Lots of different things

I haven't had time or energy to post for a while.  Things are really happening fast.

We were driving down to the farm earlier than usual because the framers were starting.  As we came to the point to descend into the Kentucky River valley, we saw ahead this wall of fog.  The blue you see directly ahead on the highway.  As we drove down onto the bridge, we couldn't even see the railing on the side of the bridge.

As we got close to the farm and the river near our house, the fog is sitting like a bed of cotton all along the river.  We have fog every day, but on this day, it seemed softer - like a bed of cotton candy.

 When we got to the farm and I looked toward the hill where the sun was peeking over the top of the hill, it was shining through a tree.  It looked almost like the wings of a dove flying into a ray of light.

 

The weather reports predicted a frost, so I pulled all the pepper plants and pulled off the peppers.  I had a bumper crop. 

 

 

I sat at the picnic table the pulled the fruit off the vines while I watched the framing team begin to build our house.  The weather was absolutely perfect.  Sunny and warm with a nip of fall in the air.

 

Now - what do I do with the peppers?  I did some research and decided to try to make some pepper rings.

 

 

The internet said to wear gloves to handle the peppers.  I didn't and now, 2 days later, I can still feel the burn on my hands.

 

I ended up with 8 pints.  We can't taste for 4 weeks, so we'll have to see how they are.

And now the exciting progress on our house.  The basement walls are framed in, the main floor deck is on ...

And most of our main floor walls are up.  The angled wall you see below is our front door.  Just around the corner to the left is the kitchen window.  Then the center door and 2 flanking windows onto the porch and will be our dining room, and then the far left, my sewing room.

Below is a view from the back, from a distance.  The difficulty that you cannot see from this picture is that the new roof is going to be in the way of the satellite dish antenna, which is currently located on the back corner of the existing house.  We cannot relocate the antenna to the new roof because it does not exist yet.  At least, that is what the DISH network guy says.

 

 

Tomorrow, Friday, I expect the roof to go up.

We are soooo excited!!!

An exciting time in the Bluegrass.

 

 

 

 

 

Fairyland

Fall is beginning here in Kentucky.  The nights are cool and the days still warm and sunny.  The trees are beginning to show some color.  It’s a beautiful time of year.

But, the weeds that although being obnoxious in the summertime, really were beautiful when they flowered -  purple, yellow and white.  In the fall, though, those weeds are ugly – with their irritating stick-tights and seed pods promising a bumper crop of weeds again next year.

This morning, though, we woke to a fairyland.

Every morning, the farm is covered with fog that has risen from the Kentucky River and flowed up from the lower areas so that we feel like we are on an island here at the top of the hill.  I watched the “kids” heading off to work and the fog had begun to dissipate.  But then the sun came up above the even higher hill behind us in the east and the fog immediately surrounded us again – even more than before.  The porch railing was covered with water as if it had been raining all night.

Within a few minutes, the sun had conquered the fog and the fairyland appeared.  The spiders must really kick it in gear in the fall.  There are spider webs all over in those ugly brown weeds.  But now the sun is up, the fog is gone, and the spider webs look like fairy wings with big drops of water.  With the sun shining through them, they look like they are dripping with diamonds.  The ugly weeds themselves actually look softer with the sun shining on the moisture.

The fairyland doesn’t last very long, though.  The sun dries the moisture and the day begins.  The rooster is crowing and the chickens want to be fed.  The peppers need to be picked and I need to figure out what is for supper.

But – for a few minutes this morning, my little corner of Kentucky was a fairyland.

This week

I want to get pictures of all the cows for record keeping. I got a small start.

This is Gretchen.  Charley milked her for a few days and plans to again after she has a calf

This is her current baby.

This is Will, the bull.  His breed is Dexter which is a more short-legged breed.

 

 

Saturday was the visit day for the CSA members.  Two families came and we had a wonderful time.  They met some of the animals, picked some vegetables, dug some potatoes and had a hay ride around the property.  We are so glad they came.

 

 

We have the floor poured in the basement.  Hopefully, framing will start next week.