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| Home sweet home on a fall morning. |
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| Something rare around here today: organic tobacco hanging |
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| the tobacco shed on a pretty morning |
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| waiting to haul out the speared tobacco |
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| just liked the image made by the fall colors and these power towers |
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| the neighbors |
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| the road less taken |
Ellen's beautiful, bountiful garden is
coming to an end. We grilled the
last of her sweetcorn with some brats
the other night for supper; there is a large gap where the corn
stalks stood before she pulled them up. There are still a few
tomatoes and peppers and green beans. El has canned tomato soup,
sauce, and salsa, and she has frozen sweet corn, green beans,
Colorado peaches, green and red and orange peppers, basil, dill, and
chives for use this winter. She pulled up the onions and garlic and
she will be planting some of the garlic cloves for next year's crop
soon. Our friend, Marlene has given El something new for our garden:
winter or walking onions to plant this fall yet. Competition is high
in the red raspberry patch; there are what appears to be hundreds of
bees interested in stowing away the sweet juice of the fruits even
before the berries fully ripen, and it is not rare to pick a berry
with a bee already on it. Unbelievably, the zucchinis have slowed in
their proliferation; still Ellen has had enough to bake her special
zucchini bread. The large brussels sprout plants are a conundrum;
there don't appear to be any "sprouts" to collect, but
Ellen assures me there will be after the first frost. Of course
there are pumpkins and squash, but they have not ripened enough to
bake one yet. We bought a couple squash at a farmer's market on
Saturday and Ellen fixed boneless roast pork ribs with baked squash
with a side of Lombardi Room salad. This was served in the Lombardi
dining room in the Paper Valley Hotel in Appleton; it is thin-sliced
red onion shuffled together with thin-sliced tomato topped with blue
cheese and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar. It don't git no better.
We also bought some fresh rhubarb at the market and Ellen made
rhubarb crisp served with a dollop of ice cream for dessert. Yes, I
am a lucky man.
The rain came at a good time I guess.
The fall food plots on our farm are up and growing. My nephew, Chet
observed a doe with a pair of fawns nibbling at the new growth in
one. Guess I gotta get out in the woods, but I still have to wash my
hunting clothes, two ladder stands to put up, and I should probably
shoot my bow more seriously. Of course, there are plenty of other
things at home to get done first.
For example, we have a huge hole dug
out on the corner of the shop. Steve Strasser of Coulee Backhoe
shoveled it out with his backhoe last week. He is smooth, that is,
he takes his time and gently - I mean it - dug out the clay and
gravel along the rock foundation of the shop. The project started
last June when water ran over a plugged up eaves trough causing the
stones at the top to tumble down into the root cellar underneath. We
want to save the 1901 building if we can. With any kind of luck, by
the time you read this, Byler Construction will build a new wall, and
hopefully stop the bleeding, uh, erosion. I also want to finish
insulating the foundation of our house before it gets too cold. I
have put it off all summer like the proverbial grasshopper, I will do
that before I go hunting.
Until next time, get out - Ellen and I
and Scout put up a two-person tree stand at the Oak Stand this last
week. We sat in it for a while and then trimmed up some brush and
limbs. It was a cool, breezy afternoon that day and all three of us
enjoyed the outing. With any kind of luck, we'll be perched there
together this fall when a nice buck shows itself. I think I'll go
shoot my bow and get my hunting clothes around. Eli and Pat were
here to watch the Packer/Lion debacle on Sunday between time in a
tree stand. A one and two start, ouch! Shades of the 70's and 80's!
Let us hope things change for the Green and Gold soon. Enjoy.
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