Welcome to October

The October House and Gardens are full of stories and memories. We have created a Haunted Forest to tell the stories. With sounds and shadows the memories of times gone by come to life.

The Eastern Redbud is planted in a heart shaped bed my husband put in for me after a micro burst uprooted our first Redbud. It is on our corner, in the front yard. The leaves are heart shaped, they will slowly turn from green to brown, and fill the bed below. They are not known for their Autumn color. We will gather the leaves and grind them up and replace them on the bed. It will be winter mulch. The bed is outlined in moss rock.


It is planted with Spring flowering bulbs and over seeded with Romaine Lettuce and Sweet Basil. I had trouble getting the basil to germinate this year. Finally it sprouted. This Redbud is a female tree. We planted a large, three year old, sapling six years ago but did not know if our tree was male or female until we saw the seeds. The seeds will fall and twirl about the yard when the tree tells them it is time. I shall harvest the basil before frost. We will continue to eat the lettuce until heavy frost.

Hanging in the branches are clappers I made a few years ago from wood scraps my husband had in the garage. They became the October blessing for the Redbud. Not only did I do Witch Hats but also small Spell Books. When the wind blows from the North the clappers sound forth. I am reminded of our other Redbud and the vacation we were on when it went down. I am grateful to our son for cleaning the branches up. The yellow Primroses I planted in the Spring are blooming. The little mum is also showing some color.



I have a small collection of clappers and noise makers. The entry table show cases some of them. My friend brought me the Jack O'Lantern noise maker a few years ago as my treat when she trick-or-treated me! The black vase came from my Mother's funeral. It was the vase for the white roses that were from myself and my siblings. I sat it on a brass stand to give it some height and some contrast from the cloth. I dried those roses. They are in my basement in a long flower box. Someday I will put them on my Mother's grave. The flowers in the vase will change as the yellow mums finish up.

I made the spider lace table cloth. It has fringe and is a shaped piece with tails that hang to the floor on each corner. The crystal small gazing ball came from my son. I found a stand for it. The Jack O'Lantern tea light holder came from a Leaf Peeping outing my husband and I took in the mid 1990's. We traveled north, up the Mississippi River, stopping and enjoying the changing of the trees. I just found the animal skin percussion instrument last week while shopping for October treasures. I do not know the name of it yet. I did hear it call forth as I was poking around in a thrift store. The orange witch clapper is an antique I found in the 1970's. The yellow and green noise maker I found in the 1980's. My collection grows ever so slowly. The scarecrow candy basket is a reproduction of an antique. I have a black cat candy basket too.

I learned about clappers. Children would walk the fields making noise to scare the birds. It was believed noise would keep evil spirits away too. When I was a little girl my Father made noise makers for my brothers and sisters and I to carry as we trick-or-treated. He used an empty soup can and a few dried beans. He placed the tin cut-out back on the can securing it with masking tape. He covered the can with orange paper. I still have the one he made for me. Too precious to be on the entry table. I have it with a couple of photos of childhood Halloweens on my special plate rack. I was always a witch.

Many fond memories.