Rites of Fall on Our Farm

The trees get naked!

So glad those are leaves covering the ground and driveway, and not snow!

Bill brings in trees he cut down in the timber.

Chain Saw Man cuts these trees into much smaller pieces then runs those through the log splitter so they will fit in the wood furnace. Cricket does her part to help haul the split wood to the house.

Here's June's Junque last spring...

...and here's June's Junque now.

Without pretty flowers, June's Junque looks, well, junky! We'll empty the containers and store those and the yard art until next spring. Then the junk will once again become junque!

No, Chicken Little, the sky is not falling. The hedge apples are dropping.

Hedge apples, also known as hedge balls, litter the ground in the yard and timber. These greenish-yellow bumpy balls are the fruit of the Osage orange tree, and plummet to the ground in the fall. On a recent walk through the timber, I was startled by a loud PLOP on the ground beside me. I had narrowly missed being concussed by a large hedge apple! Does anyone know why hedge apples come from Osage orange trees? Seems like "apples to oranges" to me! OK, I couldn't resist! 

Hedge apples are potentially hazardous for cattle. If a cow swallows one without chewing it, the apple can become lodged in the throat, suffocating her; or lodged in the esophagus so she can't swallow or burp, causing her to bloat and die. The latter happened on our farm last year.

Some people believe scattering hedge apples around the house foundation repels spiders. When I was a kid, my parents put hedge apples in the basement to repel crickets. Though some people swear this works, most sources I checked consider there is insufficient scientific evidence to support it. But, hey, if you think it works, by all means do it. It's harmless and doesn't expose you and your family to pesticides.

Hedge apples also provide a pop of bright green to arrangements containing gourds, pumpkins and fall foliage. I've created displays in an antique wooden dough bowl. Very autumn-ish!

And the final rite of fall on our farm...

The cattle go south for the winter.

Next up..."Bon Voyage Until Next Spring!"