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The trees were in high color this weekend.

Even the squirrels got into the swing of things.

On Saturday, we visited the New York State Sheep & Wool Festival at the Dutchess County Fairgrounds, where we saw a sheep herding exhibition.

The sheepdogs were impressively well trained, but, frankly, so were the sheep.

Sarah took a break from watching sheep being sheared, milked, and judged for conformity with their breeds, and took in a Mad Science show.

She also befriended a llama.

Sarah made this paper airplane launcher in her after-school Art in Orbit class at Caedmon.

She launched a few before soccer practice on Saturday.  You can see a bit of frost in the high grass by the pond.

The leaves are coming down at the farm.

On Sunday, Sarah produced this self portrait.

Here’s the real thing.

Storm clouds threatened today, but we didn’t get much rain.  We managed to squeeze in a walk.

It’s always easier if you can keep the pebbles out of your boot.

Sarah stuck with it, and found a friend.

The sunshine makes everything look better.

About half of this very large oak tree fell down three years ago; the rest came down on Tuesday.  One thing is for certain: we will never run out of firewood.

On Saturday, the Craigslist gods offered up this kayak.  It was being sold by an employee of the Phantom Gardener at the insistance of his girfriend, with whom he was moving, on Wednesday, to Olympia, Washington.  We have been trying to come up with a name for it.  Contenders include: Lucy; The Indecisive Squirrel; The Poughkeepsie; The Chipmunk; The Pimento; The Sungold; and the PondMaster.  Suggestions will be considered in the order received.

On Sunday, Sarah and her friend Sophie ran a mile for charity.

Jen’s garden is bursting with activity.  The Lugubrious Sunflower was rejected as a name for the kayak, but we have many of these strange orange ones.

Jen and Sarah paddled together.

We had some really impressive thunderstorms Saturday evening.  Perhaps in response, this woodpecker went looking for a safe and cozy spot.  He found one by making a hole about the size of a silver dollar in one of the pillars on the back porch.

The storm also shook loose lots of tomatoes.

Do we relax on Labor Day?  Why, noooo – we do lots of yard work.  But we are not the only ones who keep busy.

This highly energetic squirrel gathered two hickory nuts simultaneously.

And this frog made a home in Sarah’s rosebush.

But it was not all toil.  Jen’s dad came to visit, and on Sunday we made pulled pork and screened Star Wars on the side of the barn.

Sarah seemed to have a tolerably good time at the Dutchess County Fair this year.  We missed the fair last year because of a hurricane, but Sarah nevertheless won a blue ribbon.  This year, Sarah went twice, on Friday and Saturday.

There were no ribbons for us this year, blue or otherwise.  Jen’s blackberry jam was disqualified because it didn’t have a dated label.

And my hay (lower right) failed on the basis of general paltryness.

Still, we saw plenty of animals, such as this goat…

… and these newly hatched chicks …

… and Turk, one of the 4H Club’s Gentle Giants, whom Sarah knew from horse camp this summer at Southlands.  Sarah was amazed to hear that we have another connection to Turk: we sell the Gentle Giants some hay.

There were also lots of rides.

This one might be Sarah’s favorite: she went twice on Friday and again on Saturday.

And here’s my favorite: bumper cars!

This weekend we celebrated Jen’s birthday in high agrarian style.  Here’s Jen showing the tomato plants what’s what.

Like most farmers, Jen and Sarah started the day with a hearty breakfast.

Sarah received calls on this recently harvested cucumber.

We dropped off our entries for the Dutchess County Fair, which starts on Tuesday.  Jen entered her blackberry jam; Sarah, coming off a blue ribbon campaign at last year’s fair, tried to enter two pictures but was thwarted by the deadline due to a combination of bad luck and — O.K., due to bad parenting; and I entered our hay.  In doing so I learned of an excellent arbitrage opportunity: it costs $1 to enter a field crop, but that entitles the entrant to a free exhibitor’s admission ticket (retail value $15).  Sarah took this picture, in part to document my arbitrage skills and in part to document my lingering Icelandic beard.

We rounded out Jen’s birthday with a lovely sunset and dinner for two at Mercato, the Italian restaurant in Red Hook.  Sarah had a sleep-over at her friend Michaela’s house.

On Sunday we all got back to work, gathering grapes for Jen’s wild grape jelly.