The Fruits of our Labor

We work so hard all summer and sometimes the enjoyment doesn't hit us until now. The advent of the slower, colder season seems to bring us to our senses. Finally! We can now see what we missed! We were so busy producing, creating, maintaining, and now we see the results! And even if the results aren't all that great, isn't it kind of a good feeling to know that we weren't just wasting our time? That we really did try our best? That we can be happy with bringing it to a close?

These yellow birch leaves make me happy when they fall on this purple mum. Yesterday there was a slight frost on the windshield when I drove away to some training for church. When I got home I decided to bring in what's left in the garden, except for some herbs that I want to dry later.

This was a good year for peppers. I have a lot of them. So this coming week, I'll make the usual chicken-stuffed peppers and then I'll cut up the smaller peppers and freeze them. I'll use the yellow summer squash and zucchini to make sweet pickles. My cucumbers were not successful this year, that was a big disappointment, but I did find a good recipe for these sweet pickles in one of my mom's old cookbooks, the "Nokay Lake Cookbook". I've used this book many times and have never regretted it. It's one of those collections of recipes that you might find wherever you live, whether it be a company, church or neighborhood group. This is from a lake association close to the Brainerd, Minnesota area where I grew up.

Since I don't think there is much difference between a summer squash and a zucchini, I'm going to make these pickles with mostly yellow summer squash.

I did have good luck with cherry jam. I can't grow cherries here, except for sour Nanking cherries, so I bought a bunch of dark cherries on sale, pitted and froze them. This past week I had time to can a few jars of jam.

A very good harvest of Yukon Gold potatoes. I'm letting them dry a little in the garage. I wish I could grow more, but I don't have a root cellar. I try to use them up before the Christmas season.

Things are moving along here. It is not a fast life, but a life I can handle and be happy. Here is the barn with the big ash tree.

The nice thing about the ash tree is it drops all its leaves in one fell swoop over a couple days, so that will be soon, and I can get most of it cleaned up and on to the compost pile. Sadly, the emerald ash disease is moving swiftly now in Minnesota, and I want to appreciate this beautiful tree as long as I can.

The Fall makes garden colors more intense. Here are a few shots of purple coneflower, black-eyed susan and the beloved dahlias:

The dahlias give so much for so little:

The other day, I was mowing under the horse chestnut and I saw this red squirrel guarding her harvest:

When I'm outside working I always enjoy the chattering and squabbling of the red squirrels, doing their work and having fun as we do also.

September is a month of work, preparing, planning and hoping for the future. It's also a month of remembrance. My Mom and Dad both left me in September, in 1999 and 2011. But it definitely is not a sad month. There is nothing to mourn. Their work was harder than mine, and their contribution to the world was greater than mine. So it is a happy time of remembrance. 

Byron would like to wish you a good night. He's getting pretty sleepy, but he sends these wishes from a warm spot in the kitchen.

Peace be with you all.

Phil

                                                   

The time has gone too fast...

I'm just doing a short post tonight, with some of my favorite photos. I hope it's better than nothing. Summer has passed us by so quickly, it seems it goes faster every year. It seems that when we are planning in March, by the time we reach May and June, we are so far behind. That's the way I feel, always way behind. A symptom of trying to do too much, and maybe not enjoying the little accomplishments? How does one cure this problem of over-planning and under-appreciating? Can anyone shed some light on how they handle it? I sure would appreciate any input.

One of the things I DID appreciate this summer was enjoying some of my flowers and the garden. This very old unnamed day lily has been in my family for years and it never disappoints me. Such a delicious color combination; it reminds me of a nectarine.

Another favorite is the "Northfield" day lily that I found a couple years ago. It resembles a lot of yellow ones I have from my parents and grandparents but blooms much more abundantly Here is "Northfield":

My folks brought a lot of all kinds of flowers to this farm where I live. This one is also unnamed. They weren't concerned with names. They were happy to have whatever they could. When my grandmother died and my parents bought this place, it was pretty desolate. My mom brought flowers from our old house near Brainerd, MN and planted them here west of Eagle Bend, MN. 

While my dad was remodeling the old farmhouse, she kept working, and on her days off would bring a carload of flowers and trees, would plant them and then return to Brainerd to work. This place was transformed from a dry, windy, desolate dirt-farm to a beautiful, shady paradise. They planted hundreds of spruce and pine seedlings, anything they could get their hands on, even including lowly boxelders and green ash and it all paid off in my mind at least. It became a welcoming place and they made it a home. After them, I've done the same. I bought the place from my parents, and I now know after having lived in Florida for 17 years, until 1998, that this place is home, good and bad. 

I have some good places to sit and rest and think here on the farm. I like this place under a locust tree. The two buildings in the background are the old dairy barn built in 1958 and the little barn that was the backbone of  my grandparents farm until the bigger barn was built. It is from the 1930's.

The planters on each side of the bench are old tanks from hand-cranked cream separators. I remember, as a kid, I would spend summers up here with gram and gramp, and was so proud when I overheard gramp say, "that Philip, he sure can work, he separated all the cream himself, and he keeps going." For a really shy, book-wormish kind of kid, it is one of those things I remember and treasure as more important than just about anything. I hope all of you have a similar memory, and if you have grandchildren, you will think of what you say about them.

Here is another place to sit, especially in the morning with a cuppa. I finally have made progress painting the deck. I would have a few choice words for the guy who invented wooden decks in Minnesota. They are nothing but endless maintenance, and I'm looking forward to just having a concrete patio someday, but that will have to wait.

Here is a quiet place for a cup of coffee by the cedars.

I've had a "pretty good" garden this year, but the cool weather has not made for a super abundant harvest. I'm not going to even try to dig up the Yukon Gold potatoes until next week. Normally, since they are an early variety, I would have had them all dug up on Aug 24th, my birthday. That was always the milestone, but not this year, as it has been all cool days and even cooler nights. Well, no use complaining, right? Here is Byron looking over some peppers and zucchini brought in a few days ago. He only thinks of the happy side of the haul, not the work, and we should be more like him.

I've had a lot of tomatoes, but have been picking them green, because the deer have taken an interest in them.

I can't even feel angry at the deer, because I know how much fun they were having stopping by to nibble on their treats. Anyway, I have enough for myself and for what I'm going to preserve for the winter. A few tomatoes go a long way.

These photos remind me of the painting by English artist Sir Edwin Landseer, "The Monarch of the Glen."

It is soon time for coffee. I hope if you are ever in Eagle Bend you will call me. I'm in the book. I did have time to make a good apricot cheesecake recently, but i'm still trying to improve baking skills. 

I hope you have a good night. I'll leave it especially to Josey this time to wish you a happy transition from Summer to Fall.  Annie and Byron were sleeping, so they will appear in later posts.

Peace be with you all. Phil

Falling Down on the Job, Catching Up

I want to apologize for not posting for a very long time. I'm sure you were all on pins and needles waiting for this post! Ha! But anyway, it has been a very busy Spring, and the days fly by. I want you to know I really enjoy following your posts, even if I don't keep up with mine. The long winter was really a beautiful season for me, but for some reason, really slowed me up. I'm gradually catching up, but it is already June 15 and I am still planting the garden! There were still moments to appreciate though and the Spring, although quite cool and wet, has been beautiful.

The flowering crab trees were over two weeks late this Spring and didn't fully bloom until Memorial Day. But the timing was at least appropriate for the day.

I had good luck, for a change with these tulips on the north side of the house. They are called "Apeldoorn." You might notice I don't clear the leaves and debris off my flowerbeds. Eventually they look better and it seems to help build up the topsoil.

The lilacs were also pretty late but didn't disappoint at all. They are just the old "prairie" lilacs that my parents planted here in rows as a wind-block. There are also a few white ones.

For the past 12 years or so, I've taken care of the flower beds at the wayside rest in Eagle Bend, MN. I've enjoyed doing it, but think it's now time for someone else to take it over. I'm only (!) 64, but I don't want to become one of those people who can't let go and are unwilling to hand things over to others with different ideas and newer hands. I think that is what kills small towns, when younger people aren't brought into the discussions and planning, and encouraged to use their skills. Here are the little beds in front of the eagle statue. It's really a beautiful park, and we have a couple others in town also.

A lot of bird life has been a feature of these days. Sand-hill cranes are keeping busy. They were scouting out the straw pile by the garden here.

Indigo buntings and rose-breasted grosbeaks were new to the farm this year. I think they've left, and hope the red squirrels didn't chase them off. 

Of course, you have to have wild turkeys. I'm glad they feel at home here.

This spirea, I think it's called "bridal wreath" is really looking good, but I've had some winter-kill on the others.

The best smelling blooms now are from the wild plum. It has really multiplied all over the edge of the woods here.

This week I put these herbs, dill, chives, flat-leaf parsley, and 2 kinds of sage into this old galvanized feeder bucket. It is sitting by the back door, in hopes I'll use them more. I've also planted more dill, fennel and basil in the garden. Tomorrow is the day to get the beets, Armenian cucumbers, and onions in. I have to pull the plug and finish the garden. There are more clean-up and maintenance issues inside and out, and you just have to quit while you're ahead.

Do you remember reading and memorizing this poem in grade-school? It has always left an impression on me, an incurable sentimentalist:

"In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard among the guns below..." -John McCrae

One of my problems is I am overly sentimental about this place, the farm, my parents and grandparents, and these daisies represent that sentimentalism. Normal people would have probably mowed this long ago, but I've let them bloom. Unfortunately that makes more work later in the week when this has to be all mowed down. But, really, aren't they worth waiting for?

The girls committed a health and safety violation last night by relaxing at the kitchen table, but I chose not to impose any penalty. If you have animals, I hope you give them an extra measure of kindness. Have a good week, and I hope to post more often. Good night. Phil

A Day for Cinnamon Rolls

It was extremely cold here in west-central Minnesota last night and throughout today. I decided to stay home from church, because I just didn't think it was worth venturing out that early in the morning. Maybe there was a little selfishness in my decision too. Appreciated the extra hour in bed. I did catch the Catholic mass later on TV, and although I'm not well-versed in it, I appreciated the sermon (homily?) and the music from a small choir in the St Cloud area. It made my day feel a little fuller, as I usually feel I'm missing something in the week when I don't attend.

Along with my bottomless cup of coffee throughout a cold day, I wanted to make something good to go along with it. I decided on cinnamon rolls. I'm out of raisins, so tried a mixture of dried apricots from the freezer and cherries. I mixed in a little bit of ground cloves with the cinnamon, and I think it was a good result.

It was so chilly in the house this morning, so both raises were very slow.

For the glaze, I used powdered sugar, juice from the cherries, and a bit of vanilla. It was worth the wait, and will be good heated up again tomorrow morning. 

Yesterday, one of my friends who visit often, stopped by and had a good snack of Scotch pine. I didn't have the heart to shoo him away (I'm pretty sure this is a male by the wider shape of the head), and I need to trim this tree up anyway soon. I get whacked in the face every time I try mowing past this tree. At least he hasn't touched the bark.

A few of the geraniums I overwinter in the house are budding and blooming. This is my favorite red one. It is a true red, not orange-red or burgundy, although I like them all. 

This blue jay was a part of the entertainment this afternoon as he pecked out the raisins and citron out of a stale chunk of the Christmas cake. The squirrels will have the rest.

Have a good week, and stay warm.

Phil