My favorite time of year...

"It is only the farmer who faithfully plants seeds in the Spring, who reaps a harvest in the Autumn."  -- B.C. Forbes

Usually, each year, we get a nice little haul of acorn squash, which are
perfect for making pumpkin soup.

I cut them open, remove the seeds....

...bake them, and remove the orange flesh from the dark green shell.

I puree the squash in the food processor and then freeze it to use later.
See? There's the orange good stuff in the upper right hand corner of the freezer.
The purple stuff on top of it? Pureed red beets, which are perfect for
chocolate cake.

 I made Asian-style pulled pork using cranberry juice, our own hot pepper jam,
hoisin sauce, ketchup, ginger, liquid smoke, soy sauce, our own garlic and
red onions, and cornstarch. It looks like a hot mess here, but once it cooked
down, it was *so* good. We ate it over cooked sweet potato chunks.

Look at our bean haul! They're in the jars and tupperware containers
around the crockpot.

There's my handsome beekeeper, coming down from bee hill.

The boyz are restless because Dad is outside. Eventually, when I was
downstairs folding laundry, they 'nose-pried' the door open and ran out to Michael.

We got some beautiful apples from McDannell Fruit Farm in Biglerville, PA,
which we always try to stop at on the way home from visiting my folks.
What is this? An apple crostata! Click here for the receipe.

Michael's putting the garden to bed.

And I made some apple crisp for tomorrow's breakfast.

The gorgeous fall reds, oranges, and yellows continue to spread across the hill.

 

Autumn has come....

The colors (and smells) of fall are very welcome here after such a scorching summer. After months of daily watering, after a period during which our empty rain barrels forced Michael into making seemingly endless trips back and forth to Lick Run Creek with many (many, many) buckets, it's so nice to see the cooler temperatures, feel the rain, and smell the new crisper edge to the outdoor air. Indoors, it smells different, too, since we're dehydrating habaneros. They have a distinct, pleasantly warm scent that has permeated the entire house. Outside, the wild turkeys and the deer are milling through the field below the beehives.
Winter preparation continues. Yesterday, I spent several hours on the back door and door jamb, which I haven't touched since 2007. The white paint had begun to peel and crack. This morning, however, it has a glossy new coat of butter yellow paint. Some pictures appear just below:

The back porch door before its new paint job....

...and the door after the new paint job.
The Hex Sign (which had actually been on the door before) is there
because hey, I'm a Pennsylvania Dutch girl. The image is a
"Double Distlefink," symbol of good luck and happiness, doubled.

Each day, the orange blaze travels further across the trees on the hillsides.

This morning, despite the intermittently heavy rains, the wild turkeys are
out foraging on the hill below the bee hives.

While I write this, Jasper is snuggling by my side. What a nice feeling it
is to have a dog snoring beside you.