Fall Reflections

Over the last three weeks, we’ve processed an abundance of apples from our five-variety tree into a generous supply of apple butter and applesauce for us. More importantly, we also produced several bowls of apple cores and peelings for the Sheep, Goats, and Llamas.

Early last week, we celebrated a visit with family members from Scotland, spending a few days with chats, special meals, and seeing the sites. Pam and Lyn visited the SGL, and Lyn held the bowl for Skittles to eat his apple peels directly off the ceramic (woe to anyone who suggests Skittles should eat his snacks off the ground, as the sheep and goats do).

The trees in the background are turning from green to yellow. Each morning, I see new colors on my drive up. Yellow walnut leaves float to the ground as I weave through the woods, across the covered bridge, and up a steep hill to the farm.

We’re starting to think about winter preparations. Right now, we’re in list-making mode, thinking about winter hay and feed, setting up pens, and preparing water tanks. Yesterday, we walked through the Christmas trees to prune some branches and pull a few weeds, low-impact tasks to recover from a crazy week.

It’ll still be a few years before our trees are ready for the Christmas season, yet it’s still magical to walk among the Canaan firs, Eastern white pines and Concolor firs. There’s just something about trees that makes us who we are: Sylvanmore, and this newsletter, Sylvan Sundays.

We’ve had an abundance of opportunities to learn over the last four years of Sylvanmore, from planting Christmas trees for the first time and bringing in goats to munch on weeds to implementing llama guards to bond with the sheep and keep an eye out for predators. We’re excited to see where we go from here!

Thank you for coming along with us on this farming journey and your support in subscribing to our newsletter!

Thanks for Reading!

We’d also like to give a big “Welcome!” to our new subscribers. To learn more about our farmers, check out “A New Year’s Introduction,” and to learn more about our name, visit “Being Sylvan.” Also, make sure to check out “This Week on the Farm” and “Farm Shop” below!

I hope you feel refreshed and rejuvenated for the week ahead with this moment preserved in picture and prose. Consider:

• What’s your favorite fall treat?

Share your answer and this newsletter with someone you enjoy sharing fall treats with!

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This Week on the Farm

Skittles has been a great addition to the farm this year, and he has a definitive llama attitude that I call Skittles-tude.

Harvest has begun in the fields around us, with the first soybean fields combined down the road. The corn is still drying out, but it won’t be long before machinery is out in those fields, too.

As we get into the harvest season, give yourself some extra time to travel and give combines and semi-trucks plenty of room on rural roads. We want to make sure farmers and travelers have safe autumn drives!

Farm Shop

For top genetics for your flock, take a look at this March ram lamb. He’s from one of our best ewes, a great mum. He’s also a full sibling to Elrond, who placed in the Top Five as a lamb at the Indiana State Fair and is now part of a flock in Ohio.

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