Fall has begun....

Yes, already, Fall is really upon us! Cooler nights, days not quite as hot, salmon coming up the river like you could only imagine, and our garden is giving to us, in many ways.

To start it off, lets begin on the fishy front. Alex has got the fish bug bad, to say the least. This Fall they are calling for a record run of salmon and we have already seen the start of this. They have increased the flows in the Klamath and Trinity Rivers to support the run and prevent the fish kill that happened a decade ago and nearly killed the entire run that year. In doing this, our warmish late summer river water is gone, but in it's place is a brisk river that is perfect for those beautiful fish my hubby loves to chase. He has already had the pleasure of catching more than a half dozen nice salmon just in the last two weeks...both from his beloved fishing hole up river and...yes...our property!!!!

A real dream come true for him to walk down from our house, with Forrest no less, and land a bright 12 lb salmon in our front yard. We haven't had this opportunity before this year and this is truly awesome in all senses of the word.

He and Forrest put forth the effort to dig out a new trail to this beach from our house and boy oh boy it has paid off. A happy Alex I have to tell ya!

On the garden front, it's been a bit of a slow year. We have a root eating pest that has nailed our peppers, eggplant, basil, and other summer loving veggies. Our personal experts Matt and of course the garden guru Alex are on the problem and we have a solution worked out for next year...but, for this year, we just have to appreciate the wonder of what we do have! And...barter for what we don't. Which includes summer squash...Yes, we've traded salmon for zucchini and eggplant...it's just that kind of year! We are lucky enough to have neighbors with gardens without this pest, so they have filled our void quite nicely.

So, what are we swimming in do you ask? How about melons!

Grandma Gloria and Forrest lap up the sweet melon

Yes, watermelons, canteloupes, and soon to come honeydews are lovely sweet things if I do say so myself.

Also, apples, which we have been slicing and freezing for winter batches of applesauce, apple pie, apple cobbler...yummo. Matt has been helping with that job.

We also canned a couple of dozen jars of tomatoes with our neighbor this last weekend which will be excellent in the coming months...and corn. Beautiful sweet corn, that both boys love to suckle on raw, freshly picked. Strawberries are also doing quite well still and you can also see a very dirty faced Talin picking them himself getting a little snack. There is no shortage of dirt eating in this household I'm sure ;-) And perfect for Fall, perhaps our greatest crop of winter squash and pumpkins are coming along very nicely. No pictures yet but you can bet that we will have some great photo ops soon of those bright orange orbs and our boys for Halloween! They are all great for baking too, which will be delish for pies, bread, squash curry soup, etc.

 And, of course, Fall brings that lovely milder weather that is perfect all day long.

Great for walking, nearly naked if you prefer as these boys do, but not so hot you need to dive in the pool, or river when you return. The leaves are just starting to take on a yellowish hue in higher elevations and nights always get chilly. Very nice indeed...