No Doubt, Fall is Here

Yes, the leaves are coming down.  Not like they will in another week or two, but fall is definitely here.

 In the woods, the road is already blanketed in leaves and there is more light in the late afternoon on the westward facing hillsides.  This is a beautiful time of year to hike in the woods.  


We didn't do a second cutting of hay on our upper hayfield, as it just did not look like it would be worth it.  So there are now these patches of pretty lavender colored flowers.  The dogs and I were up there Friday in the evening light and I tried to get them to pose for photos.  

Grover sat nicely:

 










Luca, well he doesn't get the whole "sitting still for a photo" thing 

 



And Rowdy had other ideas altogether
 






And while not as lovely as some of the other fungi I have come across on the farm, this puffball is quite large.  It kind of makes me think if a dinosaur or dragon egg.

 

Saturday was a beautiful fall day here in Ohio.  I spent most of the day doing enjoyable fall type things.

I chose 2 of my "sugar pie" pumpkins out in the garden and put them in the oven and then made puree from them.  Do you see the hearts in this pumpkin?  So very beautiful.  

 I am thinking of pumpkin rolls and pumpkin bread and maybe even some pumpkin ravioli.  I have many more pumpkins still in the garden and I think I got about 6 to 8 cups of puree from these 2 pumpkins, some of which I have put in the freezer.





 
 
And while pumpkins were cooking in the oven, I enjoyed some time spinning light fawn alpaca on the back deck.  This is for another big project and I have a lot to spin.  I have been working away at that keg of raspberry wheat homebrew, but have not managed to finish it off yet.  It is getting pretty low if the amount of foam is any indication. 


 

I am at the office once again.  Sam and his friends came out of the Idaho wilderness early Saturday morning and had a long drive home.  Sam called me about an hour after I get here today and he was calling from home.  He was unloading the truck and then going to bed.  At 5 pm yesterday, they were outside Minneapolis, so I am sure he was tired.  I am looking forward to hearing about his trip.  And yes, he did get a bear.  So I will be looking up bear recipes for sure.

Here are the 2 rugs I finished last week while I was here at the office.  Both are done on the same warp, which was natural, red and black.  On the rug to the left I used grey, black and white alpaca and some leftover red.

 On the rug to the right, I used mostly white alpaca, but put in accent stripes of grey and red.  Both rugs are 28" wide and 40"  long and are available for sale at the Arts Center in Woodsfield.  

Next on the loom will be the 9 foot runner for Mom.