55°f at 7am, 12.8°C. Clear, cool, and dry.
Leaves line the driveway. It looks more like early October than August.
But alas, the tomatoes were a disappointment this year. Where normally we pick 5 bushels in about 30 minutes, this year we struggled to get 3 bushels in an hour. We gave them all to our friend, as we are getting plenty from our gardens.
This drought and the heat were not good for the high tunnels. The tomatoes were much smaller, and many had blight. Still, they were free, and you can't beat that. Our friend will be able to file for disaster relief for crop loss, I think, since the governor has declared us a disaster area.
Our friend grows pumpkins too, a wide variety of specialty types, but the deer ate his plants! He replanted, and, you guessed it, the deer ate them again. Definitely a bad year. He has put up 10-foot high tensile fencing, so at least in future his crops will be better protected from marauding deer.
His farm is a West Virginia Century Farm, meaning it has been in the same family for over 100 years. I snapped a few pics as we left.
In the photo below you can see the high tensile fence.
And on the road that leads to his farm---kind of funny to have a sign like this on a one-lane road.
I was surprised to see that the creek actually had water in it. They must have had more rain than we have had, as Joe's Run is completely dry. It looked so cool and restful.
The power will be off in the morning, so it will be a booth day for us. We are taking this possum belly cabinet in, and putting out fall decor.
If you can believe it, this was given to us by a young couple who had no room for it. We had some repairs to do and pulls to replace, but now it is just so pretty.
Monochrome let's us see different things in an image. I like it.
ReplyDeleteHow high are the deer fences?
And another question...what would be kept in a possum belly cabinet? It is a beautiful piece of furniture
The deer fence is about 10 feet tall, gz. I will add a post about the cabinet, since others may not familiar with them either.
DeleteThanks...the fence looked less in the photo! They are usually about 6 feet tall here, and in places further north they can put markers onto the top wire so the the capercaillie fly over the fence instead of crashing into it.
DeleteCoincidentally, it is also 55 at 7 this morning. Although it's a day later than your post, it was pretty well the same temperature yesterday morning.
ReplyDeleteI think there a lot of century farms in WV. The pictures of your friends' are just beautiful. I had never heard of a possum belly cabinet before and had to look up how it was used. You have a beautiful one there.
ReplyDelete...today many young people have no interest in antiques.
ReplyDeleteGood looking cabinet, for sure! Hope the fence helps with future crops. It's great that there might be some government relief from crop failures due to drought. That kind of help is welcome, even to those who shy away from any government interference in their lives.
ReplyDeleteThat possum belly cabinet looks really beautiful. Will it paint it another colour? It has been really hot over here, so hot that we will have to use a fan (first time this year we use the fan)...but now I can hear it thunders...so we will get some rain soon.
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful table! Sounds like I need to come out to your friends place and thin that deer herd a little bit!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful photos! It's sad that the deer ate some of his crop and the tomatoes weren't as plenty this year. Like you mentioned, at least they were free. You did a wonderful job on the table, it's a beauty.
ReplyDeleteOh Granny Sue, dog gone it I wish that cabinet was mine! My Sissy sold one, one year in her yard sale and wanted $75.00 for it. I passed that up, we are always short on folding money. I have kicked myself ever since because I know that was half price what she was asking everybody else.
ReplyDeleteYep, the auction man got it in with a multiple of other things and only paid pennies on the dollar in the end. Later I saw it on his auction page and it went for lots more money than that!
So I'm thinking West VA does sound like heaven round about now 🤔 with that sitting out to sell.
Happy you got the pickings for your friend. The weather was beastly for lots of folks this year.
Those sure were pretty farm photos. Maybe he'll get the aid and come out alright though in the end. Hope so !
Annie, Ann Austin
Add me to the list of people who had never seen a possum belly cabinet before. It is gorgeous! *repeats 'you don't have room' to self"
ReplyDelete