I guess you have noticed that the haybale has taken on a new identity.

 

Patty's scarecrows and pumpkins are back, and Mike and Tom transformed the flag into a turkey.

 

Jon and I returned the soldiers and eagle sculpture to their rightful owners, and thanked them for their service.  

 

See, a little teamwork, and we all get to enjoy the displays.

 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

 

Being a gardener in the mountains is SO easy.  Everything we need is right here.

 

We just put our kitchen scraps in the compost bin, then add some leaves on top, and in a year or so we have soil for the garden.  

 

We have several bins.  One is for kitchen scraps, green matter, which adds nitrogen.  Next to that we have several bins full of dry leaves, brown matter, which adds carbon.  So every time we add something green to the compost bin, we put in a handful of leaves.  

 

There are just a few no-nos:  no meat or dairy, but everything else from the kitchen is fair game.  We recycle chicken bones, vegetable scraps, lemon rinds, avocado pits, eggshells, coffee grounds, teabags.  The list goes on and on.  You can even compost cotton, wool, and paper.  In time, it all breaks down and becomes soil for the garden.  This year we even made compost tea to water our plants.

 

This is a great time of year to start composting.  Instead of burning or throwing away all those leaves, put them to work making new soil.

 

I love knowing this cycle of life, how soil is made.  

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

I am telling you, this year's garden has been amazing.  This is a single arugula plant that planted itself in the walk path.  

 

The arugula that I planted went to seed, and while I was waiting for the seeds to mature, some fell on the ground and sprouted.  The first crop is gone, but this crop has grown to be gigantic.  I definitely want to collect seeds from these plants.

 

I hope we have time before the frost.  We may just have to eat it all!!!  That's ok too.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Look!!!  Lee's Cleveland Pears and Dogwood trees are changing together.  This is on the corner of Five Forks and Beaconhill.  

 

Aren't they beautiful!!!  And what a gorgeous day!!!

 

HAPPY FALL!!!

 

I thought you might like to see our road today.  Hahaha!!!  

 

You can't even see the road.  But I am standing at the top of Crabapple Lane, looking down the hill.  Oh, yeah!!!  This is the same hill we get to sled on when it snows.  WE LOVE IT in all kinds of weather.

 

HAPPY FALL!!!

 

Coming up the trail, we sat on the bench for a little rest, and I took this picture of the bridge that crosses the creek.

 

This is such a beautiful time of year to take a walk in the woods, and we are so fortunate to have woods all around us.

 

HAPPY FALL!!!

 

I hope you can get down to the Creekside Trail.  It is absolutely breathtaking right now.

 

The maples are red and yellow, the beech trees are light brown and shimmery, the hickories are chartreuse and gold, and they are all mixed up in our woods.

 

Makes me think of Forest Bathing, shinrin-yoku.  That's a happy thought.

 

HAPPY FALL!!!

 

 

 

Julie sent me this picture of a gorgeous Camellia just outside the front door of her new house.  It's huge!!  I love it!!!

 

It is Camellia sasanqua, and this is the normal bloom time for them, even here.  This one is in Mississippi, but now is when they bloom here too.

 

Be on the lookout.  If you see an evergreen bush blooming right now, it is probably Camellia sasanqua.

 

THANKS, JULIE!!!

 

Here are our friends planting the new Crape Myrtles on the entrance road.  Christina is the one I told you about who grows the beautiful chrysanthemums.  And her daughter is helping with the planting.  They are planting 30 new trees.

 

We have planted trees in this soil, and I can tell you, it is hard work.  But they were out there doing it, with smiles on their faces.  I love that!!!

 

Be sure to thank Mike for getting this done.  It will be so nice next summer.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

I thought you'd like to see what we did to the haybale.  Thanks to everyone who helped.

 

We repainted the haybale with 13 red and white stripes.  And the blue field with stars is a heavy piece of cardboard that I painted.  We didn't have any blue spray paint, so I had to use brush on paint, (can't do that on hay.)  Then we borrowed these statues from our friends, and located the flags from the Fourth of July.  Jon made me another sign using that chalkboard paint.  I love it.  

 

It will only stay up a week, then it will be time to think about Thanksgiving.

 

THANK YOU TO OUR VETERANS AND PATRIOTS!!!