Spring Forward, Fall Back…

November 6, 2016

I just love the sights, smells, and sounds of fall!  The green leaves of summer have turned into the bright oranges and yellows that set the mountains ablaze with color.  After these gorgeous leaves have floated to the ground and started to decompose, they produce a simple earthy scent that hangs in the crisp November air along with the smell of smoke from our woodstove.  At the farm, I’ve noticed many squirrels high up in the trees jumping from limb to limb and tree to tree.  I’m guessing that they’re “squirreling” away some of the many acorns and hickory nuts that have fallen to the ground.  I guess we’re not the only ones who are preparing for the coming winter.

Charming and I have cut up quite a bit of wood from the back lot at the farm.  We took Charming’s old four-wheel-drive pick-up, along with the wood splitter, through the river and, after two afternoons of cutting, have enough wood to get us through our first winter at the farm.  Since we don’t expect to actually move into the house until next fall, the wood will have plenty of time to dry and be ready for use by that time.  I’m sure we’ll continue to cut more wood to add to the pile as time permits.  I’ve found that I really enjoy helping to cut wood.  Charming cuts the branches and limbs off the tree then cuts up the tree.  After we place the wood splitter near cut-up tree, I carry manageable-sized pieces of wood to Charming and he splits them.  We end up with nice tidy piles of wood as well as having had a good physical work-out. 

In the meantime, Charming has finished working on the shed for the winter.  The shed has been painted, the roof has been shingled, doors have been installed, and the outside trim added.  After we move to the farm, he will most likely go back and install windows in the shed.  This should be fairly easy to do since he had already roughed-in the openings as he built the shed.  He also plans to add a “lean-to” on each side of the shed to shelter various farm implements from the weather.

While Charming was finishing up the shed, I continued to work on my knitted purse.  It is coming along nicely.  The purse has been completed, but I’m still working on the strap.  It has turned out well and I hope to finish it this coming week.

Our next farm project, before we begin our winter hibernation, is to install the wood stove in the house.  We’ll need to install some kind of protective covering on the floor as well as some kind of fire-resistant backing on the wall behind the stove.  We plan to start this as soon as Charming decides what he thinks will work best and temper that with what I think will look best.  In the end, we’ll compromise and come up with a nice-looking, workable solution.  Should have some pictures of this in my next post.  Enjoy the nice fall weather while you can!  Be sure to soak up all the sights, smells, and sounds that your eyes, nose, and ears can possibly stand because it’ll be a whole year before you will experience the fall season again.

Some of the pumpkins we grew on the farm.  Soup, bread, pies...oh, my!

The finished shed.  Will add windows, steps, & lean-to later.

Charming made hooks from rebar to hold the doors open...he's so clever!

My knitted purse, minus the strap which I'll add later.

 

A close-up of the knitted cable pattern on the purse and button closure.

One of many piles of wood that we've cut so far.  Nothing compares to wood heat!