Betsy's Backyard Blog

A splash of color in the front yard is such a cheerful greeting. Fall colors are really starting to pop.

Bob uses an apple peeler to make thin layers for apple crisp. So many apples this year...

Janis Gandy, copy editor for Living the Country Life, made a dozen table decorations like this one for Dan Looker's retirement party. Dan was the business editor of Successful Farming. I provided the hay peeking out at the bottom.

One of our rams has a bad foot. Bob gives him a pedicure with the grinder.

Bob took this photo of an English bulldog who knows exactly where to sit on the ATV.

Hedge apples are ripe.

There are still tons of apples on the tree at the pond. Bob is using the fruit picker pole to snag the highest apples and those hanging over the pond. I have two huge bags of apples waiting for me to cook down for applesauce. I will make another apple crisp, too.

The market lambs are growing like crazy. You would never know it's fall. Our pastures are as green as Ireland.

Plop. Another apple hits the pond. The snapping turtles will enjoy them later.

Bob feeds the lambs at dusk. They are five months old and weigh 120 pounds or more. That is good daily gain.

Lots of green grass for our ewes in the pasture.

Early fall is such a busy time on a farm or acreage. There is so much to harvest and so much to kill.

We started with the thistles in the pasture. Sure, the yellow flowers were full of bees, but those noxious weeds had to go. We cut them and threw them in the wagon for the burning pile.

Speaking of bees and weeds, Bob decided he had had enough of my pollinator patch. He mowed it down, leaving one flowering stalk.

Next, he mowed around the pond and saw that the old apple tree had fruit this year (it only has apples about every three years). Boy, did it ever. I picked two large bags full and made applesauce. I will pick more this weekend.

I don't know the name of this type of thistle. Do you?

My pollinator garden earlier this summer. Check out the freaky yellow spider in the flower. He hid and killed the bee when it landed. Bees can't catch a break these days.

All that's left of my weed patch.

I've never seen our tree, or any tree, so laden with apples.

Mickey waits for a bite. Bob took this photo of his daily lunch companion.

Here's another photo by Bob. This farmer's granddaughter, a gymnast who trains at Chow's, was running the cattle chute gate.

All the rain this summer turned my (so-called) landscaping into a jungle. Vines covered the lilacs and bridal wreath spirea on the west side of the lawn, even climbing the nearby evergreen to the top. I could see poison ivy hiding in some of the bushes. Ugh.

Bob decided to call in the big guns. He fenced off portions of the yard and let the ewes have a feast. Once they finished, he ran the chain saw and I used the loppers and rake to clean it up. Here are the steps.

Step 1: Let the "little lambs eat ivy."

Step 2: Clean up what's left.

Step 3: Move the ewes to the next patch -- lilacs overrun by Virginia creeper.

Step 4: Cut back the lilacs to a small patch and let the ewes eat the discards.

Step 5: Fence off the bridal wreath bush and let the ewes eat away.

Step 6: Fire up the chipper.

Step 7: Continue chipping the twigs, trees, and defoliated vines and bushes.

Step 8: Dump the chips in the washout area of the pasture lane (after adding a few more branches).

Step 9: The chips slow water down during heavy rains.