Yellow Leaves

On my walk with the roosters last week, I observed all the leaves changing color. We have so many trees out here, but it seems like the majority of them turn yellow in the fall. There is some brilliant red here and there, but what stands out the most to me is the bright golden color so prevalent in the woods.

I just love how the yellow pops behind the red rooster coop and think the colors look so beautiful together (Duchess likes to sneak into the little run when she sees me).

The color reached its peak out here about a week ago, then we had a storm that blew a bunch of the leaves off the trees so we didn't get to enjoy the color for too long. But I'm always grateful for the moments of beauty that I am able to witness in the woods. I just love seeing the transformation each year and know I will never tire of it!

~Tammy

Shared with Maple Hill Hop 

Feathered Friend Friday: Rooster Parade

Welcome to our "Feathered Friend Friday" series. Each Friday I write a post with interesting facts, photos, or funny stories about our chickens and guineas. If you need to catch up, you'll find all the Feathered Friend Friday posts here.   

I wrote about our young roosters' antics a couple weeks ago, but I have to dedicate another FFF to them today because they continue to amuse me and I can't stop snapping photos of them!

As soon as they hear me come out the back door, they run to meet me as fast as their legs will carry them. They hope I'll have a treat for them (which I usually do), but if I don't have any treats they will just follow me around for a while, stopping every five seconds to belt out a nice loud crow.

As I walked around our property yesterday evening with my camera to see all the leaves that were turning, they joined me on my trek. It was like my own rooster parade and I was the grand marshal. Everywhere I went, they trotted along behind and kept me company. I can't imagine a better end to my day.

Wait for meeee!

~Tammy

Shared with From the Farm Blog Hop 

Pumpkin Carving

We've been harvesting pumpkins around here since August, so we have racked up quite the count. I think in all, we were able to grow over 20 pumpkins this year! I kind of lost count a while back after we shared some with friends and family. Our pumpkin luck afforded us the luxury to simply grab a couple pumpkins off our front porch to carve earlier this week.

David chose one of the warty ones, and I chose one that looked easy to carve because my skills are lacking somewhat. I began carving out my classic design on my pumpkin when I noticed David was taking a much different direction with his.

A little crazy, right? He used one of our smaller butternut squash with the stem pointed out to act as the nose for the poor little guy in the big pumpkin's mouth. Then he had the idea to add some screws to the final product to complete the look.

Mine is very tame in comparison! Here they are side by side.

Did you carve pumpkins this year? I'd love to hear how yours turned out.

Happy Halloween!

~Tammy

PS - Don't forget to visit Daisy, Staci and Sue today for their posts in the Homemade Living series. Next week I will share my post along with Mary and Jackie. 

Here's To David

I have to take a break from regularly scheduled homesteading posts to brag on David a little.

On top of all the things he does for our homestead, in his day job he is a band teacher at a small rural school in our area and has done such amazing things with the marching band. They just finished their season last weekend and racked up over 20 trophies in their competitions this year! David made a deal with his kids that if they got 1st place at each competition, he would shave his beard. They came so close with getting 1st place in their first five competitions, but in the final one this past weekend they came in 2nd place. So the beard is safe...for now.

His school is basically the only one in his class size that puts on marching field shows at a competitive level. Most smaller schools who don't have football only participate in parade competitions. But David loves marching band so much that he challenges his kids to put on great shows every year, even though he doesn't have to. They could just do a couple of parade competitions, but David and the kids put in so much work starting early in the summer to get a fabulous show on the field. David pushes them to perform difficult music and complicated marching maneuvers, and somehow they pull it all off.

I see firsthand all the blood, sweat, and tears David puts into his job and I couldn't be more proud of him. We actually met in high school marching band ourselves, so band holds a special place in our hearts. Going to marching band competitions with him always makes me sentimental and I remember back when we were just beginning our relationship. I still get the same feeling I did back then when we cuddle together under a blanket on the bleachers now, waiting for the awards ceremony to begin. 13 years together and he still gives me butterflies.

Do you have a significant other you are incredibly proud of?

~Tammy