The "End" of Fall

Yes, Fall is almost over for us.  So many of the trees have already lost their leaves and the colors are not quite as vibrant as they were even a week ago.   It's been such a joy for me to be able to chronicle this first Fall of ours here at Whispering Oaks and I have been taking pictures to capture the season.   (Big surprise there!  right?)  Joel just shakes his head whenever we go outside for any of our projects and I run back into the house to grab the Nikon.   Seriously?   He knows I have to take pics of everything we do here.

By the back porch screen door we have one last light pink variety of mum?daisy?flower thing that bloomed in the past week.   Talk about a late bloomer....bah-ha-ha-ha!

The leaves look like a chrysanthemum so I cut it way back in July, getting it ready to set buds for Fall, and then it bloomed like this!    Anyone out there know what kind of plant this is?   Anyway, it's pretty and the bees have enjoyed the final blooms of Fall.

Here we have the last of the onions drying out before I store them in the house along with some huge and some not so huge carrot-shaped sweet potatoes from the garden.   I have discovered root veggies do better if you let them dry for up to 2 weeks before storing them.  Live and learn....there's always a lesson to be learned here on the farm.

And we harvested 7 varying sized pumpkins, too.   Those babies will get canned this weekend and then pumpkin pies will be a breeze during the holidays using our very own pumpkin.   I can hardly wait to taste them.

These are the last of our pears from the granddaddy pear tree.    The harvest was so small this year compared to last year, but when the blossoms freeze during a freak snowstorm in Spring, that practically eliminates a Fall harvest.

And even though our black walnut trees yielded a fraction of what they did last year, friends of ours had an abundance and let me pick all I wanted from their trees.   We have learned that walnut trees have one year of a bumper crop and then 2 or more years of lesser crops.   I'll be sure to take advantage of those years when the harvest is great, trust me!   Over the next few weeks I'll be busy cracking these little beauties in preparation for Christmas cookie baking.

Isn't this pumpkin just so pretty?    It tickled me to place pumpkins around the porch as an autumn decoration.    Yes, I really do love Fall.

Especially the gorgeous leaves on our trees.   It took a long time for our maples to turn, but this last week they suddenly blushed bright red.   Simply lovely.

Is it just me or do you find this to be glorious, too?

 Wow, in just 5 days we went from this, our maple towering over one of the grape arbors filled with bright red and yellow leaves........

......to this.   Yes, almost all the leaves have dropped in just 5 days!

While taking a walk thru the herbs in the potager garden, I decided to take one final cutting of them  before our first frost and then they were put in the dehydrator.   Now we should have enough herbs for cooking until we can grow more next year.   Mmmmmmmm.......it smells so good in here.

I love strolling out onto the rocking chair porch early each morning as I take Molly out for her walk.   The first thing I do is scan the barn and our buildings and then look out into the valley to see what the new day will bring weather-wise.   I'm never disappointed.   Yes, I'm in love....in love with this land.

So, say goodbye to Fall and hello to early Winter,
Deb