Halloween Party at the Farmhouse

Great Halloween party last night. Innkeepers from the Whidbey Island B & B association gathered to share an annual harvest dinner. Lots of good food & laughter. Business has been great & the fall leaves are beautiful at this time of year. There's a little nip in the air. Come tuck into a cosy suite at one of our fine inns on Whidbey Island.

Fall is here at the Farmhouse

A riot of fall color surrounds the Farmhouse. The big maple in front has turned a brilliant red while the katsura tree is a shimmering gold & the vine maples are a pumpkin orange. Leo & Cleo & Fluffy & Muffy are all looking heavy in their winter coats & the bunnies are busy digging burrows. Pumpkin bread, cinnamon apple sauce and apple turnovers & crisps are featured breakfast treats. New "reads" await those who want to snuggle up by the fireplaces for cosy relaxing with a great cup of coffee or cocoa. All is well & peaceful at the Farmhouse.

Deer guests---I should say pests!

First time in years, two young deer entered our yard. A couple of our guests alerted us to the mid-day munching moochers, who had found their way into the back yard, through the orchard gate & into the raspberry patch. We'll have to keep an eye on the garden gate now. We couldn't believe how brave they were, even while guests were walking around in the back yard. We love the animals but can't have the deer eating the garden. They won't be welcome here.
We've got a new batch of baby bunnies--golden in color. So cute! Still have many bunnies waiting around for a hand-out. Gary now has his own little food processer in the garage & turns out carrot mash to feed the bunnies. (We found out that they will stick around to be fed with this approach, instead of running off with a bigger piece of carrot.) And just as the bunny feeding begins, Leo will call out from the pasture, not to be forgotten in the carrot hand-out.
The sheep are interested only in cookies---pony cookies. But everyone is eager for kitchen scraps of all kinds. What fun at the Farmhouse!

Spring is near

daffodils are in bloom and bunnies are looking for handouts.

Blackberries are ripe!

Lots of guests this weekend! We made blackberry cobbler for all our guests. Mmmmm Yum!

Summer at last

These warm summer days are keeping us busy watering the gardens & welcoming the guests. The shasta daisies have never been so tall ! The rhubarb is still hanging on so I'm baking more pies & crisp desserts. Yummy! The bunnies are just hanging out under the trees for relief from the sun.

We see thirteen cruise ships pass by here per week now on their way to Alaska. They were so enticing that we scheduled a trip for ourselves earlier this month. Very nice & so handy to hop on board in Seattle. Even Alaska was having some warm sunny weather! It was great to get away & fortunate that we have our daughters & son-in-laws available to take over the innkeeping for us.

We're glad to be back home & enjoying all the wonderful folks who come to stay at the Farmhouse.

Low Tides at on Useless Bay

We've been having some of the lowest tides of the year this past week. What fun to play on Sunlight Beach with the grandkids. Just takes us 5 minutes to get to these wonderful acres of prestine sand & tide pools bordering Useless Bay. There's nothing like bare feet in the sand! That's Double Bluff in the background, also viewable from the Farmhouse. We found lots of sand dollars---but don't disturb the purple ones---they are still alive.