Easing into Fall..

It seems that suddenly the leaves just started turning. The muscadine vines are turning an attractive yellow, the blueberry bushes are turning red. The trees are turning shades of brown, yellow and red. My heirloom apple trees (Arkansas Black and Enterprise) were loaded with apples that were supposed to ripen mid October, but all the apples disappeared! The trees are right beside the sidewalk, so I have my suspicions. My baby pineapple pear trees in the back yard are doing so-so. The deer love the bark and also to rub their antlers on the trunks.

This winter I hope to improve the soil quality of our front and back yard gardens. Some friends went and got free fish compost (trout poop) from the trout hatchery up near Buford Dam and now their cabbages are going crazy. I hope to gather leaves and mix everything in to make a great garden soil.

I bought a variety of sweet clover from Johnnyseeds. It is supposed to be great as a cover crop and the blooms will feed the bees. Speaking of bees, I joined the newly formed Gwinnett Beekeeping Club and hope to learn a lot and network. I should be winterizing the bees now, too.

The last day of the Lawrenceville Farmer's Market was yesterday. I had a good run of honey for spring and summer, but late summer was a bust. The drought hurt nectar production and the bees suffered for it. I didn't want to supplement them with sugar water because that would get into the honey. But it is OK now as we get ready for winter. I hope to increase my hives next year and have more honey. There is definitely more demand than supply!

Pearl the Pup is in training for herding competition. If all goes well, we are shooting for an ASCA competition in March. Right now we are shaping her outrun. This is when the dog goes in to gather the sheep. She has a linear outrun, which is natural. We want an outrun in the shape of a half circle. Right now we are training in a round pen. As she learns to use it's maximum area, we will move to progressively larger pens until we are out in a field.