Backyard on the 1st

It’s the first of November, and that means it’s time to look at my back yard and see what’s going on out there.  Surprisingly, the grass is green and tall.  It’s just that there’s a blanket of leaves over it too.

The tree yesterday’s acrobatic squirrel lives in provides a lot of shade for the backyard, which means it also drops a lot of leaves in the fall.

I tend to be natural with my yard work.  Of course, that’s just my way of saying, I never seem to get around to raking leaves in the fall.  I never seem to get my garden properly put to bed either.  It’s still full of weeds and dead plants and tomato cages.

I did find a couple of gourds.  That surprised me.  They were volunteers from last year, and I never had any last year because of the stinking squash borer worms.

It was a nice surprise.  One of the best things about the back yard right now, is just hanging out and watching Marley play with big sticks on the other side of the fence.

He has a lot of fun.

Linking to First of the Month, Friday’s Fences, Thankful Thursday, and Farmgirl Friday.

Linking to Camera Critters.

How Did October Get Here So Soon?

There’s many beautiful colors around right now, and I’ve been taking pictures of them.  I was so into it, that I forgot about my First of the Month post.  Today, you get to see my back yard.  No great splashes of brilliant colors here.

My oak trees just don’t get those bright colors that many other types of trees display.

The plum tree has almost lost all of its leaves already.

The grass is as green as its been all summer, and it actually needs mowed. Might have to think about that eventually.

I still haven’t figured out why they would have planted the apple tree so close to the oak tree.  It certainly does make it hard on the poor thing.  The oak tree it’s growing beneath actually does have a few leaves turning.

I can see the corn has all turned and is just waiting to be harvested.  That should be pretty soon.

My garden has been largely forgotten.  There are a few ripe tomatoes.

I have quite a few green tomatoes.  This plant has been touched by our earlier frost, and it will likely be killed by frost by the weekend.

Finally, as we head back towards the house, I can see where the wind has scattered mallow seeds.  With the lack of mowing, they’ve actually gotten big enough to blossom.

They are about the last splash of flower color I’ll see this year.

I’ll have to share more of those great fall colors tomorrow.

I’m also linking to Wordless Wednesday with Project Alicia, Live and Love Out Loud, Create With Joy, Tina’s Wordless Wednesday, and Sarah Halstead.

 

 

How I’m Spending my Weekend

This weekend is really busy, but I think I start every weekend post with that comment. This weekend, I’m trying to catch up on my cleaning.  That entails a lot of vacuuming due to some big black dog (not SOOC, but you want to see that cute face).

Mushu

Mushu

Mushu

I’m still milking goats and using it to make cheese and yogurt.  This weekend, it’s yogurt.

cherry vanilla yogurt

I’m also freezing a lot of milk in ice cube trays.

This I’m using to make soap.  Yep, I’m making soap this weekend too.  This one is tea tree.

This is Midnight Pomegranate.

I really wish I could figure out why some turn out perfectly and some caramelize the milk in the center. (Again, not SOOC)  It doesn’t show up as badly in person as it does in the picture, but still…

All that cheese/yogurt making and soap making leads to a lot of dishes.

Finally, after neglecting the garden for a couple of weeks, I went out and picked this afternoon.

Guess what I’m doing this evening.

Linking to SOOC Sunday, Your Sunday Best, Macro Monday, Weekend Reflections