With shorter daylight hours, later mornings and earlier evenings, fall seems to pushing us to slow down. But with projects needing completed before the Pennsylvania mountain winter hits, these first weeks of fall seem to be pushing us as much as the summer season did, if not more.
This craziness still brings joy and blessings. Rudy and Molly became best friends. The older dogs were introduced to Rudy slowly. Flowers are still blooming beautifully. Sunsets and sunrises are stunning, even when they are mostly dark.
Even with the dog kennel, adding the siding is bringing a brightness to the project like never before.
Best of Friends
Rudy is such a little guy being 10 weeks old. Molly is 7 years old. The two are the best of friends. Molly has always looked out for our new dogs. She’s our first, being adopted at 9 months old. She teaches the boundaries of the property to all the dogs, the bad habits, and the good. She’s gentle, yet tough.
This little guy can bite at her long fur and she’s not aggressive when she communicates that he needs to stop yanking at her fur and tail.
She plays with him. He can run under my legs, protected, while still zooming out quickly to bite attack her fur, while she plays back with him.
Flowers Don’t Stop in October
Years ago, I remember a killer frost in mid-September, so I’m always expecting to loose all my flowers in September.
I usually don’t, and I end up with beautiful flowers and bouquets come October. Dahlias. Zinnias. Cosmos. Marigolds. Gomphrena. Ageratum.
This white cosmos is the stunner of the garden. With the wind and rain this season, the cosmos that usually stand tall for me ended up knocked over. The cosmos in the landscape fabric seems a little rough, but this volunteer cosmos turned into what looked like a white azalea bush in the middle of the garden. So beautiful and such a stunner from across the yard.
Mountain Berry Siding
This week was a whirlwind for the dog kennel. With this building project and new pup, it was a balancing act. I made sure the pup got enough attention, while my husband focused on adding the J-channel around the windows, nailing the siding pieces, and adding the white soffit on the front.
The neatest part is seeing the exterior of this building come together. I wanted a color that would match our pole barn and the small shed, both shades of red. Our siding color is a mountain berry, matched with a sand-colored roof. It’s really coming together.
It’s a bit funny that my husband started on the front side because to anyone driving down the road it appears we’re finished. Almost! But we are not there yet.
Before the Sunrises
With Rudy, he likes to wake up when Shawn does, 5 a.m. With Shawn going to work that earlies, it leaves me with the dogs, cat, chickens, and ducks. Puppy duty. Feeding. Outside Time.
With this though is some of the biggest blessings of seeing the dark sky mix with the dusk before the sunrises in the morning. It’s a bit special because I typically prefer to stay in until the sun has already risen, but it is nice to have everything done now before the sun comes along.
I’m still a zombie in the morning for the first 10-20 minutes! Haha.
Early Fall Sunsets
Fall has its unique lighting. September with late summer has this brightness still it. By October, the lighting merges the red, yellow, orange, and auburn leaves. The grass is still green, but the garden is landscaped with dried sunflower plants with the heads missing their seeds, feeding the birds. Our pole barn with its red metal siding and its brown metal roof blends in with the oak trees in the front and back of it.
More Flowers
Knowing the first fall frost is going to be impeding on the garden soon enough, I wanted to capture their beauty in the fall sunset lighting. Red zinnias are still one of my favorite flowers. So vibrant. So saturated with color.
The dahlias are still going strong. Harvest these one day earlier in the week, and they send out more blooming stems by the end of the week. This is one flower that I just want to buy more tubers for now that I successfully saved my tubers over winter without them drying out or rotting- finding the right environment for them in the basement.
Rudy Exploring the Garden
Our older dogs love zooming around the garden, especially during tomato season. Rudy explored the garden for the first time. He has already wanted to eat the yellow pear tomatoes by the house. He will fit right in with the other dogs. I may need to end up planting more tomatoes next year for 4 dogs!
This little guy loves his flowers. I swear he is Bella Junior. With having dogs, this is why I am particular with what plants I want to grow, avoiding ones that are toxic or poisonous to them.
A Bouquet for Mom
Flowers and gardens connect you with flower friends. When my mom came up to meet Rudy, we stopped in the garden for some flower picking. A large zinnias, cosmos, celosia, and marigolds bouquet.
With then a dahlia bouquet filled with all sorts of different shapes, sizes, designs, and colors. As usual, this was supposed to be one large bouquet with all the flowers, but we both agreed that the dahlias looked amazing just by themselves.
Sometimes when we are growing flowers and in the middle of selling them, sometimes we forget the blessings from the flower garden. The flowers. Family. The beauty. Time well spent.
Build a Farm Life
Flowers, animals, building projects are all part of the farm life heritage I grew up with. Learning skills. Stewarding the land and animals. And appreciating God’s beautiful Creation.
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