Feeling like a pioneer...

It's easy to be thankful at this time of the year surrounded by the beauty of fall.  I love fall.  I love that cosy-let's-get-ready-for-winter feeling that I imagine all pioneers felt in years gone by.  I love cleaning out the garden and storing away things for another year and although I feel a little sad putting away the hammock and the lawnchairs and dumping the planters of dried up annuals I can say I am looking forward to some delightful days in the future curled up with a book on the couch looking outside and being happy I don't have to go anywhere!

I think I was more insulated from the seasons when we lived in town.  I didn't care as much about the weather since it made little difference in my day except to inconvenience me when I wanted to go for a walk or have a BBQ.  Now I watch far more closely - do I need to water the fruit trees?  Should we let the ducklings out if it's too cold?  Should I put the heat lamp on in the barn again for the chicks? The weather man says it will rain for the next 4 days straight - great!  Of course they are seldom right for it seems in our little pocket of the world God does things on His schedule and ignores the weatherman altogether!

This past weekend was glorious!  There were moments when I was tempted to complain I was too hot...I tried hard to refrain.  We spent as much time outdoors as we could - really until we were so tired we had to quit!  ha!  We cut down a few more trees and dug out stumps, we watched and helped a little bit as a friend built us a fence and hung the gate that has already made our daily chores in the barn SO MUCH EASIER!  We cleaned out gardens and added a huge amount to the burn pile.

I am hoping that we have a few more weeks of decent weather as there is still much to do to batten down the hatches before the cold sets in.  I know it will all get done and what doesn't get done will just have to wait till spring,  Mom always says: Anita - Rome wasn't built in a day.  Yes - I know but Rome HAD slaves!

Our volunteer pumpkin patch was a huge surprise.  The pumpkins grew all by their lonesome over the fence and into the paddock. I guess we must have thrown a pumpkin on the compost pile last fall but I don't really remember.  Our count so far: 50.  What DOES one do with 50 pumpkins you ask???  Beg people to take some home!  I have the pile down to a more manageable size now so some will become pumpkin muffins and loaf and I am going to try pumpkin scones.  Pumkin soup is pretty good but no one else will eat it but me so I will have to find some creative disguises for the rest of it.  I had some help harvesting as you can see in the pictures - thanks kid-lettes!

I'm sure glad we don't have to depend on this year's garden harvest for our winter food - it would be heavy on pumpkin and light on everything else :)  I think I'm glad I'm not really a pioneer!

Live in each season as it passes. - Henry David Thoreau

Good idea!  Happy Thanksgiving!