Apple Harvest

This was a busy week in preparation for a bit over two weeks away from home, travelling.

WE still hadn't had a killing frost as of Tuesday and I needed to get the apples harvested and put up before we left!
Thankfully we got our sugar-setting frost and I got the apples off the trees.

Some of the apples I sliced thin and dehydrated.

I had to, with the new dehydrator, it just had to be done!

scapes and garlic

Fotos of last nights harvest. yep! All the garlic has been collected from the garden.
And here is the box I got; it is heavy!
The dirty bulb is how it comes out after I knock off the big chuncks of dirt....and then the clean bulb after removing a layer of skin (sort of like an onion).

Remember the scapes?

Those beautiful curling tops of the garlic that reluctantly snipped off a few weeks ago?

Well here they are after drying in a vase for awhile (and gracing my table as a bouquet) and then being disassmbled and placed on the dehydrator.

Footnote: They make the room that the dehydrator is in stink to high heavens!

Mike piles some of his clothing in there and he put on a work shirt that had been sitting in there overnight and no vampires will come within a mile of him I guarantee!

Ruby Love

Lovely ground cover flowers that can be found in most places that

these beauties can be found....
Mmmmmm!

Look how each berry has a gorgeous little flower in the center!

Bucketfull of Rubies!

There are different types of berries, some are nearly black and glossy,

some are "rubies" (and I adore these), some are blue and small,

some are pear-shaped, some are more tart and some are more sweet.

I like to pick big, fat ones that grow on taller bushes as opposed to little ones that grow on short bushes.....

Mostly I just love to be out in the woods wandering and gathering and soaking it all in!