Another catch-up post - most of October!

More butternut squash and Brussel Sprouts.

I picked most of the brussel sprouts and squash this weekend.  They look pretty good!  All told I think I got around 3 quarts of brussel sprouts frozen and about 3+ bushel of squash!  

There are a lot of them, but they aren't as big and nice as they should be - they late drought didnt help matters.

Visit from a long time friend - deer hunting

A friend of mine that I have known since elementary school reconnected with me and came for a couple days on the farm. He brought his own camper to shake out the mothballs for some fall camping trips he is planning on.  We got to talking about deer hunting and now I am really focused on getting some deer!  I took the hunting certification course (got my card even) and purchased a PA hunting license for rifle & bow hunting deer (and turkey - its included for some reason).  Anyway, I set up some game cams around the property to see what I could find.

Mostly just doe and yearlings out there 

But I did capture this shot from in the hollow next to the house.  Damn early bird bucks!

Anyway, back to harvesting and fall farm activities, for a bit

Harvested the last of the tomatoes (from the plants that I planted).  

They look a little bit rough - but for this time of year they are fine.  These were roasted in oven and frozen.

Got my chainsaws started and cleaned up a bit (I still need to sharpen some chains though)

Oil change for this guy.

Oil change, new filter and and new battery for this one.  I got new sparks and air cleaner too - but I didn't put them on yet.  Also, straightened out the leaf bag frame - it was bent pretty ba last season.

OIl changed.  Air filter cleaned.

New oil filter for the husqvarna lawn mower

I even cleaned out the back of the UTV - in preparation for hauling a deer carcass out of the woods!

New crossbow arrives!

I shopped around and read many reviews and considering my needs I decided on the Wicked Ridge Invader G3 crossbow.  I thought about a regular compound bow, but I would need to practice to become good with a bow and I didn't think I would have the time to do that and get some hunting in this season.

Nice deal.  Came with cocking device, arrows, scope and quiver.

Lots of safety features.  dry fire inhibitor, trigger safety, and these "wings" to help keep fingers out of harms way!

Sighting it in!  

Well, I got the target "block" and sighted it in as soon as I got to the farm.  I had never shot a crossbow before...  Here is at 20 yards...

20 Yards!  damn near split that one bolt with the other!

30 yards

40 yards!!

Also at 40 yards - just a different angle.

To be honest, I did not make any adjustments to sights or anything.  The accuracy was pretty damn good and should be able to take down a deer at 40-50 yards.  I have actually tried it out at even greater distances and have seen some tendency to shoot to the left and high - but I don't plan on shooting at more than 50 yards.

Sweet potato digging

I finally got around to digging the sweet potatoes.  I dug the majority with a digging fork but to be sure I was thorough I also used the potato plow to double check.  The plow did turn up a few more potatoes.

I was a bit disappointed in the quality of these potatoes - It was obvious to me that the drought caused some weird growth at the end of the season.  Bug "furroughs" in many of the potatoes

The yield was only about a bushel off of about 35 plants (I had ordered 50 - 35 is all that made it to planting - then the deer attacked them)

The garden after harvesting the sweet potatoes.  The soil here is nice for potatoes I think.  I did trial run last year and found this soil was best for sweet potatoes.

Cleaned and sorted.  I managed to save a few good ones for seed for next year.  The ones pictured here are going to be mostly freeze dried!

Well, some got eaten!  SO GOOD!

I don't have any pictures of the freeze dried ones - but they taste amazing - crunchy and sweet.  They make such good snacks that I am not sure any will be re-hydrated!

Hunting blinds arrive!

I bought some cheap hunting blinds from Sportsman's Guide - about $45 each - I got 3 and placed them in the woods around the farm.

This one is near the butternut trees in the back northern side of the property.

This one is back in the woods near the center of the property.

And this one is on the southern side of the property

I placed them out in the woods to let them air out.

Found this cool burl!

Another burl shot

Just a pretty tree

Neighbors tree stand on my property.  He said I could use it if I wanted.  Its a nice stand.

Trees damaged by deer

Well, the locust trees and even about 3 apple trees took some damage from the deer this year.  This is why I need to hunt!!

I can replace the locust trees without too much problem on money, but the apples trees are another story!

The apple tree that got scraped up last season seems to be recovering - but I think they did more damage to the ones this year.  I didn't get any pictures - maybe I will add pics later.  I really don't want to place wire guards around all of my trees!  I have most of the other trees covered.

First time out in blind!

I went out on a Friday evening to the center blind.  Once it got dark I should have packed it in, but I decided to see what I could see...

A whole family of these guys showed up at the blind!

A view from the blind

Another shot from the blind - sitting inside a bit further

On the way to the blind the next morning...

Damn hard to see on these pictures, but the scope of the crossbow showed that these were two bucks locking antlers!  They got a whiff of me and took off shortly after this photo.

Looks like I got out too late to catch these guys from my blind.  Too bad - they were close enough to blind that I might have been able to get a shot.

Back to harvesting..

I picked some more tomatoes from the sweet potato patch as I cleared the black plastic from that patch.  I made them into chili base - which I canned.

5 and a half pints.  Not bad for such late tomatoes.

I actually picked a bunch more volunteer tomatoes from the front patch as I worked to clear the plastic off of it.  I took them back and they were slow roasted in oven and then frozen.  Keep in mind this is late October and there will be a frost any day now!

Game cam pictures - Trixie!

We have a 3 legged deer that has lived near our property here for about 3-4 years.  We decided that I wouldn't hunt this animal if for no other reason than its just no sport to hunt a crippled deer!  I learned from talking with my next door neighbor that he and his sons also have a hands off policy for this deer!  She and her fawns stay near the hollow between our two properties, so she is pretty safe.  I know that her and her fawns are the ones that have been eating off much of my elderberry and forsythia!  (I have seen them doing it)  Nonetheless, we are not going to take this one.  I actually have put out some corn and feed stuff for her before  (yes, I know that you shouldn't feed deer corn in the late winter - but this is early fall and corn is still on the menu).

Aww, family portrait!

Saw milling the hickory tree

I finally got the big hickory log sawed in half and over to the saw mill.  It was a beast to move!  A good 20-30 ft bole over 16 inches in diameter.  I had to clean the air-filter on the sawmill and I checked the oil.  After cleaning the air filter it started right up!  I cut one of the two sections of the hickory in a  10-inch cant.  I got some 7/8" boards off of it that I am going to straighten up and use. A portion of the hickory will be cut into large cross section pieces for making tool handles.  I don't know what to do with the rest.  Maybe I will just cut it into inch thick boards for general purpose wood?