Sept. 14-15, 2010

This was a fun trip since we were hosting Amanda, John, and John's niece Ann. The weather was still a bit warm and muggy for mid September, but still pleasant. We'd received 4.75" of rain (probably more) over several days the week before -- so everything was growing again.

Garden
The basil looked great and we picked enough for a double batch of pesto. Amanda said she had never seen a plant this large. We had enough large bell peppers to make buffalo stuffed peppers for dinner, to go along with the leak and gruyere quiche Sally had made and frozen our last trip out. There continued to be plenty of cherry tomatoes. That was about it -- a little spinach for eggs in the morning, a couple of bok choy leaves, and a few peas. There were green shoots from what looked like onions that maybe had been laying dormant?

Dinner/Night hike
We ate about dusk out back and enjoyed a nice Spanish white wine Amanda had recommended. Afterward, since there was a crescent moon out, we decided to hike to the pond. I refused to turn on the flashlight, in spite of Sally's protests.

Apples
We picked the dozen or so Gold Rush that were still on the tree. Everyone agreed they were very tasty. I don't know if we will have any next year since the other apple seems to have died and you need to varieties to pollinate. I doubt the small pixie delight is mature enough to bloom. We also picked the one pair we had this year. Sally was afraid it wasn't going to be good because it looked a little rough on the outside, but it was firm and juicy.

Brush Hogging
Larry couldn't brush hog two weeks earlier because it had been too dry and there was danger of a spark starting a fire. He did get it done the previous week -- some of it in the rain. I wanted to inspect his work, so I drove John and Ann down to the pond so I could check out my trees. It looked like he did a good job of going around the flagged trees and staying out of the back area I have planted (this is a first!).

Log Splitting
I just had a few logs, but wanted the visitors to experience log splitting. They were all successful, though Ann and Amanda got to tackle short small pieces. I think John could have a second career -- or at least qualify as a farm hand. It took a while, but I finally got them to understand that this activity was not chopping wood.