Neighbor Dave

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Neighbor Dave and his wife Liz live behind us.  Their back property borders a creek and on the other side of that creek is our back property line.  We call neighbor Dave, "ND".  Now ND is a long haul truck driver.  He runs the same route three times a week and each run is approximately 14 hours straight.  Since his run is mainly the overnight hours, he tends to have quite a bit of free time during the day each week.  They are not only great neighbors but great friends.

He stops by on his days off for morning coffee and likes to catch up on the gossip with my dear hubby.   The other day when the coffee and chatting was over, he invited hubby and I over to his place.  He had been having some problems with bears and needed hubby to give him a hand moving some feed.  ND and Liz feed deer year round ... except during hunting season as it is illegal to do so.  Neither of them hunt deer....they feed them for entertainment....and an expensive entertainment it is as the deer eat over 200 pounds of corn a week!

It was a beautiful sunny, fall morning so I grabbed my camera on the way out the door....I figured I might see something different that I would want to capture on film.  I love wandering around a new piece of land, you just never know what you might see!

Now their property was once an old farm.  

The barn and chicken coop has long been torn down but remnants remain...like the little milk house... and I had a grand time exploring while the men were busy.  

We have been there many times before but seeing the property through the lens was a different picture.

ND and Liz have a wonderful property.  Most of the trees were planted by them when they first purchased the land and their children were young.  

Towering pines, poplar, birch and even oak now are scattered throughout the fields along with wild plum, apple and crab-apple.

They have built themselves a wonderful property but best of all they built themselves a wonderful home.    

Remember to give your loved ones a hug!

The Generosity of Neighbors

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We were truly blessed this week by neighbors who have bountiful harvests.  The garden goodies just kept coming through the door to our surprise.

Our neighbors knew how our summer went and have been so generous and we are ever so thankful.

Onions, snap beans and zucchini from neighbor Dave who in my opinion is one of the best gardeners I know.  This was the third time he has brought us goodies...he mentioned next will be acorn squash as he has waaaay too many for Liz his wife and himself to eat.  Yummy!  The zucchini has been frozen, the snap beans have been eaten and the onions will be used unless we get more which I will then dehydrate them.  I love using dehydrated onions in stews, soups and chili.

Next up was the 5 gallon pail of potatoes...are they not just beautiful?  Our neighbor Bill did a wonderful job this year!  He also mentioned there would be many more to come....his crop is huge and he is a single man.  I have a batch of potato chips in the dehydrator as I type this....the first time I have attempted such a thing but the potatoes were so large, I couldn't resist trying.  If they turn out well, I will make more and dehydrate some more just plain for stews and soups which we eat in abundance during the winter.  

Can you see the apples in the background?  Our neighbor John brought a bushel...they are not crab apples...regular apples which are surprisingly very sweet.  I have already made applesauce with them and it is oh so delicious!

Then neighbor Brian and his father Larry carried in buttercup squash, crooked neck squash and cucumbers!  I had never tried either type of squash so off to the Internet to check to see how they were to be cooked and boy oh boy are they delectable!  Now one of my favorites and they will be added to the seed list for next summer.  

Funny how things work out isn't it?  I was thinking that we would not be enjoying garden fresh veggies except through a farmer's market but here we are munching and loving the generosity of such good neighbors and friends.,,,for this we are truly thankful.

Remember to give your loved ones a hug!

Linking up with Amy over at Homestead Revival

Biking and Buddies

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Every morning I either take a walk or go for a bike ride. It is time for me to listen to the type of music I enjoy rather than having to be tortured listening to Bob's or Luke's music. Their tastes are a little too loud for me.

My morning ritual also gets me out in the fresh air, enjoy the scenery and get some exercise. I am trying to stay young! =)





The following pictures were taken this morning as I pedaled along the quiet road. There are a few neighbors and really wanted to take a picture of a lovely old barn that is along the route but the little old lady and little old man who live there were not home this morning. I can imagine them out doing their shopping for the week. They are the sweetest couple and still act like newlyweds. So the picture will have to wait for another day.




The route I take is approximately 2 miles...although most days when it is beautiful out, I will continue along my way and cover about 4 miles.

I better enjoy the weather while I can before the temperatures begin to drop.

I love the quiet time to myself. After returning home, I finished up the breakfast dishes, tidied a bit then headed out to the garden. I dug enough potatoes for tonight's dinner along with some carrots and 5 yellow and 3 green beans. Yep, that is all our crop provided for us this year was 8 beans!

Company came and went .... on Saturday's it is usually very busy around the old homestead. I visited with Nicole (Bob's niece) while Pasie, Bob and Luke went for a four-wheeler ride.

Nicole and I sat in the shade while watching the ducks play in the pond. While we chatted, my hands were busy crocheting and knitting. I have a tendancy to have a couple different projects on the go so I don't get bored with one or the other too easily.

While I began to prepare a meatloaf dinner, our neighbor who lives behind our property gave us a call and asked if we would like some of the beans from his garden. Would I?!!! You bet!!

Neighbor Dave is the best gardener in the area and always has an abundance of produce which he is more than willing to share. So he rushed over to drop off the above so I could get them on the stove for dinner tonight. What a treat! They were delicious and I ate the cucumbers like they were candy. Didn't really want to share but I did. =) In return, I gave him a bunch of carrots and peppers that I had picked this morning.

So as the sun is setting this evening, we reflect on yet another beautiful day and wonder how long we will be lucky to enjoy such nice weather.

Visit to the Neighbor

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The other day when we went four-wheeling, we decided to take a break and stop to visit our neighbor Kathy.

Kathy lives about 1/2 mile from us down the road. She lost her husband to cancer about 2 years ago and now lives on her own with her 38 cats...yes, 38 cats on 20 acres of farmland. In the summer, you can find her outside puttering in the flowerbeds, playing with the cats or mowing the grass. She doesn't get many visitors so we try to stop in there regularly and give her a hand with anything she might need help with.

To my surprise, she has fruit trees just loaded with fruit! I had never seen anything like her trees. So I had to take pictures to show everyone her bountiful harvest this year. She told us to come and pick as many as we want since she doesn't want to see them go to waste. What an offer! I can imagine jams, jellies, pies, tarts, desserts of a wide variety due to her generosity. I will definitely be making sure she gets some samples to try when they are made.




Apples. Minnesota Honeycrisp. Yummy!

As you can see, the tree is beginning to die in a few places (I think) or maybe it just needs to be pruned. The apples are not wormy at all and she doesn't even spray them.

Crabapples!!! Luke's favorite. He must have eaten 20 of them while we were visiting with her. :)

Look at those crabapples! The branches are drooping in the weight of all the crabapples. The deer move in at night and eat the ones that have fallen on the ground.

They have just the right amount of tartness.

Branches laden with fruit.

Now this is my absolute favorite! A pear tree!!! Nope, didn't see any partridges up there.

I didn't know that a person could grow pears in Minnesota! Kathy said that they aren't quite ripe yet.

She also said that they taste just like a Bartlett pear. Mmmmm. Good.

Aren't they cute! This tree is amazing as it stands about 200 feet high and the pears reach all the way to the very top! Just amazing.

So very soon, I will have a ton of work to do with baking, canning, freezing and dehydrating and Kathy will be receiving a big basket full of all the treats.

She is a wonderful neighbor and so sweet. I hope she finds some comfort in knowing that we will always be there to give her a hand when she needs it.