October is here!

Today was also the first day of grape harvest, and most of the vineyards had harvest going on. The weather change is coming, for I could feel it in the pins in my ankle this morning, but today was a dry day! The vineyard behind us, they got an early start cutting grapes:

The trees are hinting at starting the fall color change, but the poison oak started changing color end of August!

Up on the ridge is an apple orchard, and the trees are full of apples!

This is the driveway for the two homes we rented before we bought our house. We lived in the old farmhouse first, then when our landlords moved in a home from where Murray Blvd in Beaverton was being widened, they offered it to us. You can barely see the roof behind the vineyard (that used to be filbert/hazelnut orchard):

OK, so poison oak doesn't always follow the seasons. I found this bunch freshly blooming - yes, PO has flowers!

My two horse buddies:More vineyard activity, and the ripe grapes really are pretty!

Here's a view of Bald Peak:

And somewhere in the middle of these grape clusters is one of the bird-scare alarms. From farther away, it does sound like birds, but as close as this it sounds fake.

A new vineyard near the top of the ridge put mulch out in a checkerboard fashion:

Near my turnaround point, the fog coming up from the marshy side of the ridge towards Yamhill was really pretty:

This old farmhouse at the top of the ridge must have many, many stories!

Going back down the ridge now...

The clouds are starting to hang around already:

Another classic farmhouse (where the two horses are):

This is looking down Killer Hill #1. I don't run it very often, it's a tough one. I'm glad to see them spreading hay on the steep parts where the forest was taken out. It'll be another vineyard, but something needs to be planted on those steeper hillsides before the really heavy rains come.

Back at the bottom of the ridge, the pear orchard is producing well this year:

Almost home, looking back toward the southwest: