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Late fall chores
The recent storms got me to finish up planting and putting away containers, so I find myself with some time during this nicer weather to do late fall garden work. Like PixieLou who mentioned bittersweet on the November photo thread, I've been spotting invasives (buckthorn & honeysuckle due to their late hanging leaves and bittersweet due to its berries) and pulling and cutting them. I know it's a nonending task since I've got over 100 acres to do, but I've found that I can make dents by really clearing an area and then just spot checking as needed. We are considering returning more of our old grown-in field to farming (the local dairy farmer is looking for more land to plant as houses have taken over some of the fields he used to use and he already plants the fields we have) so the amount I need to keep clear of invasives may be reduced in the next year or two.
We have a large old rhododendron (probably roseum elegans) which a PO planted, but is really too large for the spot. I've procrastinated on pruning it until DH, contemplating having to plow around where it had grown out into the driveway yet another winter, threatened to take a chainsaw to it if I didn't get it at least a bit under control. So I spent several hours pruning it, though since I didn't want to look at bare stems all winter and miss out on all the flowers next spring, it will need further pruning immediately after bloom next spring. So here is the pile of prunings:
From Rhodie pruning November 14, 2012
Here is the rhodie post-hacking:
From Rhodie pruning November 14, 2012
and here are the rooted branches I transplanted temporarily into the veggie garden from the driveway. If next anyone wants a potentially huge rhododendron or 5 next spring and is close enough to drive to central NH and get them, let me know.
From Rhodie pruning November 14, 2012
I still need to clean up old foliage on plants like hosta and peonies.
What chores do you do once the growing season is done but winter hasn't really hit?
I don't grow veggies so I don't have to deal with that kind of bed which needs replanting each year. I do little fall cleanup because snow cover is erratic and often non-existent here in winter, while winter winds are very reliable. Without snow cover the plants are vulnerable so I want to leave what ever natural cover is there and add to it.
I also don't want to cut back perennial stalks and leave the crowns exposed to the wind and cold. Sometimes I'll cut back stalks (like peonies) if they're particularly ugly, but I wait until all of the carbohydrates are sent down to the roots (you can see the white starch if you cut a stalk too soon).
Soon I'll be spreading compost on all of the beds, covering the hosta leaves, etc., so they'll compost in place. Yesterday I turned the compost pile again to make sure it's usable. I also organized the compost area so I can dump organic materials after the pile freezes without worrying about wind dispersing the stuff.
I've already raked a bunch of leaves onto the beds for protection and I'll do that again if more leaves appear, although two windstorms brought down most of the oak leaves earlier than usual.
I need to tackle the rambling roses that ramble too far, like into the pathway, and try to bring them back to an acceptable space.
I also will pull out more of the blackberries and brambles that are easier to see now.
Some (well, many) of the ornamental grasses need to be staked better after the winds. I'm still experimenting with methods of keeping them presentable.
We clean up the vegetable beds every fall. Everything but the chives and the asparagus get pulled. Then I add as much grass clippings mixed with chopped leaves as will fit into the raised beds.
We've put away pots and tools for the season, but we leave the hose going until a freeze. We also leave plastic adirondack chairs out for the winter.
We have a passive compost pile and I usually empty that in the spring for some reason. Although when I have created lasagna beds in the fall, I have emptied the compost pile to do that.
I almost always transplant and plant new plants in the fall, but not much of that this year and now I think it is a little late.
In past years, I've finished stonework projects, created pathways with cardboard and mulch.
I still plan on doing more cleaning up in the perennial bed, but probably not a lot.
Doing very little this year, but I am spreading some Planttone and Hollytone around the base of some of the shrubs & trees.
And I'm not fussing about any of it this year. I am slowing turning toward taking better care of the houseplants.
That's about it. :-)
You did a great job on the rhododendron. I tried pruning a large one once and made a mess of it. The next owner removed it.
I'm going to use the birds as an excuse not to clean up the perennial beds. I divided an iris and neatened up one bed quite some time ago. A friend had given me the iris and it turned out to have two colors mixed in the clump. I like to leave anything with seed heads for the birds to enjoy but there doesn't seem to be very many around lately. Didn't even have Canada geese overnighting like last year.
I pulled some carrots last night and wondered how long I can keep harvesting before the ground freezes. Also picked some spinach earlier in the week. Last year the spinach over-wintered and produced a small, but welcome crop in the early spring.
We have a yard hydrant in our new high tunnel DH built. My husband has given me lessons in the proper shut down procedures so I don't leave water in the standing pipe where it can freeze. I also have to detach the hose and make sure it's empty. Even if the high tunnel doesn't work out as planned, the yard hydrant puts a water spigot next to my vegetable garden so I don't have to haul lengths of hose across the driveway etc.
Sorry for the delay. Needed to figure out how to post a photo but kept getting reject msgs so here's the other option of using Photobucket link.
My husband decided it would be easiest and cheapest if he built a wood frame covered by greenhouse plastic. You might note that the cushioning material has wiggled loose. The peaked roof is to provide good slope for snow to slide off. The sides easily roll up, then are held in place with bungee cords. You will notice a gap in the front left corner. Before Sandy, my husband put strapping over the loose side edges to prevent the wind from getting inside. The gutter and rain barrel seem to work on the left but the different drip hose on the right isn't working. So much to learn! The opening is large enough for the tractor/bucket to enter. The door handles are bent pieces of rebar which can drop into plastic pipes in the ground to hold the doors shut tightly. The rubber flaps on the bottom also help seal. On sunny days, this heats up but at night it cools back down to exterior temperatures. I now have Agribon fabric over the beds for added warmth. I think our lows have been 19 to 21 but it heats up to 90s on a sunny dy in November. I transplanted romaine lettuce, broccoli, and basil seedlings but the basil couldn't handle the cold nights. A tomato transplant also didn't make it. I was hoping to have green beans until Thanksgiving but haven't learned how to keep them warm enough. In recent years, the trick has been to protect things from a mid-Sept light frost. Now I'm hoping to have veggies all winter. I seeded beets and spinach in late October, about one month later than I should have. There has been germination but we'll see how well they do in the shorter days. The garden hose has water supplied by a yard hydrant which is located inside the high tunnel. A ditch to put the water line below frost was dug last summer. The yard hydrant can be used in the winter. When it is shut off, the water drops back down to below frost level.
Anyone else experimenting with season extending methods in New England. I have the Eliot Coleman books.
Here is a link that might be useful: high tunnel
Defrost - Thanks for adding info. Here's your image. You want to use the HTML code, not one of the others. (I just did a cut and paste from your photobucket page.)
Looks a nice size. I'm a bit jealous - I've often thought I'd like a medium-small greenhouse for winter veggies. Maybe some day, though I am not sure it is practical.
Does it have a single or double layer of plastic? Some folks in the greenhouse forum use a solar pool cover over the outside or plastic bubble wrap stuck on the inside to increase the R value so that it doesn't lose as much heat at night. Do you leave your row cover on all the time? Have you any water containers to try to help mitigate the heat swings? I'd love updates periodically on how it does. Is this the first year?
Ooh, I'm very jealous! And not just of your great greenhouse but of the amount of land (and sun!) you seem to have (and the great stone wall!)
I too would love updates as well, if its not too much trouble. Good luck with it and have fun!
who's still raking leaves...
16x24 seems to be plenty big enough since there's just the two of us (nearby family but don't seem to need a lot of veggies). Yes, this is the first winter. Single plastic with row covers left in place now that nights are so cold. I don't remember the date when we rolled down the sides and left them down. Sugar Snap peas didn't like the high daytime temps so I did not get a late fall crop. OTOH had a nice late harvest of zucchini until the first cold night but I'm not sure I could have done just as well with a late planting outside. Somewhere I got the idea that we would have green beans until Thanksgiving and that didn't happen. I use a low tunnel to protect a late planting of beans since we can get a touch of frost mid-Sept. If I can get the beans thru that early cold spell, we can usually have a few more weeks of beans.
I hope to get an early start of some things next spring. One of our daughter-in-law's relatives in East Concord is eating zucchini in June with the help of low plastic tunnels.
Thanks for putting my photo here.
Dee, we are very lucky to live where we do. I had too many trees and shade where we used to live. The stone wall is visible because my husband has put many hours into cleaning along the wall, grubbing out puckerbrush, and generally making things look neat. To the right was a former apple orchard. The trees were long gone and everything had grown up to woods again. Since we heat with wood, the cleared trees went into the woodpile. It will now be a future hay field for a neighbor. This year I requested a band of wild meadow to be left. You can't see it in the photo since the area next to the high tunnel was cut to provide space for a 3-bin compost pile. We enjoy seeing birds visit the tall grasses, milkweed, etc.
I skimmed thru both of the Eliot Coleman books I have which discuss the pros and cons of adding some heat to make it a cool greenhouse instead of a cold greenhouse. I don't think we will do that. I have to learn how to grow leeks. They would be a good crop to have in the GH. I will start some plants indoors to transplant into the high tunnel later. Right now it's the dormant period of short days and little growth. I shouldn't have to water again until mid-March. I have a section of beets and spinach seeded in late October that are tiny seedlings. Not sure if they will make it thru the coldest nights.
The interior temperature gets as cold as outside at night although the thermometer is on a side post. Hopefully it's a few degrees warmer under the Agribon fabric.
Thanks for your interest in our project!
I had a greenhouse years ago, although it was for growing tropicals and orchids, not winter veggies. But it was extremely expensive to heat, and that's here in zone 6B. May I ask you, being in zone 5, do you find it cost-effective to heat your greenhouse all winter as compared to buying veggies at a market? I'm sure it's a joy to have that and I know the joy of having a greenhouse, the smell of the earth in mid-winter, and the feeling of accomplishment when you gather fresh produce. But I just wondered about the cost of the greenhouse vs. the supermarket.
If I am understanding correctly, it's a cold greenhouse, so only gets solar heat and is ambient temperature at night. Right now the plants are not really growing, just maintaining, and the plastic skin and the row cover keep the veggies from freezing and allow for easier harvesting.
I think we devote more garden space to leeks than any other veggie because we harvest them whenever they aren't totally buried in snow. Mine have been under 6-8" of mulch since some time in October. They are easy to grow. When we started from seed we started in February, but the last few years we have grown from purchased plants. I plant them out in May in trenches several inches deep and then as they grow add soil or mulch to pile up to the lowest leaf. Harvest when they get big. Our favorite variety is King Richard because of the long tight stalks, but I think there are other varieties that are supposed to do better in really cold winters. I have't had issues with King Richard not making it through a winter. We harvest in the spring also if there are leeks left until they start sprouting, when they get tough.
We've been very busy this fall with end-of-the-year tasks, to the point where I haven't even visited this (or other) forums in awhile. The clear weather has continued now for several weeks and I feel that I should not waste any of it indoors. Finally though, I am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.
Two things happened this fall. First hubby retired, so now we can work outdoors whenever the weather allows, instead of hoping for agreeable weather on the weekends. The second thing was that our arduous and expensive boundary dispute finally resulted in a decision. It was mostly good since we kept our land that really mattered to us on the north side, but we lost a small strip of land on the south side which unfortunately cut off a section of our walking path. Therefore our big project this autumn was to extend our path through the woods so that it curves around in a big circle. It was quite a task, involving the brush mower, cutting trees and planting new ones, but the end result is a longer path with some pretty views at the top.
Also, with hubby home and the weather cooperating, we mowed the property and trimmed the weeds one last time just as the grass was going dormant, instead of leaving it overgrown going into winter and having to clean it all up in the spring. We also mapped out some large areas to re-forest around the perimeter of our meadow, and left them unmowed. I cleaned out the vegetable patch and gathered pine debris from the trail clearing enterprise, and tossed this on the unmowed future wooded areas to compost. We sawed up the downed tree trunks for fire wood. With the last of our horses gone to greener pastures, we no longer have to preserve all of our few acres as open land to feed them, so it is a shift in focus for us to be cultivating trees.
Speaking of extending paths, is your monumental bluestone path finished, Claire? I probably need to read through the recent posts. I think your project involved more work than our own. It was turning out beautifully from the last photos I saw.
Your property sounds/looks wonderful, nhbabs. Clearing one hundred acres of invasives would be a daunting task, but I think you are on the right track just working on smaller areas and keeping them clear. If the arrangment works out with the farmer to cultivate some of your fields, it should be a big help to you. I've never seen bittersweet here; I think Vermont is too cold for it to grow, but I do remember my mom and others deliberately planting bittersweet as an ornamental in the Boston area back in the 1950s. Wow, who knew it would take such a stranglehold on the native trees!
I am scarred from battling the blackberry brambles during the path project. This past year the bushes had beautiful prolific blossoms and promising looking green berries, but then the dry weather came and berries ripened into shriveled inedible fruit. I tend to look more kindly on the mass of brambles in years when they produce a good crop of berries!
Defrost, your hubby did a really professional job on your greenhouse/tunnel. Your watering system is very inventive. I'd love to see photos later of the plants growing inside. It looks like a great set-up.
I've been stringing Christmas lights these past couple days. It makes hauling water to the blue spruce seedlings less of a chore with the pretty visual light effects. I guess I'm going to have to tackle the long neglected housework now that all my outdoor tasks are done! There's no way around it I guess.
spedigrees said: "I guess I'm going to have to tackle the long neglected housework now that all my outdoor tasks are done! There's no way around it I guess."
Hee-hee, that's one of the ways I motivate myself to do whatever - if I don't do whatever I have to clean the house. It almost always works.
I stopped working on the bluestone path for the season for a lot of reasons, but the foremost was that I have to order another yard of sand for the bed to continue and I didn't want to have to live with a half-eaten pile of sand next to my car all winter. I wouldn't have been able to finish everything I want to do before the weather got too unpleasant.
I also want to see how the path works out when we get serious ice, as we do here. I've tried to leave alternate grassy walking paths if the bluestone gets too slippery so I can get to the birdfeeders and bird baths and mail box and my car without slip-sliding away.
I think I've graded everything OK, but ice/snow melt may prove otherwise (it did last year).
The body appreciated my stopping before I damaged myself, and the house appreciates being back in some sort of order.
Claire (admiring all the industrious folk on the forum)
spedigrees, it's great to have extra time to work outdoors. DH is semi-retired so usually available for projects. Retirement is still a future for me. Glad your boundary dispute is settled. Last year my husband found survey flagging on our property in an isolated area. We have no idea who put it there or why. It was very unsettling.
Bill, as nhbabs explained, this is an unheated plastic "high tunnel" using ideas from Eliot Coleman's books. He market gardens in Maine so we should be able to do something similar. Basically, in the coldest part of winter the veggies should be things that can freeze and thaw without turning to mush. I'm ashamed to say I haven't learned how to grow leeks yet. Transplanting tiny grass-like seedlings scares me. An internet friend said she dibbles a holes, drops in the seedling, fills the hole with water and that's it. Due to inexperience and failure to study the book, we're going to have to eat a lot of beet greens and spinach this winter. I didn't plant any mache or claytonia. Hopefully, extending the season on other veggies i.e. lettuce and getting an early start on couple of tomato plants and one hill of zucchini will help justify the cost. Fortunately, DH's labor was free and even the yard hydrant was an old treasure found in the barn. The interesting thing is that season extending methods are very popular in Europe but not here. Why not? In fact, I don't see why people give up on the vegetable gardens about the time of the first frost. There's still more growing season.
We haven't started to put up Christmas decorations yet. I love to see a lighted spruce tree in yards. I think I've seen one in New London NH that is in the middle of a field. Usually we gather some pine and branches of those fat red berries (alder?) but this year I don't see many red berries at all. The few bushes I have seen seem to have plenty of berries. Maybe somebody has already picked them all. I buy some fancier greenery from the nursery to add to some pine branches, add red ribbons and hang under the first floor windows on the front of the house. I love the battery operated candles with light sensors so they come on automatically when it gets dark. It's so nice to come home to see the lights on.
Donna -
If you're worried about the tiny seedlings, try leek plants the first year - it's easier. I always order with a friend since Johnny's bundle of multiples are much cheaper. Then the next year you can start from seed (though we started from seed before we ever bought plants.) DH made me a multi-pronged dibble that was set up for our previous house which had raised beds. I'll take a photo and post it, but if you want to see it in person so you or your husband can copy it, I think you're close enough for a visit, and it makes planting of onions and leeks much easier. And yes, you just drop the seedling into the hole (in my case the holes are at the bottom of my few inches deep trench) and then water. The soil just slumps or filters in around it.
Your berries that grow in the wet areas are winterberry holly (Ilex verticillata), a deciduous native holly. It grows fine in ordinary soil as well as in wetlands, and like all hollies needs a male to go along with the females if you want berries. I think you can order unnamed/unsexed seedlings from the NH State Nursery over in Boscawen most years if you have a spot for them.
I try to deal with winter decorations Thanksgiving weekend since if I wait much longer the soil in my buckets freezes and I can't bet the branches set. This year I added my red and green tomato spirals, some wound with lights, to my buckets. I also do window candles with blue bulbs per DH's request. I also found one more of my favorite type of trellis and will be winding that with lights I think to make a sort of outdoor tree. Our spruces are all either too big or too scraggly to put lights onto. I don't do much holiday decorating indoors usually, though sometimes we have a tree, so my outdoor decorations are how I celebrate the season. Having the extra light outdoors makes the winter darkness a bit easier to bear.
I hope that the surveyor flags found on your property do not ever lead to any kind of dispute, Donna. I wouldn't wish that on anyone. Often surveyors place temporary markers on adjoining lands to those they are hired to survey, for purposes of measuring from known pins or markers, so probably that was the reason for the flagging.
I don't blame you, Claire, for taking a break from the bluestone path building. The digging may be easier in the spring too, when the ground is softened by melting snow. Yes, slipperiness is the one drawback to paving stones. Sand would probably be your best friend if they get icy.
I love to see a lighted spruce tree too, Donna, and the one in the middle of a field sounds beautiful, but like NHBabs, I shy away from attaching lights to a tall tree. Adding to that, all our evergreens are a good 300-400 feet from the house. It is my dream to one day have electricity back there, but for now that is just a dream. I did run underground wires to our picnic area, halfway between our house and the trees, so I have lights out there, but it was a monumental project. I'll need a professional electrician to install outlets further from the house.
When the crabapple tree in our front yard was small I used to light it up, but alas it's too tall now. In past years one could just plant a cut Christmas tree in a snow drift and string lights on it, but with weather conditions today I think that option is gone for good. The crabapple is usually decorated with pretty red berries, although this year the birds picked off many early on.
I thought I was done with the fall chores, but yesterday remembered that I needed to dig out the gladiola bulbs and spread lime on the vegetable patch and lilac bushes. It gave me an excuse for one more day's respite from the dreaded housework!
As I went to bring in my lawn dragon for the winter, I realized that it had suffered badly from having squirrels and birds jump all over it for a couple of years. Sort of looked like it had a rash with white sores all over it.
So I repainted it. It's not quite as nice as the original paint job which had two tones, but it's better than white spots. It's warm enough today to touch up the places I missed a few weeks ago (when It was also warm enough to paint).
When it's dry I'll put it on the porch in a huge baggie for the winter. Unless I decide to decorate it for Christmas...
NHbabs, thanks for the photo of the onion planter. That is a beautiful gadget. DH and I have already discussed if there are any broken wooden handles around. He saves them because he finds uses for them. About what diameter are the dowels? I'm guessing maybe 5/8"? It would certainly make work easier to poke a row of holes into the ground instead of one at a time.
Claire, that is a wonderful lawn dragon. He is gorgeous.
Spedigrees, my husband has had surveying classes and helped a relative do surveys so he would be able to identify the reason for flagging. This didn't make sense. It may have been left by a hunter. Made him grouchy, though.
More fall chores: there's a terra cotta planter that I still haven't emptied that will get ruined if I don't clean it out and put it away. There's a package of tulip bulbs bought at Agway that were half-priced. The ground seemed like it was starting to freeze and we still have a row of carrots that we didn't cover with mulch. DH has volunteered to dig them up but we might have to put them in sand. The fridge is full. The last bit of garden spinach was covered in snow on Sat so I picked a large bowlful inside the cold house/ high tunnel. It was slightly frozen but defrosted nicely in a sink of cold water.
The seed starting stand was a struggle to carry into a 2nd floor bathroom but it was the right spot where I could check daily. We never put it away so it already waiting for 2013 seed starting!
Donna -
I just checked measurements on the planter. The tines are 3" long, they are 3/4" diameter and the end is tapered or bluntly sharpened. The whole thing (43") is just shorter than the raised beds at our previous house so that in alternating rows I could bump the ends against first the right and then the left so that the leeks or onions were in evenly staggered rows with the holes 2" offset. Our pegs are 4" apart since we did intensive planting. In our current garden I tend to plant 2 of every 3 holes so they are a bit wider spaced since the soil isn't quite as good so I go closer to recommended spacing. I also use it to lay out the rows so that they are evenly spaced.
Claire -
I like your lawn dragon; what a great face! If you are feeling artistic, you could take an ordinary kitchen sponge and acrylic paint and sponge on a textured layer where you want your second color by just pressing it on.
This post was edited by nhbabs on Sun, Dec 9, 12 at 5:23
Continuing with the late fall chores, I finally admitted it's too cold to eat out on the deck, and is likely to remain so for a few months, so I packed away the table and chairs (sob).
I also took the bucket of dirty garden gloves and tossed the contents in the washing machine. Found nice gloves I'd forgotten about in there! Along with a lot of Home Depot specials that I've begun doubling up.
I'll pull out the warm ones I need for winter bird chore maintenance and store the rest for spring.
Wow. I've only got one pair of gloves... barely. The fingertips are gone from at least two or even three fingers on each hand, and there are gaping holes in the area between the thumb and the index finger. Nor really sure why I even bother wearing any when they're like that...
And they're not nearly as clean as any of yours, lol!
I like wearing gloves, they prevent a lot of pain (rose bites, heavy buckets, etc.) and keep the fingernails somewhat decent. I also have a hard time passing up sales on gloves. Ocean State Job Lot and Home Depot have really cheap gloves although the gloves I've bought online have usually been the ones that fit best.
If a pair gets really dirty I just stick the hose in them and put them aside to dry, and pull out another dry pair. Downside is that a few times I've gotten insect bites when I dug too deep into the glove bucket so I tend to just pull from the top and shake them off. That's how I buried the good ones.
I finally started wearing gloves. I like the inexpensive rubber coated ones you can get a farm and feed stores. If I don't wear gloves, I get very awful looking callouses on my index finger. The gloves also give me a better grip on weeds.
NHbabs, thanks for the measurements. I like your technique of alternating the holes.
This pic, taken on April 26, 2012, shows the original color of the dragon. You can already see the white rash on the head and it just got worse, leading to my painting it (I haven't decided yet if it's a he or a she). Sometime this winter I'll probably try nhbab's idea of adding headlights.
Since the dragon was protecting a big red egg, it might be a she. Although male dragons are supposed to be good fathers...
It is difficult to tell the sex of dragons.
Is yours in three separate pieces? What is it made of? About how long is it? This is giving me some great ideas for ceramic dragons. Do you mind if I copy?
I've been thinking of trying to make a mold for a garden dragon, but I'm new to molds and have been stymied. The design of yours I think would make a mold easier.
The dragon is made of three pieces and, when put together almost touching, it measures about 3 ft long, nose to end of tail. That's the footprint on the ground, not the body length measurement. The dragon stretched out with its belly flat to the ground would be longer.
You also don't have to put the pieces close to each other - last spring I had a birdbath interspersed with the dragon.
I once contacted Wind and Weather Customer Service to ask about how to store it for the winter, would the covered porch be OK, and they replied:
"It is made of fiberstone, a mixture of fiberglass and stone, storing it on your porch should be good for the Winter. It is not a porous item and does not hold water so you should not have to worry about cracking."
I certainly have no problem with your copying it, but it's not my product. I assume yours would not be an exact copy anyway, just something similar.
That's huge - and wonderful. Mine would be much smaller and of course different, but I love the idea of three sections, and your design lends itself well to making a mold for each side (rather than top and bottom molds). Thanks for the great ideas!


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In the 1930s, Foshan thrives as the hub of Chinese Kung Fu, with various sects actively recrulting disciples. Although Ip Man (Donnie Yen) is an accomplished martial artist, he only stays at home and keeps a low-profile, quietly sparring with his compatriots in friendly competitions with each other. But after an acknowledged victory to Jin Shan Zhao's (Fa Siu Wong) challenge. Ip Man becomes an instant hero and there develops a craze for Wing Chun in Foshan.
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subset: commoncrawl


text:
Black Sesame Dumplings (Tang Yuan)
I don't have much of a sweet tooth, except for a few desserts. One of the Chinese desserts I absolutely love is tang yuan (汤圆) or sweet dumplings filled with black sesame paste or ground peanuts. I am especially partial to black sesame dumplings or 芝蔴汤圆. They are absolutely decadent, with intensely flavorful, sinful rich, and aromatic black sesame filling oozing out of the dumplings, as pictured above.
Black sesame dumplings can be served with plain hot water or with ginger syrup (姜茶). Either way works fine for me, but during colder days, nothing feels quite as invigorating as having a bowl of black sesame dumplings steeped in ginger syrup. Ginger has many health benefits and warms up a cold body like no other…
I used both screwpine "pandan" leaves and dried sweet osmanthus (桂花) for my black sesame dumplings. They impart very subtle and delicate fragrances into the ginger syrup and smell wonderful!
Here is my black sesame dumplings recipe. I will warn you that it takes some patience to make them, but the end results will be well-worth the efforts.
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121 comments... read them below or add one
Hi there,
This is my first time leaving a comment although I've been browsing through your website for a while :) I LOVE black sesame filling tang yuen! I was wondering if i can pre-make and freeze the tang yuan with black sesame in them for future use? Like how it's sold in asian stores?
OOoh thank you! I made these when I was in kindergarten (in Hong Kong) and I still remember how it went. Although the ingredients were already prepared for us!
Can I make this in advance and freeze them? If so, should I dip them in cornstarch to prevent sticking?
They look really delicious and so pretty! I love that first shot!
My favourite Chinese dessert too and i love to eat it with ginger syrup! I always wonder how osmanthus flower looks like…can get it from chinese herbal shop?
woah, so beautiful. Me too, I don't have a sweet tooth but I'll gobble down all these delicious looking dumplings if I see them ;p
wow! I have never thought to make tang yuan myself! Now I just might! Thanks for sharing this recipe!
I love dessert and I especially love black sesame and ground peanut!!!! Red beans is my favourite too! Since I don't know how to make this tang yuan with filling, I would just buy them from the grocery store locally. I found that boiling them is quite tricky, I always accidentally over-cooked them and cause the filling to leak out :(
I'm intrigued. I'm not sure I would attempt to make them myself, but I'll definitely look for them when I'm out for some good Chinese.
i haven't been very successful with my black sesame tang yuen–the filling isn;t smooth but i will def use ur recipe next time i cook tang yuan. thanks!
I love black sesame tang yuen, but peanut tang yuen is equally yummy!
This is interesting. I had this a lot in my home town in Indonesia … and I always thought that this is a javanese desert. Never thought that this is a chinese desert since I never found it in chinese restaurants. Great pictures, I could imagine the sweetness of the dumpling and the warmth of the ginger broth.
Hi Bee:
Where do you get your pandan leaves? Frozen? I would love to have a live plant if you have one and bears some anak!
Wow! Your dumplings look sooo beautifully shiny and smooth. Mine usually looks a little lumpy. What kind of glutinous rice flower did you use? Is it the Thai brand that you usually find in grocery stores or Mochiko?
Do you happen to have other black sesame dessert recipes? I absolutely love black sesame, but I haven't really found any recipes using them.
Wow! You have such a pair of delicated hands! Your dumplings look so appealing! I must give it a try one day! Hehehe!
LK – I must admit it was quite a challenge. I wish you do a better job :)
Finally, an end to frozen, store-bought tang yuens. Hooray!
Thanks for the introduction to another treat!
Wow, this sounds easy to make. I have a kilo of black sesame seeds that is languishing in the pantry. Got to try this one. Thanks!
Gay – thanks for trying this sesame dumplings recipe. Let us know how it turns out.
I've never had these before but your photo sure looks tempting!
mmmm this is my fave too, luckily can be easily found at tong shui shops in KL :D
babe – thanks for reminding us how fortunate you are :p
I love eating tang yuen and there is a pretty good one in town. I have yet to try one with added sweet osmanthus in the syrup.
ck – if you get to try it, I'd bet you'll like it.
Yes, my Mom makes these and I love them. I didn't know you could use osmanthus in cooking! We have a fragrant bush near our home, but now I know and will put it to good use!
Passionate Eater – growing up, some of the ingredients are indeed buried along the streets' or some abandonments' bushes. Make good use of that fragrant bush :)
Wow! The recipe is so simple, but it really looks so delicious. I want to try it right away! But I'd like some other flavor to the syrup- not really a fan of ginger. How about rose water- how does one make a syrup with that?…..I need to find that out.
I like tang yuen with black sesame fillings too! Best! I like your addition of 桂花 :)
Reminds me of a Shanghai dessert.
I like the black sesame ones best, and the peanut ones 2nd best =)
I tried to make it with peanut once. I find it's extremely hard to warp toe filling. Later I found another way to do it. It's way easier, but more work.
You first moist the filling with water, then roll the moisten filling on the flour. Repeated it for 10 times, or desire thickness. Saw it from some Chinese recipe.
Hope that helps whom experiencing difficulties, like me <:
wow!! you made your own black sesame tang yuen!! i usually just run to the store to get frozen ones… lol. and i love mine with ginger syrup!
i love tang yuan. tks for sharing this recipe and enticing us with your great photos!
That looks yummy! Do we use unsalted or salted butter though?
Planning on making this on Mother's Day (:
Can I use roasted/toasted black sesame seeds?
Oh! Sorry but it turns out that I had dried sesame seeds not toasted. Can I use that instead? Sorry for all the questions.
Just found this today. Can you make this with the store bought sesame paste in a jar? Or will the recipe not work as well?
i am going to try out this recipe as soon as i can. it is my favourite dessert.
thank you so much for this recipe!
Hi ~~ I love this dessert. .. and finally learn how difficult it is to make them =="
I tried making this last night .. sad to say .. it was an absolute disaster .. :S
1. my sesame paste .. turn into sesame candy after it cool (similar to those teochew style ones.. just harder)… (did i add too much sugar?)
2. The dough is either too runny or too dry.. I tried to slowly add water … but still cant get the consistency right
3. I cheated .. using my store bought red bean paste to make the dumpling … but i cant make the dumpling "close".
The only thing .. that went right … was the ginger syrup … I loved it ~!.. ~~ really really envy yr skill .. u make it look so easy~!! : D
I don't have a food processor. Can I use a coffee bean grinder to grind the sesame seeds?
I just spent my morning making these and I'm ecstatic with the results! I used to have them frozen all the time growing up. There's also a bubble tea place close to my old home in NYC's chinatown that would make these deep fried, which are my favorite way of consuming them. I have to say that I ended up adding an additional 50 ml of water to get a smooth consistency in the flour so that it wouldn't break. Also, while, rolling, i covered my balls of flour with a damp towel to keep them from drying out. I also used a few drops of water in my palm after closing the dumpling to help smooth out the tang yuan when rolling at the end. It helped immensely! I've already eaten a bowl of them and they're great! I was definitely erring on the cautious side and did not make the skins as thin as I would have liked to consume them, but at least my dumplings didn't burst in the boiling water! :) Great recipe! I may start making the savory versions with savory filling as well. :)
Your Tang Yuen looks absolutely delectable. I was wondering if you know how to make the peanut filling as well?
Love your blog, its a jem!
I tried making the glutinuous rice yesterday but i have a problem with the glutinuous rice flour. Is it supposed to be moist or drier? If it's moist, then it will stick on the plate but if it's drier, it seems to crack when im trying to put on the filling.
I was using most of my time wrapping the filling and it was not as easy as it seems. However, the result turned out very well, at least i did not had my glutinuous ball burst but i put too much butter when i roast it :(
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Hi I love your blog. I have made a couple of recipes from here and they have worked a treat. This is my next recipe to try. I have never had this before and am desperate to try it. Looks so good and gooey… Great post and pictures….
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hi bee! we have tangyuan too in indonesia, except that we call it "wedang ronde". it has the same ginger syrup but apparently indonesians have altered the filling inside the dumplings. we use ground roasted peanut mixed with some palm sugar in it (though recently the more 'authentic' ones are gaining popularity here) also, we usually use a tint of red and green food coloring so when we order this menu, we will have red, green, and white dumplings…
I had these in Hong Kong and they're my favorite. I would be able to try this now. Thanks for the recipe.
I just want to add that the flour is a lot easier to work with if the water added is hot. It seems to "activate" the natural stickiness of the rice so it holds together better.
Hi, I learn a new and best to add in 1-2 Tablespoon of starch powder to the glutinous rice flour, stir. Add in some hot or boiling water and stir with a wooden spoon then add in enough cold water to knead to a dough. That's 1/3 cup of hot water and 1/2 cup of cold water. Try it yourself and you will see how great the different is !! Normally we are in lard in the filling, you used butter, will it taste western ??
Happy Cooking.
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Can i use regular rice flour??? It's quite hard to find glutinous rice (regular and flour) here in Brazil.
Hi Bee
I have been following your blog for a long while now and can never wait for your updates.
I'm sorry to see that the issue about Alvin Quah made it to our papers in Australia today.
It's funny that the recipe is also on the Australian Masterchef site, posted almost word for word in some sections: http://www.masterchef.com.au/black-sesame-dumplings-in-ginger-syrup-with-wonton-wafers.htm
These are my absolute favourite! Are the uncooked ones suitable for freezing?
amazing! never made something like this before.
I LOVE tang yuan, especially the black sesame ones, but I always buy them frozen. I may have to try this recipe for the holidays, thanks for sharing!
Yum… my favorite! I have to start making these on my own. Bummer about Alvin. Saw the jpgs. Straight out plagarism. Moving forward, let's chalk it up to that old familiar saying, "Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery," although this situation is quite different. That said… you have the delicious original and I need to try out this RECIPE!!! xo
omg…I was just craving this because it has been so cold and rainy lately. Thank you!!!!
I can't wait to try this out! Previous recipes I've seen use premade sesame seed paste, but this "from scratch" recipe definitely looks manageable.
So sorry to hear about someone else taking this recipe from you without giving you credit. WRT tang yuan, I decided 4 years ago that I wouldn't make anything containing mochi flour, cos it is just sticky and messy, but I am tempted to give mochi flour a fair go…
mmm this was one of my favorite things to eat growing up! i loved it when my mom made it :) can't wait to try this for myself!! <3
Am making it right now , and it already smells so good. Can't wait to make the rice flour. Was wondering if I was to use the red bean paste filling, any tips on the fillings? Can the uncooked ones be frozen? Thanking you in advance
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hi, i want to make this dumpling this weekend, but not sure if I can make it a night in advance (use it for the following afternoon). Please advise. Thank you so much in advance.
I tried this recipe,but after it has been folded into the gluttonous rice, the sesame filling came out hard or how should say it…not watery or pasty, and chewy.yes, the sesame paste is chewy.can u hel me out here.what did I do wrong.
Can I use peanut butter instead of the unsalted butter? If so how much do you think I should use? Thanks!!!
your recipes are sooo helpful! have you ever tried a combo of sticky rice flour and rice flour- for these? another web blog, of the fatty reader suggested that-
Glutinous Rice Balls/Tangyuan (湯圓)
1/2 cup sweet rice flour + 1/2 cup regular rice flour
Hot water
1 tbsp granulated sugar (optional)
filling- black sesame powder plus maple syrup
or sweetened black bean paste
Bring a pot of water to a boil. Combine the sweet rice flour, rice flour, and sugar in a bowl. Add hot water a tablespoon at a time, mixing with chopsticks, until the dough is not sticky but also not dry. It should be moist to the touch, without being sticky. If you accidentally add too much water, just add more of the rice flour and sweet rice flour, in equal parts.
Hi there!
when I asked my mom if we had rice flour in the house she said yes, but that there are two types. Which one would I need if I'm buying it at the store? Neither of the packages differentiate between the different kinds of rice flour, so if you could make any clarifications on this detail that would be greatly appreciated!
Hi Bee!
One last question, would you ever recommend black sesame powder as a substitute for toasting then grinding the seeds if in a hurry/time crunch or just out of pure convenience?
I made these yesterday and they were delicious! I have leftover black sesame filling. Can I use the filling to make black sesame soup? Any ideas? Do I just add water? Thanks!
Hi Bee,,
Your recipe has 8 oz. glutinous rice flour. do u mean 8oz in volume (same as 1 cup) or in weight?
how much does this recipe yield?
I finally got around to making these, and they were delicious! Much easier than I had anticipated, I'll make them again. I also froze 8 and cooked them the next day, still simple and delicious. Thank you!
Hi Bee! I've been eyeing off this recipe for a while and am thinking of making them later on today for Chinese New Year! Thanks for the inspiration! Just a question, if I wanted to make the dumplings a couple of hours in advance, what would be the best way to store them to cook later on in the day?


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Marble's #69WEH Windage Adjustable Folding Leaf Sight .520" Height Steel Blue
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Tales of the North
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Caras Dirnen – end of September 2951
Another hour at most. The sentry glanced at the sun's position and nodded, satisfied. The day had been quiet; yet he had not been bored. There had more than enough to think about between the sense of foreboding he had woken up with and the mood among the Rangers in the Keep. The Rangers' tension seemed to be anticipation rather than apprehension, so whatever it was that occupied them was unlikely to be a threat. Even so, he knew something would happen soon, and it would be more momentous than the Council meeting Dírhael had called.
He hoped he read the Rangers' mood correctly; it would be a blessing to not have bad news for once. He was hardly privy to the captains' discussions, but from what little his father had said the last time he was home, he knew they were worried. The Rangers had been hard-pressed since before Arador and Arathorn had fallen, though there had been a few years of grace after the decimation of the Misty Mountain Orc clans in the Battle of the Five Armies ten years ago. Now Orcs attacks were up again. He sighed; he was not a Ranger yet, and he had no idea how long it would be before he was. There was naught he could do about it.
Wait, what is that? A rider… It was not anyone he recognised, nor was the rider dressed like a Ranger. The horse's tack was of a style he had seen only a few times before, on the horses ridden by messengers from Rivendell. Could it be an Elf?
News from Rivendell was rare, and he wondered what tidings a messenger might bring. Orcs come down from the Misty Mountains and heading west along the Road? Or a troll? Such news would explain why the Chieftain had ordered an extra guard to be set on the road to Caras Dirnen. Though why he then placed a recruit on home leave on duty there? Whatever it was, Dírhael did naught without reason, even if that reason might just be that no one else could be spared.
Meanwhile, the stranger was almost upon him, and he held his breath when the rider let his glance pass over his hiding place. He smiled, pleased that his cover was good enough to fool a messenger from Rivendell.
Suddenly, the other sharply pulled up his horse and stopped, almost directly opposite his post, the horse tossing its head and prancing in place. Now the stranger looked directly at his hide-out.
That is not an Elf, he realised as he was about to stand up to address the stranger.
"Hail the sentry! Show yourself!" a clear voice called, and after a short hesitation he stepped into the road, chagrined at having his position betrayed by a horse. And did its rider have to look so amused?
"Do not take it too badly... what is your name?"
"Halbarad," he replied reluctantly, immediately suspicious of the stranger who seemed to read his thoughts, and annoyed at himself for sounding so sullen.
"Halbarad, Elvish horses are trained to warn their rider of danger and their senses are much sharper than ours. I had not spotted you myself," the stranger said.
His hackles rising even further at the other's tone, he looked the stranger over closer before he replied. What he saw confirmed his first conclusion. Despite the Elvish horse, the Elvish clothing, and the Elvish accent to his speech this was no Elf, Halbarad thought as he met the intense, grey-eyed gaze that studied him in turn. The stranger sat his horse well, and looked well-familiar with the sword and bow he carried. He was also young, his own age or only slightly older, and by his looks he could be no other than of the Dúnedain. Maybe he came from one of the outside villages? Though that did not explain the Rivendell horse, or the Elvish clothes.
"I am looking for Caras Dirnen. Is it nearby?" the stranger asked as he dismounted.
"Your name and purpose, traveller?" Halbarad challenged him in reply. The other had to have been let through by the Rangers on guard near the borders of the Angle, but even so it was for the stranger to declare himself first.
A moment of not quite hesitation, but there was definitely a pause. Odd.
"Your name and your purpose," Halbarad repeated, insistently now. He let his hand stray nearer his sword when the other remained silent. The stranger barely glanced down before meeting his gaze again, but it was enough to betray that he had seen the movement.
Yet he waited still, even if little more than a heartbeat, before answering. "I am Aragorn, son of Arathorn."
Halbarad inhaled sharply. "That is a bold claim to make." Bold the claim might be, yet even as he challenged it, there was something in him that recognised it was true.
"I do have proofs," the stranger – Aragorn – stated, holding his gaze.
Should he ask to see these proofs? Halbarad hesitated. He wanted to see them, but it was not his place to judge their truth, and he shouldn't ask merely to satisfy his curiosity.
Before he gathered his wits enough to reply, Aragorn went on, sounding slightly testy now. "I was counselled by my... by Master Elrond that I should go to Caras Dirnen and first present myself to Lord Dírhael. So, to repeat my question, am I yet close to Caras Dirnen?"
Master Elrond. So that was where, how... Halbarad wondered who had known. Dírhael of course, Ivorwen, the members of the Council, his parents; who else had been in on the secret? And what a secret! Isildur's Heir, not lost, but hidden! Halbarad had to stop himself from staring. Undoubtedly, after his dumbstruck gawping at the initial revelation, Aragorn already thought him dim-witted at best.
An impatient cough drew Halbarad from his thoughts. "Oh, I'm sorry. Yes, you only need to follow the road to get there. I'd come with you, but I shouldn't leave my post until my relief gets here."
"Of course not; I would not want you in trouble with your captain on my behalf, but how..." the other's voice trailed off.
"Anyone in town can direct you to Dírhael's house," Halbarad said, immediately wincing inwardly as Aragorn looked taken aback; he had intended to be helpful, but had to admit he had sounded dismissive instead. Before he could say anything else, Aragorn remounted, and rode off.
As he watched Aragorn ride towards the town, Halbarad groaned inwardly as he recalled how near he had been to drawing his sword on his lord when said lord had been slow to declare himself. Now that would have been a good mark if ever the time came for him to receive his Ranger star. But no, not challenging a stranger would have been worse.
At least he no longer had to wonder why his foresight had woken him up this morning, Halbarad thought, still looking down the road, but now impatiently waiting for his relief to appear so he could go back to town. Come to think of it, Dírhael must have known that Isildur's Heir was returning, and had merely wanted someone here to meet him; though then why hadn't he chosen someone who wasn't going to make such a fool of himself?
Aragorn did not quite have to rush to keep up with Dírhael, but his grandfather did set a stiff pace. He had already noticed the day before that Dírhael was always in a hurry, impatient in word and action both. They were coming up behind someone, and Dírhael sped up slightly to catch up; at first Aragorn could not make out who it was in the dim morning light. Then the other looked around and raised a hand in greeting, Aragorn saw it was the Ranger sentry he had met the day before.
"Halbarad," Dírhael called out as soon as he was within speaking distance. "I was hoping to find you. Since you and Aragorn already know each other, would you mind showing our kinsman around before he meets with the Council?"
"Of course not, sir," Halbarad answered. Aragorn thought he didn't look terribly enthusiastic at the prospect, and his own mood sank correspondingly. There had been no opportunity to talk longer with Halbarad, and their meeting had been awkward on both their accounts. Even if he was glad to see a slightly familiar face, did he really want to be dragged around town by an unwilling guide?
"I was not speaking as your lord, but asking as a favour for our kinsman," Dírhael responded, smiling.
"As you wish, uncle," Halbarad now said, "And I'll be glad to do so." Even as Aragorn doubted the truth of that statement, he also noted Dírhael's address of Halbarad.
"Very well, then I will leave you to your own devices for the morning," Dírhael said, now speaking to him as well as to Halbarad, adding as he turned to leave, "I will see you both back at the Keep two hours after noon, and I will tell the captain of the garrison that I have set Halbarad his duty for the day."
Once Dírhael had left, Halbarad turned back to face Aragorn. Before he could say anything, Aragorn spoke. "We are kin?"
"Yes," Halbarad answered curtly.
Undeterred, Aragorn smiled, but when he drew no response, his expression grew serious again as he asked his next question, "This may be a dumb question, but how are we related?" He still knew so little about his people, even about his own family. Even after his identity had been revealed to him, Mother had remained reluctant to talk about her home.
"My mother's father was your grandmother Ivorwen's brother Elatan, and Fíriel, my grandmother on my mother's side, is the daughter of lord Argonui," Halbarad said.
"Then your mother must be lady Bereth. I met her last night, and your grandmother as well," Aragorn replied. Halbarad looked down briefly. "There is more?" Aragorn added, as Halbarad met his gaze again.
Halbarad took a deep breath before answering. "We are kin, but my mother's parents had a Ranger's wedding and Elatan was slain by an Orc before they could wed officially, so..."
"A Ranger's wedding?" Aragorn asked, wondering what the term meant.
"When a child is conceived within a betrothal," Halbarad replied quickly, looking as if he would have preferred not to bring up the topic.
"But that would have made it marriage; I thought the Dúnedain follow Elvish custom?" Aragorn asked. He realised he had inadvertently put his newly-found kinsman on the spot by what should have been a simple question about how they were related; this was rapidly turning even more awkward than their meeting the day before.
"Well, yes," Halbarad replied. "It is even called an Elvish wedding also, but it still…"
"Anyway, if your grandfather is my grandmother's brother, and your grandmother is my grandfather's sister, that makes us cousins, yes?" Aragorn interrupted him, taking the opportunity to shift the subject.
"Close enough," Halbarad replied, looking relieved. "Even if it makes me go cross-eyed when I try to work it out."
"I hope I did not," Aragorn replied.
"Did what?"
"Go cross-eyed?"
Halbarad grinned widely. "Maybe just a bit."
Aragorn responded in kind, pleased both that his kinsman's mood was lightened, and that he at last seemed to have broken the ice between them. Now though, it was his turn to hesitate. "It is still strange to suddenly have so much kin."
"Until this year I knew no better than that I might as well be fatherless, and I thought I was without kin but for my mother. I did not even know that the name I went by was not my real name," Aragorn said. Though the notion of bastardy did not exist among the Elves, he had found out about it in Imladris' library, and for a long time he had even suspected that he might be a bastard.
Halbarad looked at him with sudden understanding. "You really did not know who you were?"
"No, I did not," Aragorn replied, shaking his head. "I called Master Elrond Father. I always knew he was not, though he treated me as his own, but that was all I knew. My father's name was never spoken within my hearing."
Halbarad nodded, and asked, "So, what name did you go by?"
"Estel," Aragorn replied with a slight shrug. "Shall we go somewhere, and not just stand here in the road? Grandfather did ask you to show me around after all."
"Of course," Halbarad said. "What do you want to see? I can show you the town, but that will not even take half the morning. And what should I call you, Estel or Aragorn? "
"I am still more used to Estel, but Aragorn is my true name," Aragorn answered. "And I would rather not go into town. I already had my fill last night of people telling me how much I have grown or how much I look like my father."
"How much you have grown?" Halbarad repeated. "You were away for eighteen years. Surely no one expected you'd still be a toddler?"
Aragorn rolled his eyes and grimaced, adding a glare when all Halbarad could do was laugh at him. Aragorn laughed as well, then asked, "But Grandfather was so quick to set you as my guide, do you not have other duty?"
"No." Halbarad shook his head. "I'm just a recruit, and I am on leave from the training camp. Yesterday I was only standing guard because all the Rangers were busy."
"What were you going to do otherwise today?" Aragorn asked.
"I don't know; hunting, perhaps."
"What were you going to hunt?" Even if they returned empty-handed, hunting would be a good way to spend the morning.
"Rabbits or quail," Halbarad replied, "But we only have the morning, and the best places are a few hours from here on foot. We wouldn't be back in time for the Council."
"Then we must leave that for another time," Aragorn said reluctantly.
Halbarad concurred. "That leaves the town after all then. How much did you see yesterday?"
"Just the Keep, and Grandfather's house," Aragorn said.
"Then I'll show you around a bit more," Halbarad said. "You should at least have some idea where everything is. Do you remember aught of living here before?"
"Not much," Aragorn said. "Small things, and I probably do not recall those aright. I was only two. I barely even remember my father." He wondered; Halbarad was close to his own age. Perhaps…
"I wasn't born until a year after he fell," Halbarad said in response to Aragorn's questioning look. Aragorn lowered his head, disappointed. "But I can show you your parents' house," Halbarad added.
"I would like that," Aragorn replied. "You will have to lead; I do not yet know my way around."
The house was not far outside the town walls. It sat slightly back from the road, and as Halbarad stepped on to the path that led to the front door, he glanced at Aragorn. His newfound kinsman was looking around eagerly, as if he was trying to recall as much as he could.
Halbarad followed Aragorn as he walked around the house, until they were back where they had started. Finally, Aragorn shook his head in puzzlement. "It looks so small, yet it does feel familiar, as if I should know the place. I think I remember following Mother around as she went about her daily tasks, but I did that in Imladris also, so I do not know if that is a memory of this house. She looked happy though, and that is something I have rarely seen, so perhaps…"
"Will your mother come back to Caras Dirnen as well?" Halbarad asked.
"I do not know," Aragorn said, "I think not." He did not elaborate, instead walking over to try the front door. "Locked," he concluded.
"Or stuck, if the wood is warped." Halbarad said. "But if it's locked, your grandfather will have the key."
A loud rumble from Halbarad's stomach disturbed the silence just as Aragorn was about to reply. Whatever it was that Aragorn had wanted to say was lost in a snort of amusement, only for both of them to burst out laughing when Aragorn's stomach also rumbled.
"Well, whatever else we do, perhaps we should eat," Aragorn said. "Did you bring anything?"
"No, I did not," Halbarad replied. "I was going to eat breakfast at the Keep and take something from there for midday as well when I ran into Dírhael and you. We can go to the Keep now, or I can make us something at home."
"I'd like to see your home," Aragorn said. "But is Grandfather such a harsh taskmaster that you would rather go without food than naysay him?"
"He can be stern, but hardly that stern," Halbarad answered. "But to be honest, I just forgot about bringing something to eat."
"You forgot about eating?" Aragorn stared at him and shook his head.
"Yes," Halbarad responded, then grinned as Aragorn's stomach rumbled again. "Anyway, you're as hungry as I am, even if I doubt Ivorwen let you out of the house without a good breakfast."
"True," Aragorn admitted, looking a bit sheepish.
"We could go back now," Halbarad said. "It's not that far."
"I'd rather not yet," Aragorn replied as he sat down against the wall. "We only have to be back in time for the council, and it is still well before noon."
"As you wish," Halbarad agreed, sitting down as well. Aragorn was right; there was no need to hurry yet. And as Aragorn was turning out to be much more pleasant company than Halbarad had feared, his task for this morning was turning out to be anything but the chore he had expected it would be.
"Is your father a Ranger too?" Aragorn asked.
"Yes," Halbarad said. "He is out on patrol, but I hope he will come home before I have to return to the training camp." It had been a year since he had last seen Halladan and it might well be another year before the next chance came up.
"Do you have siblings?" Aragorn asked next.
"A sister," Halbarad replied. "Haleth. She is married and lives in Athrad. Grandmother normally lives with her."
"Athrad. That is in the south, is it not?"
"Yes," Halbarad confirmed. "About eighty miles from here."
Aragorn nodded. "I had to study maps of the Angle back h... in Imladris."
Halbarad gave Aragorn a sharp look. Back home. He had been quick to correct himself, but that had been what he was going to say. But was it surprising that Aragorn considered Rivendell home, when he lived there for so long? Halbarad wondered what Rivendell was like, and how different it was from the Angle. All he knew was that there were many waterfalls in its valley, and that it was said to be a most fair abode. Yet it was also known as the Last Homely Home, and he found it hard to reconcile that name with the marble halls and high pillars he imagined, like the drawing of ancient Gondolin in a book his mother had.
He would ask later, Halbarad decided when he saw that Aragorn was still deep in thought. After a few minutes of silence, Aragorn started to say something, but he halted and shook his head. Eventually he looked up, meeting Halbarad's gaze.
"I have heard some about how I was kept hidden, but I wonder... apart from the people here who were in the know – my grandparents, your parents, lady Fíriel and the members of the Council, what did others think about it when Mother and I disappeared?"
"I can only speak for myself," Halbarad replied, "But then I was born afterwards, so it all seemed normal. As far as I can see, both those who knew and those who suspected something just didn't talk about you or your mother and discouraged the topic in others, leading everybody to believe that you and Gilraen were dead, even if no one could have said how you supposedly died."
Aragorn nodded, and Halbarad went on. "Some things I thought odd even at the time. For instance, no one would explain why Dírhael was only ever acting Chieftain, or why we had barely any contact with Rivendell anymore."
"But there were some people coming to Imlad… Rivendell," Aragorn interrupted. "I was never allowed to meet them, but there were sometimes visitors from the Angle; and two years or so ago, when I was on patrol with my… with Elladan and Elrohir, we rode with a group of Rangers. And looking back now, there were odd things about that too." He looked pensive. "No explanation was given for my presence among the Elves, but as far as I could see, no one asked either. So, as they were all older men, I now think that they were among those who knew, and that the purpose of the patrol was so they could see me."
"Likely so," Halbarad agreed, "But you have already been on patrol?" If that had been two years ago, Aragorn had been not much older than he himself was now.
"Yes," Aragorn replied, "Many times since I turned sixteen."
"Oh," Halbarad said. He was surprised that, amidst all effort to keep him safe from the Enemy, such risk would have been taken with the life of Isildur's last Heir, but he had to admit as well that he was plain envious of the patrolling experience Aragorn must already have. It was also a reminder that he did sit here talking with his lord, and he wondered how soon Aragorn would receive his Ranger star, and take over rule of the Dúnedain from Dírhael. Likely their paths would cross only rarely after this morning, he thought glumly.
He could say none of that though, so instead he asked, "Why does Dírhael want me at the Keep, do you know?"
"Not for certain," Aragorn replied, "But he is gathering witnesses for when I officially present myself and the heirlooms before the Council, and I think he wants you there for that."
"Oh," Halbarad said again. He noticed that Aragorn was toying with a ring he wore. "Is that…?" he asked, nodding at Aragorn's hand.
"…the Ring of Barahir? Yes." Aragorn held out his hand so Halbarad could take a closer look. "Is it not wondrous that something like this still survives after three Ages of the world?" he went on, sounding half awed, half proud. "The Sceptre of Annúminas is in Imladris, but do you want to see Narsil?" Aragorn asked unexpectedly, reaching for the pack he had carried with him all morning.
"Yes," Halbarad said. "Of course," he added as he sat up so he could see better.
Aragorn took a cloth-wrapped bundle from his pack, his movements reverent. He quickly undid the ties that bound it, slowing down as he folded away the cloth to reveal a length of sword that was about a foot long, along with several smaller shards of metal. Shining brightly in the day's light, the sword's remains looked as if they still held a good edge. The Ring of Barahir might evoke awe for its venerable age and history and its beauty, but this sword had once been used to bring down the Enemy. Halbarad took a closer look, careful not to touch the ancient blade.
"Perhaps, one day, it will be reforged," Aragorn said softly as Halbarad looked up again. His expression as he spoke was resolute, and Halbarad felt a sudden fierce hope stir him that the return of this Heir of Isildur would bring with it a change in the fortunes of the Dúnedain.
"One day," he echoed Aragorn's words.
Aragorn rewrapped the shards, and put them back in his pack.
They sat for some time in silence. Halbarad's thoughts had returned to the Ring of Barahir, contemplating how something that small had made it here through so many years, when he looked up and suddenly realised how much time had passed.
"We must hurry," he said, jumping up. As Aragorn, who had been lost in thought as well, looked at him, he added, "You can't be late to your own swearing in."
On the way back, Halbarad set a quick pace, though short of running. If they arrived at a run and out of breath, it would be obvious that they'd lost track of time, and he wasn't willing to look as if he had failed Dírhael's trust in him. There wouldn't be time to eat, but that could wait. As they reached the road to the Keep, Halbarad suddenly slowed down and breathed a sigh of relief. Just ahead were his mother and grandmother, calmly walking to the Keep. They were not too late, then!
"Oh, there you are," Bereth said as the two women came up to them. Fíriel started to say something as well, but stopped and turned her head to look at Aragorn from different angles.
"Now that I see you in daylight, you look even more like..." she started again.
Halbarad caught Aragorn's glance, recalling his complaint that all he had heard the day before was how much he resembled his father. Fíriel looked annoyed as both young men suddenly burst out laughing, but she and Bereth joined in when Aragorn explained that nearly everybody he had met the previous day had told him the same thing.
"In my defence, I wasn't about to compare you to Arathorn, but to my brother," Fíriel said. "I doubt you have heard that so much."
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An snowy owl hunting lemmings around the city Barrow, Alaska. he Alaskan Arctic Expedition highlights the need to save the Arctic from attempts by oil companies to exploit the region's resources for short term profit. The MY Esperanza will document what's at stake in the region whilst committing to a wider objective of protecting the Arctic and creating a sanctuary around the North Pole.07/04/2012
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Results 31 to 45 of 47
Thread: Top 10 of Any Genre
January 29th, 2009, 09:07 PM #31
- Join Date
- Jun 2002
- Posts
- 921
My top ten:
Warren /All the Kings Men
Steinbeck/The Grapes of Wrath
Salinger/The Catcher in the Rye
Hemingway/For Whom the Bell Tolls
Hemingway/The Sun Also Rises
Melville/Moby Dick
Cervantes/Don Quixote
Vonnegut/Cats Cradle
Heller /Catch 22
Hijeulos/The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love
January 30th, 2009, 02:45 PM #32
- Join Date
- Dec 2002
- Location
- Somewhere in Terre d'Ange
- Posts
- 2,698
- Blog Entries
- 12
Oh wow, someone else actually read Mambo Kings! That is a great read, also a good film, but hardly anyone I know has heard of either.
Looks like we're a pretty well-read bunch of folks.
February 26th, 2009, 10:26 AM #33
1. Dune by Frank Herbert
2. God Emperor of Dune by Frank Herbert
3. The Dark Beyond the Stars by Frank M. Robinson
4. Jupiter by Ben Bova
5. The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy
6. Bag of Bones by Stephen King
7. Doomsday Book by Connie Willis
8. Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein
9. Forever War by Joe Haldeman
10. Deepsix by Jack McDevitt
February 27th, 2009, 04:17 PM #34
April 11th, 2012, 02:52 PM #35
- Join Date
- Jan 2012
- Posts
- 207
Mainstream: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
Horror: IT by Stephen King
Pet Semetary by Stephen King
At the Mountains of Madness and Other Stories by H.P. Lovecraft
Summer of Night by Dan Simmons
Fantasy: LotR by J.R.R. Tolkien
WoT by Robert Jordan
The Belgariad by David Eddings
The Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss
Crime/Mystery: Headhunter by Michael Slade
YA: Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
I don't read much Sci-fi so I don't have a favorite.
Last edited by Bob Gray; April 11th, 2012 at 02:58 PM.
April 26th, 2012, 02:28 PM #36
- Join Date
- Oct 2007
- Location
- St. Paul, Minnesota
- Posts
- 175
At the moment:
1) Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton
2) The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
3) The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
4) Cien Anos de Soledad by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
5) Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
6) Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard
7) Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
8) White Noise by Don Delillo
9) A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
10) The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester
June 6th, 2012, 01:41 AM #37
- Join Date
- Jun 2012
- Location
- Oregon
- Posts
- 11
I decided to pick one by each author. God, this was hard.
1. Night Watch - Terry Pratchett
2. The Book Thief - Markus Zusak
3. Diary of an Emotional Idiot - Maggie Estep
4. The Fault in our Stars - John Green
5. A Wild Sheep Chase - Haruki Murakami
6. Fall on Your Knees - Ann-Marie MacDonald
7. Gun, With Occasional Music - Jonathan Lethem
8. On A Pale Horse - Piers Anthony
9. Girl Goddess #9 - Francesca Lia Block
10. The Last Good Kiss - James Crumley
June 12th, 2012, 03:24 PM #38
- Join Date
- Aug 2002
- Posts
- 108
My top ten in no specific order:
Ligotti - Teatro Grottesco
Dostoevsky - Crime & Punishment (or Brothers Karamazov)
Bulgakov - Master & Margarita
Tolstoy - War and Peace
Martin - Storm of Swords
Wolfe - Book of The New Sun (sorry, can't choose)
Mieville - The Scar
McCarthy - Blood Meridian (or The Crossing)
Kay - Lions of Al-Rassan
Holdstock - Lavondyss
My no 11 would be Lovecraft - At The Mountains of Madness & Other Stories, but unfortunately there wasn't enough room. Sorry, HP.
June 12th, 2012, 11:00 PM #39
- Join Date
- Dec 2005
- Location
- Ada, MI, USA
- Posts
- 2,833
Including titles unavailable in English (*), while for some titles I used the better known original title than the English one:
1. Noaptea de Sanziene (The Forbidden Forest) by Mircea Eliade
2*. Caderea Constantinopolelui (Fall of Constatinople) by Vintila Corbul
3. The Roman by Mika Waltari
4. The Masters of Rome (7 vols) by Colleen McCullough
5. Les Rois Maudits (The Accursed Kings 7 vols) by Maurice Druon
6*. Sfarsit de Mileniu (Chronicle of the 20th Century, 7 vols) by Radu Tudoran
7. Use of Weapons by IM Banks
8. The Honorverse (23 vols and counting) by David Weber
9. The Night's Dawn (3 vols) by Peter Hamilton
10. ASOIAF (5 vols and counting) by George RR Martin
If only books available in English count the extra 2 would be:
11: The Kushiel Legacy (9 vols) by Jacqueline Carey
12: Roma sub Rosa (13 vols and counting) by Steven Saylor
August 14th, 2012, 05:06 PM #40
- Join Date
- Feb 2012
- Posts
- 257
In no particular order
1.Dune-Bar none the greatest science fiction novel ever.
2.A Song of Fire and Ice series
3.Jonathan Strange and Mr.Norrell
5.The Vampire Chronicles
6.The Works of H.P. Lovecraft
7. Looking For Alaska
8.The Elric Saga
9.The Dark Tower series
10.Stranger In A Strange Land
Others that make me wish this were a top twelve:
11.The Conan Stories
12.The Works of Edgar Allan Poe
In less traditional forms of literature:
V For Vendetta
The Watchmen
August 15th, 2012, 03:29 PM #41
- Join Date
- Sep 2005
- Posts
- 2,503
A slightly different best of ...
"Guest of the Nation" by Frank O'Connor
"The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien
"The Gutting of Couffignal" by Dashiell Hammett
"The Adventure of the Speckled Band" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
"Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad" by M. R. James
"The Rats in the Walls" by H. P. Lovecraft
"The Star" by Arthur C. Clarke
"Fondly Fahrenheit" by Alfred Bester
"The Sadness of Details" by Jonathan Carroll
"Le Peau Verte" by Caitlin R. Kiernan
And, of course, I retain the right to create an entirely different list tomorrow.
December 25th, 2012, 11:51 PM #42
- Join Date
- Dec 2012
- Location
- Montreal
- Posts
- 1
I haven't read so many books, but still I would like share my top 5 favorite books.
- The Wonder
- The Vally of fear
- The Return of Sherlock Holmes
- Eragon
- Fight Club
Althogh generally I love to read only books that are written for young adults, but sometimes I read some books from other genre also.
January 24th, 2013, 02:33 PM #43
Dante's Commedia
Cervantes' Don Quixote
Lady Murasaki's Tale of Genji
The Bhagavad-Gita
Shakespeare's Hamlet
Dostoyevsky's Brothers Karamazov
Achebe's Things Fall Apart
Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude
Melville's Moby-Dick
Goethe's Faust
February 6th, 2013, 11:16 AM #44
- Join Date
- Feb 2013
- Location
- United Kingdom
- Posts
- 3
Mine would be:
1. Beloved by Toni Morrison
2. The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood
3. Frost in May by Antonia White
4. Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
5. The Island of Dr Moreau by HG Wells
6. The Secret History by Donna Tartt
7. The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin
8. Under The Skin by Michel Faber
9. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
10. The Wolf Hunt by Gillian Bradshaw
February 7th, 2013, 02:45 AM #45
Alexandria Quartet, Lawrence Durrell (er, 4 books)
Coelestis, Paul Park
Dhalgren, Samuel R Delany
Ascent, Jed Mercurio
Kairos, Gwyneth Jones
Aegypt Sequence, John Crowley (5 books)
Take Back Plenty, Colin Greenland
The Master Mariner, Nicholas Monsarrat (1 book + 1 unfinished)
Ash: A Secret History, Mary Gentle
How Far Can You Go?, David Lodge


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