Fall has arrived!

We've had several nights in the 40's now with crickets doing their thing all day as they lament the passing of the ferns along the wooded edges of the yard. Got my eight cords of firewood in along with 100 bales of first cut hay with 200 bales of second cut looking good for a early September harvest.

It was a good year for all the gardens, and our pantry is now full of freshly canned tomatoes and pickles. The root cellar eagerly awaits our potato and Winter squash harvest to accompany the resident garlic bulbs. I expanded the number of stalls in our barn to accommodate Springs new arrivals... As I've aged, I've come to realize the benefit of more gates and spare stalls. It always seems that no matter how prepared I am for an event, there are surprises lurking just around the corner. Maybe next Spring will be less chaotic than this past one when baby goats were arriving completely unexpectedly in intervals that prevented safely mixing them together in the same stall. I thought I had separated the buck soon and long enough to avoid that. This year he goes into isolation on September 1!!!

At any rate, it appears that we'll have a colorful array of maples as they are already turning with very bright reds, yellow and orange hues. I hope everyone enjoys the bug-free season while it lasts!