Getting ready for turkey day!

 Saturday was the Great Perogie Making Day at the homestead.  Beth, Emily, Jan, Peter, Madeleine, Jen and Amanda spent the afternoon a delicious assortment of our traditional family perogies.  It was a great deal of work but LOTS of fun too!  Amanda has the magic touch for mastering the dough.  It comes out tender and fries up like a puff pastry, Aunt Jean and Bopshe would be proud!

 Jim and Sarah have started their own tradition making BIG batches of applesauce.  Peter was our apple washer and I think he enjoyed it a bit too much?  Na, he had fun too.

Jim and Sarah starting off and when they were down with this batch today they have over 24 quarts of warm yummy applesauce.  It is amazing, everyone raves over it and it is simply SEVERAL different types of apples, a cup of cider to begin the cooking process and LOTS of cinnamon.  No sugar at all.

Jim is now, Certifiable....a chuckle placed here...seriously though...

Jim has earned his NEW YORK STATE TRAINED LOGGER CERTIFICATION !  He can now add that to his resume and accomplishments.  Yay, Jimmy!

Sally came back out for one more joy ride...!

 EARLY one morning I was out with Jim to put away Sally the Sawmill for the second time this season and I found some FROSTY fall leaves on the ground. 

 Sally came out again for a large black walnut tree that my dad called Jim about.  An electric company had to cut down the tree to put up some new wire.  Jim was thrilled as the black walnut is very rare in this area.  I swear if it were a woman I might have been jealous of this excitement over this tree.  :)  He was genuinely enthusiastic.  He claims this may have been a once in a life time opportunity.  You go, Jim!

 He estimates that he got 200-300 board feet of lumber, along with various limbs.

 He cut a few boards extra thick for up coming projects.

It was really interesting to see the logs when he split them.  The were actually more green than black and after the air hit spilt limbs it became more of a dark brown color.

A fall adventure...

So every couple of years Jim gathers his many collections of metals and takes it to a scrap yard. I asked him if I could go along and he was surprised and said, sure. He fitted me in clothes that could get caught and torn while unloading and we were off.

Just a sample of how he cleans up the wire and stores them in buckets.

More STUFF that was under the aluminum.

Everything unloaded and waiting to get a cart and hit the scale.

So we got a bit over $600 and a lottery ticket...wooo hooo. It was really interesting to look around and watch all the scrap from large to small gathered and making the world a better place. And it is always fun to go on an adventure...a day without learning is a wasted day!

A fabulous final day in October...

What a wonderful surprise to wake and find mother nature has decided to show off. I have a chance to use the screen door and smell the fall and see the colors! Yay!

Just a shot out of the front door...

I made an apple tart today and it was SO easy. I took a Pillsbury refrigerated crust (just 1) and filled it with cut apples, cinnamon, nutmeg, sugar, cloves, flour, and pumpkin pie spice mix. The little burst of ginger in the mix was terrific. I pulled the crust around the apples and used a egg wash and sprinkle of sugar on it. I also cook all my pies on a oven warmed pizza stone, this always helps the bottom of the crust to cook through. Super easy and yummy!

The grass is growing...!

This picture was taken just minutes ago...check out the grass! Wooo hoooo...

A finished summer project and some vibrant fall colors to enjoy!

Yes, it is finished the the next step is waiting for the grass to grow! This summer the project included one structural engineer with a vision, 11 truck loads of gravel, 1,500 lbs. quickcrete, 20,000 lbs. retaining wall units, 1 custom precast cap, 1 special order light, 6 cubic yards concrete, 20,000 lbs. of open pavers, 20 lbs. of grass seed, 9 bales of straw 1/2 truck load of topsoil, compost oh, of course one beautiful supportive wife, and the sidewalk and driveway ~ PRICELESS. :)

Looking up at the hill from the top of our road...lovely.

I love the blue sky and sunshine against the trees in our yard. Fall is my all time favorite time of the year. One of the reasons to love Colden.

Enjoy!!

Yep...it is that time of year for Sally the sawmill to come out and show her stuff.