Out with the old and in with the new.

The past couple of weeks have involved a little bit of change for us. This summer we purchased a gorgeous baby blue 1965 Chevy pickup truck to replace our deteriorating 1973 Dodge Dart. We decided to give the Dart to Chris's brother because we knew he would really enjoy it. So a couple of weekends ago we drove it down to Maize, Kansas where his family lives. It was sad to see it go. I really loved that car and had lots of wonderful memories taking road trips in it and cruising around town.

Those are tuberose bulbs that I pulled up for next year's planting.

The other big change I have mentioned before--this weekend Chris completed my new garden fence! It looks so great. My husband is so handy and determined. It's an inspiration to watch him work on a project.

The handyman at work. The upper garden will get a new fence in the spring. This lower garden will be getting raised beds in the next few weeks.

The juniper bushes in the front yard received a lot of trimming and everything in the garden was pulled up.

Today I spontaneously decided to climb this tree! I felt like I was in 4th grade all over again. This tree is in our front yard and is an incredible presence.

More evidence of the juniper bush trimming. We're going to have to have people over for a bonfire before it gets too cold!

And finally, the view from the living room. I often look out and see Chris hard at work in the yard. He makes me so proud!

There's a chill in the air.

Happy autumn! As the days get shorter and colder it seems as though my to-do list gets longer. There is a lot of yard work to do to wrap up the season. The biggest project of all is the new fence around the garden that Chris is building for me. While he worked on that this weekend I cleaned out the pond and put a net over it to keep the leaves out. The pond is so clear. I bet our 5 fish and 1 frog are very happy. I also cut down the okra, raked some leaves, and cut back some perennials. Oh yeah, and we had a few fires in the fireplace. Ooh winter, how I look forward to you but please wait until I check everything off of my to-do list.

I found this little guy while I was raking.

We had to rent an auger from the hardware store to dig the post holes.

Here's a glimpse of what the finished fence will look like. I'm excited!

Bailing water out of the stinky pond.

Clean pond, happy fish, net in place!

I just had to show you this plant. I bought a few sprigs of it at the farmer's market. I think it's fascinating! It's a kind of milkweed.

The Robert Miller Home

My favorite professor in college, Dennis Dailey, held a tour of his home last weekend. It's not just any home either. It's the only house on record in Lawrence to be part of both the Underground Railroad and Quantrill's Raid. The Lawrence Preservation Alliance, of which my husband recently became a board member, sponsored this event at the Robert Miller Home which was built in 1858. Not only has this house been preserved in its original form, but Dennis and his wife have the most incredible collections of time appropriate Kansas paraphernalia. They have tons of framed black and white photos from the late 1800s, a gorgeous Native American beadwork collection and plenty of Jayhawks from all time periods. Many of the collectables were framed with explanations better than many museums I've been to.

This 100 year old barn sits behind the house.

The house sits on 5 acres of land.

An outhouse!

The original builder etched his name and date in 3 bricks on the side of the house, Matthew Shaw, 1859.

Sweat.

The sweat lodge (also called purification ceremony, sweat house, medicine lodge, medicine house, or simply sweat) is a ceremonial sauna and is an important event in some North American First Nations or Native American cultures. There are several styles of sweat lodges that include a domed or oblong hut similar to a wickiup, or even a simple hole dug into the ground and covered with planks or tree trunks. Stones are typically heated in an exterior fire^[1] and then placed in a central pit in the ground. (from Wikipedia)

My best friend, Josh, built a sweat lodge for his birthday and invited Chris and I over to participate. It was a beautiful, crisp night. In total, we were probably in the hut for an hour, getting out every 20 minutes or so to give ourselves a break from the heat. In the description above it doesn't mention that you pour water over the hot rocks in order to create a lot of steam. It gets incredibly hot in there and is extremely purifying. Afterwards we lounged around and ate a healthy meal. It was a wonderful evening. Thank you Josh!

Josh built the frame of the hut out of willow branches.

There were 12 river rocks in the fire getting nice and hot.

Josh put mats down for us to sit on.

You cover the frame with tons of blankets which keeps the heat and steam in.

Say cheese!

I have this awesome book called Wild Fermentation by Sandor Ellix Katz and it has many recipes for all things fermented. There's everything from sourdough bread to sauerkraut to wine. I found a recipe in the book for Farmer Cheese and thought I'd give it a go. It was quite easy actually and has encouraged me to explore other recipes in this fabulous book.

First you slow boil a gallon of whole milk. You then take it off the heat and slowly stir in some vinegar. The milk quickly curdles.

You strain off the excess liquid.

You salt it and then add herbs. I added herbes de provence because it's my favorite. I put it on almost everything.

You pull up the corners of the cheesecloth and squeeze out the liquid.

Then I put it between two cutting boards and weighted the top one down. This really squeezes out the excess moisture.

Voila! Homemade cheese!

The Sphinx.

The other day I had a very special encounter with a Striped Morning Sphinx Moth. At first I thought it was a hummingbird because it was that big! I was doing some investigating about them and what do you know? They are also called Hummingbird Moths. It hovered around my flowers for a solid 20 minutes so that I could get a really good look at it. What a special treat!

I'm not sure what these flowers are, but they are everywhere in my yard. Probably a weed.

Things are definitely coming to a close in the yard as we drift closer to winter. I'm resistant to start tearing things out of the garden although we did dig up the tomato bushes. There is so much to do before the first frost! I have to plant garlic, winterize the pond and the rain barrel, cut back the perennials, dig up bulbs and we want to redesign the garden so that it has a wooden fence. There are just not enough hours in the day!

Can you believe how tall the okra plants are? It's really hard to harvest them. I have to grab a lower branch and pull the top down towards me like I'm loading a catapult. It's a pretty funny sight.

Chris painted these birdhouses. I love them. I think they add a nice splash of color to the yard.

This is all the tomatoes we picked before we tore the plants out. This seems like the right time to learn how to make fried green tomatoes.