Monday, August 31, 2009

Fall is (Almost) Here!

As much as I LOVE summer, I do look forward to the coziness of Fall!
There are so many things about fall that I love!


~Pumpkins! I love the bright, cheery orange!




~Fall leaves, orange, red, yellow, brown!




~Making a scarecrow, and decorating for fall!





~Ohio State Football (or basically ANY football in our house), but since Al is an OSU alumni, our Saturday's are all OSU!!!



~~~I also LOVE wearing sweaters and sweatshirts when the weather is cool!

~~~Cooking and Baking comfort foods! We love Pumpkin Bread, Potato Soup, Chili, yummy casseroles, & homemade bread!

~~~Putting out our fall candles, such yummy smells, such as Apple Crisp, Brown Sugar and Berries, Oatmeal cookies, Vanilla, Caramel Apple. Makes me hungry for dessert!!

~~~ Sweet smell of the fall air. Reminds me of maple syrup.

~~~Butternut squash, baked with brown sugar and butter...mmmmm...

~~~Our very own Barnesville Pumpkin Festival. Lots of food and fun! Plus, a gigantic pumpkin!

I'm looking forward to the fall season. I do feel a little sad this time of year, though. I have noticed that our barn swallows, who take up housekeeping in our barns during the summer months, are already gone for the year. I'll be gathering up all the summer stuff out of the yard, to clean it up for the winter, summer is always a lot of fun for Emily, playing in her sandbox, wading pool and with her bikes.

We're finishing up 2nd cutting of hay, so haymaking is winding down for the year. Thankfully, we will have some good hay to get us through the winter.

Mid to late October, cheesemaking will wind down for the winter. That gives me time to focus on doing orders and getting gift baskets ready for the holiday season.

Today, I am doing some "fall cleaning" of the house, getting things organized and tidied so that when we are all tucked in when it's cold outside, it will be a nice, welcoming place for us to spend our winter months.

Happy Fall!!!









Monday, August 10, 2009

Yard sales and canning!

August if here, and it started out downright cool! But, yesterday and today the hot, humid weather has finally arrived. Ick! I really did enjoy the past two months of unseasonably cool weather, global warming was not in our area this summer!
My Aunt and Uncle came for a visit last Wednesday, and they brought about a bushel of green beans, two dozen ears of sweet corn (silver queen and a yellow corn), tomatoes and some cucumbers! I spent a couple of days snapping and canning those beans. They will taste yummy this winter! I love canning, but wow, it can be a long day and it's no fun when it's hot! Last night we cooked up the sweet corn and had some fun eating it with family!
Last Monday we finally, finally made a batch of cheese, woohoo!! I missed making it! We did a Dixie Swiss, ended up with 120 lbs. of cheese. We're going to make again this Thursday, and I'm hoping to do a batch of German Penn Brick. It's a different procedure, so I'm hoping we get it right. I get a lot of requests for it!
I've also found some goodies at a yard sale this past Saturday. I picked up some Gooseberry Patch booklets, for 25cents each, I already have them, but plan on tucking them in gift baskets this Christmas. Also came across a few other books, pictured below. Received my copy of the Gooseberry Patch book, Autumn with Family and Friends, and as much as I LOVE summer, their autumn books get me really geared up for the next season, and I'm looking forward to pumpkins, fall leaves, cooler weather, and the sweet smell of the fall air! And, I love to bake and cook in the fall! So, the cookbook came at the best time!! Will be receiving my free copy of Christmas with Family and Friends and Farmhouse Kitchen very soon as well! I love when they use my recipes!
You can find out more about their books and other goodies on their website:
www.gooseberrypatch.com

And for canning informations:
www.homecanning.com

My copy of the GBP Autumn with Family & Friends

A yard sale find, only 25cents! Love it!!

This is a REALLY neat book!



Also made and canned 5 pints of homemade SALSA!!! YUMMY!!



Lots of GREEN BEANS!



Blanching





Putting the beans in the hot jars







32 pints all tucked in my cupboard, looking really good too!







Some yummy sweet corn we really enjoyed last night!








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