Autumn has been unusually long and mild at MeadowWild Farm this year.
No killer frosts as yet; temps have dipped below freezing on only a few nights.
Red Oak Lane was spectacular at the start of October.
It was a pleasure to walk by Spring Lake and Sandy Lake
and around the rest of the colorful neighborhood.
Peak leaf season lingered on.
The apple harvest was abundant.
The refrigerator is full
and most of the crop is now dehydrated and will provide treats all winter.
Barb has been experimenting with new cheeses, such as Belper Kanolle: a Chevre coated with Himalayan pink salt, garlic, and toasted cracked pepper. It will age until the MDGA conference Nov. 14, which features a cheese-making contest.
Her curried Paneer cooked with fresh veggies from our local Northern Harvest Farm was divine.
The neighborhood turkeys wander around in the open, even though Thanksgiving is less than a month away.
The lingering warmth has extended the biking season on the Munger Trail.
A record high temperature on Oct 11 tempted the Farmers and visiting friend Janet to Jay Cooke State Park --
along with the rest of the Minnesota population
causing traffic jams on the suspension bridge.
Crowds thinned out on the walking trails, though,
and the leaves were still glorious if a bit past their prime.
Crowds of a different sort have invaded the house as the weather turns cooler. We vacuum Asian lady beetles off the walls and ceiling, only to have hordes more show up a short while later.
It's Mojo's favorite time of year: breeding season.
The suave, handsome, smooth-talking, aromatic Big Guy
has enjoyed romantic interludes with Cheeky, Eclipse & Korma
as well as Tianna (a Majority daughter) visiting from the McCann Farm.
Exhausted by his labors of love, Mojo takes a nap using Amigo's heinie as a pillow.
Yet to rendezvous with Mojo are Xiu (Chewy)
and Ahnie.
Mojo's daughters visited other bucks; Reenie to The Sheriff at the McCann Farm and Keeper to "Phil" (above) at the Langhorst Farm in Kettle River.
We're anticipating oodles of cute little goat babies starting in early March
We're anticipating oodles of cute little goat babies starting in early March
and hope that predictions of a mild winter hold true for the birthing time.
With the cooler weather, Dustin migrated from his window perch
to his bed in front of a heat register.
Barb constructed for him a cozy igloo with an old sweatshirt stretched over a clothes hanger frame and with a lambswool pad floor. Adhering to the Feline Code of Ethics, he studiously ignored the new digs for several days
but then weakened and tried it out.
Getting sleepy
and sleepier.
Now he spends a good deal of his day in blissful enclosed comfort.
At the end of the month we're enjoying the subtler colors
of what friend Larry Weber calls "Aut-Win."
Most of the leaves have fallen
with only the red oaks
and tamaracks hanging on.
It's Halloween. Trendy humans are dressing up as goats,
but Mojo chose the most frightening mask he could find:
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