We are starting to see more fall color.  This is our neighbors' beautiful Maple tree.  Isn't it pretty as it changes color from the top down?  I love that. 

 

Usually the third week in October is "leaf-peeper" time, but this year seems a bit slower.  

 

That's ok, one day we will wake up and it will be bright red, yellow, and orange all over.  For now we just have to be patient.

 

 

HAPPY FALL!!!

 

Here are the jalapeños, right next to the cherry peppers (probably how they got crossed last year.)  

 

See the red ones?  They are ripe.  When you roast the ripe ones they are called chipotle.  Yep, that's how we get chipotle peppers:  by roasting red jalapeños.  

 

Not that I'm going to eat either one, but I don't mind peeling them once they are roasted, wearing gloves, of course.  And a tiny bit of chipotle gives an interesting flavor to quesadillas and chili.

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

 

Boy, do we have the hot peppers this year.  This is just one plant!!!   It's about 4 feet tall, and covered with red hot peppers.  See the elongated ones?  I think they are a cross between hot cherries, and jalapeño peppers that we grew last year.  I didn't cross them, the bees did it, and then we saved the seeds.  

 

I didn't know it until they started producing both kinds of peppers on the same bush.  Jon says they are really hot, like cherry peppers and jalapeños combined.  I'm not touching them, but I sure love how pretty they are in the garden.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

I went out to the garden to see if anything suffered the 40 degrees overnight.  Actually, nothing looked the worse for wear, except the kale that the baby deer ate.  But it didn't get all of it, just one plant.

 

The Thai basil looks beautiful.  See all that purple?  It is blooming and making seeds.  This plant grows to about 3 feet tall, and is so pretty in the garden.  It would even be nice in your flower bed.  And when you brush against it:  it smells like cinnamon and cloves.  Gorgeous!!!

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

A couple days after the hurricane, there was a lot of moisture in the air, and this is what I saw when I looked out the kitchen window.  The sun was in the east, peeking through the trees, and all that fog.  

 

What a lovely way to start the day.

 

 

HAPPY FALL!!!

 

Look how beautiful my Mullein has become.  These are the plants growing in the driveway, where I accidentally dropped some seeds last summer.  Now, don't get me wrong;  I planted plenty of these tiny seeds all over the place, but I don't think I would have put them right here in the driveway.

 

Even still, they are here now, and I love watching them grow.  I love the fuzziness of their leaves, and I can see how somebody might put a few of these leaves in their shoes to keep warm.  I read that fact in several descriptions of mullein.  I also read that the seeds can maintain viability for up to a hundred years.  

 

Mullein grows these great rosettes the first year, and blooms the second year.  So, I guess these will have to stay here until that happens.  We may just have to find another place to park the truck.  I have my priorities, you know.

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Here is another good example of Mother Nature making up for lost time, and plants overfruiting this year.  

 

In this picture you can see a few red berries from last year, not that many.  But look at all the new berries for this year.  This is just one small branch.  This tree is really loaded with berries.  I wish the birds would eat them, but I don't think they do.  They seem to last on the tree a really long time, even into the next year.

 

My Seek app told me that this is a native holly, Dahoon Holly, Ilex cassine, a close relative of Yaupon Holly.  I can see that.

 

Anyway, when the berries turn red, this tree should be really spectacular.  I will show it to you again when that happens.

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Look what Patty did to the haybale!!!  She painted the whole thing black, then added eight arms of black plastic drain pipes to create this fabulous spider to greet us as we drive into the neighborhood.  

 

How awesome!!!  How FUN!!!

 

WE LOVE IT!!!  HAPPY FALL!!!

 

This is what real loaves of bread look like at our house.  A bit smaller than a bale of hay, and definitely more tasty.

 

In 2020, when we weren't participating in happy hours or dinner parties, we would make bread every Sunday, and deliver it to our friends.  One week I would deliver, the next week Jon would deliver.  That way we got to sorta keep up with folks, and let them know we were thinking about them.  We also were able to keep our distance and still show love.

 

I have a little bread warmer stone in my kitchen that says:  Bread is the symbol of friendship and hospitality.  

 

We love making bread, and sharing it with our friends.  It's still everybody's favorite thing for me to bring to a dinner party.

 

 

HAPPY FALL!!!

 

 

 

 

Our neighbor, Keith, hayed his fields a couple days ago, and when we rode by there, we saw all these bales of hay.  This is the most I could get into one picture, but there were about twenty of them throughout the meadow.  

 

Jon had a friend back in Virginia who always commented when he saw rectangular bales of hay, that they looked like loaves of bread to him.  I can never see haybales of any shape in a field that I don't remember the loaves of bread.  

 

I hope I just created an "eye-worm" for you.  

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!