October update

What's that? You've been wondering what us Lowrances have been busying ourselves with for the past month? Lots! First we had some apple picking at a local orchard (Windy Hills). Emma and Mary Claire had a blast picking and eating.

We also visited Brattonsville for their Fall Festival and a bit of living history. The girls got to taste cider, make a beeswax candle, and each bring home a pumpkin from the hay ride.

Of course, there was the outside time on our own farm. What better ways to spend our weekends than playing on daddy's "tractor", snacking straight from the garden, and hanging out in the hammick?

And lets not foget the fun of just watching Olivia grow. She is so smiley these days. Emma and Mary Claire both love to hold her and help out.

And of course, Mary Claire's birthday. We celebrated it on the day (October 27) and will celebrate again tomorrow for a Spooky Birthday Party with our friends and family.

Life is good on the Gryder Farm.

Slack blogger

Yes, I'm officially a slack blogger. My dream of the once a week entry has flown out the window, while I struggle to try and maintain more than one entry a month! So much has been going on with my return to work and Allen's adjustment to watching a 3 month old, an almost 2 year old, and a 3 year old. Oh, and then there's the planning of Mary Claire's (small) 2nd birthday, our 6 year anniversary, and our annual bonfire coming up. I almost forgot Halloween.... guess we need to do something for that as well. And no, I do not know what my kids will be. I do, however, know that we have a ton of dress up clothes at the house, including some costumes, so whatever they will be, it is already in their bedroom!

In farm life, we have definitely began enjoying some young, tender greens and salads. The deer have also been enjoying some of what our fall garden has to offer which has made it a little more difficult to share than we had originally expected. The chickens have started molting and with the cold weather starting, egg production has also dropped off a bit. Looks like we are all on a slightly lower than usual production level these days!

Any other news? Well, I just forced myself to eat a cup of yogurt when I really, really, really wanted a McDonald's sausage buscuit. If that's not an accomplishment, I don't know what is.

We have Oyster Mushrooms!

We also have little girls running in the pastures and feeding the chickens...

Fall planting

I love fall, and it's not just because of the return of the Pumpkin Spice Lattes to Starbucks (that I'm sipping on as I type). Yes, it is one of my few guilty pleasures that I cannot seem to reproduce at home! While I hate to see the days of summer squash, green beans, and tomatoes go away, I am excited about entering a whole new season of veggies to grace our table.

Allen made the semi-annual trip to the Farmer's Exchange on Wednesday to get everything we needed for our fall garden. After spending all day out there working today, I'm proud to say our garden has been made over for the fall. Seeing the compost we've been working on for years put to use is such a good feeling! The thought of slow-cooked collard and turnip greens leaves my mouth watering.

I am also looking forward to being able to start providing our community with fresh produce once again. The lack of rain and arrival of our third child cut our ability to produce enough to sell short this summer. Hopefully we will soon be offering baskets of fresh, locally-grown produce once again.

My apologies for the double posts without pictures but it's definitely too dark to document the beautiful garden tonight! Photos to come.

Transformation Complete!

We now have a "play room". Technically, it's also still the laundry room (and probably will be multitasking as an office in the future as well), but what was once a closed in porch is now officially a room. The girls were in heaven this afternoon with their new play space, and I am elated to have some more square-footage (and a new space to have them out from under my feet!). I am also looking forward to doing the laundry in a warm room this winter. No more mad dashes trying to get wet laundry moved over to the dryer while shivering! Since the room is still in being organized, I will save posting pictures for later. A big thanks to Hal (Allen's dad aka Papa) for helping Allen with the finishing stages of this project, and to David (Allen's friend) for helping in the beginning. Great work all around!

In other farm news, our "loaner" white silkies have successfully hatched a few of their own eggs. Ma and Pa Silkie will stay with their babies for a little while to avoid putting the babies into the brooder, then will head back to their home. The little white babies are super cute!! I am really looking forward to having them run around the farm.

Olivia, figs, and potatoes

As promised, I have definitely been slack with blogging since the arrival of sweet Olivia. Even without much produce coming in right now, we have been swamped here on the farm. There is the ever so time-consuming task of three daughters ages three and under. I have been enjoying my time off work by trying to do some things that are so hard to find time for with working 40 hours a week. The girls, our friend Allison, and myself took a trip on the Light Rail in Charlotte. The family, except Mary Claire, visited the Nature Museum in Charlotte as well.

The one thing we do have coming in now is FIGS! Lots of figs. So... fig preserves time! I made a batch with cinnamon in it that we have been very much enjoying.


I am also getting an opportunity to cook a little bit. Last night's dinner was accompanied with some home-grown okra and some roasted fingerly potatoes Allen grew. This was our first year doing potatoes and they turned out great.

Updates

It's been two weeks since Olivia joined the family, but it already feels like she's always been a part. Mary Claires LOVES holding her as often as we will let her. Emma is super sweet about telling Olivia how much she loves her. We are definitely adjusting well to being a family of five.

Sadly, the heat and dryness (along with the new baby) has brought our garden to a bit of a stand-still. The second planting for the summer did not quite happen, but the fall planting has begun. We are still getting a little here and there, but should be back in business in another month or so with some fall produce.

Today's task - Allen is making and canning salsa. A bit larger of a task than he expected.... the pot has ended up huge! We are looking forward to some good, homemade salsa all winter long. Thank you Granny and Papa for the extra tomatoes!