But not to all of us. Some of us get to lay about in the sun and play.
While the rest of us work.
More walnuts, I will dry them for cakes. Walnuts are very high in protein.
First though, it is important to take the hull off so they don’t go moldy. Then I will hang them in a string bag to dry for a few months. The pigs have been enjoying them as a snack, and have black snouts which is an alarming look for a pig.
The Daily View is changing its colour chart, muting and leaching, we are slowly slipping off the edge into the cold. I am not a creature of the cold. When I start to shiver – I really shiver. I like the boots and the tights and the big coats and layers, but I do prefer the heat. The heat of the sun. When I ran out to the Wendy House for firewood this morning, wearing only my nightie and slippers, the grass was crisp with frost, as I descended the stairs at a brisk clip, the cold rose up around my legs like stepping into frozen leggings. It was a fast trip.
Today I shall begin to pile the firewood up on the verandah, so I have a stash close at hand for the mornings. The cold is coming.
Now, this has to be my favourite picture from yesterday. Alarming cuteness.
When The Marmalade Cat sees me he cries and cries for milk, when he sees Boo he quietens. As long as I write quietly, with my legs pulled up and tucked up under me out of reach so he forgets I am here, all is calm.
It is 27F (-3C). I brought all the herbs in their big pots inside last night (I really must get on with that recycled glasshouse) though I stupidly forgot to pick the rest of the pears but they should be alright. I will get them today.
I hope you all have a lovely day. They are forecasting rain with snow mixed in later this afternoon. What a ridiculous weather forecast!
Your friend, celi
ps.. What was happening a year ago today ?
AND two years ago I was telling stories!
The Kitchen's Garden 
111 responses to “And so the cold comes..”
-3 in October? I will stop complaining about the cool grey and wet days we are having in London! Love the pictures of Boo and his little charge.
Poor Boo…. 🙂 That 3rd pic is adorable…the weight of responsibility! What a great pup you have Celi! Marmalade is part of the pack…most definitely! LOL That last pic of Boo and child is beautiful…it’s my favorite!
I have never seen walnuts in their hulls…remind me of chestnuts without the spikes! Oh how I miss chestnuts!!!! Mmmmm….I’ll bet yours taste far better than the ones we get in a bag! I need to get a new dehydrator. Mines on it’s last leg. My son has an excaliber and loves it. So I will probably get one of these. Dehydrating takes less space, very convenient.
The pigs must look hilarious with their black snouts! Would look even more alarming if they were eating mulberries! Ha! 😀
Cold…hmmmm…I wish we were slowly slipping off the edge into cold. I feel like here in ND we got smacked in the face with it! Yikes! Brrrr….back to the freezing cold walk to the mailbox. Ours is a hike from the house. Love the walk in the warmer months. But not in the winter when that wind is blowing!
I remember when I was a kid back east and my grandparent’s house had those old big cast iron steam radiators! Oh the glorious heat that came off them! I would put my mittens on them to dry in the winter and they were dry lickety split! Personally, I think they were the best for heating a house! Loved it when they whistled and let loose that steam! These modern heating systems are not anywhere as comfy cozy.
Warmed up a bit it’s 30 F so far this morning. Dry and the sun is getting up! Slowly like it isn’t really crazy about the idea! LOL
Kevin is leaving to go work the fields and I am working on my squash and pumpkins again today.
I hope your pears are alright!!!! I love pears! Waiting for the day that my Clapps Favorite has pears! Oh and I forgot to tell you that I also have a Wolf River apple tree that I planted a couple of years ago! It is an heirloom from Wisconsin and I am really excited about the size and options of these apples! Can’t wait! 😀
What kind of walnut tree do you have? I would love to plant one if it will survive out here! I have to buy substantial trees so they make it through the first few winters. Then I am usually home free and play the waiting game. I am patient! 😉
I had to laugh when you mentioned running out in the cold in your nightie and slippers! Guilty here! Kevin always says…”One of these days you are going to get caught!” Ha! Not yet!
Take care! (((hugs)))
I really love these sweet Marmalade and Boo photos. Precious! We have a walnut tree too, but I’ve never known what to do with the harvest. I also have access to walnuts in the country as well. I have not found a facility that will crack them. Maybe you can post about this… I have no clue what to do with them!
Nor do I! We will see what happens next, but after these comments i am definitely going to be running them over with my cooking oil car.. c
“, the cold rose up around my legs like stepping into frozen leggings” What a perfect description. Nicely said.
(One nice thing about being in a rural area- you can slip out without being street-ready dressed.
Snow – oh, my. We have a front about to come through. The dog has been wild with the wind for days. While the grass grew well during the hot months, I think Molly’s large paws will claw it all up with her wild winter racing.
Your Boo and Marmalade are adorable (no blog for them – Book!).
Hope there’s a suny spot to warm you
Oh god, I do those mad dashes across the lawn to close or open the front gate or grab eggs from the farmer across the road, (England). Then I wonder what the heck I was thinking when I have to jump back into bed to warm myself up and my feet turn to icy kippers what just never get warm for the rest of the day! Ok, what are we like?
I live in my Uggs all winter long!!!! They were worth every penny! Those Aussies and their Uggs! Brilliant! 😀
I so enjoy reading through the seasons here. It’s a transition that’s greatly missed here on the West coast. Sometimes we forget which end is up.
My son lives in California and they are in the 70’s and 80’s, this is such a BIG country.. c
Northern California in the SF Bay Area has the best weather!!! NO MOSQUITOES!!!! I loved living there! Alas, I fell in love with a farmer and here I am in North Dakota! 😉
Love it here too, but would be much happier if there were no mosquitoes!!! LOL
I’m in Southern California, too, and we’re pretending to have autumn because it goes allll the way down to 50F (10C) at night. Originally from Ohio and Michigan, my sister and I took a nostalgia trip back last week to recapture the scents and sights of autumn, then scurried back to our beach towns.
I love that Bad Boy Boo has been so thoroughly tamed by his kitten!
ah beaches, i would be scurrying back too.. c
I saw the snow forecast last Sunday and have tried to ignore it. Here our ground is still too warm for any of it to linger but it will be a shock to see, nonetheless. I guess I’ll have to retire my shorts and wear long pants — at least for today. I’m just not ready to fully surrender yet. 🙂
Have a great day, Celi. Stay warm.
I agree, it seems to have suddenly zoomed to winter, but Our john says it will warm up again, a wee bit anyway.. c
When I was in college, the house next to mine had a huge black walnut tree in the front yard — it’s branches reached over my driveway. Every year, at the first frost, it dropped all its nuts and leaves, covering my little car. The squirrels went nuts, ‘scuse the pun, and we had black walnut stains on the driveway for weeks.
When my dad saw the tree, he explained that it was really old, because it was so big, and walnut trees grew very slowly.
Thanks C for that memory.
Morning susan, they do grow slowly and i still intend to plant a walnut grove for the future generations who will inherit this land. However my little tree is only 6 years old and already has nuts so imagine how big it will be in twenty years! But nuts bouncing off your wee car does not sound so good! c
Oh that is good news!!! I will look into this! I have a squirrel I feed every winter and he would be soooo happy! 🙂
Same weather forecast here for NW Indiana – brrrrrr! I brought in my two big houseplants too. The cat would chew the tops off if I didn’t put them up high. Some spitting snow forecast for tonight! Double brrr!
Spitting Snow! I love that line.. morning annie.. c
Mornin’ to you! 🙂
Very hot and dry here again in Northern NSW – we are in the middle of a long dry spell. Down around Sydney they have huge bush fires raging with many homes gone and mass evacuations. Fire fighters arriving from all over the country, including overseas and from “across the ditch” (New Zealand) to help. To think we were complaining about the rain a few months ago. Mother Nature certainly keeps us on our toes. The last photo of Boo and Puss is just too cute for words. Joy
It looks to me as though you are going to have a very interesting summer.. you have quite a bit of bush at the bottom of your garden too if i remember rightly, hope there are no fires up your way. We should do the view from the back door again don’t you think? With ours in autumn and yours in spring.. c
No fires up our way as yet but it would only take one little spark. Plenty of water in the dams but not much food for the wildlife. Koala food trees do not have the usual moisture content in the leaf. The last back door view was green and lush – a bit different right now. Joy
Might be an interesting comparison too! Koalas, what extraordinary little bears.. c
Another back door view would be interesting. 🙂 No fires our way as yet but it would only take one small spark to go. Our dams still have plenty of water which, apart from helping fight a local fire, is a local gathering point for wildlife with little food on the ground. Even koala trees have less moisture in the leaf than usual. Joy
Hello Joy, a small world, I’m also in northern NSW…..although technically Far northern, in Murwillumbah. I hear there’s fire warnings out for this area for summer too, everything is so hot and dry. Seems funny to hear people talk of snow and frost.
We live on a ridge on the Kyogle-Murwillumbah Road so about 50k away from you. What excellent taste you have in blogs. My lovely neighbour is also a member of the farmy community – Red Box Gal. Pleased to meet you. Joy
Would rather have the cold than this awful rain we have here in Nottingham at the moment but the trees will look glorious in a few more days when the majority have changed into their autumnal shades. The kitten is so so adorable.
Good morning! I absolutely ADORE the dog and kitten photos. Marvelous. We woke up to snow here in SW Minnesota today. It won’t stay long, but certainly serves as a reminder of what is to come! We have 5 black walnut trees, too – and I do not find them to be very pleasant to deal with – all that blackness to get them out of the husk. And then you still have to shell them! Do you roast them, or just dry them as you described?
Okay…if they grow in MN they will grow here. Thanks! 🙂
They grow quite nicely, yes! Takes a lot of years, though, I think…
I planted two Linden trees in my backyard and they are slow growers too, but they are finally looking pretty good! My Autumn Blaze Maples shot up way past them!
Apricots grew really fast as well! And cherry trees grew fast too. The nurseries will provide a nice sized tree which will give me a good start! I would grow a forest if I could! All trees that make food!!! 😀 Then the deer would stop pawing up my squash and maybe leave my corn alone…. Ya think? Huge grin! 😀
It’s worth a try. 🙂 Those darn deer can be the scurge of a gardener’s life!
With regular walnuts i just dried them, I have never even eaten black walnuts before, so we will have to see! But i cannot bear to waste them..
I sure wouldn’t! I think you are lucky to have them! Can’t wait to hear if they are good to eat or feed my squirrel! He used to have a mate, but I don’t know what happened to her. Sure hope he finds another gal to love and not have to live alone…poor little guy…
I know what you mean – they definitely should not go to waste!
I love the photo of the the two playing and yes the last one is calendar perfect! We have been frozen for sometime now, but the days warm up nicely. I like the warm up nicely part…cold is not I. Nor or short days without much daylight. I need warmth and daylight, of which you understand.
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
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I pray the weather stays gentle for you at the farmy. Today here it is warm (19 Centigrade) and sunny after several days of rain. My daughter left a magazine with me which had umpteen gorgeous recipes using walnuts. I have no walnuts and I’m still not able to cook. I’m fed up with shop biscuits and ready meals. Love that last picture.
Have a good day, ViV xox
I can’t believe how tiny Marmalade is and how darling BooNanny is. Your blog is one of my favorite things each and every day, even on the sad days.
xo