Tis the Season

Wow, it’s been a month since I’ve written a post. What the heck have I been doing? Mostly holiday stuff. Oh, and picking pecans…still. It’s just never ending.

We’ve been pretty crafty around here since before Thanksgiving. I made 2 new wreaths. Jett painted some gourds and made lots and lots of origami paper Mayflower boats and pilgrim hats. Did you know that a pilgrim hat is about step 3 in the making of a Mayflower boat? Well, now you do. We also participated in the southern event of holiday displays. Last year it was a scarecrow with santa hat outside and hay bales decorated in bows. This year, we moved our displays inside as we needed the hay bales for the hungry goats. But the displays involved pinecones, gourds, fall leaves and such. Hopefully we can go big again with an outdoor display next year. It’s serious business around here.  The neighbors must be talking.

We spent Thanksgiving at my aunt and uncle’s house in Cordele on Lake Blackshear. Lots of family and friends in attendance and John’s parents made a special appearance which was a nice change. Usually we make the 15 hour drive to Maryland. But John’s mom got a fancy new car with gps and they wanted to christen it. Ironically, the gps got pretty lost once it got into our neck of the woods. I made my first pecan pie for the event. It looked pretty, but was more like pecan candy in a deep-dish crust. I’ll stick to pecan candies. Frankly, just eating them out of the shell is really the best.

We sold our first batch of pecans. Our neighbor said she got .90/pound a few weeks ago, but when we went to sell, there was such a glut on the market we only got .60/pound. Who knew the pecan market could be so volatile? We’re going to sell the rest on ebay. We average $1.50/pound online.

I did learn the proper name of our big round pecans: frotscher. And the others, no matter their shape or size, are all called seedlings apparently because they were not grafted, but grew from a nut in the ground…so you’re never really sure what you get. If one plants a seed, the tree that develops will be different from the tree from which the seed was harvested. All native and seedling trees are different from each other, with no two being the same. No wonder there are over 500 types of pecans…and those are just the ones with names. But get this, there are only 4 varieties that make up 75% of commercial pecan production. So those of you who partake in our pecans are probably eating a one-of-a-kind. Aren’t you honored? We are.

Okay, okay, enough about pecans. Who ever thought I would spend so much time on pecans? Our other obsession is leaves. I don’t know which there are more of on the ground: pecans or leaves? At least this year our mulcher is working so we aren’t attempting to rake mountains of leaves (although they were fun to jump in). The trees should be bare in the next two weeks. Thank goodness we have lots of evergreen surrounding our property. I don’t think I could bear so much bareness. It does make you appreciate more the bright red dots of cardinals. And the arrival of spring. It seems so far off, but I know it will be here in the blink of an eye. Hopefully I will have written several more posts by then.  And they won’t involve pecans (yeah, right).  Until then, A joyous holiday to all!