Photo by Nancy Jane Kern

LOOKING OUT AT THE BEAUTIFUL LEAVES and sunny blue skies that characterize this time of year makes me very happy. I love this time of year and even the rain is enjoyed as it papers the falling leaves to my yard and drive. Each season offers its own beauty and special times, but October and fall is the best. As a young child my family ran and played with abandon on the ground and under beautiful maple trees of orange and golden leaves. We piled the crunchy brown fallen leaves up and took turns burying each other and rolling around in them. I also remember how I helped my grandfather pack the leaves against the old farmhouse foundation and placed boards on top to hold them in place. Those leaves made good insulation against the winter cold.

It also brought back the smell of fall. I would grab my horse after school, put on his bridle and take off riding bareback. I loved the smell of the horse and all the smells of damp leaves, trees, and forest floor. I am not sure why, but the woods smell different in fall and I like it. My horse loved these rides too and the cool air made him frisky and his winter coat of thick hair helped keep me warm. Read more…

These grubs are larval stage of beetles common to this region and the writer’s lawn. Photo by David Chinery

 ALL I WANTED was some new photos for my lawn talk, but I got a bit more than that. Since my pictures of looking in a lawn for grubs date back to the film era, I headed into the backyard with my digital camera to get some new-century shots. Scouting for grubs involves cutting out a one square foot section of turf, turning it over, and pawing through the soil in search of larvae. Due to the droughty summer and my weedy lawn, I wasn’t expecting much, but a grub soon appeared; then more, and still more. I stopped looking and counting after I had 13 Japanese beetle grubs writhing in a yogurt cup. While a few grubs are of little concern, over eight per square foot can cause serious damage. Lawns with high grub populations can turn to barren fields by spring. This excited my inner entomologist while nauseating the horticulturist.

If you’ve somehow gotten this far in life and don’t know grubs, here’s the scoop. Grubs are the larval stage of beetles, including Japanese beetles, Oriental beetles, and European chafers, the three most popular characters in the Capital District. The adult mom beetles lay eggs in August, which quickly hatch into grubs. The grubs are white, C-shaped, have six legs on the front end, and a brown head capsule. They voraciously devour the roots of grass plants. They survive winter underground, eat a little more in the spring, pupate, then emerge as the next generation of beetles in late June or early July. Read more…

Juicy apples. Photo by Nancy Jane Kern

AN APPLE FROM THE OLD TREE down the hill from my house was a reminder of preparations that used to be made for winter. Grandfather took us around the farm this time of year to collect apples before the deer and other wildlife ate them. He would back the old pickup truck up to a tree and we kids went up it to shake out the apples into the truck. Gramp had lived on this family farm since the 1880s and knew how all the apples on various trees tasted and which ones combined to make a tasty cider. They were definitely organically grown and occasionally wormy. If we asked about the worms, the answer was “if the worm can live in it, it’s good for you too…. Besides, they’re good protein.”

We drove to different apple trees in different hedgerows until we had enough to go to Barton’s Mill near Martindale. This was fascinating. Mr. Barton was a character and ran a real water-powered mill from the large stream that ran into the mill pond out back. Inside there seemed to be gears, levers and belts everywhere. A whole series of processes started with shoveling out the apples from the truck bed for the grinder. The chopped, unwashed apples and leaves went into an old brown burlap lined wooden box that went under the press. Eventually by creaking gears and unknown magic a vat somewhere was filled.

Mr. Barton then filled the gallon glass jugs plus the small hard cider keg. This had been prepared by filling it with water plus a handful of gravel, plugging the bunghole, and rolling it around the yard. This was all rinsed out and the primitive scouring did a good job. Enough apples were left in trade to cover the cost of the pressing, and that fresh cider was nectar! Read more…