Lovely October Days

Hello, friends.  *Please note: trigger warning- the last photo in this post includes a snake.  A cute, little green snake, but a snake nonetheless.  Feel free to skip that portion, if you're so inclined.  Last week, the weather was beautiful, with cooler, mostly sunny days.  It's been just lovely.  I harvested dried lima beans, and shelled them.  I noticed a nice, new to me patch of native muscadines, and harvested what I could reach, along with some from a vine J planted that he was given.  Later in the week,  J helped me pick again.  Lately, I've been gathering hickory nuts.  I tried using the black walnut cracker, but they were too small for it, and they were too hard for the regular, old-fashioned nutcracker.  J got creative.  We put a bunch in his press brake, which worked quite well.  Necessity is the mother of invention!  I'm getting very little "meat" from the nuts, but the flavor is wonderful.

I blended up a pan of GF bread ends, for bread crumbs.  Seven additional kale volunteers were transplanted, and two chard, which had been started from seed.  I made GF pizza crust, and pizza with our pepper, garlic, onion, and oregano, and homegrown sauce.  Another night, I made pasta sauce with tomatoes, garlic, onion, basil and oregano.  Laundry was dried on the line.  Another dinner, we had curry with our eggplant and sweet potato.  The first red pepper was harvested, which was used on the above mentioned pizza.  The summer garden is slowing down, and the mixed greens, carrots and beets are sprouting forth.  Cabbage, kale, chard and broccoli are growing happily.  

As part of my fall chores, I washed all windows and storm doors.  Every time I do it, it's a surprise how wonderful the views are, and the change in the light that comes in.  J helped by removing and washing all the screens, and putting them back.  I sent pawpaws with my BIL, when he was here, which my sister wanted for smoothies.  A neighbor came by for some another day, and while she was here, another neighbor and his wife brought by a bag of large muscadines.  I need to figure out what to do with all the muscadines.  We have plenty of jam on the shelves, and rarely use it, and home canned grape juice as well.  We're not really fans of sweet wine.  I may make a pie with some, and possibly try drying some.  We're also enjoying them fresh.  

All the floors were vacuumed and mopped, in anticipation of bringing in the house plants this week.  Nights will begin dropping into the mid 40's, and my plan is to always get them in before it drops below 50.  Two of the dog beds were washed, and dried on the line.  I checked out the clearance section of a Lowe's, while I was in that town, and found organic maple syrup for $4.50.  At Harris Teeter, I received the senior 5% discount for my purchases.  There have been lots of frogs, anole lizards, and this snake keeping me company while I worked in the garden.  I think the hummingbirds may have departed.  I saw them last Sunday, then saw and heard them in the garden a few more days, but I think they may truly be gone until the next season.  We're enjoying these beautiful, Fall days while they last.  Have a lovely week!