fall around the farm

rose aux joues

Adam recently asked me to knit F a bonnet and scarf combo.  I searched around ravelry a bit and ended up buying this pattern.  The star stitch is my favorite, so I couldn't resist this bonnet. 

It knit up quite quickly (...I did a skinnier scarf so she wouldn't mind it tied under her chin).

She happened to be wearing her 'In Threes', which still fits well.  It's the wooly time of year again!

Joining Nicole this week.

diggin' potatoes

Yes, she is sucking on a yummy earth sucker--
sometimes we must resort to such things to get the job done (keeping' it real-ha!)

We are fortunate to have many farmy friends.  One of our dear friends not only owns some great old farm equipment that we use (a tractor and corn binder), but also is very, very handy.

He recently got back a potato digger that he used 40 years ago (and then lent to another farmer for many years) and got it working again.

We used it to dig our biggest potato crop yet--more than 650 pounds.  We already had harvested another 400 during the market season, but the potato digger made digging up the rest a rather quick job!

We battle potato beetles every year and sometimes it means we end up with small potatoes, but they look nice and big this year even with the bug damage to our plants.

apple picking

We don't always get a chance to make it up to our favorite orchard to pick apples, but this fall we've made it up (all 6 of us) twice!  

The drive is beautiful and the view while picking is amazing (Lake Champlain and the Adirondack Mountains).

Someday we hope to get enough apples from our trees that we don't need to go and pick... but we do enjoy our trips to Shoreham.

each year

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013 (Micah fell asleep on the way & cousin Hendie was visiting)

2014

Family photo from our friend's phone

Each fall, I take photos of the kids at one of our favorite local spots.  Hubbardton Battlefield has gorgeous views of the Taconic and Adirondack Mountains.  This year, we were racing the sunset and the light wasn't ideal.  But the colors of the mountains were beautiful and we made it just in time to see the sun drop below the Adirondacks.