AND HERE WE ARE AGAIN – BACK AT THE FARM

These autumn days are lovely. Cool mornings gradually become warm afternoons. I wish I had made a fall planting of lettuce or spinach or something, but I talked myself out of it, and maybe it’s just as well.

We took our time packing the old pick-up for this stay at the farm. That’s really the best way. We’re much less apt to run off and forget something if we just don’t hurry. We didn’t leave town until 10:00.

The downside of this warm fall is the bugs. We have wasps and stinkbugs galore, and in town, we also have the annual infestation of “fall bugs,” or blue aphids, which make an afternoon walk unpleasant. I’ve seen a spider or two in the house this past week, and I always take that as a sign that cooler temps are on the way.

Okay, down to business. Some of you want to know if the fields were finally planted, and yes, they were. I wish I could have been here when they did it, but we weren’t, so that’s that. No more walking across the fields until next fall, though of course, we can walk the edges.

It hasn’t been a good jelly year. The haw jelly I made is too stiff, while the elderberry didn’t set up. I must be losing my touch. I was going to re-cook the elderberry jelly, but in reading recommendations, one blogger advised that I think about it before just snapping off the lids. Couldn’t I just use the syrup? So, I suggested to Mike that the syrup would add nice flavor to some sparkling water, and he was eager to try. He proceeded to mix a generous portion of syrup with some flavored sparkling water and pronounced it delicious – much better than his usual powdered drink, he says. I guess so! (The elderberry syrup will not last long.)

I had planned that we would pick some country plums this year. The first time Mike checked the trees, the plums weren’t ripe. The next time he looked, he saw no fruit. How does that happen. Do the deer climb into the trees? Do they shake the trees?

I picked enough strawberries for another shortcake, and I see more green berries and blossoms. Imagine! It’s mid-October and I’m picking strawberries! I tell myself that this can’t go on forever. I also picked two tomatoes. They have tough skins but otherwise, they are tasty. KW