~
Sunday, October 31, 2010, 8:30 a.m.
31 degrees, calm, overcast, flurries
We awoke to fog, and some of it has frozen onto cars and
various slick-painted wood surfaces
of our buildings. We are at the lowest temperature of the
past 24 hours; I imagine that the ice will
melt as the day wears on. A few tiny motes of snow hang
suspended in the still air, but not enough
to add winter’s festive note to the day. Yesterday
we cleared all of the carrots and parsnips out of
the gardens, and now our harvest is done. The parsnips
did not leave the soil easily, and many of
the eighteen inch long specimens needed to be prized out
with a heavy spade. Three wheelbarrows
of sweet roots sit in the barn to dry off a bit before we
bring them into the cellar for the winter. About
a hundred pounds of the carrots are destined to be traded
for farm-fresh eggs, a great deal for both of
us. During the afternoon we processed eighty pounds of
cabbage into sauerkraut, which gave us about
eight gallons of salted shredded product, which will take
between two and four weeks to ferment and
be ready for either freezing in zip-locks or hot-packing
into jars. It was a messy job, with cabbage
flying all over the kitchen and settling into nooks and
crannies of our clothing, with much laughter
and occasional munching of the sweet cores accompanying
the job. Now all of the big jobs
are done, and I believe I will take the day off and enjoy
a long hike in the frosty air,
followed by some time spent in a comfy chair by the fire
with a good book.
Enjoy your day,
Daisy
Saturday, October 30, 2010, 8:30 a.m.
37 degrees, windy, partly sunny
The sky is silvery blue, so pale that it almost matches
the broad swathe of clouds that drifts from
west to east. The dark soil of the newly plowed potato
patch shows a white depth of frost crystals,
looking much like snow. We did have a bit of snow
yesterday, big wet flakes that teased us with wintry
goodness for a few minutes before moving on. We moved in
the last of our small wood during one such
onslaught, and quickly added one more panel to the back
porch to keep the stash dry. We will probably
finish enclosing that space today, making it tight
against the elements until the snowdrops show up next
spring. We hauled in most of the carrots, and they are
curing for a bit in the barn before we pack them
away into leaves. The danvers carrots are huge,
crisp and sweet with hardly any gnarly or knotted
specimens. The atomic reds are a disappointment
this year, with nearly half of them split the length
of the root, spilling their interior core into the dirt,
rendering them useless except as deer fodder. It
is possible that they couldn’t handle all of the
rain that has fallen over the past couple of months. Deer
have uprooted all of the remaining beets and munched them
into oblivion, and have also been into the
swiss chard, which would have provided us with fresh
greens until the first snowfall. I guesswe are just
about finished with the harvest, and now we can get on
with enjoying the fruits (and veggies) of our labors.
Have a wonderful day,
Daisy
Friday, October 29, 2010, 8:30 a.m.
40 degrees, calm, cloudy
Yesterday’s stiff wind blew in a cold front
that has left the air quite still and bearing the crisp
scent of frosty lands to the north. Late yesterday
afternoon the sky was black not only with storm
clouds but with geese fleeing the chill, circling to land
in a neighbor’s cornfield, more than I have seen
gathered in one place this autumn. All day long they had
been passing overhead, so I think that their
migration may be drawing to an end. I heard several more
flocks during the night, flying low and loud.
The view this morning is all grey and gold, the valley
fog and low-hanging clouds a perfect foil for
the shining pussy willow leaves along the roadside and
our forsythia hedge, which has finally
settled into a glowing copper and bright butternut array.
Oh! A few small snowflakes have
shown up, randomly drifting through the yard, a very
pretty thing on this quiet morn.
Have a wonderful day,
Daisy
Thursday, October 28, 2010, 7:45 a.m.
52 degrees, windy, mostly sunny
Rose colored glasses are not needed on this October morn;
the clouds have been reflecting
the sun’s early flame back onto the surface of the
earth, and we have been surrounded by deep
pink top and bottom. As the color leaches from the clouds,
some of it lingers anyway, burned onto
my retinas as completely as an old Pink Floyd laser light
show. It is very windy this morning, a steady
blast from the west that should blow the last of our
leaves into the meadow if I give them a gentle lift with
a rake. I need to collect some for storing carrots;
layering the roots between dry maple leaves in cellar-stored
bins will keep them fresh well into early spring.
Yesterday I noticed that the tamarack trees between here
and
Remsen have all traded in their green needles for gold. A
large stand of any autumn-garbed larch will grab
your attention, even if only glimpsed from the corner of
your eye. If you look closely at a tamarack,
you will see that the needles resemble soft feathers,
perhaps those of the goose that laid
the golden egg. Watch for them next to Route 12,
especially near swampy areas.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Wednesday, October 27, 2010, 9:00 a.m.
56 degrees, windy, mostly sunny
The sky is October-blue above us, but to the east
black clouds are taking their time scudding away.
The sun bouncing off that low dark ceiling makes for some
crazy light FX here on Gomer Hill. A crow
emerged from the gloom and I mistook it for the
headlights of a distant vehicle, so brilliant was the sun
bouncing off of its glossy plumage. It looks to be
warming up a bit outside; perhaps we will match yester-
day’s high temperature of sixty-nine. As warm as it
was up here, we were under a veil of fog for much of
the day, so misty that the only laundry items to dry
completely were the thin cotton handkerchiefs and well-
worn linen dishtowels. The rest of the garb has been
strewn about the house to finish drying out, brought in
by necessity because of the storm in last night’s
forecast. The rain eventually arrived, accompanied by
gusty
wind and a distant rumble of thunder. All is well this
morning, and the day stretches out shiny as a new penny.
We still have carrots to bring in; it is simply too muddy
to draw them out of the ground without pulling up an
equal weight of soil. I picked a half bushel of scarlet
runner pods yesterday, and they are crisping up in a
wire flat underneath the range. I also picked enough
small broccoli florets for dinner, perhaps the last that
we shall have, as the deer have moved into that garden
and are mowing down every bit of greenery. They
even pulled the last of the beets out of the dirt; after
munching the tops off last week they decided the
big round globes were mighty tasty as well. So far they
have left the parsnip tops alone; perhaps they
are bitter. And now, off for a little hike around the
paths before cleaning out the perennial beds.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Tuesday, October 26, 2010, 8:30 a.m.
58 degrees, breezy, mostly cloudy, fog
The forecast calls for sun and summery breezes, so today
is laundry day.
Right now the fog lets through very little sun, but it is
slowly dissolving in the
southeast wind, so I am taking my chances, and already
the third load of work
clothes is sloshing around in the suds. Once it is all
hung out to dry, I plan to take
a long walk with a friend and our dogs, something I
haven’t had the time to do for al-
most a week. Of course, our dog gets a short walk several
times a day, even if it is just
a five minute romp around the garden path to take care of
business. But a long ramble of
several miles is very necessary to straighten out the
kinks generated by daily chores and give
us a different view of our world from time to time.
Whether alone with my dog or among friends,
the rhythm of putting one foot in front of the other and
noticing the changing seasons beyond our
everyday vantage points is a tonic for the spirit as well
as the physical body. There is no predicting
what we may see, hear, or smell on a long hike, from
something as small as a late blooming dandelion
to the thrill of several deer bounding across the road in
front of you. Of course, this time of year, if the
latter occurs, it is best to give a loud shout as you
duck and cover, on the chance that the deer are flee-
ing from a rifle-totin’ hunter. Opening day was last
Saturday, and many shots were heard as we went
about our work over the weekend. Time to get out the
orange pinnies and hats, and tie some
safety tape to the dog’s collar just in case he is
mistaken for a very tiny deer.
Play safe,
Daisy
Monday, October 25, 2010, 8:30 a.m.
56 degrees, calm, overcast
The morning is fairly warm, and even though the sun is
nowhere to be seen the lack
of any breeze makes for pleasant outdoor conditions.
Yesterday the fog came and went,
and a few sprinkles of rain moved through the area. By
late afternoon, the sun drilled a hole
in the fog and the western half of the sky showed some
pale blue patches filled with silvery bright
sunbeams, while to the east big wispy curtains of fog
lifting en masse looked like the entire Black
River Valley was on fire, and the fog was pale smoke. We
walked up the road to stretch our legs
after a day spent indoors cutting up and bagging chickens,
and were delighted by the spectacular
divided sky. A blessing of starlings spun above us a few
times before heading west to chase the
setting sun. Two flocks of turkeys currently have the
house surrounded, nineteen of them cros-
sing the road on their way to the newly tilled cornfield,
and ten more in the yard, headed to-
wards the spring. Our cat is hiding under one of the cars,
watching the parade and no
doubt trying to decide if he has a chance at catching one
without getting too beat up.
There is a thin ribbon of lighter sky to the south; maybe
we will see a little sun today.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Sunday, October 24, 2010, 11:00 a.m.
46 degrees, windy, overcast, drizzle, fog
Fog has been playing tag with our meadows all morning
long. When it is here,
it is seriously here, dense and impenetrable with the
naked eye. Sometimes it withdraws
to the treeline, and then it is easy to imagine that we
sit on the shore of some vast sea; indeed we do,
a vast sea of fog. We have had a lazy morning, coffee and
breakfast with friends who have just departed
for their home back East. A third friend is able to stay
a day or two longer, to help finish cutting up chickens
for the freezer and muck out the coop. We are indeed
fortunate to have such good friends, who are just as
happy to come help with the hard chores as they are to
hike and ski and immerse themselves in the won-
ders that Tug Hill has to offer. Any visit with us is
likely to involve participating in some seasonal chore,
unless you show up in the dead of winter where skiing
takes precedent over the more arduous tasks
of fairer weather. We should be able to wrap up most of
our autumn harvest activities during the
coming week, with carrots, parsnips, and sauerkraut-making
being the biggest jobs.
It is a fine day for indoor work, best get to it.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Friday, October 22, 2010, 8:00 a.m.
30 degrees, breezy, partly sunny
A slow mosey of snow drifts about on the breeze, and in
between gusts moves in every
direction including up. Snow was falling when I drove
home from a meeting last night, changing
over from rain just about at our property line. Our
overnight low temperature was 28 degrees,
the coldest we have seen so far this autumn. We have a
very busy weekend ahead of us, and
have decided to butcher half of our chickens today, even
though we will have more crew up
here tomorrow. It should help lessen the fatigue that
comes with the job, to spread it out over
two days instead of having a big push all at once. It
will allow some time at the end of each day
to appreciate the warmth of the kitchen after hanging out
in a cold garage for hours, and make the
whole task a little less daunting. I won’t be
writing tomorrow, and will get back to you on Sunday;
don’t worry, I will spare you the gory details.
Have an interesting weekend,
Daisy
Thursday, October 21, 2010, 9:00 a.m.
41 degrees, breezy, overcast, rain
Cold rain and wind will probably keep me indoors for a
while, but that’s okay.
I have what seems like an infinite number of little
household tasks to keep me entertained
for the next month or so. This Saturday we will be
escorting about sixty chickens into the freezer,
and I will spend much of this day preparing food for the
crew, sharpening knives and cleavers, cleaning
out one of the chest freezers, and generally getting
ready for a weekend of house guests, hard work, and
an odd kind of merriment. Any big job is made lighter
with the help of friends, and we are very fortunate
indeed to have the kind of friends who actually look
forward to helping with even this most grisly of tasks.
For now, I will get busy making a big kettle of soup,
rich with ham ends, root vegetables, various dry
beans, and swiss chard. This, along with a big meatloaf
and several dozen cookies, will be the
glue that holds the weekend together. No matter what the
work, gathering around the table
at mealtimes to laugh and tell stories seems to take the
edge off of sore backs and tired feet.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Wednesday, October 20, 2010, 8:30 a.m.
42 degrees, windy, mostly sunny
A big flock of turkeys is strolling through the rows of
late beans, enjoying the leftovers that
we just don’t feel like picking anymore. I’m
happy to be able to provide some non-traditional
wild bird food, as long as we are finished with it. One
springtime long ago, before we discovered
that corn has to be planted nearly two inches deep here
on Gomer Hill, I looked outside and saw
a similar flock pulling up all of the baby corn shoots,
one by one. Something has devoured all of
our late spinach and lettuce, and as I can see no deer
tracks in the soft soil around the green stub-
ble, I am guessing that is the work of turkeys as well.
We are lucky that they have mostly ignored
our domestic produce until now. When I think of all of
the wild critters that could absolutely ruin
our chances of having a fruitful harvest, rabbits,
woodchucks, moles, skunks, porcupines, rac-
coons, deer, turkeys, crows, various berry-eating
songbirds, well it is darned near a miracle
that we manage to put away as much food for the winter as
we do. This is a beautiful sunny
day so far, and I am itching to get out for a walk before
beginning the day’s work. It won’t
be long before even a simple stroll up the road will
require a whole different wardrobe.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Tuesday, October 19, 2010, 9:00 a.m.
37 degrees, windy, cloudy
What few leaves remaining on the maple trees
are being blown across the view,
horizontal streaks of orange like a fleet of orioles seen
from the corner of my eye.
We raked up the yard yesterday, and noticed that the job
went quicker than usual;
the heavy rain and wind storms of the past few weeks had
done most of the work al-
ready. I was taken completely by surprise at finding a
few dozen ripe red raspberries
on a wild cane growing near the old barn foundation. They
were icy cold and unbelievab-
ly sweet; how extraordinary to be able to enjoy such a
treat in the middle of October! I cut
the last of the lettuce from the garden, plucked a few
hardy calendula blossoms, and cut a fine
bouquet of carrot flowers that poked up from a root that
had been left in the ground for a year
and skipped over by the tiller. These big white umbellate
blooms resemble queen anne’s lace,
but with more of a dome shape. I think I might plant some
carrots next spring just to be able
to gather the flowers in autumn. I dug a few giant
carrots from the early row, easily four inches
in diameter and well over a foot long. The main crop of
carrots will be ready to harvest this week-
end, sweetened up by the few recent nights of frost. I
saw several late apples down by the spring,
and will take the long-handled picker along the next time
I walk that way. I don’t know what
kind of apples they are, but they are green and so hard
that you can’t bite into one.
They make great pie and perfect apple crisp, so I will
bring a bunch of them up
to the cellar for future use. Maybe I’ll do that now,
before the rain arrives.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Monday, October 18, 2010, 8:00 a.m.
39 degrees, calm, partly sunny
The past hour has held some of the best views of
my life here in the North County !
Sunrise was glorious, vibrating with color and painting
the meadows and trees with the
richness of autumn’s blazing oranges that have so
far been lacking up here. Next, it started
to rain, and a giant rainbow appeared over the balsam
forest to the west of here, the first I have
ever seen in that direction. As I was drinking in this
wonderful surprise, an enormous flap of starlings
emerged from the heart of the rainbow and swooped in
unison through the painted sky, just as the rain
changed to sleet for a few moments. What a flood of
sensations, all before I even had my first sip of cof-
fee! What a great way to start the week, eh? Yesterday I
traveled with a friend to Milford, a small town a
couple of hours south of here. The ride down was awesome,
with some of the best colors that autumn has
to offer. We enjoyed an energizing yoga class at another
friend’s home-based studio, set high atop a hill at
the end of a winding private road, the perfect spot for
retreat and renewal. It has been quite a while since I
have been to a yoga class, and even though I practice on
my own, being in a group led by a well-trained and
knowledgeable yogini was so much more than just holding a
stretch or two. We followed the class with a hike
through the paths at Goodyear Swamp, near the
Glimmerglass Opera House on Otsego Lake. Boardwalks
have been built through the wetland, giving us a great
view of the shallow muddy shoreline and its natural
wonders. During the spring and summer the water is
teeming with fish, frogs, turtles, and aquatic insects;
yesterday was too cold for any of those critters to be
out and about. Amazingly, there were several spring
plants blooming, including forget-me-nots, herb robert,
and little skunk cabbage heads poking up through
the muck. As we left the wooden walkway, we came across
the biggest oak tree I have ever seen; three
of us couldn’t even begin to wrap our arms around it.
The ground was ankle deep with crispy leaves, and
although the hike was short, it was filled with so many
memorable sights and smells that it will gleam in my
mind’s eye for a long time. I had a very enjoyable
day away from Gomer Hill, but as I look out the win-
dow this morning at the blue sky and big white clouds,
the Black River Valley and Adirondack Moun-
tains in the distance, the nearby hedgerows birds
flitting across the meadows... and I realize
that the countless memories I have built around our
simple homestead up here on top
of the world can never be replaced by journeying afar.
Every day brings a new view,
and every hike even a mile away from the yard will bring
different experiences.
Have a wonderful day,
Daisy
Sunday, October 17, 2010, 8:00 a.m.
42 degrees, windy, partly sunny
Morning fog is slowly dissolving to reveal a beautiful
cloud-filled sky and piercing
sunshine glimmering on dew-soaked surfaces. I am off for
a girls’ day out, traveling
south to the little town of Milford for yoga, lunch, and
hiking. I know the ride down will
be wonderful, not just for the colorful views, but also
anticipating good conversation and
a load of laughs as well. It is always nice to leave
everyday work behind for a little while;
I’m sure the jobs will still be waiting for me when
I return.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Saturday, October 16, 2010, 8:00 a.m.
40 degrees, windy, cloudy
It has been forty degrees since we pulled into the
yard just before sundown last night.
I had thought that I smelled snow in the air at bedtime,
but the rain stayed rainy throughout
the night. This morning there are layers upon layers of
clouds sliding over each other like a school
of dolphins; the first faint patches of blue sky are
winking at us, teasing us with the possibility of
clearing
and the sunshine that may eventually appear. Our journey
to the Mohawk Valley was beautiful, traveling
down route 46 through the gorge which was lined with
beautiful fall colors the further south we went. One
of the best displays of foliage I have ever seen was on
the stretch of route 49 between Rome and Utica,
with most of the trees still hanging onto their autumn
leaves. Here on Tug Hill the colors were less than
spectacular this year, and high winds and torrential
rains stripped many of the trees before many of
the leaves had a chance to change. On the positive side,
I see maple leaves being borne on a stiff
northwest wind this morning, flying directly from the
trees into the meadows, no rake required.
Oh! A sunbeam! Yippee!
Have a great day,
Daisy
Friday, October 15, 2010, 8:30 a.m.
41 degrees, windy, overcast, rain
A little bit of rain has been coming and going
since late yesterday afternoon.
There was barely enough to bother turning on the
windshield wipers coming home
from work, and I could leave the bedroom window open all
night long, enjoying the music
the runoff makes as it flows down the valley onto the tin
of the sunporch roof. We finished moving
in all of the big firewood before the weather changed,
and now the woodshed is stacked all the way
up with several rows of seasoned hardwood, leaving little
room for laundry buckets or mud boots.
We will haul wood from the barn until the yard fills with
snow, then will switch over to disassembl-
ing the towering pile right outside the kitchen door. We
still have half of the siding off the back
porch, but no doubt will close that area in over the
weekend and finish filling it with smaller
wood for the kitchen range. There is snow in the forecast
for later next week, and we are
trying to complete all the autumn chores before we
get any serious winter storms. Today
we are taking advantage of the rain to tie up some loose
ends in the city, gathering sup-
plies and of course having a nice lunch out. I’ll
bet the fall colors are still pretty spiffy
south of here, and I am looking forward to a different
view for a little while.
Enjoy your day,
Daisy
Thursday, October 14, 2010, 8:00 a.m.
42 degrees, breezy, mostly sunny
The temperature has warmed up ten degrees since
sunrise, and since the breeze is slight
and the sun is beaming down, coffee taken on the back
porch was quite pleasant. I noticed
that the birdbath is once again filled with leaves, but
that didn’t stop a pair of nuthatches from
splashing around, doing their version of a spartan bath.
I wonder if they feel the cold on their skin
the same way mammals do? Even though the sun is warm, I
can’t imagine bathing in icewater first
thing in the morning. Last night our dog spent quite a
while staring at the back door. After giving him
some time on his leash to see if he had anything
important to do in the tall grass, when we returned to
the house he continued to stare at the door. During the
last three days four more big piles of bear scat
have been left on our meadow paths, so that is naturally
the first thing I thought of, that those big critters
have become bold enough to draw closer to our home. Or it
could have been something as harmless
as a mouse in the woodshed. At any rate, I believe I will
confine all future nighttime strolls to the
areas illuminated by the yard lights. I normally
wouldn’t be concerned, but there are rumors that
the DEC has relocated some nuisance bears to the Tug Hill
area from the Adirondacks, where
they had been harassing hikers and folks in campgrounds.
If that is the case, then these bears
associate humans with food, and will go to any lengths to
get it. A normal bear in the wild will
skedaddle at the first glimpse of a human being, but one
habituated to people will seek out
civilization looking for handouts. According to this article
many relocated bears will return
to the point of capture anyway, making such efforts
futile. Until I Have more information
about these particular neighborhood bears, I believe I
will err on the side of caution
and keep my eyes and ears wide open when hiking and
biking the back roads.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Wednesday, October 13, 2010, 8:30 a.m.
37 degrees, calm, mostly sunny
We finally had a good hard frost last night; the
vehicles are still coated with rime,
and the meadows are dull with an opaque blanket of icy
crystals. The water and leaves
in the birdbath appear to be frozen solid, so the bar is
temporarily closed for business until
we get out there with a pail of tepid water. I heard the
oil furnace kick on in the middle of the
night, as we had not yet started to use the big wood
stove for our main source of heat. We lit
it this morning, and the warmth radiating from the big
boxy stove feels cozy and comfy, very
welcome on this frosty morn. We finally planted our
garlic yesterday. We had to wait for the
soil to dry out, as we prepared new ground for next
summer’s crop. One end of it is still a little
mucky, but I think that bothered us more than it will the
little garlic cloves that we tucked into the
soil one by one. We planted about a thousand cloves, so I
guess we will have to find some way to
distribute what will be a considerable amount of mature
bulbs next August. We use scads of garlic
in cooking, and also trade it for other foods that we
don’t grow, but a thousand bulbs... whew!
For sure we will have to eat all of the scapes I froze
from last summer’s trimmings to make
room for a thousand more. Of course, we always send some
to family and friends who
don’t have access to good organic garlic. Plus, we
always save some of the best
bulbs to plant for the following year’s harvest. To
think that all of this stinky
goodness started with just a few dozen bulbs given to us
by a friend !
Have a delicious day,
Daisy
Tuesday, October 12, 2010, 8:00 a.m.
44 degrees, breezy, mostly cloudy
We are off to a cloudy, chilly start but the sun
is expected to make an appearance later this morning.
We have a couple of loads of firewood to move into the
shed, and then will attempt to plant our garlic.
There are more black coco beans to pick; I noticed that
those left on the plants have dried quite nicely
during the past four days. The scarlet runner beans are
very slow-going this year, and we will be lucky
to get even a couple of pounds of mature seeds from them.
We may see some frost tonight, and then
we will be able to start harvesting carrots and parsnips
for real. Our maple trees have finally changed
into their autumn garb, and are the predominant spots of
color left on the trees of Tug Hill. Most every-
thing else got blown away during last week’s amazing
wind storm. The forsythia is particularly lovely, still
deep green at the bottom of the hedge, morphing into gold
and pale yellow about halfway up, and shining
with red and maroon leaves at the tippy tops. I am sure
that there are other plants that display all of the
colors at the same time; the forsythia is right outside
my window, and is always one of the prettiest col-
lections of perfect autumn hues, all in one convenient
place. And now, off to generate a little heat by tos-
sing firewood in through the window, one of many ways
this awesome fuel will warm us on chilly mornings.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Monday, October 11, 2010, 8:00 a.m.
43 degrees, breezy, partly sunny
A few heavy black clouds have moved into a
previously crystal clear blue sky,
but they don’t look like they are carrying any rain.
The night sky was full of stars,
and although I scanned for some remnants of the Draconid
meteor shower, they all
stayed put as long as I was watching. I wandered up the
road just a short distance, to
get away from the yard light’s glare. I was glad I
stayed close to home, because a pack
of coyotes started to howl just after I left the circle
of light, a primal sound that is thrilling
and a little frightening as well. Any time I have seen
these wild dogs we have given each
other a wide berth, but that has been in broad daylight.
An encounter with any feral crea-
ture in the pitch black of night underscores the primal eat
or be eaten theme that has been
part of human history since prehistoric times. For sure,
I enjoy the coyotes’ song much more
when I listen to it from the warm safety of my snug bed,
with four walls and a roof between us.
Yesterday was a gorgeous autumn day, and we left the Hill
for the afternoon to help a friend plant
garlic. It was much warmer at lower altitude than Gomer
Hill, and we felt a little silly all wrapped up
in layers, which we quickly shed to work in the warm sun.
Any task goes faster when shared with
friends, and before long the bed was planted and covered
with straw, and stories were traded
and laughter shared. Our own garlic patch is finally dry
enough to till and we should be able to
plant tomorrow, so I’ll bust up the bulbs into
individual cloves this morning. I am looking for-
ward to sitting on the back porch doing this simple job,
one which will leave my eyes free
to roam the view. I expect there will be plenty of geese
and other birds to lay down some
seasonal riffs. Which is my favorite season of the year?
If you ask me that today, I would
of course answer autumn. If you asked me in
January, while gliding down a snowy hill
under a sunny blue sky with a group of happy rosy-cheeked
friends, I would say winter.
I’m fickle that way. It’s all good !
Have a great day,
Daisy
Sunday, October 10, 2010, 8:30 a.m.
45 degrees, windy, sunny
Many places in the North Country had a hard freeze last
night, but our low temperature was 35
degrees, and there wasn’t a speck of frost anywhere
when we arose this morning. Some of our but
more tender plants, such as tomatoes and basil, were
wiped out by Thursday night’s gusty cold winds,
everything else continues to chug right along, giving us
an extended amount of time to enjoy fresh garden
veggies and herbs. We cut most of our cabbages yesterday,
and will use the first rainy day to turn many of
them into sauerkraut. That is a fairly labor-intensive
task, but only requires cabbage, salt, and a big crock
for fermentation. Homemade kraut is nothing like the too-salty
stuff in a can from my childhood, which
we only had once annually to ring in the new year. The
real deal is crunchy, fresh, and a little salty,
and can be eaten raw in a slaw, or cooked with pork or
sausage, or stuffed into pierogies, or even
baked into a moist chocolate cake. We will shred enough
for several years, and once it has ferment-
ed for a few weeks will hotpack it into quart jars for
storage. We have also tried freezing it in zipper
bags, but the quality is better if sealed into jars.
Today’s date of 10-10-10 is supposed to be very
lucky for newlyweds, and an unprecedented number of
weddings are taking place all over the
world. It may also be a good day to achieve personal
success, either working toward
an old goal or setting new ones. We hope that
today’s sunshine will
bring us one day closer to the goal of getting our garlic
planted.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Saturday, October 9, 2010, 8:30 a.m.
44 degrees, windy, mostly sunny
Our neck of the woods boasts an impossibly blue
sky, with some high pale clouds down by
the river and beyond. A stiff north wind lends a
decidedly arctic nip to the air, and widespread
frost is expected for all of the North Country before
tomorrow’s dawn. We picked a pail of large
green beans yesterday and ran them through our fancy
frencher, and steamed up some of them to
enjoy with our dinner pasta. I cooked all of the ripe
tomatoes, some peppers, onions, garlic, herbs,
and venison sausage to make a huge pot of sauce, some to
eat fresh, but most went into the freezer.
There are times during the winter that I am looking for a
quick supper, and we usually have a good
supply of stew, sauce, and chili on hand; it is a simple
enough thing to triple a batch of anything and
freeze the excess for a later date. Yesterday we walked
the length of the Smith Road, and saw two
big piles of black bear scat by the berm. This sign looks
much like human poo, except it tends to
be darker (sometimes almost black) and contains many
seeds, pits, and often bits of fur from small
mammals or scavenged carcasses. We have seen bear scat in
our area before, but I have yet to see
any actual bears. Our dog was very busy sniffing every
inch of road, and the scat was fresh, so we
thought we might catch a glimpse of one yesterday. The
neighbors saw two bears in our back mea-
dow and called us about it, but by the time we looked
they had skedaddled. Bears in the neighbor-
hood definitely make me think twice about taking a late
night stroll. Even if I am armed with a
big heavy flashlight and a loud whistle, a bear is an
unpredictable wild creature, and much
bigger than I am. Still, I would like to see one... from
afar... in broad daylight.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Friday, October 8, 2010, 8:30 a.m.
50 degrees, windy, mostly sunny
Yippee ! We have a streak of dry days stretching
out ahead of us, so just maybe we can
wrap up our garden adventures for the 2010 season. It is
extremely windy this morning, which
should help extra moisture to evaporate from the
supersaturated soil. The sun feels nice and warm,
and it is great to be able to enjoy sitting on the back
porch once more; these porch-sittin’ are numbered
as the space slowly fills up with winter firewood. The
morning air has been filled with flying objects, includ-
ing birds, leaves, and small twigs. I don’t believe
a walk in the woods would be advisable until the wind
settles
down a bit. There are many things that will keep us close
to home today, small tasks of tucking in for the months
to come. We continue to move wood one load at a time,
grateful that we have a good supply of dry seasoned
wood all ready to use. I am pretty sure I will be able to
find enough small broccoli crowns to put a few more
bags into the freezer, and if the black coco beans dry
off I should be able to pick another pail full of those.
We have shelled all of the dry beans that I had
previously picked, and have a big flat of grandma rosas
curing on the sunporch to make sure every bit of moisture
is gone before we put them into gallon jars
for winter storage. Ironically, I also have two cups of
them soaking in water, to use in a pot of week-
end soup. We have been pulling carrots for the last
couple of months, but still await a good frost
before harvesting the rest of them. Parsnips will benefit
from a frost as well, and they have grown
so long that a spading fork is required to pry them from
the dirt. I will grab the rest of the beets
today and put most of them into the freezer, and save out
a few of the smaller ones for grating
raw into salads and slaws. I noticed that the swiss chard
has grown back after being chew-
ed right down to the ground by deer, and we are looking
forward to adding that hearty
green back into our menus. I imagine a good part of today
will be spent psusing to look
at the view like some slack-jawed yokel, muttering
phrases like look at the red
tree, the sky sure is blue today, and that’s
a purty big flock of geese...
Enjoy your day,
Daisy
Thursday, October 7, 2010, 8:30 a.m.
47 degrees, breezy, mostly cloudy
Light rain has finally stopped falling, and a
dazzling spear of sunshine has parted the clouds
with an actual ray of hope. Clouds are moving very
quickly from west to east, and if we are
lucky clear skies will follow. Many leaves have come down
during the deluge of the past few
days, but those left on the trees shimmer in the blazing
glory of that one single shaft of light. A
few small patches of blue sky have appeared, and I am
encouraged that the weather has taken
a turn for the better. Yesterday a small flock of turkeys
took refuge under one of our backyard
spruce trees, using it like a huge umbrella during one of
the harder downpours. They stood side
by side like strangers waiting for a bus under a city
kiosk. They stayed put even when a big tank
truck pulled into our yard to deliver fuel oil. Rain
didn’t deter starlings from gathering in the hedge-
row next to our neighbors cornfield; there were hundreds
at the end of the day, swooping down to
pick through the stalks that are still standing. I would
hate to have to try to drive heavy equipment
through the corn that is left; it will be many days
before the farmers can get back to harvesting the
corn and soybeans that are now surrounded by muck. Some
fields even have small ponds stand-
ing in them. The ground is so saturated with water that
it has nowhere to go; when a sponge is
full, it’s full. We can hear Mill Creek roaring
through the gorge, and that is a mile away from
here. Friends who live in town had the creek overflow
into the yard and flood their garden,
which happens often in the spring but hardly ever in the
autumn. We are still waiting for the
soil to dry enough to plant garlic. It can go into the
ground any time, but we fear that in
such a bizarre weather year snow could fall sooner rather
than later. And now, I believe I
will put on some warm clothes and take a walk to enjoy
this increasingly beautiful morning.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Wednesday, October 6, 2010, 8:30 a.m.
50 degrees, windy, fog
Before the fog arrived, the sky was ripe with clouds, but
so far very little rain has fallen this morning.
There was actually some clearing in the middle of the
night, with stars showing here and there in an
otherwise inky sky. I was able to sleep with the window
open, and had a wonderful slumber wrap-
ped in flannel quilts. A good night’s sleep is a
precious gift, and you can bet I am grateful every
morning that I awaken refreshed with the faint memory of
interesting dreams touching my mind
like a fine film seen many years ago. I have an entire
day off, with no outside work or appoint-
ments, and am looking forward to a day of homely tasks,
like making bread, stewing up some
wild apples, and maybe even stirring up a batch of dark
chocolate pudding. The key word there
is stirring... for if I step away from the
saucepot for even a few seconds some pretty gross lumps
will develop. Silky smooth homemade pudding is a true
labor of love, in the same way that homemade
gravy or sharp cheddar sauce for macaroni and cheese must
be tended until it has reached thick, hot,
bubbling perfection. The worst part of making pudding
from scratch is the hours that it takes to cool
off enough to serve it up, with a little dollop of
whipped cream on top. Of course, there are always
the spoon, scraper, and pot to lick as soon as the drips
and dregs lose the heat. Yum !
Have a sweet day,
Daisy
Tuesday, October 5, 2010, 8:00 a.m.
45 degrees, breezy, overcast, drizzle
Light mist falls on this gloomy morn; our
photosensitive yard light is still shining,
it’s that dark outside even an hour past sunrise. It
is time to bring in our big wood stove
and install it in its winter home in a corner of the
living room. Even a small fire would be welcome
to heat up this end of the house this morning. The
kitchen range has taken the nip out of the great room,
but the heat has a hard time turning the corner into this
area. Geese are on the move for real, indicating
that a chill has settled over Canada and has pushed the
migration up a notch. The bluebirds stopped
yesterday at noon for a brief visit, to imprint on their
offspring where the nesting boxes are, so that
next spring they can return and perhaps raise a brood of
their own. I was yanking some carrots out
of the ground when I caught a glimpse of bright blue from
the corner of my eye, and saw a half dozen
bluebirds hanging around the houses at each corner of the
garden. Four more were perched on the power
line by the road. At some silent signal they all took off
at the same time, and flew down towards the Black
River in a merry swoop. We had a nice spell of sunshine
at midday, and enjoyed a walk all over the pro-
perty to admire a few awesome mushrooms that have
recently appeared since the sog set in. It is the
time of year for giant puffballs to show up here and
there; it has been a few years since we have found
any of these huge tasty fungi. I am fearful of eating
most wild gathered fungi, but the giant puffball
can’t
be confused with anything else, and is indeed a gourmet
treat. The sky seems to be brightening a bit,
and the yard light has finally gone out, so perhaps
today’s weather will take a turn for the better.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Monday, October 4, 2010, 8:30 a.m.
46 degrees, breezy, mostly cloudy
Our forecast includes a liklihood of rain for the
first half of the week, which doesn’t
bode well for getting the garlic planted in a timely
fashion. The soil that we so carefully
tilled after spreading a ton (literally) of composted
horse poo on it soaked up last Thursday’s
massive rainstorm like a sponge... no, more like a sham-WOW...
and it is holding onto that water
for dear life. We can’t even walk around in the goo,
let alone plant anything. If we can’t get the garlic
cloves into the ground by mid-October, we will have to
stick them in our old potato patch, which has not
had any manure, but at least isn’t currently under
water. That would be a last-ditch solution; I believe if
we
can get it planted before the snow flies it will work out.
The problem is, in such an odd weather year, we
may see snow extra-early, just as everything else has
arrived a few weeks ahead of schedule. We had a
busy weekend, picking some fat green beans and running
them through the rotary bean-frencher and
freezing the results. We also started to move in our
winter wood, which we used to do all in two days,
but now that we are a bit older, we like to spread it out
to a load a day for a couple of weeks. The barn
already holds its allotment of big chunks and kindling,
but now we need to fill the woodshed attached to
the house, and put the panels on the back porch so we can
pile that space with kitchen stove sized wood.
We added just one panel yesterday, so there is still room
to sit out there for our morning coffee, or later
in the afternoon to watch the birds and shell a few beans.
I picked all of the rest of the grandma rosa
beans yesterday, and they are spread out under the range
to dry. I have shelled out an amazing
amount of beans, and there are still many black cocoa and
scarlet runners left to ripen on their vines
and bushes. We are by no means finished with our
gardening tasks, but they are winding down a bit.
Enjoy your day,
Daisy
Sunday, October 03, 2010, 10:30 a.m.
46 degrees, windy, mostly sunny
I’ll bet that many areas in the North Country
woke up to a frosty view this morning.
Our overnight low temperature here on Gomer Hill was 39
degrees; cold enough, but not
harmful to our more tender outdoor plants. Today I will
bring in our big pots of geraniums and
trim them up for winter. Most of them will find homes in
sunny downstairs windows, where their
green foliage will help put oxygen into our indoor air
for many months. A sure sign that the big
wheel keeps on turning is the way the geraniums replace
their tough old big leaves with dozens
of tiny fresh ones over the course of the winter months,
and then put out the first few blossoms
when the days begin to grow longer than the nights again.
Conventional wisdom states that ger-
aniums do best in a cold room with very little water
during their so-called dormant season. Our
biggest one has the place of pride in the living room,
less than six feet away from our big wood
stove that heats the entire house, and I water it almost
daily. It sits in a west-facing window,
and I have to turn the pot every two weeks to keep it
from bending too far towards the sun.
This particular plant seems to thrive in what some would
call adverse conditions, while the
same variety in a chilly upstairs room end up looking
less robust by springtime. no matter
where they grow, all geraniums go through a phase where
they benefit from clipping,
removing dead leaves and trimming off half of the stems
to encourage new growth.
That job is on the agenda for this morning, as well as
dividing the african violets
that seem to like wherever they end up; I had been told
they were picky,
but maybe I got some mutt variety that is just happy to
be in a pot at all.
Have a great day,
Daisy
Saturday, October 2, 2010, 7:30 a.m.
40 degrees, breezy, mostly sunny
A crisp north breeze robs the heat from the early
morning sun, but behind the house it is very nice,
protected from the icy breath of Old Man Winter lurking
in the wings. The next few nights bring with
them the possibility of frost, so we will pick every
tomato that shows signs of eventually ripening. We
have had red tomatoes well into December in years past,
but it’s not looking so good for this year’s
crop. Blight has arrived in our neighborhood, and many of
the tomatoes sport brown and black spots
on their otherwise flawless translucent green skins,
which will quickly turn the whole fruit into a rotten
stinky mess when brought indoors. We picked most of our
peppers yesterday, and I made a huge
batch of tomato and pepper jam, which is a tasty
accompaniment to most fish dishes, as well as a
great meatloaf glaze. Many of the sweet bell peppers will
go right into the freezer, sliced and ready
to fry with smoked sausage, or added to winter chili.
Some of the hot peppers will be dried, but most
of them will be pickled. The veggies that remain in the
garden will benefit from frost; the carrots, beets,
and parsnips will only get sweeter. It is too wet to
harvest them for a while anyway. Our yard has been
taken over by starlings, hundreds of them sorting through
the leaves and tossing twigs about, a wonderful
gathering of the tribe as they head off for the winter.
The crimson and purple forsythia bush is alive with
glossy black birds, a rare and gorgeous sight. I hope
they stick around for a while; I never tire of
watching these simple creatures, at all times of the year.
But they are especially delightful in
autumn, when their aerial maneuvers are performed with
such precision and joie de vivre !
Have an awesome day,
Daisy
Friday, October 1, 2010, 8:00 a.m.
54 degrees, windy, fog, rain
Three and a half inches of rain fell on Tug Hill so far
in the most recent storm,
which seems to be letting up a bit. Imagine if it were
all snow! Gomer Hill Road
washed out along one edge by our place, with a deep ditch
threatening to undermine
the pavement. One year half the pavement was swept away,
so it could be worse. Our
road crew has been on the job since sunrise, quick as
ever to keep our roads in great shape.
There are many roads closed in our neck of the woods;
check www.themoose.net for more
specific information. Wind was significant during the
high point of the storm, and there are
many small branches to clear from the yard. When I came
home from work last night, the
Sugar River was roaring so high that all of the rock
ledges were obscured. What is normally
a beautiful series of small waterfalls was a raging
torrent of muddy water. Many hayfields were
partly under water. I would hate to have to try to cut
corn when the fields are this wet. We have
our new garlic patch tilled and ready to plant, but would
sink in mud and manure up to our knees
unless we wait a few days. If this stiff wind keeps up,
things should dry out pretty quickly.
Have a great day,
Daisy
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