With wind and a few inches of rain predicted for later this week, the peak color season may end today. Here are a few pictures from an afternoon walk. The first features two great red maples, with yellow birch, red maple, and striped maple in the second photo. The final picture is dominated by the bright crowns of a white ash and double-trunked yellow birch.
Trees have really been turning over the last few days. Very warm temps may make the trees wonder if they should've ditched the green so quickly, but the beauty cannot be denied. This much color at an early date is quite rare, and the quality of the hues are likely unmatched in the nine full seasons spent here.
Today's featured picture is a wonderful rainbow. The photo was taken on the west side of the year's finest raspberry patch. Now the area glows with a wondrous variety of autumn beauty.
Alas, the forest means work, even during the most spectacular season. Ten, yes TEN, birch bark bags had a long journey this morning from the northeast reaches of the property. The future fire starting material now basks in the nearly 80 degrees of late September!
Many of the orange, red, and yellow colors people see during autumn start to show up in northern New Hampshire in the waning days of summer. Shortly after sunrise this a.m., a white ash was showing its major head start on most other trees.
With a pleasant coolness to the air and some leaves turning, signs of autumn are growing every day. Mums and a pumpkin, the first ever from the neighbor's garden, prove the season is here (even if officially still 10 days away). Another pumpkin, much larger than the one pictured, also grew this year.
A few apples from our forest joined 40 pounds of Granny Smith bought in Littleton to create many great fruity delights. In the first picture, apple jelly sits in jars in the top rows, with darker apple butter below. A wonderful apple crisp came out of the oven this morning, too.
With the season well advanced, the saw blade on the brush cutter is passed its prime, but the excellent tool continues to do great work. With a tank this morning completed down the hill several hundred feet, forest management remains a central activity in the woods. With some delicate work in a patch of paper birch, several other trunks were cut, mainly balsam fir. The remaining trees are enjoying the brilliant sunshine on a very pleasant morning.
The brush cutter also goes to work thinning weeds to help oaks. These two small ones, living almost totally in shade, are probably not destined for long life, but they are better off than a few minutes before. Sometimes hope is all an oak needs.
With the big trunks in the shade, the crown of a beautiful, magnificent, and huge double paper birch shined in the sun earlier this week.
