The Grapes of Wild Jelly

Generally I would not pay any attention to the prolific wild grape vines we have here on both our properties, but this year was an exception. Last year, we really pruned down the fence grapevines, not really thinking to much of it. But, as luck would have it, wild grapes are like cultured grapes. That means this year, because they were on second year wood, we had an abudance of wild grapes. Now, I have always found these wild grapes to be very bitter and sour, though the birds love them. But this year has been an anomoly and I had a bumper crop of wild grapes I could harvest before the birds. And so I did... and will now make wild grape jelly...yum

So, I'll keep you posted, but I stripped all the grapes off the clusters, and have them ready to process this weekend in the fridge. After them, maybe some crabapple jelly, they sure look nice this year!

So much to do - more soon!

Sunny and Crisp

One of those days to savor, air is crisp and clear, the sun is shining and the temps are in the mid fifties. Yesterday we spent the afternoon/evening at the Gallatin County Pumpkin Festival. The farm sponsored the scarecrow contest, so Friday, after driving to Frankfort in the morning to pick up a friends wedding pumpkins, I spent the afternoon driving around taking pictures of scarecrows for the vote on Saturday. We also gave all the prizes for the winners of the vote, as well as giving away mini pumpkins to festival attendees...networking for the future. I had hoped to have more of my photography matted and framed, but only had three pieces to bring. Hopefully, now that I have no more markets or festivals planned I can get ahead for next year...ha! Getting ready to can today, stopped at Ayers Orchard in Ownenton on my way home Friday and picked up some KY apples, they even had my favorite, Mutzu. So apple cranberry chutney, apple butter and apple caramel sauce today. Also picked up a couple hundred pounds of black walnuts today, and about 10 pounds of pecans.

Un-shelled pecans

Pumpkin on the stone wall

Fall wildflowers

Busy week ahead as always, first delivery of eggs to Local 127 restaurant. Getting more hens this week, as our production is not keeping up with demand. Also working to get our products in Farm Fresh Delivery, http://www.farmfreshdelivery.com/, a wonderful new service for the local farmer and consumer.

The Joys of Fall

I absolutely love this time of year. Finally things are starting to slow down (ha!), and the air is crisp and clear. My old, faithful HP Photosmart camera finally bit the dust. So we have a new camera for the farm, and I must say I love the quality. The Nikon Cool Pix L100 is a small, managable digital camera with 15X zoom, at 10 megapixels, it really catches the detail. I was up early this morning just after sunrise with all the kitties trying it out, here are some of the results.

Goldenrod

Willie enjoys sunrise on the stone wall

Cleomes in the front garden

If you click on the photos, they open in a new window, and you can really see the detail! If you open the goldenrod and look closely, you can even see a cucumber beetle hiding in the foliage. Well, time to go and wash eggs, the hens have been hard at work. We will be at the NKU farm market on Wednesday from 10am to 2pm, then at Earth Mother Market in Fort Thomas from 3pm to 7pm. Next week will probably be the last week of Earth Mother Market. Next year we will be back starting May 5th through October, bigger and even better!