An apple a day...

 I'm still working on the apples.  This weekend I made canned apple cider and a batch of hard apple cider.

I also cleaned out my outside garden.  I pulled up the beans, broccoli, corn, and pumpkins.  

They aren't the biggest pumpkins, but they sure are cute.  My flowers are still blooming.

The turkeys wander through our yard twice a day.  They keep the crabapples cleaned up.  Quite a few poults made it this year. 

The colors are fabulous.  Going for a walk feels like you are wandering through watercolors.  

My posts may be a little sporadic in October.  I have an elk tag and will devote my time to hunting.  I will try to keep you updated.  I always end up with photos of the beautiful things I see in the woods.

I hope everyone is enjoying your fall.  I can't wait to peruse your blogs and see the colors.

Apples to apples...

 I'm sorry I don't have much to share this week.  Every weekend is spent preserving something.  Peaches a few weeks ago, then crabapples, and now apples.  

We have three different sets of apples.  I forget what the big apple is.  It is sweet and not very productive.  The green and red one is a Harrelson and perfect for pies and crisp.  This year it is loaded.  The little green apple is from our wild apple tree and somewhat tart.

This is just the tip of the iceberg.  I made and froze eight bags of apple pie filling.  I also made a delicious apple crisp.  I used the whole basket.  There is plenty more.  I think next weekend will be apple cider and caramel apple jam.  

Mom's Apple Crisp

4 c. Apples

1 c. Oatmeal

1 c. Brown Sugar

3/4 c. Flour 1 c. Cold Butter cut up

1 t. Cinnamon

Use an 8 x 8 baking dish.  Mix the dry ingredients and pour over the apples.  Use a paring knife to cut the butter thinly.  Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

That is what I've been up to in an apple peel.  I hope you had a productive weekend also.

Well that didn't go as planned...

 Remember this photo from last year?  My compost bins were completely full.

This spring I added some alfalfa, turned the pile every weekend, and voila two full bins magically became half a bin. 

I used some of the compost when I redid my red/yellow bed.  The rest will be used to mulch my roses, mixed in with vegetable garden, and the butterfly garden.

I got a couple of nice carrots from the garden.  

I roasted two more sheet pans of tomatoes.  They are so delicious.

The title is about things not going as planned.  Well, I picked a plethora of crabapples for wine.  They make a pretty tart wine, so I thought I'd add some wild apples to sweeten it.  Usually, the wild apple tree doesn't produce much and generally they are too sweet.  Well not this year.  They are amazing and perfect for pies or crisp.  Change of plans.   The apples are saved for another day.  I added some grape juice to the crabapples in hopes of toning things down.

We had a ton of turkeys tonight.  Hens with chicks, jakes, and single hens.  What an uproar.  They were clucking like crazy.

My sister was out for a couple of days, while she presented at a conference.  It was the first time in years we were together without kids underfoot.  We enjoyed some nice visits on the porch and talked gardening until our hearts content.  

The highlight of her trip was being able to return some irises that she had given me long ago.  They came from a school where our grandmother had taught.   Her patch and grandma's patch had both died.  She forgot she gave some to me and thought they were lost for good.  Mine are multiplying like crazy.  I was more than happy to return the gift.

Ella has been on the alert.  While my husband was bow hunting deer, a young mountain lion joined him.    It was at one end of the meadow and my husband at the other.  It took off when my husband got out of his stand.  It isn't the best picture from his game camera.

Do you have generational plants?  Have you been using your garden harvest?  Do you have many apples?  Hope all goes smoothly in your neck of the woods.

Garden bed makeover...

 My Red/Yellow bed did terrible this year. Only the daffodils put on a show.  Nothing else gave much effort into blooming.  The problem is the soil is a heavy clay.  About every five years I have to dig everything up, chip off the clay that has smothered the roots, and add soil amendments.

The name of the game is to work slowly, because the bed is riddled with bulbs.  I cleared everything out.  Then added 6 bags of Miracle Grow topsoil for flower beds (on sale 75 percent off), a wheelbarrow of compost, and mixed it thoroughly. 

 I laid out all of the plants and bulbs on the cardboard as I moved along.  Then I dug a trench in the center and replanted my daffodils.  Everything else was replaced minus the grass, insanely aggressive columbines, and moss.  I over seeded with black eyed Susan seeds.  A good watering and we will see how things go next year.  All I need now is a little mulch (hopefully also on sale).

It was a good project to get done.  This is one of my favorites beds and it was very disappointing this year.

Do you have a flower beds that need TLC?