As the growing season came to a close and the frosty autumn whispers of October foreshadowed the changing of the seasons we harvested the last of our cut flowers and lingering root crops in the warm afternoon skies and adorned our homestead with the late seasons offerings.
Unfortunately, with the autumn whispers came some cold season bugs that hampered our much anticipated date night to Portsmouth to see Bob James. I was able to escape the infirmary with no present symptoms while Cassi and Hazel took a relaxing night to heal up while I appreciated the front row seat, but sadly had to attend by my lonesome!
Another great night of music and a real treat to finally get to see the man behind so many great albums that have been a mainstay in the RootCellar Vinyl Library for many years. At 84yrs old Bob James didn't miss a note and the talented musicians he surrounded himself with added much layer, depth and energy to the mix!
.
Bob James (keys) James Adkins (drums) Michael Palazzolo (bass) Andrey Chmut (saxophone)
Returning to the homestead as the autumn whispers grew louder, shaking the leaves from the Maples and Oaks as the Beech trees clung to their yellow tears. There was no denying it was getting close to party time as the garden fell deeper into the winters grasp and corn stalks, carved pumpkins and spiderwebs loomed over the madness of an upcoming 8yr olds Halloween Bash/ Birthday Spooktacular!
The mums were in full glory as the round gourds got stacked, hay bales appeared, the firewood split and the leaves added to the woodland compost pile!
BooPops were made, my playlist got filled with haunting blues music and twangy shrieks of ghosts, ghouls and goblins.
Another successful party thanks to impeccable planning, great weather and of course a lot of help from a well organized Mother and a grateful kiddo that makes having 28 little kiddos climbing over every acre of the homestead worth it!
After that event was a much needed moment of calm.
Milkweed Still Life.
Amanita Still Life.
Wine Caps.
Our shiitake logs really came alive in the final days of October after a much needed rainstorm and some manual log soaking.
Pounds and pounds made thier way onto our dinner plates just as the gardens final offerings started to dissolve into jars and compost heaps.
The outdoor projects became less time consuming and allowed me sometime to assess our cellar projects. One of which was an ominous stack of wines, ciders and elixirs that I have been making for the past 10years and sharing with various guests and comrades in the wine & beer trade.
I decided with the holidays approaching and extra space not on my side that it was due time to let some of these ferments out into the wild. I meticulously pulled a sample of each bottle and analyzed if I felt good about the final product. Mostly I was pleased though a few cases did end up as vinegar projects and compost enhancers!
After the first step of quality control I took stock of the supply and worked on labels for all the bottles I had available.
Cases were made up, bottles were labels and emails and texts were sent to all my friends that have supported or shown appreciation for sipping some of these in the past!
To learn more about what these offerings are and how they were constructed please check out the FERMENTZ page. A big shout out to all those who snatched up the cases in record time! It's hard for me to put myself out there, honestly I would rather just continue updating this blog as a journal of our homesteading journeys and never really promote it, but keeping records of when and where things have meandered through this world of the LocalRootZ Project has proven helpful in recalling successes and failures. That being said the donations received have encouraged me to move forward with my curiosities and passions in fermenting and now allow me to dabble into the world of barrel aging and spirit manifesting!
Speaking of spirit manifesting, we FINALLY got another date night and once again Jimmys in Portsmouth was the spot for a night of Colemine All Stars!
PARLOR GREENS kicked off the night with Jimmy James (Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio) on guitar, with Adam Scone (Sugarman 3, Scone Cash Players) on Organ and Tim Carman (GA-20) on drums.
Another front row table with a nice few nice pours from the whiskey list and a much needed evening away from the homestead with just Cassi and I.
As the night heated up, Kelly Finnigan took the stage as Jimmy James stayed plugged in and was accompanied by the Ironsides brothers on bass & rhythm guitar along with horns and back up singers to fill out the stage with a scorching set of soulful music to fill our cups!
Kelly always brings it and lays out everything he has on stage!
So grateful to be able to see this show in all its entirety, especially when shared with my number one.
Cassi is maybe a bigger Kelly Finnigan fan than myself :)
Thanks for stopping in as always. Winter has been knocking on the doorstep with flurries flying and bells jingling. Stay tuned for a Holiday post with big dreams and aspirations moving into 2025!
Squirrel Carvings.
