Homemaker

I love fall. I love it. I love candy corns and candy pumpkins, I love turtle necks and sweaters and socks, I love dead looking plants with bright red tomatoes on them, I love foggy mornings and chilly nights, I love apple cider and caramels, I love canning and pickling, pumpkin pie and pumpkins that you don't eat, I love new pencils and college kids running all over town, I love turning off the AC and waking up with a chill, I love mowing the lawn really short for the last time, I LOVE THE COLORS, I love the smell and the feel and even the fact that it means winter is on the way! It's the best time of year to spend with Matt and some of our favorite memories are from camping trips in the fall. It's beautiful and my life would not be complete without Midwestern autumns.

I have a very small garden in back with bell peppers, jalapenos, tomatoes and oregano. I also have a family-in-law who live on a farm and have a bigger garden that I get to reap the benefits of. For instance, I came home one day a couple of weeks ago and found this

Stuffed peppers from the garden (beef from the pasture) and chocolate cake dessert! How lucky am I?? They also brought over some zucchini which I used to make a special meal for my parents on their first visit to my new house and a giant bag full of green beans from the garden which I blanched and froze for the winter!

From my garden, I pickled the jalapenos and dried the oregano. It was my first pickling/canning operation all by myself! I definitely knew what I was doing after years and years of canning with my father.





I am very proud of my pickled produce and left them on the counter to admire for weeks. I've finally put them away for the winter and for Matt to enjoy when he gets home. It's not a lot but it's all I had time for this harvest season. We hope to make a larger garden next summer and I want to do more canning, especially jams which I missed this year. I love homemaking! I love homemaking in the fall!