Posts Tagged ‘autumn’
harvesting herbs
The colder nights have arrived and I have decided it is time to harvest my herbs.
~
I have a lot of parsley in my deck garden. All summer, I have snacked every day on the leaves, loving the taste, the fresh air feeling that is the result.
~
~
I enjoyed the harvest as well. With scissors, I cut the parsley leaves just below the branching of stems.
~
~
I checked each set of leaves for bugs but the parsley is remarkably bug-free.
~
~
I harvested into my colander, washed the leaves and set them to air-dry. Once the leaves are dry, I will load them into my drier, a Salton VitaPro. In a drying time of about three hours, I will have enough parsley for winter cooking.
~
I have followed a similar process with my basil. Everything around me smells really good!!
~
Hope you are enjoying your own produce if you are lucky enough to have a garden.
Enjoy your day.
Stay safe.
Do. Not. Get. Covid. Fatigue!
All my best,
Jane
colour: solemn, sombre
October in New Brunswick is an explosion of colour. However, as the red and orange leaves fall, browns and yellows begin to dominate the landscape.
~
View of Nerepis marsh looking south. The ferry is crossing the river, barely visible in the mist.
~
Colour variety in the marsh grasses.
~
Hay-scented fern adds yellows and browns to the ditches.
~
solemn, sombre
~
walked out to see you
once again as you
lay dying, somber
the soft light, marsh grass
leaning in the rain
autumn colour fades
tones solemn, ochre
of poplar and birch,
straw-pale, hay-scented
fern, Solidago
and tansy, shadows
in the ditch, the heads
of Typha
burst to seed
~
~
Copyright Jane Tims 2019
~
Best wishes everyone!
Jane
red, red, red
Autumn, no doubt about it. When I go outside, I see red everywhere. The red of the leaves of red maple, many already on the ground. The red of the lily-of-the-valley berries. The red of the crab apples on our little tree at the end of the walkway. The red hips on the rose bush beside the driveway. Red, red, red.
~
~
~
~
~
~
red, red, red
~
each rose hip edge
an ellipse to complete
the curve of rambling canes
berries red, mellow to orange
the white shine, highlight, tipped
with the black remains of blossom,
once pink, now vermillion of vermis,
cinnabar, poisonous, mercuric, toxic
lily-of-the-valley, raceme of berries
dangle, vivid crimson blush, bright
spot on fevered cheeks, the child
thought the berries good to eat
scarlet sigillatus, decorated
small images, pixilations
of woman with camera
limps to reach third
red, ruby, purple
red crabapples
in bunches
hanging
in rain
~
~
Copyright Jane Tims 2019
All my best,
Jane
a gulp of swallows
The days are warm and humid. The nights offer compensating cool. The gardens are full of produce and, yesterday, we made our first stop at a roadside stand to get apples. People say “feels like fall.” On the weather channel they call this “hurricane season.” We turn the calendar on the kitchen wall to September.
~
Fall is a month away, but the birds know the time of year. They flock with a sense of urgency, even desperation.
~
A flock of swallows is called a ‘flight’ or a ‘gulp.’
~
~
~
~
gulp
~
barn swallow (Hirundo rustica)
~
Flight of swallows
against blue sky
gapes, as thousands
thicken cables,
telephone lines,
weather reports,
gossip. Feels like
fall. Birds follow
clues of day length,
temperature,
scarcity of food.
Gulp of swallows
expands, contains
every straggler.
~
~
Copyright Jane Tims 2019
~
All my best,
Jane
red, red, red
October and autumn are upon us. I took a walk around our yard this morning and although my camera was not behaving (I bear no responsibility), I can show you some of the ‘reds’ I saw.
~
the red of maple leaves turning colour (I always think they look like stained glass) …
~
the red of the berries on our rose bush …
the red of the berries of lily-of-the-valley …
the red of the tiny apples in our flowering crab …
the red of the Virginia Creeper leaves …
Copyright Jane Tims 2017
so many kinds of apples
October 24, 2016 ‘yellow transparent’ Jane Tims
~
orchard outing
~
wooden bushel baskets
of laughter, delirious tumble down
the avenue of trees, shadows ripple
among the dapples, Cortlands tied
with scarlet ribbons
burdened
boughs
~
my son grown tall
on his father’s shoulders
stretches to pick the McIntosh
with the reddest shine
small hand
barely able
to grip the apple
~
~
Published: ‘within easy reach’, Chapel Street Editions, 2016
Copyright Jane Tims 2016
yard work – the grape harvest
We had a frost on October 4 and today, I harvested my grapes. You will imagine tubs of ripe fruit, hands stained purple and a row of grape jelly jars on the counter.
~
my grapes, wandering about in the birch tree
~
But my grape harvest is a bit small. However after ten years, this is the first ‘harvest’ from this vine so I am quite proud! No jelly though. I ate the lot of them, sitting in the yard, admiring the autumn leaves. They were juicy, sweet and delicious.
~
the entire harvest!
~
~
Copyright 2016 Jane Tims
a moment of beautiful – autumn leaves
~
~
~
Like stained glass against the sky!
~
~
Copyright Jane Tims 2016
yard work – winter wood
Another beautiful fall day. Today I helped my husband cut up the last of two birch trees he had felled earlier in September. Then I piled the wood in our new wood rack. Give it a chance to dry and it will be ready for splitting and burning next winter.
~
~
~
Copyright Jane Tims 2016
getting ready for fall – choke-cherries
I have finished the final painting in the group for my sale in November. The last one is titled ‘within easy reach’, the title of my book and the first poem in the book! The painting is done in acrylics, 8″ X 16″, gallery edges, with Ultramarine blue, Cadmium red, Cadmium yellow, Burnt sienna and Titanium white.
~
Choke-cherry is a large weedy shrub, found along roadways, at the edge of fields and woods, and in barrens and lakeside thickets. The dark red berries occur in drooping clusters. They are very sour but are used to make jelly and wine. When the choke-cherries are ripe, all you have to do is reach up and your pail will fill to overflowing!
~
August 30, 2016 ‘within easy reach’ Jane Tims
~
within easy reach
~
Choke-cherry (Prunus virginiana L.)
~
Choke-cherries flow
into pail, sunlight
into winter, glint
of ripening by fireside
and flame, a taste
of dry wine, cherry-laden
and summer within
easy reach, berries
by the handful, ice-pellets
against the glass
~
~
within easy reach, Chapel Street Editions, 2016
Copyright Jane Tims 2016
nichepoetryandprose 