October

As promised, the October update.

As with so many things, it begins with food. Saturday, October 1st I gathered up apples from the old tree in the pasture while Brian stalked white tails in the opening day of archery season. The tree was positively loaded with fruit this year, and I picked up 7.5 buckets of good looking apples. Brian didn't bring home a deer.

I don't know the variety of these apples, but they are tart and make great applesauce. I don't know what I was thinking picking so many apples so close to my departure for World Dairy Expo, but I was concerned that if it frosted they would be lost. And once I started picking, I just couldn't leave any! I managed to can 34 quarts of applesauce before leaving for Madison on Tuesday.

My trip to Expo was primarily because I am on the board of directors for the National Dairy Shrine. So, most of my time in Madison was occupied by the board meeting and scholarship banquet. As far as meetings go, it was a really positive one; such great people with a passion for the dairy industry! The coolest thing I saw at Expo (keep in mind I'm a calf person) was this disposable feeder called the "Perfect Udder." It was originally designed for feeding pasteurized milk, but the folks at APC have adapted it and are now selling their colostrum replacer in these bags. There's a window with a line that shows how much water to add. You simply add water, mix, and screw on a nipple or an esophageal tube. What a great idea!

Of course I also had to stop in and see the World Dairy Expo staff and catch a bit of the Brown Swiss show. Great job to all; it was a really nice event! And the weather couldn't have been better; it was actually warmer in Wisconsin that week than here in Virginia.

Wide angle view of the coliseum show ring.

The theme was "Around the World of Dairy in 5 Days" and this earth hot air balloon idea was really neat.

The trees in Madison were in full color, and I saw some amazing scenery from the plane. The top ridges of the mountains were aflame with orange and red. It was quite spectacular. Interestingly, the children's story at church the following Sunday talked about God's coloring book. Makes me think of one of my favorite lines from a Lonestar song that talks about seeing "paintings from the air brushed by the hand of God." When I got home the fall color hadn't quite reached its peak here. I'd say the peak was last week, although there are still plenty breathtaking scenes as you drive around the county. Here are some shots from around our place the week of October 10. In between taking these photos and frantically getting things ready for the Penn State Nutrition Workshop, I canned 18.5 pints of apple butter. At that time every jar in the house was full. We've used some things since then, but I still bought a few more quart jars and hope to get the last of the apples (2.5 buckets!!) processed into juice here soon. In the meantime, they are storing nicely in the garage.

 We had another rainbow, and a double one at that. This was mid morning on October 13. I couldn't decide which shot I liked best, so here are several.

 If I summed up September's weather as rain, I'll have to say October has been wind (and rain). But it sure makes the grasses beautiful! I love the sight and sound of wind rustling through tall grass.

And I'll end this post the same as I began it -- apples and deer. This time two deer eating apples, which they seem to be doing a lot lately. Although this doe appears to be playing peek-a-boo, she's really gobbling up apples and only pausing slightly as I crept close enough to get this shot. Good thing I already picked as many as I want! We counted eight deer in the field the other night, all does. Management hunt anyone?