{"id":4025,"date":"2012-10-20T06:00:59","date_gmt":"2012-10-20T10:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.allandouglas.com\/blog\/?p=4025"},"modified":"2025-04-21T01:56:41","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T05:56:41","slug":"autumn-arrives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/autumn-arrives\/","title":{"rendered":"Autumn Arrives"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright\" style=\"border: 0px none; margin: 5px;\" title=\"autumn folliage\" src=\"http:\/\/farm7.static.flickr.com\/6050\/6282187915_0c6c8da12f_m_d.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"240\" height=\"180\" \/>It\u2019s late October; the mountains are splashed with autumn red, gold, yellow and russet as the hardwood trees settle in for a long nap.\u00a0 There is a bite of winter to the crisp nighttime air.<\/p>\n<p>Most of the garden is slowing to a crawl if not wilting up entirely.\u00a0 But not everything in the garden is going dormant. I have a fresh crop of lettuce, beets, squash, chard, Brussels sprouts and onions that have sprouted and will continue to grow and provide us with fresh vegetables well into the winter.\u00a0 Winter gardening?\u00a0 Outdoors?\u00a0 Yes!\u00a0<!--more--><\/p>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"width: 120px; height: 240px;\" src=\"http:\/\/rcm-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/e\/cm?lt1=_blank&amp;bc1=000000&amp;IS2=1&amp;bg1=FFFFFF&amp;fc1=000000&amp;lc1=0000FF&amp;t=alladougdesi-20&amp;o=1&amp;p=8&amp;l=as4&amp;m=amazon&amp;f=ifr&amp;ref=ss_til&amp;asins=1603580816\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/td>\n<td><\/td>\n<td>This is possible partly because we are far south enough that our weather is fairly mild, but by choosing carefully the crop you plant and providing protection from winds and storms through cold frames, many root crops and some leafy greens can be grown even in the winter.\u00a0 And not just in the south.<\/p>\n<p>I am currently reading a book called <strong>The Winter Harvest Handbook<\/strong> written by a fellow who runs a year round farm \u2013 in Maine!\u00a0 And he does this without hothouses.\u00a0 This isn&#8217;t the venue for that discussion, but in case you&#8217;re interested, check out his book.<\/p>\n<p>This is Leaf Peeper season in the Smokies: a time when tourists from all around the country come here to look at and hike among the colorful autumn foliage.\u00a0 There are many festivals as well, nearly all will feature locally made art and crafts, delicious food, as well as traditional dancing and music.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<h2>Amazing Corn Mazes<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/farm7.static.flickr.com\/6035\/6277583176_a2436cfb7e_z_d.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" style=\"border: 0px none; margin: 5px;\" title=\"corn maze Cloverdale Produce Farms Vancouver BC\" src=\"http:\/\/farm7.static.flickr.com\/6035\/6277583176_a2436cfb7e_m_d.jpg\" alt=\"corn maze\" width=\"240\" height=\"232\" \/><\/a> Another favorite fall activity is to visit a corn maze.\u00a0 Mature corn stalks can be 7 to 10 feet tall, so a corn field makes an ideal place to play hide and seek.\u00a0 At some point an enterprising farmer decided he\u2019d mow a convoluted path through his field and charge people to come play in it before harvesting the crop.<\/p>\n<p>Modern corn mazes are planned out in the spring using a CAD computer program.\u00a0 The corn is planted and allowed to grow to knee height.\u00a0 The paths are planned using paint and anything from a survey tape to GPS devices.\u00a0 Then the stalks that are in the pathways are pulled up by the roots to prevent resprouting. \u00a0Once the corn is grown to above head height, the maze is ready to open for business.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/farm7.static.flickr.com\/6234\/6277060381_6b1810c58f_b_d.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright\" style=\"border: 0px none; margin: 5px;\" title=\"Corn maze at TheMaize.com\" src=\"http:\/\/farm7.static.flickr.com\/6234\/6277060381_6b1810c58f_m_d.jpg\" alt=\"corn maze, \" width=\"240\" height=\"116\" \/><\/a> Some mazes provide maps and color coded tags on the corn to help visitors navigate the maze, others get snazzier: one gives each group a flag that stands up above the corn, the leader of the party can get hints texted to their phone from a &#8220;corntrol&#8221; tower.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"http:\/\/oakesfarm.com\/corn-maze\/\">Oakes Farm Maze<\/a> in Corryton Tennessee steps up the challenge a bit by placing 12 goal posts inside the maze.\u00a0 Visitors are to find all 12 posts, then find their way back out.\u00a0 Plan to spend the day at this one! Oakes Farm is among those who offer a <a href=\"https:\/\/oakesfarm.com\/\">haunted maze<\/a> at Halloween, they call theirs The Trail of Doom.\u00a0 Bring a change of underwear!<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019d like to check out a corn maze in your state, this web site will prove useful:\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.themaize.com\/\">http:\/\/www.themaize.com\/map_locations.php<\/a><\/p>\n<p>With the cooler evening air, this is a perfect time to enjoy a family campfire and wiener roast, just be sure you are being cautions with your fire, the dry leaves will go up like a tinderbox if your fire or floating embers get to them. It\u2019s time to get outside and enjoy the cool crisp air before winter sets in and we curl up like bears to hibernate.\u00a0 What is your favorite fall activity?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&rsquo;s late October; the mountains are splashed with autumn red, gold, yellow and russet as the hardwood trees settle in for a long nap.&nbsp; There is a bite of winter to the crisp nighttime air. Most of the garden is slowing to a crawl if not wilting up entirely.&nbsp; But not everything in the garden &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/autumn-arrives\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Autumn Arrives&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[19],"class_list":["post-4025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life","tag-adventures"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4025","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4025"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4025\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21582,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4025\/revisions\/21582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}