Mid-November and my deck flowers still bloom.

We harvested small cabbages that grew from stumps we left in the ground two days ago and have been using them as fresh greens.

I sliced up the last of the large cabbages on October 30th. They sat on our dining room table for two weeks, and were still good. I brined them and made another batch of sauerkraut. Michael says it’s the best he’s ever had. This will go into the outside refrigerator to keep company with the pickles. Good thing we still have some kielbasa!

Michael gathered all the green beans we neglected and dried on the vine. I’ve been shelling them out in my spare moments in front of the fire. We will save some to plant next year and will boil up the rest for dinner one of these days.

My furboys keep me company.

Michael picked all the apples in October, but the weather was warm enough to press them on November 8th. We got a new press that uses a bottle jack to push a piston down on the ground up apple mash. The apples were very dry this year and gave us very dark cider. I look forward to trying it after it has fermented. We got 5 gallons, which is more than we thought we’d get, given how the early hail harmed the harvest.

I gathered these shaggy manes from a hillside in town. I was driving to the store on a lightening-fast trip for more wallboard mud on Veterans Day and hesitated about a millisecond before pulling over, hiking back, and picking these lovelies. We had them as a base for duck breasts. Whatever else I was supposed to do took a backseat to cleaning and sautéing the shaggies. They tend to turn black and bitter if left too long.

The very next day I found more oysters on the big elm log. We had those with venison medallions.

We had them with the last of our garden tomatoes. We will have tomatoes canned and dried, but will wait for our garden to gift us more before having them fresh again. The long, dry autumn gave us ripe chiles, a singular event. I am drying them for seed.

Orange and yellow jelly mushrooms. Not edible, but fascinating.

The field mostly grew weeds this year. We need to find a new renter. Even so, I would look up as I cleared out the tomato cages and rolled up fencing and marveled at how the sun makes those weeds shine like gold.

Imogen steals the show again and again. Either that, or she’s easier to photograph than those grands who have learned to run and make good use of that knowledge.

It storms outside as I write this. The sunrise comes late enough to enjoy while drinking coffee. Michael puts the birds to bed at 4 pm, shortly before sunset. We sleep more during this season. Good night.