In which I'm leaving for a ride, so here's some farm pictures to ponder

The trailer is packed, and I'm ready to leave--this time, I'm off to the Bare Bones Endurance Ride, which is a few hours from home. 

(Technically, ridecamp is only a bit more than 100 miles away, but I've got to cross 2 major cities and 1 minor city to get there, so time is more relevant than distance when considering how far from home it is for me...)

Before leaving, I wander around the yard with the camera.  I try to do that every month or so, but apparently I haven't actually taken the camera out to document the yard since June! 

It's difficult to believe that winter is approaching, because it seems like summer just arrived. 

And yet:

Two cords of wood are stacked in the woodshed.  I'll be happier when there are three or four cords, but two is a good start.

Apples are ripening on the trees in the orchard, a sure sign of Fall.

 Most of the apple crop got scoured by rain, which makes ugly, but edible fruit.

 The horses won't mind the scour marks, I'm sure.

Also in the orchard:

 (can you see it?)

 The plums are ripening very late this year.  Better than nothing, though...

 Nothing was what we got from the cherry trees this year.  Some kind of blight?  I've got to take this photo to the Master Gardener who comes to my library and get her opinion.  It's sure ugly.  The birds didn't even get any cherries this year!

 The herb garden didn't mind the "sprummer" weather, though.  The rosemary bush (above) is green and bushy, and the dill (below) went crazy!

 I was surprised to see that the thyme plants (below) were covered in bees--I can't remember seeing bees so active in mid-September before, but there they were. 

 I wish I knew where the hive was located, because thyme honey is delicious!

Down in the lower garden, some of the blueberry plants are still producing. 

 It's really late in the year for blueberries, but I gather a handful of them for my oatmeal each morning on my way back to the house after feeding the animals.

 Near to the blueberries are the grapevines, also producing very late:

 These grapes turn dark purple when/if they ripen.  We have to race to harvest them--last year, Chicken Twelve got them all!

Here are some moderate-looking zucchini.  One would hardly expect them of trying to engineer world domination, right?

 Take another look:

 Here are three "moderate" zukes, comparable in size to Pickles Marie, who weighs in at 21 pounds.

 Mimsy's butt is floofier--she can just sit down and squash those squashes!

 Back in the garden, the plastic owl watches over the precious crop of green beans

 Size comparison photo:  beans on the left, Pickles Marie on the right.

Pickles isn't frightened by beans, not even big beans.

Pickles knows exactly how to cope with beans.

Life is good!