Grateful Thanksgiving...

Bill, Turi, and a barley visible Chapin in the backseat of the bug, returning from a hike at the old Virginia National Golf Course property.

Chapin tucked in blaze tree

It was a great Thanksgiving holiday spent with Bill and Jeanne Turkel, down from Connecticut.  They arrived on Tuesday and the next several days were devoted to balancing the schedule between hiking and eating!  One of the highlights was exploring the old Virginia National Golf Course, just 3 miles downstream from the Farm.  The golf operation is no more, and the property has been purchased by the Civil War Trust.  The future plans are unknown to us locals, but one thing we do know is the trails are great for hiking or biking along the river floodplain.  Bill, Jeanne, and Turi hiked the front nine loop, while Chapin and Jon biked the same.  Chapin found a golf ball along the way, and some fun games of 'soccer golf' were played on the old greens.  Thanksgiving Day a more traditional hike on the Appalachian Trial was enjoyed while the turkey baked.  However many calories were burned on hike up is unknown, but that didn't stop us from using the exercise as justification for just one more helping of... well everything!



 

Hiking the AT to the Bears Den viewpoint.

Getting ready to dig in!  (and note the home made wine courtesy of Arron Stern)

Cold Chillin Greens....

I have been excited for years to have a cold frame in our garden.  We or should I say Jon has had many ideas to make this happen, yet it just didn't see to happen.  Now we can check it off our list. 

Jon decided to use an existing garden bed and built on top.  Simple!  So there you go.  I have some Butterhead lettuce growing currently and Chapin helped me add Kale, Chard, more Butterhead, Dandelion Greens, Romaine and some beets.  Excited to experience this process.  Now just need to get the garlic in before it gets too cold!!!

  

 

A Whole Lot of Fall

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We have been enjoying our lovely fall weather.  So much to do around here to prepare for winter…Firewood, fall garden duties, hiking the beautiful Blue Ridge, naps with James & Charles, caretaking James as he became very ill, and staying put for two days as hurricane Sandy hit. 

We are always so thankful when we take a hike in our back yard mountains.   It reminds of the beauty and openness that we live in.  This year, particular, the fall colors were beautiful…The best yet since we arrived in Virginia. 

Then “sweet baby” James our 15 year old cat had some issues that landed him in the vet hospital for 2 days.  We finally decided just to take him home as we didn’t see much improvement with him.  We kept up with meds for 10 day and then just let him be.  He was looking pretty rough after not eating or drinking for over 2 weeks and then he decided to turn the corner and get better.  We are very grateful he made this choice!  We new he was more like himself last week when he caught a mouse. 

The latest excitement was Hurricane Sandy.  After being assailed by three days of news warnings we were fortunate to be missed by the brunt of the storm.  We only had one windy night and no damage, plenty of rain fell, the pond overflowed as it does, and the river came up over the road just long enough for Chapin and Jon to get out and enjoy the ‘car free’ bike path typically known as ‘River Road’.