A Country Weekend

"Pure country" described this past weekend to a T! Although the weather didn't cooperate, with overcast and showery skies, we still made it to an amazing auction. An estate was being auctioned off including a beautiful 136 acre farm, a wooded parcel, and a huge amount of antiques and household items. It was our first 'real' country auction and we were there only to watch and learn. Yes, it was tempting to bid...I had my eye on some boxes of Depression Glass that would have looked beautiful in our kitchen...and a few pieces of furniture that needed refinishing....but I think I prefer yard sales and antiques malls. At least there the price is firm and you can't succumb to "auction bidder's fever!"

After the auction, we went to Poplar Forest, Thomas Jefferson's retreat near Lynchburg. I was disappointed because I thought the house would be a mansion with furniture and grounds and stuff. That's more my 'thing' as I love to tour old homes and see how they're decorated. The house had been in private hands since Jefferson's grandson sold it, and they of couse changed it around to suit their tastes and add indoor plumbing and such. The conservation group that bought it is restoring it to Jefferson's time. The architecture is neat, of course, as the house is an octagon. That's where John got his inspiration for our octagonal rooms, including my office, where I'm writing this now. I can't look at an octagon and not think of home, which is a weird association to make.

A skunk visited the woods by the compost pile around 6am. Pierre and I smelled our visitor together, all the way up from the office. By 7, the smell had dissipated, and now around 10 am it's gone entirely, but it sure is unmistakeable.

Thanks to all the rain we have an incredible diversity of mushrooms and fungi growing in the woods. I've never seen so many! They are truly beautiful works of nature.

Celebrating Autumn

There's nothing quite so beautiful as field of sunflowers. When John and I drove across country in 2000, we saw miles and miles of sunflowers in the fields of South Dakota. I've never seen anything so beautiful, and the pictures we took that day are framed and downstairs, forever reminding us of how lovely it is to drive for hours and see nothing but glowing fields of happy yellow sunflowers.

This year the sunflowers here did well, and we saved the seed heads. I spent an hour or two happily smashing out the seeds on Sunday, filling the birdfeeder and saving the rest in an old plastic ice cream tub. Unfortuantely though I got some sort of splinter in my finger and boy does it hurt! It's all red and bumpy too. Ick!

But the seeds are harvested, and I have only some daisy, redbud tree, and coreopsis seeds left in the garage to process. It's gotten cool, with foggy mornings and strong breezes. I'm actually wearing a sweater today in the office as I type this.

We ordered the new shed on Saturday and the lumber for the raised vegetable beds. John sketched out the plan. He seems reluctant to add the chickens, but I'm convinced that's my 2010 project. I want the chicken house to have a roofed-in run that leads directly to the vegetable garden; that way I can let the birds scratch around and eat bugs there and shut them out when I don't want them there. I have the plans started and am just imaging all the beds of vegetables and fruit to come...and I'm sourcing heirloom seeds, too!

Have a beautiful day everyone!

Fall Harvest

Well, my last post was prophetic...we not only received the remnants of Hurricane Fay, but we were treated to Tropical Storm Hannah on Saturday. Four to six inches of rain fell within twelve hours. The National Weather Services posted a flash flood watch over our area, which meant nothing to this city kid until we walked Shadow that night and saw signs down the road that said our road was closed! They were off to the side, and the sun was out and the road clear, so we walked the two miles to the creek. It's a little spot on the road where two forks of a brisk creek meet, converge under the roadway, and exit the other side. The flooding that must have occured was evident. Huge trunks and branches of trees had been pushed up and over the road bed, weeds were flattened, and the water swirled with angry, strong currents. The creek must have risen a good five to ten feet to make it up over the roadway. We hiked back to our own little stream, Clearwater Creek, and that had flooded its banks too. Stones as large as softballs were hurled downstream while we watched. I have new respect for storms and flash flood watches. I am learning so much. This is stuff that you don't learn while navigating the wilds of Manhattan.

I spent the rainy day going through all the seeds I've been collecting. Now I have huge jars of echinacea, white and yellow daisies, coreopsis tinctura, dianthus, and gaillardia. Next year we should be able to plant flowers everywhere!

We harvested all the sunflowers last week, and they are now hanging up to dry out in the garage and on the porch, but I need to be careful. We had a mouse in the basement (which, thankfully, Pierre got!) but I don't want them attracted to the house. Once the seeds are dry, I'll be sure to quickly compost the rest of the stalks.