Campfire, Apple Picking and Pumpkin Pies

We finally fired up our smokeless fire pit (it only took us all Summer to do it - it's been a busy year). Two thumbs up, it really is smokeless.  It smokes a little at startup, and a little as it burns out at the end, but in between you can sit close to it and not be chased away by smoke.  It's a Breeo, made by Amish/Mennonite craftsmen in Pennsylvania.

Termination dust arrived more than a month ago, but lately it has started creeping down from the mountain tops.

The green tomatoes from our outside plants (which we picked and brought in to ripen) have been selectively ripening.  Between the two little indoor greenhouses we were able to get enough to make some salsa this week.

After making enough for this week, we canned the rest.  It made 12 jars. We should have one more chance to make salsa as the last of the tomatoes ripen.  We've enjoyed having good tomatoes this year, which is hard to do in Alaska. We used up all our tomatoes from the big greenhouse as they ripened through the Summer, so it was nice to have the green tomatoes from the outside beds as a way to keep tomatoes available into Fall.

Our pumpkins have been waiting in the garage for us to turn them into pumpkin pies.

The boys helped pull out the seeds and guts.

Cooked and ready to puree. 

The pumpkins made enough puree for 11 pies.  We set 2 bags aside in the fridge to make pies this week, and froze the rest for Thanksgiving/Christmas.

I buttered/salted and roasted the pumpkin seeds, but.....45 minutes in the oven was WAY too long, and unfortunately these seeds were too burnt to be edible. Grayson was disappointed - he wanted to try roasted pumpkin seeds.

With our new eagle pair nesting farther from the house, we now have some hawks that have moved in and spend time around the house.  This is a juvenile Northern Goshawk.

And we've had a Stellar's Jay begin to visit the back deck.  He won't feed out of my hand (yet), but he will hover over my shoulder until I throw a bread cumb.

And he likes to steal any eggshells we put outside while waiting to take them up to the compost bin.

A cold spell is around the corner, so it was time to pick the crabapples from Landon's apple tree.

We will freeze these to make some crabapple pies later this winter.

Starting up the fire pit.

They really just wanted to get back to their video games, but they stayed long enough for a picture.

S'mores while sitting around the fire.

The garden is now buttoned up for Winter.

Our great neighbors donated the leaves raked from their yard for the compost.  We used them to insulate the composting piles, and added them to several other composting dirt piles we had around the garden.  The leaves also insulated the top of our in-ground beds.

Leaves and straw as insulation for some of the perennials over Winter.

Strawberries are all insulated with straw.

Our fish carcass waste from this season's salmon catch was added to the three potato beds. Not sure how we will rotate these beds next year, some will stay potatoes probably, and others will rotate into something else.

I'm taking a chance by not fencing in our small orchard this year.  Trying a spray deterrent (called Plantskydd) to keep the moose from eating these trees. Might regret it, but I figure it's worth a try.

....and October brings our last opportunity to put the Christmas lights up. If we wait any later, there will be snow and ice everywhere, so I put the lights up last week. Outdoor spigots are insulated, heating elements are installed in the gutters, studded tires are on the cars, and the yard has been mowed for the last time...ready for Winter!

“But ask the animals, and they will teach you,

or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you;

or speak to the earth, and it will teach you,

or let the fish in the sea inform you.

Which of all these does not know

that the hand of the Lord has done this?

In his hand is the life of every creature

and the breath of all mankind."

                                - Job 12:7-10