County Route 47 In The Town Of Stockholm, New York - Part 1

I was on my way from the feed store to the village of Potsdam when I decided to take a detour and snap some pictures. I turned onto County Route 47 in Stockholm and passed this tractor, apparently used in a firewood and/or fence post cutting operation. The marked trees look to be small Eastern White Cedar, so I'm guessing they were cutting fence posts:

I crossed over the west branch of the St. Regis River. You can see an island in the river right there:

This small, well kept barn didn't seem to have any animals using it at the moment:

And there were rolling corn and hay fields, surrounded by woodlands:

An old farm house, modernized and winterized:

A fence post operation. Eastern White Cedar grows abundantly around here and some farmers use their woodlots to produce fence posts:

This roadside stand appeared to be in the middle of a renovation:

A series of barns and additions, with a green shingled well:

A comfortable looking farm house:

Two outbuildings, one without sides:

Another farm house with a well:

This old building looked as if it might have been someone's tiny house once upon a time, but I couldn't tell. It was fascinating. But there was yet much more to see on Route 47, and I'll post Part 2 tomorrow:

Route 11B From Nicholville To Dickinson New York - Part 1

The day after my Rutland Trail hike with the dogs (see previous two posts) dawned gloriously beautiful and, if not warm, at least warmer than usual for this time of year. I decided to take a driving tour of some local roads in Franklin County. I began driving east on Route 11B to get there but then realized that the sun was right, the traffic was sparse and the scenery was spectacular. So I changed my mind and began shooting photos of the farms along Route 11B - such as this impressive Amish farm:

Another view of the same farm as the above photo:

This small house and two tiny outhouses seemed unoccupied, but I have on other occasions seen clusters of Amish children playing old fashioned games on the grass. I suspected that this might be an Amish school house which, perhaps, was not in session today - or maybe they were all inside, studying:

Cornfields were being harvested:

This old silo was no longer used and the house and barn, to which it once belonged, no longer existed:

An old, tiny house which still showed remnants of its former curtains. This was once home to someone:

An Amish farm and vegetable stand:

The Amish house which went with the vegetable stand (which you can see in the lower right of the photo). The clothes on the line usually (but not always) means the household is Amish:

A brown barn which sat rather far off the road. A man was pruning apple trees nearby and stopped to watch me, no doubt wondering what mischief I was up to:

The lovely old farm house which went with the brown barn:

This appeared to be either an old farm house with much modernization or a new house, built in the old style. I couldn't tell which:

Another old farm house with a comfortable looking front porch:

I don't now remember, but this farm may have been Amish. The electric wire running to the house is not definitive as many Amish buy homes which are already electrified and just don't use it. Amish or not, it was a beauty. But I had more road to travel and more photos to take, and will post Part 2 tomorrow:

October Is For Pumpkins

Even I bought into the local pumpkin craze this year and purchased some pumpkins. I was also inspired to photograph some local sellers, such as this one in Gouverneur:

And this brand new, extra fancy farm stand along the highway:

A smaller roadside stand:

And a super-giant, extravagantly displayed pumpkin retailer:

I don't know if this was an Amish stand or not, but the red barn certainly looked Amish:

A field of unpicked pumpkins next to a field of cabbage:

Pumpkins along Route 11B:

 More pumpkins, these with colorful price signs:

Pumpkins, tomatoes, cukes, beans - all beneath the comfort of shady trees:

The produce from someone's backyard garden:

Open for business:

I stopped here to buy a couple more pumpkins since the porcupine has been eating the first ones I bought. But I soon discovered that the $3.00 did not cover all the different sizes of pumpkins. The bigger ones were $5.00 and I could get them cheaper elsewhere, so I continued on:

October Is For Pumpkins!

I was on my way back home from Potsdam when I took note of the very many roadside stands selling pumpkins, not to mention a wide variety of gourds and other vegetables. But the pumpkins in particular caught my eye. This stand had nearly everything as well as a locked enclosure to store things in overnight:

This roadside stand consisted merely of a picnic table, a sign and a can in which to put your money. The orange chrysanthemums added to the autumn theme:

This was purely decoration, but especially nice - an Amish buggy filled with pumpkins and a horse, grazing in the background:

A real commercial roadside stand had only a few pumpkins but lots and lots of gourds:

This Amish farm was loaded with both pumpkins and gourds:

Another Amish farm stand with lots of pumpkins:

This too was an Amish stand. In fact, you can see the team of horses uphill behind the stand, beneath the leafy tree:

A smaller, family operation:

And a commercial operation in Hopkinton:

I continued on toward Brushton and Malone, passing this roadside stand. A mile or two down the road, a pickup truck caught up to me and flagged me down. I stopped, thinking I must have something wrong with my car. But it was the owner of the farm stand, wanting to know why I'd taken photos. He'd had recent thefts and feared I was spreading the word about where to steal things. So much for country and small town folk being honest and not needing to lock things up:

Another farm stand, this one with the pumpkins in the back:

This amazing display is actually the same farm as one of the above photos, but taken at a different angle. It was an Amish farm:

Look. Green striped pumpkins! Oh, wait..........never mind: