Fall is my favorite season. Apple harvest is here! Fresh-from-the-tree apples are so yummy! I wanted to take advantage of the new crops to dehydrate some apples for tasty treats later this winter.
I purchased two boxes of apples (Honeycrisp and Golden) from a friend who is also a farmer. They were harvested the night before I met her to get them. Very fresh!
Wash. Slice. Spread out.
Add to the dehydrator and plug it in. I don’t add anything to keep them from browning. They do great without that step. I keep the peel on as well.
My tiny dehydrator has four small circle trays, but the results are just fine. I don’t have to slice apples for hours to fill it. I get a break, then repeat the next day. (And the next and the next . . . because I have two boxes.)
Cash (left) and Cowboy LOVE apple harvest season! They get the cores. I am currently a favorite person.
Here is batch one. Not all of them, but a pretty bowl full to show you. I store them in gallon zip bags or gallon lidded jars. And later, when I need a snack and taste of summer during the cold dreary days of winter, all I have to do is pop open a container and munch away.
One of the grands loves creating and spending time outside dinking around. This summer she asked permission to make a fairy house and garden in my potted lavender. I like fairy gardens, seeing kids use their imaginations, and watching them be involved outside, plus this is right where we would benefit from some nice garden decor! Yes, please, create away!
This is fairy house location number 1. Sadly, the lavender did not want a fairy house and/or garden in the pot. So, the grand had to relocate to a more fairy house friendly neighborhood.
Below is the artist at work at fairy house and garden location number 2. Sunflowers don’t care. They make excellent tall trees for fairy houses and gardens. And shade for the construction workers. Plus. Big leaves and strong stalks for walls and a roof!
Garden shears in hand, additional permission was granted to gather leaves and thick stems. Add rocks, water, dirt, and shells, and utilize existing cement blocks and nature protection from sunflowers and potted plants. Excellent ideas.
Et voila!
We were instructed to water carefully to avoid damaging the new location. We followed the instructions very well. But the leaves dried up, the wind blew, and the stalks fell over.
Never fear though. Miss Architect visited regularly to repair and rearrange the fairy house and garden.
She even established a bathing pool across the brick patio in the cement bird bath/waterer. I missed grabbing a photo of this when it was otherwise occupied by one of the fairy residents.
Imagination. Nature. Plenty of loose parts. Equals the best childhood!
I’m afraid to say that the fairy house might have to migrate south for the winter to escape snow and ice. But we shall see how mild or tough the winter is. Until then, we might consider charging a tiny bit of rent. ;0
Despite the disappointing beginning of repeated plantings, low number of sprouting seeds, and nibbling of sprouts by bird and pest alike, we had quite a successful pumpkin harvest. And I say bring on fall! I love pumpkins and I love autumn! Decorating with homegrown pumpkins is so rewarding.
Read to the bottom for the final count. The photo above shows the “big” pumpkins from the garden. In the carving world, they really are medium sized to small, but in my garden, they are the big ones. Also notice the random yellow squash. I harvested 2. I replanted zucchini and yellow squash multiple times. The end results were zucchini: 0. Yellow squash: 2.
The table above was one of our distribution points. Pumpkins available for adoption were placed on the lovely garden table made earlier this year by my honey.
Above is yet another adoption table, covered with the big pumpkins. This table was also made by my honey, but a few years back, so it has lovely weathered wood.
Above is the first harvest of the minis. So cute and adorable, and perfect for every nook and cranny. I will definitely plant these again. They are so much fun, and pretty aggressive climbers. We watched them creep up sunflowers, pine trees, and any other item taller than themselves. Note, this is another table made by the honey. This one is fresh and needs weathering.
The hand belongs to my grand, Donavyn. He is the one who arranged the minis by color. I loved that! Donavyn and Autumn were thrilled to help with the pumpkin hunt and retrieval.
This is the final harvest from the new planting box out in the pasture. Whoa! A surprising number of big and small pumpkins. Plus, I had tossed in sprouting potatoes and other compost at the “fill the box with stuff and dirt stage,” not thinking what might happen. Potatoes happened! I pulled out the “weeds,” and potatoes were attached to the bottom! How fun is that! That’s why I like experimenting in the garden.
Drum roll please. The final totals for pumpkins harvested this year are:
Seven years ago today, a mom and a dad, two grandmas, and various medical helpers watched baby Autumn make her appearance. Babies are special and sweet, and oh what a delight to watch them grow and develop their own personalities!
Happy 7th birthday, Autumn!
Personality, fashion style, dreams, hopes, and plans. It’s a good day to be 7.
‘Tis the season of pumpkins, colorful leaves, cool nights, whipping winds, rustling cornstalks, frosty mornings, and cozy thoughts of snuggling in for the winter.
But I digress.
Fall. I love thee. I also love making rubber stamped cards. My quite comprehensive collection of autumn rubber stamps, combined with the even greater vast array of my stamping buddy, Alyson, provides ample fodder for harvest-y creations. I must note that one is NEVER done searching for yet another “favorite” fall stamp. The hunt continues!
I thought it would be fun to set the season dial to autumn and share a few card samples.
