Category Archives: Fall

Glimpses of August

Fall, garlic, Grape Juice, Grapes, Hibiscus, Prayer Garrden, Reflections, Sunflowers, The Farm, Wild Flowers, Windmill, , , ,

Time flies, and before we know it September is more than half over and autumn is upon us. I admit I have been woefully neglectful about blogging this summer. I do hope you enjoy these glimpses of August.

I don’t like to play favorites and, in all honesty, I don’t think I could pick one flower that I like better than all others, but I do love hibiscus flowers.

They usually begin blooming in early August and continue to blossom well into September.

Pictures of these flowers are scattered throughout this post.

The plant in the above photo is one that started as a volunteer from seed from one of our original plants.

This plant in the above photo is the one I refer to as Mom’s hibiscus. I bought and planted it several years ago in honor my Mom’s birthday which is August 10th. It did not bloom that year.

The following year, and each year since, it begins blooming on or around August 10. This year it has been blooming for well over a month.

The Rose of Sharon are also a variety of hibiscas.

We have two varieties of Rose of Sharon.

It’s looking like we may have a decent grape crop this year.

The chickens have not managed to get them all yet.

(Note: the above pictures are from August. We have harvested some grapes this week and I’m making grape juice and jelly.)

Sun flowers are another flower that I love. This mammoth sunflower above grew as a volunterr in the middle of our squash patch.

Wildflowers

Goldenrod is beginning to bloom and while it would be near the top of my list of favorites, the bees are all over it.

These roses have blossomed continually throughout the summer.

One of my goals for the last week of August was getting the garlic cleaned.

I had about 300 bulbs to clip and clean so I spent a couple hours on Thursday and a couple hours on Friday cleaning garlic. I sat at the picnic table in the shade of the large oak tree and below are some of the views I enjoyed while I worked.

Chickens foraging in the area.

Blue skies littered with fluffy white clouds and dancing sunflowers.

Lush greenery and the windmill catching an occasional breeze.

Ranger hung out with me for a while.

While I was cleaning garlic my husband was cutting cattails and phragmites in the pond.

When he was finished, he brought me this red-winged black bird’s nest. It was still attached to a cattail that he had cut. Nesting season was over and I’m sure they will build new nests next year, so no harm was done.

Thanks for visiting.

Happy Thanksgiving

Chickens, Fall, Firewood, Reflections, Splitting Wood, ,

As far as weather goes, Monday was our best day of the week leading up to our Thanksgiving holiday. I took this opportunity to get out to the farm and work with my husband.

The sky was gray and the wind was brisk. I appreciated my winter coat.

Most of the trees are bare now and the pond level is still very low indicating that we are still in a drought. According to the US Drought Monitor we have moderate drought conditions.

The sun unsuccessfully tried to break through the clouds.

The chickens spent the day out and about. They don’t mind the wind and cold so much but when the snow comes they will spend most of their time in the coop.

They have been going through their molt and most have stopped laying eggs. I always feel sorry for them when I see them molting. They look so disheveled.

Many of them have gotten their new feathers in but won’t start laying again until the days become longer. For now we are still getting one or two eggs every other day. I’m thankful that my daughter and son-in-law have a new flock this year who won’t molt and should continue to lay through the winter. Hopefully I can get my eggs from them.

There isn’t a lot of work to be done at the farm this time of year but my husband has been working on cutting and splitting firewood. The large maple logs have been seasoning for two years so are ready to be split and burned. He had a stack cut and ready to be split.

We worked together – he placing the log on the splitter, me operating the lever, both of us removing the split logs and tossing them on the pile.

We also worked together to stack the wood once we had it split. We are so thankful for the gas-powered log splitter we purchased two years ago. It makes short and easy work of the task of splitting firewood.

Now as my husband and I prepare to watch the Detroit Lions Thanksgiving Day Game, I wish you all many blessings and a Happy Thanksgiving for those of you who are celebrating today.

GO LIONS!

Peak Color and the Garlic is Planted

Chickens, Fall, garlic, Planting Garlic, Reflections

It was Thursday, October 16, in the afternoon that we headed to the farm to plant the garlic. This was our best chance to get it planted since there was rain in the forecast for Friday and the weekend.

Despite having some frosty mornings this week our roses were still flowering.

This one had me confused as it was growing up through one of the hibiscus bushes. I had to take a close look to see what kind of blossoms they were. It is indeed a rose pretending to be a hibiscus. LOL!

Our pond is very low – the lowest we have seen it since it filled up in 2013.

Any rain that we get is very much needed and will be greatly appreciated.

I suspect that the fall colors were at peak, since the rain will likely bring down many of the leaves.

Some trees had already lost many of their leaves.

While others were putting on a grand display.

I spotted this apple that had dropped into the crotch in the tree and was being eaten by several types of bugs – yellow jackets, hornets, beetles, and flies all sharing the same fruit.

The sky was deep blue with fluffy clouds as my husband worked the soil where we would plant the garlic.

Rex (our rooster) and company showed up to help.

We set out our planting grid and it seemed in no time we had the garlic planted. 2 2/3 rows this size (338 bulbs). Less than last year but still enough for us and to share with family and friends. Our 2026 gardening season has begun.

Thanks for visiting.

Are you experiencing fall colors in part of the world?

Fall is in the Air

Bees, Black-eyed-susan, Chickens, Fall, Nature, Reflections, Ruby, Sunflowers, The Farm, Wild Flowers, Wildlife, , , ,

Fall is in the air but the temperatures this week were more like summer.

We’ve seen a lot of skies that look like this lately – deep blue with fluffy white clouds. How about joining me for a walk at the farm?

Ruby will join us, but since she likes to move faster than we do she will probably lap us a couple of times. Don’t worry if you hear something rustling in the weeds or the woods behind us it’s probably her.

I love these Black-eyed Susans that we planted along the fence two years ago.

Such a brilliant splash of fall color.

It was tempting to cut down this thistle, but the flower is so pretty. Maybe I’ll cut it just before it goes to seed.

Some of the chickens are enjoying their day foraging near the pond.

Maple trees are beginning to show their fall colors.

There are lots of bees in the golden rod.

Asters are beginning to bloom

The white ones as well as the purple.

And purple loosestrife is still in bloom.

This butterfly posed for a couple pictures then fluttered nearby as we walked the back field.

The oak trees are loaded with acorns this year.

Some have begun to fall.

The hickory trees have fewer nuts this year than last but still enough to feed some squirrels.

This Norway spruce is loaded with pinecones.

I wonder what kind of pinecone craft I can come up with. Do you have any ideas?

Oh my gosh! Elderberries! I’ll come back and pick these after we finish our walk. This is my first year picking elderberries. The first few years after we planted them I would wait for the berries to ripen but before they were ripe the birds would eat them all. I then discovered that the elder flowers are as good or better than the berries for making syrup or tincture, so I began harvesting the flowers in the spring. This year I forgot to harvest the flowers and while there are not a lot of berries here there are enough to make a small batch of tincture. 🙂

We’ve already seen a lot of the bees are foraging in the goldenrod and I’m sure some are in the sunflowers as well. One thing that you might notice, if the wind is just right, is the smell of honey drifting from the hive. This time of year, when the bees are in the goldenrod, is the only time that we smell honey while at the farm.

We still have a lot of sunflowers in bloom.

Some are so tall they are having a hard time holding their heads up.

Colby Jack (above) and Bernard (below) are waiting for some treats.

Should we give them some apples?

Somebody grabbed my camera while I wasn’t looking (and took my picture). You wouldn’t do something like that – would you?

Colby Jack and Bernard say, “Thank You for the apples”

I hope you enjoyed your time on the farm. Thank you for joining me.

A Peek at Peak Fall Colors

Fall, Reflections, The Farm

We had our first frost here in south-east Michigan last night as the temperature dropped to 30 degrees Fahrenheit (-1 Celsius), and while that is the only below freezing temperature in the forecast until next week, I suspect the damage is done. The leaves were dropping faster today than they had up until this time. We have passed the point of peak color and entered the point where leaves become a nuisance to clean up.

Here are a few pictures I took at the farm yesterday.

The above picture and below picture are the same tree.

Some trees are nearly bare while others cling tight to their leaves.

Last week, between rains, we were able to get the back field mowed as we do each fall. We have also taken down all the fences that enclosed the gardens (except for the blueberry patch). The field looks so much different, nicer, this year.

Thaks for visiting. Are you still seeing fall colors in your area?