Fall Break

Not only did we have family camping the first weekend of fall break, but Nathaniel left for Germany that Monday, so we headed to see my parents and family on Tuesday. 

The jaguar was considering eating my children.  Luckily, the cage is strong.  Lydia also caught a blue-tailed lizard:

And we had some cousin farm fun:

Family Reunion Camping Trip 2019

We just had our yearly family reunion with Nathaniel's side of the family.

We had the best continuous weather we've ever had.  It was really beautiful and perfect camping weather.

The lows were in the upper 30s, and the highs around 60, and NO RAIN!

Our new camper was a better fit for us, and we stayed plenty warm at night with a small heater on low.  We also set up a play tent, which Gyunay and some nieces and nephews played inside.

Lydia also found a salamander, which she showed off and then returned to where she found it:

Fort Harrodsburg

As promised, these are from our visit to the fort in Harrodsburg, which was founded in 1774 and is the oldest European settlement west of the Alleghenies.

They have a cane break of Kentucky River Cane, which Lydia and Gyunay loved walking (running) through multiple times.

At the blacksmith, the kids got to pump the bellows:

Lydia went last, and consequently had the longest turn.  The blacksmith gave her the hook he made while she was pumping.  

And here's the tree again.  First, we played on the tree.  Then, we explored the fort and fed the sheep.  After walking through the cemetery, we went back to the tree.  Then we visited the mansion museum and the cabin where Abe Lincoln's parents got married, and we finished up the visit back on the tree.  The weather was fabulous, and we had a great day!

The Tree

It's been five years since we last visited the tree, and yesterday, we had a great family day trip there.

The last time we visited the tree was the summer before we met Gyunay.  It's still the best tree we've ever seen.  It's still so much fun that we spent a lot of time there.

We also visited the fort, but I'll post about that tomorrow.  The tree deserves its own post.

Fall in the Garden

Since it was so dry the last few months, the chickens have not been happy with staying in the third chicken yard, since the normal amount of greenery is mostly brown.  They've been escaping to my garden a lot.  Normally, our first frost hits around next weekend, so that is usually the end of the tomatoes for me.  Since the chickens kept escaping and munching on the green tomatoes, I finally picked most of the green tomatoes from the arch garden and let the chickens have the run of the yard.  They are very happy.  I have a peach basket full of tomatoes.  I hope at least some of them ripen.

Panther and I sat out in the yard for a long time yesterday afternoon, watching the chickens.  He likes to stretch out his claws over me, but he never claws me.  He's pretty fond of me.

Most of the green beans are done.  I've got a cushaw growing, and a couple more pumpkins.  I don't know if I'll get to harvest them or not, since they aren't near ripe.  It all depends on the weather.  I've gotten a lot of carrots lately, and we have more growing.  Fresh carrots are the best; their flavor is amazingly beyond anything you can get at the grocery.

My latest project...

Nathaniel and the teens helped me drag logs to the front yard yesterday for my latest project.  I have been making plans for a sort of cottage garden out front.  It's going to be a work in progress for quite a while...

This is the "before" picture.  We did have a big tree in the middle of the front, but Nathaniel cut it down for me a few weeks ago.  It was dying.  Afterwards, I noticed how much sun I can get here, and I started getting excited, so I added some logs:

Then the guys helped me, and now I have a full row of logs and brush.

We will be covering the logs with dirt (more huglekultur!)  The whole front yard will be a "sort of" cottage garden, with lots of flowers and food plants.  I'm very excited to get it started now in the fall, so in the spring, it may look halfway decent in parts.  It's a long-term project, and I still haven't made all of the decisions, but I'm starting anyway.  The bulbs need to be planted now if I want some flowers there in the spring.

Also, here is Gyunay in the pajamas I recently made for him:

He loves them.  They are so soft.  Elijah asked why I made him a prisoner outfit, but hey, he does look cute.

Book Review - Unscripted by Davis Bunn

  I read Unscripted fairly quickly.  Anyone interested in how movies are made might be interested in this story, as the details of the film industry are prominent.  For me, the main characters weren't fully fleshed out.  I like the idea of a redemptive tale, but this story seemed to rush the changes for all of the characters, to the point that it didn't seem very believable.  The details of movie-making were believable and interesting, but they seemed to take center stage at the expense of the characters.  This is an okay book, but it could have been more with more character development.  It reads more like a Hallmark movie: pleasant, but without enough real-life depth.  I actually think it would make a better movie than book, and that is an unusual comment for me, because I prefer books to movies.

I received this book from the publisher, Revell, for the purpose of writing a review, but all opinions are my own.

Update: I forgot to add that I really hated the way the author had so many sentence fragments throughout the book!

September Harvest Totals

It's still hot and dry here.  It still feels like the middle of August, with temperatures reaching over 90 most days.  I am looking forward to fall...

It has been a great year for tomatoes here, though.  And several other things have done well, including green beans.  Here are the harvest totals for September:

Arugula - 2 cups
Beans, crescent - 4.3 lbs
Beans, dragon tongue - 2.9 lbs
Cantaloupes - 3 (total 7.1 lbs)
Carrots - 45
Cucumbers - 2
Eggs - 84
Lettuce/bok choy - 1c
Peppers, Bulgarian sweet - 3
Pumpkins - Long Island Cheese - 3 (one weighed 9.94 lbs, the other two were too heavy for my 20lb                      kitchen scale to handle!)
Radish - 1
Sweet Potatoes - 9.6 lbs
Tomatillos - 4.8 lbs
Tomatoes - Total - 64.3 lbs
       Black Beauty - 2.7 lbs
       Black Krim - 4.4 lbs
       Carbon - 13 oz
       Emmy - 5 lbs
       Golden Jubilee -4.2 lbs
       Jennifer's - 20.7 lbs
       Mortgage Lifter - 11.5 lbs
       Roma - 7 lbs
       St. Pierre - 8 lbs
Watermelon, sugar baby - 1 (1.9 lbs)

Also, we had basil, dill, sage, oregano, cherry tomatoes, mint, and cilantro. 

Right now in the garden, I still have tomatoes, tomatillos, and green beans.  My cushaw plant is growing, and I hope to harvest at least one cushaw before frost.  The two peanut plants look healthy.  I have a few peas growing, and lots of carrots.  There are still some Bulgarian peppers ripening.  There is fresh arugula and some lettuce and bok choy coming up, and most of the herbs are still available.  We should keep getting at least some produce until frost.