Harvesting Pears in the food forest & Fall Holiday festivities

October was a good month for pears! I could have harvested nearly 70 lbs of pears if I had been diligent; but I was not able to harvest but maybe 16 lbs of pears.

 I wish I could have preserved them all, but ultimately they rotted quick and I cannot always get to my food forest property. 

At the moment, I have some potted plants in my apartment garden. I'm growing lettuce, cilantro, kale and radish in pots. I take some clippings as needed. 

And of course we cannot forget about persimmons this time of year. They are harvested after a frost, usually the first or second frost of the season. Here, I have picked a handful to munch on--or should I say suck on. These are the old fashioned persimmons that can be grown in zone 6, so they are quite small but the seeds are large. When you eat these, you kind of have to suck around the seeds to get the most out of the fruit. This particular variety I have in my hand taste like an orancy icy--that's the best way I can describe it.

I have also been cleaning up my tropical indoor plants. They are adjusting to the Fall weather and changes. I have been dusting them, adding soil, watering sparingly, and making sure they are pruned/cleaned up. 

My christmas cacti are blooming this time of year as well.

During this season, I tend to be allured by the Fall garden, colors and decor. It is sad to see plants die, but I like the festivities. For Halloween, I dressed up at my different jobs and snapped a photo of myself as a farmer zombie and a crazy cat lady. And I also snapped a photo of a cool Halloween decoration I came across; and myself (my head) with zombies at Wicked World scaregrounds.

And once you have hit one holiday, we're into the next...I started making crafts for decembers holidays. Here, the family and I made winter gnomes.

Harvesting Fall Pears in the food forest

 

Enormous pears from the food forest. These were harvested this week, and these were only just some of the most perfect looking pears. 

This variety, the Keiffer pear, tends to be a very large variety. And these were the biggest pears I've ever seen.

Fall scenes for a Fall Queen

Some of the remaining gourds I harvested from the garden...

Carved pumpkins and made a spooky bat and witch for festivities...

I made some bat wings for my little man...

And, snapped a shot of my grandmas beautifully displayed fall scene. There is oranges and reds far as the eye can see from the mountains to the yards...

Fall scenes, plants & Mini Adventures

Grandma and I pulled out the old scarecrow, pumpkins, flags and signs!

Several weeks ago, I assembled this Festive Fall and halloween scene. Yes it was a little early, but I had to harvest the gourds from the garden (in the below picture.) I was only able to harvest some of my gourds from the garden; while my cushaw gourds all rotted from last week's rainfall. 

Grandma's flower gardens are still stunning this time of year...

After last month's trekking adventures, I began to miss being in the woods, so Ashley and I set up our hammocks by a creek. We had a little fire and relaxed; while our cats frolicked along the creekside. They're always jealous when I walk through the creek because they want to do it too but  they're afraid of the wading waters.

We also had a picnic at a state park, munching on some veggie sandwiches, chips and beer. We stumbled upon this fairy garden too...

Then, I shopped at the Amish Greenhouse where I saw another fairy garden! And enjoyed all of the beautifully scenic fall scenes displayed at the greenhouse--there, I bought a mum!

Of course, I had to peruse Lowes to see what cute Fall Flowers they had, and I found some interesting plants...

 

Hiking adventure Pictures

Hey all! Hope you're all some of the ones that get off work for Labor Day weekend. Enjoy it while the summer days come to a close...

I got back last weekend from some much needed sight seeing and adventure. My family and I booked a rental cabin for a weekend at the Red River Gorge in Slade, Kentucky.  

We took advantage of its hot tub and jacuzzi; and simply relaxed...

We ate some good food at the famous Miguel's and La Cabana. Perused a gem shop and a cute coffee shop.

Ashley and myself and my sister went ziplining.

And later met up with the rest of the family to do more hiking at the Sky Bridge through the Nada Tunnel. The last day, Ashley and I hiked alone to the Creation falls and rock bridge.