Letting their Lights Shine!

Since we had the pumpkin farm this year, we thought we should put the kids to work carving a few of the now-world-famous Bolte Pumpkins!!  Well.. maybe not world famous.  Well... maybe not famous really, but popular....  The now-popular Bolte Pumpkins!!

Alec pulling out the guts....

This one has an ugly side.  We kept the less-than-perfect ones for ourselves.  We are sympathetic....We understand what it feels like to have an ugly side.....  We encourage all our pumpkins to turn their good side toward the world and SHINE!

See?  Not bad!

These are the three jack-o-lanterns that Alec carved.....

Lewis carved the scary guy on the right....

And here they are ... turning their good sides outward and letting their lights shine!

Fall Festival

One of the best things about living in a small town is the local fall fesitval.  Here in my town, it's called the Black Walnut Festival, and this year was the 56th year! 

I love the beautiful agriculture exhibits where local farmers and gardeners compete for prizes.  The array of colorful vegetables are so pretty!

And I'm happy to report that the Bolte Farm pumpkins received two first place ribbons! 

Some people even entered sacks of hay into the competition.

And then some ladies enter their gorgeous canned produce.

Steve and I bought this wooden pumpkin carved by a chain saw artist!! 

This is the ONE time of the year that our little town's main street is lined with thousands of people.

It was a BEAUTIFUL day for a parade....
There were marching bands, floats, clowns, children, and festival royalty... but my favorite of all was the Calhoun Middle High School Marching Band! 

Here's my all-time favorite drummer playing his snare drum.

He's so SERIOUS....

My favorite drummer's best friend Kameron on the bass.

And here's my "fake" son ... RYAN!!!!!  He moved to another county two whole hours away, and now he plays for another band.  They are bigger and better though!  Go Ryan!

The Comforts of Fall

What is it about fall that makes us want to simmer a big pot of soup on the stove?

Something about that first nip in the air makes me want to cook comfort food.

I love fall!  There's something to be said for coming home in the evening chill as the sun is starting to set, knowing that I have a limited about of time outside before dusk.  Even though the farm work is never-ending, we call it quits earlier each evening this time of year. 

Fall work is different than summer work.  We put on sweatshirts and boots, and we carry flashlights.  The animals are almost always fed after dark, and Steve never comes in before it's pitch black out.  The warm blanket finds its home more frequently on the couch. 

And it's firewood season.  All of our spare time will now be spent chopping trees, hauling wood, splitting wood, and stacking wood.  Very very soon it will be time for burning wood.  We'll burn the what's left of last year's dry wood while we start cutting the new wood. 

In just a few short weeks, we'll be sitting in front of the wood stove..... in comforting warmth ... waiting for winter.

Autumn

Fall is officially here, and as testimony, the leaves are starting to turn into their brilliant palette of warm oranges, yellows, and reds.  We have picture-perfect autumn landscapes here in West Virginia.  I don't live in the mountain region... just the hills of central West Virginia.  Here the rugged hillsides are dotted with farms.  Farm houses are built on the sides of hills or in hollows between them, as in our case.  And there are cattle, old barns, and crooked farm fences everywhere .... perfect for pictures.

 I love old barns and wooden fences.

Calves meandering along the hillside.

I love the effect of the orange pumpkins against the white of the barn.

A late September evening on the farm.
With all the beautiful colors, and the cooler feel of the autumn air, it's no wonder fall is a favorite season for most people.

Photography

I don't even claim to be a photographer.... but I do enjoy photography.  Lately I've been experimenting and gathering some of my favorite shots to enter in our local festival photography exhibit contest.  I don't even really know if any of these are contest-worthy; they just happen to be MY favorites.  What do you think?

HARVEST!

The Bolte Farm has pumpkins harvested!  It's so exciting to finally see (and cash in on) the fruits of our labor!  We have harvested probably 1000 pumpkins!!  We have LOTS of medium sized ones left for only $2.00 each.  Most of our large ones have been purchased already. 

I think these pumpkins are so beautiful... orange is my new favorite color!

A new school year

I can't believe it's been almost a MONTH since I last posted!  I've had good intentions, I planned on posting, and I took lots of pictures in hopes of sharing them.  What happened?  Farming, school, family, fun... life in general happened!  The main thing is the start of the school year happened.  As soon as school starts, my world changes.  My carefree lazy days of summer turn into hectic days of planning.  My long evenings of sitting and browsing the computer and reading books at my leisure are suddenly a thing of the past, as my evenings are now spent grading papers and writing lesson plans.  This year I had another change as well -- I am now teaching 6th grade.  I got a new LARGER classroom with the position too!

My new classroom has room for a library!

Steve sent me flowers to school on my first day!