks and crannies of the valley
below. The big job for this morning is cleaning
the soot and ash out of the kitchen range, which sounds
easy but is actually rather difficult. The wood
smoke travels all around the oven before ascending up the
chimney, and as soot builds up it acts as in-
sulation and prevents the oven from heating evenly. It
also collects on the underside of the cook top;
when the six round lids are taken out there are little
sooty stalactites hanging down from the iron. The
cooktop interior needs to be scraped with a wire brush,
as does the outer oven wall, then the whole
resulting mess sucked up into a furnace vac. Then the
outside of the stove gets a good cleaning, using
a non-abrasive scrubbing sponge and soap on the enamel,
and rubbing stove polish into the cast iron
top, buffing it until it shines like ebony. The enamel
gets a spritz of a natural window-cleaning product
to remove the soap reside and the job is done. This needs
to be done every six weeks or so during
the winter, and only once over the summer months when the
stove is used less. I have already ex-
panded the small woodpile to the side of the stove to
three times its summer size, and it sits
like a still life waiting to be rendered by an artist of
Jamie Wyeth’s caliber. Beautiful
hardwoods make up the bulk of the stack, with softwood
kindling at one
end of the pile and a basket of twigs and bark to help
each morning
fire spring into life. For sure we will be lighting it
this weekend.
Have a fine day,
Daisy
Wednesday, September 28, 2011, 8:00 a.m.
65 degrees, windy, cloudy, drizzle
The wind has just started to pick up, after a fairly calm
start to the day. It is very wet out there,
but not too cold, and it was pleasant to inhale the
fragrance of wet dirt, new-mown grass, and windfall
apples borne on the breeze. Yesterday was downright hot,
and as I picked beans from our last sowing I
could almost imagine that it was mid-July, not late
September. Of course, in July our gardens are still
fairly
weedless, and now every inch of exposed soil has been
overrun by galinsoga and chickweed. I cleared the
weeds away from our row of black shell beans, to allow
for better air circulation. For the rest of our crops,
it doesn’t really matter at this point how many
weeds there are. All that is left to harvest are carrots,
par-
snips, and shell beans, and most of those beans are
climbing high on poles. The scarlet runner variety
is not doing well for me or anyone else I know who grew
them this year. The vines look great, but there
were very few blossoms, thus very few beans. Grandma
Rosa and Black Coco vines are both loaded
with pods, some of which are almost dry enough to pick.
After we have a frost it will be much easier to
find the beans and gather them. Then there will be many
hours of splitting the pods and coaxing the beans
out one by one, a labor-intense job but not physically
hard. It is one of the few garden tasks that can be done
in the comfort of a cozy kitchen while watching an old
movie on tv. Speaking of a cozy kitchen, I have already
lined up things to cook on the Kalamazoo wood range this
weekend when the high temperature will only be
in the forties. I will use up all of the ripe tomatoes
and peppers to make a big pot of venison chili, some
to eat fresh but most will go into the freezer, to be
enjoyed mid-winter. I have been gathering wild
apples, and will make both traditional chunky applesauce
as well as a pot of bourbon-stewed
apples, slow cooked and left in slices, zesty with
cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and maple
syrup. Oh! Can you imagine how good our house will smell
?
Have a great day,
Daisy
Tuesday, September 27, 2011, 7:30 a.m.
65 degrees, breezy, partly sunny
Today is the last summery day we will see for a while,
with rain moving in tonight and the temperature
slowly dropping daily so that by Saturday our high will
only be in the forties. Sunday will dry out a bit,
but the chill will stick around. We moved another big
load of wood yesterday; one more small load and
the woodshed will be full, floor to ceiling. We have a
good start on moving the smaller wood for our kitchen
range, but to complete the job we need to put the winter
panels on the back porch, and we have still been en-
joying the view from there every morning with our coffee.
Today that view is somewhat limited, as the valley
is filled with mist, and the mountains are totally
blocked by low clouds. Wild turkeys seem to be everywhere
this morning, and as they plod slowly through the meadows,
several flocks of starlings have come and gone, swooping
in unison to fill the sky with dance. I believe I will
take advantage of this beautiful day to gather in
our tender herbs and prepare them for drying. The house
is already fragrant with the smell of basil and white
sage; as they dry some of the essential oils are released
into the air, no two scents the same. Later the house
will smell like chicken soup and fresh bread.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have a chicken soup
scented candle?
Have a great day,
Daisy
Monday, September 26, 2011, 8:00 a.m.
60 degrees, calm, mostly sunny
Fog is draped gracefully over the valley, following
contours dictated by bare ground, giant hay bales,
and the mass exhalations of herds of cows. Here and there
tall trees just poke out of the top of the mist,
and the whole effect is lovely to behold. There are some
high thin clouds currently filtering our morning sun-
shine, absorbing the warming rays and lending a soft
focus to the view, which is very pretty indeed. Yester-
day we dug up our long row of mixed daffodil bulbs, and
after tilling the space a couple more times we will
plant them back pretty much in the same place. They had
become choked with weeds, and even a few small
poplar trees had taken root among the flowers. After we
plant them, we will put a thick mulch of straw over
the row to try to keep the weeds from reappearing next
spring. We also cleaned our delicata squash for stor-
age, sponging off all of the garden soil and then dipping
them in a weak bleach solution to help prevent mold
from forming. Last year is the first time we treated the
squash in this way, and we were able to keep them in
the cellar until nearly the end of February. I am about
halfway through trimming tops and roots from onions
and sorting them for quality and size. We had to toss
many away because they were rotten all the way
through. A couple of dozen sit in a five-gallon pail to
be used soon, as they have flaws which will
prevent them from lasting very long in storage. I should
be able to finish that job today, along
with prepping the rest of the beets for the freezer. In
spite of crazy weather this growing season,
we have had a very productive harvest so far. Carrots,
parsnips, and shell beans are waiting for a
frost before they are fully mature, and we continue to
enjoy fresh spinach, lettuce, chard, zucchini,
green beans, and broccoli on a daily basis. What a
wonderful blessing such plentiful food is !
Have a grateful day,
Daisy
Sunday, September 25, 2011, 8:00 a.m.
55 degrees, calm, mostly cloudy
We have a chilly start to the day, but when the sun
eventually comes out for good it should
certainly warm up enough to ditch the fleecy jackets. The
grass is saturated with dew, but felt
great on my bare feet earlier. Yesterday we went to the
Remsen Barn Festival of the Arts, and
the weather was perfect for that outing. It was overcast
and foggy with little patches of drizzle here
and there, but the vendors all had tents and the muddy
patches had been overlain with fresh straw.
I have been there when it was hot and sunny, or cold and
windy, and yesterday seemed to be just
right, like baby bear’s porridge. It has been
interesting to watch this street fair grow over the years,
and now craftspeople come from as far away as Tennessee
to line the main street of Remsen, along
with a huge variety of foods and strolling entertainers.
We arrived just after the event opened, and the
street was already crowded with a happy mob. The drive
down and back was beautiful, as the foliage
has turned about fifty percent in that area, with some of
the most brilliant reds and oranges I have ever
seen. After we arrived home, we drove over the Mackay
Road to Highmarket; there are two stretches
of that road that are breathtakingly gorgeous. It seems
to me that the colors have arrived about a week
ahead of schedule this year. A friend who works in Old
Forge reports that the Moose River Road was
at peak last week; we usually check that out around the
first of October. unless we go today, we will
miss it this year. Our own maples are slowly shifting
into autumn garb, with the entire trees chang-
ing a little each day, not the usual patchwork effect of
previous years. Every season has
its own unique footprints, and 2011 has brought us some
doozies so far. It makes
me wonder what surprises Old Man Winter has up his sleeve.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Saturday, September 24, 2011, 7:30 a.m.
60 degrees, breezy, mostly cloudy, fog
The air is filled with misty clouds above, moving and
shifting shape as ground fog is inhaled and exhaled,
coming and going with a slowly pulsing rhythm that seems
almost supernatural. I almost can’t believe my
eyes, the mist is so tricky this morning. Bright spots of
sunlight alternate with near zero visibility; I have no
idea how to plan my day. We managed to unload two
trailers of firewood yesterday and dry three loads
of laundry on the lines yesterday before the rain arrived,
and a slow drizzle fell pretty much nonstop until
just before dawn. The gardens are too wet to till to
plant winter cover crops, and if I try to dig our
daffodil bulbs for replanting I have no place to plant
them yet. Perhaps I will just take the
day off and go to the Remsen Barn Festival of the Arts.
Tomorrow will be a dry day,
and we can move more wood and dig in the dirt then.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Friday, September 23, 2011, 8:00 a.m.
60 degrees, breezy, mostly sunny
A surprisingly summery morning is spread out before us on
this first day of autumn,
which arrived just before dawn. We just backed a load of
big firewood up to the shed
window, and should have it all unloaded and stacked
before the heat and humidity set in later.
We have heard that autumn foliage is nearing its peak
over in Highmarket, so we may take a ride
over there later to do a little leaf-peeping. Any ride
around Tug Hill means we may find another ir-
resistible wild apple tree or three, so the picker and a
couple of buckets will go into the trunk along
with a couple of extensions for the handle. We used to
have some homemade apple pickers, coffee
cans with notches cut into the tin and attached to bamboo
poles with muffler clamps. The stems fit
into the notch and with a quick twist the apple fell into
the can, which had a big sponge in the bot-
tom to absorb impact. Then a friend gave us an official
clawed picker and we use the aluminum
poles from our roof rake. It does a great job of grabbing
those perfect apples that are just out
of reach, and increases our haul considerably. You can
get one for a reasonable price at
http://www.amazon.com/
. Another handy tool for gathering any kind of tree
fruits is
a long-handled crook we inherited from a turkey herder;
think Little Bo Peep only
with a smaller hook. We use it to grab a branch and bring
it low enough to pick
the fruit or nuts that are higher up; it’s like a
three foot extension of an arm.
And now, to the woodpile!
Have a fine day,
Daisy
Thursday, September 22, 2011, 8:30 a.m.
62 degrees, calm, fog, rain
Humidity has to be close to 100% on this rainy foggy morn.
There is a chance of rain every day
for the upcoming week, but today is the only one that
looks to be a complete washout. I think we
will be able to work around the showers after today. We
loaded up the flat trailer with stove wood
yesterday, and will wait for a break in the rain before
moving it into the woodshed. Two big flocks
of wild turkeys seem unaffected by the weather; in fact,
the rain has probably brought all kinds of
tasty morsels up out of the dirt. They are all gobbling
up breakfast in two meadows, heads down
and moving forward in a slow plod as they forage.
Yesterday they were all strewn across the road
as I neared our place, and even honking the horn
didn’t budge them. They weren’t eating anything;
they were just milling around looking stupid as only
turkeys can. I got out of the car and chased them
off the road. Even then, they were slow to flee. I
believe I could have reached down and picked one
up for dinner, they were that lethargic. Turkeys are the
only signs of life outside on this wet morning.
Even the crows are tucked in somewhere, no doubt high and
dry. That seems like a good plan.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Wednesday, September 21, 2011, 8:30 a.m.
54 degrees, breezy, fog
The fog is so thick I can’t even see the hedgerow at
the southern edge of our property.
Although the day is supposed to be sunny later with a
high temperature in the seventies,
I have kindled the range to chase away the damp chill
that has crept into every corner.
Several flocks of geese have passed over the house this
morning, heard but not seen.
The autumnal equinox will arrive here at 5:04 a.m. on
Friday the 23rd. As that event
draws closer, it has become increasingly obvious that
summer is at an end, because
it is still dark when the alarm goes off at 6:00. We have
several apple trees over by
the woodlot that are full of sweet juicy fruit, and we
are headed over there to
pick some for winter storage. I don’t remember a
summer past when wild
apples have been this bountiful and unblemished.
I’ll bet the deer will
be eating the drops right up until the first deep
snowfall.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Tuesday, September 20, 2011, 9:30 a.m.
56 degrees, breezy, overcast, drizzle
After four gorgeous sunny days, we have a chilly damp
morning with mist in the air up here on Gomer Hill,
and thick fog from our treeline on down. We had a very
busy weekend with a house full of friends and family,
and the weather couldn’t have been more perfect. We
hiked the south rim of the Whetstone Gulf and saw a
wealth of mushrooms growing on the ground, aong dead logs,
and on trees. There were some large yellow
corals, small white corals, many kinds of boletus of
all sizes, and an alarming array of amanitas,
including
the almost-always fatal destroying angel. The view down
into the gorge was awesome, and a few of the
leaves have started to don their autumn hues. We saw very
few birds, but heard the crazy laughing notes
of a pileated woodpecker as it winged its way up the
chasm. We also picked a couple of buckets full of
wild elderberries which grow along the roadside and
cooked them into jelly, which sounds easier than it
actually is. It is easy enough to gather the berries,
which are simply snipped with scissors from the bush
in their big clusters. Then the berries have to be
stripped from the umbels, cleaned of twigs and snails,
then covered with water and simmered. The resulting
lovely purple mess then is hung in a fine mesh
bag to drip, and finally squeezed to get every last bit
of juice out. We ended up with twenty cups
of juice, fourteen of which we cooked into jelly; the
rest will be cooked up today. We don’t
have a kettle big enough to handle all twenty cups at
once. Yesterday we planted our garlic,
less than this year but still enough to sell and share if
they all grow well. We started to sort
this year’s onion crop, and an appalling number have
gone soft already. I hope we will
have enough to last the winter. Everything else has done
quite well, in spite of a difficult
growing season. And now, there are some ripe tomatoes to
process; vacation is over !
Have a great day,
Daisy
Sunday, September 18, 2011, 9:30 a.m.
58 degrees, breezy, sunny
What a beautiful morning! We have rekindled our outdoor
fire from last night’s festivities
and are presently engaged in soaking up the heat and
stripping two big pailsfull of elderberries
from their stems. We drove around the Moore Road block
yesterday and found oodles of the
small purple berries hanging gracefully from their stems,
top-heavy and drooping earthward like
exhausted dancers. We will cook them, strain out the
juice, and make elderberry jelly. Soon the
house will be full of sweet sticky steam. There are
enough for a couple of dozen jars; the directions
say to never double a jelly recipe, so I usually triple
it. If the pot is big enough, it always works out.
Now, off to finish the job.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Saturday, September 17, 2011, 7:30 a.m.
43 degrees, calm, mostly cloudy
Sunrise was exceptionally beautiful this morning,
colorful and cold. We didn’t have frost;
the overnight low was a balmy 38 degrees. I finally put a
flannel comforter on the bed, and
it was good to snuggle down into it for a good
night’s sleep. We gathered in most of the frost-sens-
itive crops yesterday, so this morning we will be
prepping sweet bell peppers for the freezer. We hope
to get the onions all trimmed up for storage today as
well, an easy job for many hands. I doubt that we
will go to the big event of the weekend, the Cream Cheese
Festival in Lowville. It looks like it will
be a good day for a hike; perhaps we will check out the
elderberry situation on Gomer Hill.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Friday, September 16, 2011, 7:30 a.m.
39 degrees, breezy, sunny
We dodged frost last night but chances are pretty good
for a freeze tonight.
Although it is extremely rare for us to get a September
frost here on Gomer Hill,
we are going to pick all of our peppers today. We hauled
in the delicata squash yes-
terday and it is in the barn to cure fore a while. Since
our tomato plants are pretty much
already dead there is no problem there. I will pick and
clean a mess of lettuce to have enough
for several salads, but mostly the greens aren’t
hurt by frost. This is the first year we have had
such nice celery, and I will clean up several bunches of
that too; although it is supposed to be
frost-tolerant, I have no direct experience yet. I will
leave some plants out to see if they will
be affected. There is a pretty layer of glowing fog
sitting very low in the valley, but the sky
up here is cloud-free and very blue. A smattering of
maple leaves are starting to show a
bit of color, and the forsythia has a few maroon leaves
here and there, but otherwise the
foliage is still pretty green. A large flock of geese
flew over our house just as the sun was
rising, honking to beat the band. Soon after they were
gone, crows raised a ruckus right
outside the window, chasing sleep away better than any
store-bought alarm clock.
It is a chilly morning, but sunny, and quite pleasant for
late summer.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Thursday, September 15, 2011, 8:30 a.m.
45 degrees, breezy, overcast, raining
Now, this is perfect weather for curling up next to the
wood fire with a good book.
I just may be able to find an hour or two for that, after
I put the house in order. There is
no one big job, but hundreds of small ones, such as
filling the olive oil decanter from the gallon
we keep in the pantry, or cleaning crumbs out of the
toasters, or rearranging the canned goods on
the cellar shelves to put the new pickles behind the
older ones... bathing the dog... dead-heading house
plants... taking out the trash... emptying the ashes...
the list seems endless, and at the end of the day we
are left wondering where the time went, as there is no
one single task completed to show for our efforts.
I suppose I could make some bread and soup, that at least
would prove that I hadn’t spent the entire
day lounging around. Oh, and cookies, yes, this is indeed
a perfect day for making cookies, and
we will have a house full of guests this weekend to help
eat them. If I work it just right, I can
do the picky little jobs while the cookies bake, the
bread rises, and the soup simmers.
Then I can curl up with my book, full of good food and
ready for a break.
Have a wonderful day,
Daisy
Wednesday, September 14, 2011, 8:30 a.m.
55 degrees, breezy, mostly cloudy
Some pretty scary thunderstorms moved through our area
late yesterday,
bringing heavy rain and gusty winds to the neighborhood
along with a real change
in temperature. There is a chance of rain for tomorrow
night, with a projected low temper-
ature of 33 degrees, so it wouldn’t be impossible to
see some snow in the air up here. Our
deciduous tree foliage hasn’t really begun to change
much yet, although I have seen some
pretty red swamp maples up by the beaver ponds on the
Plummer Road. I also came across
some berries that were unlike anything I had ever seen
before, so I sent some pictures to a friend
who works for the State as an Invasive Species Specialist.
There was only one plant, with broad green
leaves and clusters of tiny white, pink, and purple
berries the size of elderberries, but borne in a long
cone
formation, as if a lilac blossom had suddenly fruited. I
received the information that the plant is american
spikenard (aralia racemosa) . The root is
used in traditional medicine, and the berries are either
edible
or they aren’t; information is conflicting about the
fruit. At any rate, with only one plant in the whole area,
I certainly wouldn’t strip the berries off, when
there is a wealth of elderberries available for jelly or
wine
making. I haven’t had time to gather any yet,
perhaps this weekend would be a good time to take a
ride around the hill with friends to gather the little
berries. My granny used to make elderberry jelly,
and it has been a few years since I have stirred up my
own batch.
A friend brought up some elderberry tarts last week; yum!
Have a great day,
Daisy
Tuesday, September 13, 2011, 8:00 a.m.
66 degrees, windy, mostly sunny
A few clouds moved over Gomer Hill earlier, looking like
they carried a load of rain;
now the sky is mostly blue, but there is so much dew on
the ground it seems like it is raining up,
if that is even possible. Some good gusts of wind from
the southwest could help to dry things out
(including the laundry); on the other hand, they might
carry some thunderstorms along with the breeze.
Whatever happens, the weather is going to change over the
next couple of days, morphing from late sum-
mer into early autumn even though the official equinox is
still a week away. I wouldn’t be surprised to see
frost at lower elevations on Friday night. The moon was
fully full last night, and rose like a giant glowing
pumpkin just as the sun disappeared into the western
forest. It was hard to know where to look; for a
half hour at dusk the sky was lit up with huge pink and
orange clouds, some massive billows of cotton
candy, as well as a scattering of mare’s tails and
mackerel scales. Red at night, sailor’s delight
is in
opposition to Mares' tails and mackerel scales, make
tall ships trim their sails. It is no wonder
that the weather this morning seems to be teetering on
the fence between fair and foul. While
it is still fair, I believe I will go out for a little
hike before getting down to business.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Monday, September 12, 2011, 8:00 a.m.
59 degrees, windy, fog
The morning fog is bright, so I assume that there is a
fairly clear sky above the mist.
I have plenty of indoor jobs to do anyway, so if the
weather is less than perfect that’s
okay with me. I have jars all ready and waiting for
tomatoes, which will be just simply
peeled and crushed, brought to a boil, packed and
processed, for later use in soups and
stews. We did a full canner of dilly beans yesterday, so
the kitchen is already set up for the
mess that home canning endeavors involve. I will also
cook some of our wild apple bounty
into chunky applesauce for pint jars, as well as stew
some for eating with this evening’s
chicken and biscuits. After the sky clears, we will pick
the last of the tomatoes from
the dead vines. I think the heavy wind at the edge of
Irene’s wrath shredded the leaves;
it doesn’t look like blight, but just in case we are
going to pull up the plants and smother
them. Our sun sugar cherry tomatoes are unaffected,
and we will keep an eye on those
vines to see if they start to wither. Those have smaller
leaves and the large masses of small
fruits may have deflected the wind enough so that they
were undamaged. Yesterday we saw
a bald eagle flying over the West Road, not too far from
Main Street. At first I thought it was a
vulture, but the flight pattern was wrong for that
species. As it banked a turn, I saw the white head
and tail, and knew without a doubt that it was an eagle.
Don’t you love a nice surprise like that ?
Have a great day,
Daisy
Sunday, September 11, 2011, 9:30 a.m.
66 degrees, calm, mostly sunny
A few mackerel clouds in a clear blue sky indicate the
possibility of some rain during the next twenty-four
hours. There is a slight forecast for showers tomorrow
morning, but today looks pretty durned good! A whole
mess of crows has been making lots of noise this morning,
not only filling the air with their loud caaaaaw-caaws
but also flying about making noises kind of like a
dolphin, eeh-eeh-eehk! Maybe they are just
rallying the troops
for an early autumn flyaway. Whatever, they started
before dawn and have kept it up for a few hours. I love
the
sound of crows, in fact any bird that has such a joie de
vivre in its everyday doings is okay by me. I even enjoy
the soulful cries of seagulls as they circle a fishing
harbor, which is not only loud but pretty constant. we
had fun
at the Little Falls Garlic and Herb Festival yesterday,
and spent quite a bit of time watching the Mohawk River
as it roiled ferociously under the bridge by the event.
There was great music, good friends, and of course,
all kinds of garlic-infused food, even ice cream; I have
never been brave enough to try that. It is good
to be back up here on Gomer Hill for this beauty of a day,
best get out and enjoy it !
Have a great day,
Daisy
Saturday, September 10, 2011, 9:00 a.m.
64 degrees, breezy, mostly sunny
It looks like the valley folks are still engulfed in
thick fog, but up here the air is as clear as crystal.
A few feathery mare’s tail clouds decorate a true
blue sky, and the weather is supposed to be fine
all day long. We are headed to the Little Falls Garlic
and Herb Festival, after first making a brief stop
at the Flywheels and pulleys Steam Show in Constableville.
The Steam Show runs through tomorrow
too, so we will spend most of the day admiring garlic and
tasting all of the many ways it can be pre-
pared. Yesterday afternoon I drove some friends around
the Moore Road block to search for ap-
ples. We took samples from about ten trees, mixing
varieties to make pie or apple crisp for our
weekend meals. We found a tree filled with small bright
red apples whose tender sweet flesh
was also red, a real winner in the day’s haul. We
passed many ripe elderberries as well, and
will head out tomorrow to snip those from the bushes. For
today, no work and all play !
Have a great day,
Daisy
Friday, September 9, 2011, 8:00 a.m.
69 degrees, breezy, mostly sunny
Fog has rolled down off of Gomer Hill and is slowly
lifting away from the Black River Valley
as well. For a while it lay like a thick cotton batting
just at the edge of our property. While we
enjoyed some intense bone-drenching heat from the sun as
we sat on the back porch with our
coffee, we could sense that the flatlanders were probably
shivering in misty gloom. I remember
some mornings leaving the sun-drenched beauty of the Hill
and being swallowed up by fog on my
way to my day job; it was all I could do to keep from
turning my car around and calling in sick. I am
happy for everyone that the fog is lifting; now we can
see details of the farms that stretch out along Route 26.
Yesterday started out cloudy and cool but by noontime
several patches of blue sky had appeared, and by sup-
per we had big clouds backlit by a lowering sun in all
kinds of colors. A scattering of southbound geese helped
paint a very pretty picture of a late summer evening.
Today we will harvest some greens, lettuce and spinach
for eating fresh and chard for the freezer. Now that the
rain is past, I need to spread some stinky soap shav-
ings along the rows to deter the deer. There are beans to
pick as well; this batch will go into quart jars with
garlic, dill, peppercorns, and brine. It is a great day
for just about anything; even if you are at work it would
be a good idea to take your lunch outside, or work in a
good walk after closing time.All too soon the
late-day light will be gone and the opportunity for an
after-hours stroll will be history.
Have a fine day,
Daisy
Thursday, September 8, 2011, 8:00 a.m.
59 degrees, breezy, mostly cloudy
Fog has cleared away from Gomer Hill but the valley is
still obscured by a sheet of milky white fluff.
We have a pretty good view of the Adirondack Mountains,
but can’t see the roadway at the bottom
of the hill. As foggy as it was an hour ago up here, it
is now still cloudy, but the lovely deep green tree
foliage and vibrant goldenrod at the meadow’s edge
seem illuminated from within, with the sheen of fog-
gy dew shimmering in the glow of sheer vital living
essence. Crows are having some kind of rally at both
ends of our east meadow hedgerow, and in the middle of
their ruckus a great blue heron uttered a single
guttural croak as he slowly lifted off and flapped his
way out of the neighborhood. I heard some geese
as I walked the dog earlier, but couldn’t see them
through the mist; I assume they were headed south.
It sounded like quite a few, or maybe just a couple being
really noisy. It seems that our neck of the
woods has escaped the worst of the deluge that has closed
roads to the south of here and in some
cases, put entire counties in an official State of
Emergency. We have a small chance of rain up
here today, but I believe I can see the promise of a bit
of blue sky eventually peeking through
the clouds above us. If the rain holds off, we should be
able to roll our onions out into the
yard and trim off the stems and roots and get them ready
for winter storage. We finished
sorting and cleaning garlic yesterday, another big job
done. The garden is winding down,
but there is still plenty to do, never a dull moment here
at the top of the world.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Wednesday, September 7, 2011, 9:00 a.m.
56 degrees, breezy, overcast, rain
The rain is steady but not particularly daunting, and I
believe it might be pleasant to put on some
warm layers and take a little walk. I need to pick some
spinach and lettuce anyway, so I might as well
suit up and stay out for a while. Our dog is not
interested at all in going out to romp around today; if
he
could figure out how to use the cat’s litter box I
think he would much prefer that to doing his quick dash
outdoors in the cold rain. I finished picking corn
yesterday, only about two dozen ears, and there are still
several left that are green or ripe but very small. I
proclaimed in a loud voice that I was finished with this
year’s corn, and all critters are now free to glean
the leavings. We brought the radio and Havahart trap
back into the barn, and while there wasn’t really
all that much corn left I’ll bet the stalks have
already
been stripped bare. The Hill is conspicuously empty this
morning, with no birds or beasts adding grace
notes to the morning production number. I’ll bet
they are tucked in, anticipating the deluge that is due
to
arrive any minute. We are under a Flood Watch until
Thursday evening, and the next two days will be very
wet indeed. Today’s tasks include making some meat
sauce for the freezer, using fresh tomatoes, peppers,
onions, garlic and herbs and the last of our venison
sausage. I have already set some bread dough to rise
by the wood range, which has a low blaze warming the
house. I have cleaned more than half of the garlic,
and will no doubt finish before the sun goes down today.
That job is tedious, but pleasant in the same way
shelling mountains of dry beans is; there is a start and
a finish to the work, and the end result is very satis-
fying. Some tasks, like doing dishes or sweeping up, are
never-ending and (in my mind, anyway) not as
gratifying as a job with a definite conclusion. It is the
difference between working eight hours a day
in a drapery factory and making one pair of curtains for
your home bathroom. I have done both.
One is merely a job and the other is a pleasant task. And
now, on with the day !
Stay dry,
Daisy
Tuesday, September 6, 2011, 8:00 a.m.
52 degrees, windy, cloudy, fog
Fog becomes increasingly more dense down the Hill, and
the neighbor’s mailbox is only faintly
visible. The lilac copse right outside the window stands
out in sharp relief, each leaf wet and deeply
green, and as the view recedes the foliage starts to fade
until it gleams milky pale just beyond the hedgerow.
Two separate flocks of turkeys bracket our house,
probably feasting on the snails that are out basking in
the
fog. There seems to be more turkeys than ever; fall
hunting for these birds doesn’t begin until October
1st so
they have almost a whole month to strut around in the
open, carefree and growing fat. It is amazing how they
all but disappear from the Hill at the first sign of
hunters. Right now they are so incautious I think I could
walk
right up to one and bop it on the head if I were
desperate for protein. Fortunately, there is a freezer
full of
good homegrown meat from which to choose our suppers, as
well as countless combinations of grains
and legumes that also count as complete proteins in our
varied omnivorous diet. Our little chicks are
growing quickly, and will be ready for the freezer at the
end of October, a big job but not all that
hard, as we usually have many hands to help. Speaking of
grains, I think the last of the corn
should be ready to pick today, so I had better get at
that while the weather is fairly calm.
The rest of the week looks pretty wet, with fair skies
moving in just in time for the
Little Falls Garlic
and Herb festival this
weekend; . We won’t be buying any garlic,
unless there is a new variety that interests us, but
there is always plenty to see and do there,
with more than fifty vendors this year. It is always fun
to see what’s new in the garlic industry,
and admire other growers’ produce. I love their
motto: Eat, Stink, and Be Merry !
Have a great day,
Daisy
Monday, September 5, 2011, 8:00 a.m.
64 degrees, breezy, cloudy, drizzle
Hard rain started to fall during supper last night, and
continued for several hours.
This morning is dark enough with clouds that the yard
light is still shining even at this
late hour, and even though the heavier downpour has
ceased, the sky is still saturated with
fine drops. We finished trimming up our garlic yesterday,
but there is still the labor-intense picky
work of inspecting and cleaning each bulb, which can be
done in the comfort of our snug kitchen.
Onions are almost dry enough to trim and sort as well,
but that is a messy job best left for a day
when we can do it outdoors and let the breeze carry away
the bulk of the dry matter. The next
big job will be carrots, but we leave them in the ground
until after a frost, and that is probably
weeks away, although in this year of crazy weather, who
can really say? One thing for sure,
summer is winding down, shifting into autumn, the time of
gathering our resources for the
long winter yet to come. I appreciate each season, but to
be honest, I am always thrilled
at the prospect of the winter months, where we can take
the time to savor the things
we grew during warmer days. Already the days are growing
shorter, but that’s the
way the big wheel turns, and we gladly dance to the music
of the spheres.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Sunday, September 4, 2011, 8:00 a.m.
73 degrees, windy, mostly cloudy
We can hear thunder to the north, but it seems that this
particular storm has already passed us by.
There is a chance of storms all day long, with a strong
liklihood of steadier rain for tomorrow, usher-
ed in by a cold front that will bring some relief from
recent heat and humidity. Yesterday seemed like the
hottest day of the summer; although I know the
temperature wasn’t record-breaking at eighty-five,
the humid-
ity and absolute lack of any breeze had me panting like a
dog as I picked corn after lunch. There are still a few
dozen ears hanging on the stalks that need about four
more days to ripen, but I now have enough in the freezer
for our own use, so if critters chomp on the remainder it
won’t be a huge loss. We would like some more for
eating fresh, so we will continue to put the transistor
radio in the middle of the patch for a few more days.
Our zucchini has taken on a second childhood, and there
are several tender youngsters of both the yel-
low and green varieties ready to eat. We had some last
night, a grand treat for September, when sum-
mer squash tends to be all played out. We had planned to
go pick wild apples during the afternoon,
but it was just too hot. The apple harvest should be
undertaken on a cool day, with the tang of
autumn in our noses and a deep blue sky overhead; perhaps
later this week will suit us better.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Saturday, September 3, 2011, 10:30 a.m.
75 degrees, breezy, mostly sunny
The sun is hazy and the breeze a sultry one from the
south. It seems likely that there will
be some rain later today, although the weather pundits
only give it a twenty percent chance.
We finished picking up all of our potatoes, and today I
will be sorting and packing some of
them for sale. Some of the spuds that had been left on
the ground overnight were literally crawl-
ing with potato bugs, and they had munched some pretty
bodacious holes in the flesh. I guess when
all of the vines are gone the adult beetles move on to
the actual tuber; this is the first time I have seen
it actually happen. We had to dig the fingerlings by hand,
as they are too small to travel up the conveyor
chains of our antique digging machine; they fall through
and get mangled on their way to the ground. We had
a spectacular yield of russian banana fingerlings
this year, which are my favorite for roasting with whole
gar-
lic cloves, the lot tossed with olive oil, salt, pepper,
and herbs. They are also nifty in stews, sliced into per-
fect circles of potato-y goodness. Our corn patch has
remained raccoon-free for the past several nights,
although we have seen turkeys over there almost every day.
I think the birds are more interested in the
snails that populate the stalks than in the actual corn
itself. I think I will be able to put quite a bit of
corn in the freezer later today, as the days and nights
have been warm enough to help bring it to
maturity in a fairly short time. After I have enough in
the freezer, I will put out the all clear and
let the coons have the rest. I am happy to share as long
as we get our quota first; greedy coons
don’t last long in our garden, but those who will
respect our crops enough to let us have first
pick are welcome any time. And now, off to see what yummy
things I can find for
tonight’sdinner. Maybe a few small zucchinis are
lurking under the leaves,
perfect for tossing onto the grill along with our grass-fed
beef.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Friday, September 2, 2011, 8:00 a.m.
66 degrees, breezy, partly sunny
The morning air is cool, but a breeze from the south
carries the promise of a muggy humid day
on its fragrant breath. Hints of sweet grass linger after
the haymaking of midweek, but the preva-
lent whiff is that of apples, ripening on the trees and
rotting on the ground. Deer have eaten every
one of the macintosh drops, sweet and sticky with
fermenting juices, and I expect to see them stag-
gering around as they graze this morning. The trees
around the springbox are loaded with fruit, small
golden ones just a mouthful of sweetness, almost pear-flavored,
medium sized yellows with a red stripe
along one side, and my favorites, the big green ones that
never change color and are perfect for pies and
apple crisp. We dug most of the potatoes yesterday, and
picked up more than half of them for storage in
the cellar. This morning’s work is cut out for us,
it would seem. We had a great crop this year, with very
few lost to mice, wireworms, or scab. My favorite variety
is carola, an oval yellow spud that is good for
every purpose, and the shape fits the palm of my hand
perfectly when peeling is called for. We grew just
a few Amey russets in case I get the urge to make
french fries or potato chips, a treat that was more
common when we had a houseful of kids to feed. One time
when our oldest was only three, we
were snowed in for five days, and passed some of the time
making potato chips, eating them
nearly as fast as each batch was finished. There is
nothing better than homemade chips, un-
less they are topped with blue cheese sauce, bacon bits,
and chopped scallions, yep, that’s
definitely better ! I haven’t made potato chips for
years, but don’t they sound delicious?
Have a tasty day,
Daisy
Thursday, September 1, 2011, 8:00 a.m.
65 degrees, calm, partly sunny
Heavy dew is running off of the roof and the grass is as
wet as after a rainfall.
The air is damp, and rain seems likely at some point this
morning. We topped most
of the potatoes with a weed-whacker yesterday, and hope
to get them dug while the soil
is still relatively dry. The fingerlings still have lush
healthy vines and are continuing to add size
to the tubers, so we have left that row to continue
growing. Even if the spuds get rained on, we
should be able to pick them up tomorrow during the drier
spell of weather. Yesterday our farmer
friends came and baled up the hay that has been lying in
windrows for the past ten days. Now the
meadows are dotted with monster-big bales that will be
used all winter long as bedding for their
youngstock. They will be by later with a forklift and
flatbed trucks to haul it all away. I already
miss our flowery meadow paths, but now we can get a good
view of all of the wildlife that lives
and plays on our forty acres. This morning a flock of
turkeys fed down by the spring, poults near-
ly as large as the hens. Crows have been feasting on the
mower-mangled carrion that was revealed
after the hay was cleared away. There was quite a bit of
loud bickering over one spot in the far mea-
dow; must have been something particularly tasty. I
picked what may be the last of our sunflowers
yesterday, as most of the stalks were either broken in
half or uprooted during the weekend wind-
storm. I cut off the mature seedheads and placed them
along the garden’s edge for birds and
mice to feed on. I have saved many of the seeds for
planting next year, especially from the
hardiest varieties that sowed themselves as volunteers
last spring. A big bucket of
sunflowers at the entry of any kitchen lends old-world
charm that can’t be bought
from any store. Flowers by the door, the smell of
applesauce simmering on a
low flame, a cat dozing on the bench and a little dog
with its tail all a-wag,
makes me want to walk out just so I can walk in over and
over again !
Have a great day,
Daisy
|
