Visit with Aunt T & Uncle T

I am not sure what we were watching, but it was interesting, as you can tell. The boys LOVE Aunt and Uncle T!

So cute!



We decided to try to feed the cows some apple... Which was harder than you think... we could hardly get the cows to come over... We call the Oreo cows... the have white middles. I think they are called Belted Galloways. We think they are the cutest cows! Especially the babies!


Alex is getting really good on his bike!

I thought this one was so funny, even though he was out of focus!

Munchkins

Waiting for his food... He would rather sit in his chari and be ready while i a m making dinner, than play and come when it is ready! Silly kid!

We went to pick Apples! We picked just over 4 bushels in less than an hour... and that was 4 different kinds, so we had to get back in the truck and drive around the orchard to each kind... We thought we were pretty fast at it... And it is so fun!


We even have time to goof around some.





When we got to the last kind, we finally let the boys each eat one. There is nothing better than freshly picked crisp apples straight from the tree!


Alex is spelling out the sign.

October Garden

Planting Garlic! I planted over 300 bulbs of garlic in 3 different beds. the bed sizes 3.5x7, 3.5x9, and 4x12. I am really looking forward to the garlic next year. This year i screwed it up... i watered it too much! Apparently garlic likes a dry-er soil... So i will work on that for next year. We have already mulched it for the winter, too... Although even though it is November, it is still quite warm out... as in 40s at night and 60s in the day! Crazy!

These are the purple potatoes that we grew. The flavor and color were beautiful, as well as the texture is very nice, dense and doesn't fall apart when you cook them. But the yield was disappointing for me. I don't think i will grow them again next year, mostly because of yield. We even made mashed potatoes with them a couple times... they are a pretty lavender color after they are boiled and mashed. The water that they boil in turns a dark green as they cook! So funny!
So we had to harvest our sweet potatoes earlier than we thought, because we had a really hard frost... and even though they were covered in their little greenhouse plastic... The tops turned brown... so we had to take them out... Unfortunately we didn't get a lot... It was such a cool summer! They need hot weather!! Next year, i am going to start my own plants and get them in earlier and leave them covered until it is nice and hot! This year it didn't get hot until the middle of August and then it only lasted 2 weeks, MAYBE! Aren't they soooo pretty though!?





This is how i peel apples, for making the applesauce. We canned 50-some quarts. We use the apple peeler-corer-slicer from pampered chef and we hook the drill up to it, so it goes so fast! Jerry is the best peeler though... i am more timid about zinging the apples thru... the juice flies every where! so we do it out in the garage.

Gardens and Canning.

Anthony standing in front of one of the tomato plants! Sadly... just as the tomatoes were about to ripen in huge amounts... we go the late fall blight, apparently caused by cool damp nights... we had had a lot of rain and very cool nights with no breeze... so... next year i will put a fan out in the garden at least!


Squash bed... our favorite squash we grew this year was the Thelma Sanders Sweet Potato squash. we had 19 squashes at the end of the season from 2 plants and we had planted a little late even! we are definitely growing those again!


This is Jerry's favorite tomato... the Egg Yolk tomato. they are about the size and color of an egg yolk! They are sooo good! We will grow these again of course!

The Cabbage/Cauliflower/Broccoli bed. These were not hugely successful... I planted too late, mostly. We did get some cabbage, one cauliflower, and a few sprigs of VERY strong broccoli! the Brussels sprouts didn't mature though.

These were the sweet potatoes. Very pretty plant, in the Morning Glory family... they even bloomed!

Paul Robeson tomato... this is ripe. Isn't it pretty!?

Some peppers that we got... the red and yellow are stuffing peppers. they are too tiny. I don't have the patience for them... the black ones are hot!

A Pie Pumpkin. I will have to look up the exact name... i can't remember right now... Anyways it is cute, huh?

Some beautiful eggplant. Black Champion, Pink Tung and the Japanese White Egg.

This is the most beautiful tomato i have ever seen! I don't know its name as it was an experimental one given to us... We just recieved a book from Baker Creek Seeds (www.rareseeds.com) the other days... they had this one in it this year. I will look it up and put its name here later.

We actually were able to harvest grapes off our vine this year! We had just over 5 pounds of grapes! These were some of the pretty bunches! So exciting!

Tomato sauce that we were canning! I just thought it looked so pretty! i had to share!!!

We also made some salsa, but i have to keep experimenting with recipes for salsa though... we weren't crazy about ours this year. It was fun though!

Visit from Great- Grandparents & the Fair!

So MY Grandparents came for a visit! They are my mom's parents. They drive over every year from Nebraska to visit. Before they came i was preparing the boys to be gentle because they are older and Grandpa had had a hip replacement and some other stuff over the summer. so when they got here and came in sat down to chat with the boys... Alex says" why are you VERY Old!" I swear i DID NOT say they were VERY old! The kids are so funny!! good grief!



So we took the kids to the zoo... I do not know what the problem was, but Anthony decided to throw a screaming banshee fit as soon as we entered the park! He refused to walk. We did not bring the stroller that day, because we would not be there all day, per request of the "VERY OLD" grandparents. heehee. We had to stop a couple times and let Anthony sit face down on a bench while he screamed. It was a horrible visit to the zoo... momma did not enjoy her visit. I stood nearby while Anthony screamed... and people walked by looking at the "naughty" child on the bench. Most of them would smile at me and say things like "we've been there before" or just give me this understanding look. When they could see his face, they would tell me how cute, adorable, and the dad's would actually say handsome little guy to me.
Finally i was through and grandma and grandpa took his hand and just kept him walking along! I love watching them together! My grandparents are so good with the kids, they just talk together and look at stuff. The boys listen so nice and they just click right along.
Aren't they so cute!?




Every year when they come we always go to to Crane's orchard to eat at the restaurant. We love it. they make good food and superb desserts! They are an Orchard after all. Every year we go to the little house they have there from the 1800s and we have them sit on the bench with the kids. It is our little tradition. Its fun to see how they all change together. I hope we can do this for MANY, MANY more years.


We took the boys to the fair... Anthony had his first rides! It was so funny. Anthony was completely stoic on his rides...


Alex has been waiting 2 years to go on this motorcycle ride... he has been too small until this year.
This was the face... the entire ride!!! Maybe next year he will "act" like he enjoys it more!

He tried Cotton Candy. he enjoyed that. Which surprisingly after eating a good amount actually said "no." to more! We were shocked... as Anthony rarely says no to food of any kind, but especially sweet foods.

We always have to go and look/play on the equipment that they have on display at the fair. The boys LOVE this part! As you can see, we were there so late that it got dark! They were still sad to go!