4th week of October 2009

Bob the Pumpkin Fall flavors are everywhere. We had pumpkin pancakes (made with butternut squash) for breakfast the other morning and our children harvested a beautiful pumpkin that grew from the compost pile. The lovely squash was named "Bob" and our son requested to have a pumpkin cake for his 8th birthday. So "Bob" lived a short life as a yard decoration and then was cut, baked, scooped and made into a delicious cake that we ate doused with whipped cream. Some of extra made a pumpkin pudding and there is more of "Bob" awaiting more pumpkin recipes. Another fall treat we are enjoying is apples. The children have been pooling their spending money and coming home with large bags of apples plus cider from our neighbor's orchard. They have decided that Empire apples are their favorite so far. I have been dehydrating apples both for our winter snacks and for my demos at Lehmans. Another neighbor stopped by to share extra pears that they picked - delicious! I didn't save any green tomatoes to continue ripening indoors this year, I'm not really hungry for them and we'll enjoy all the other flavors of the season.

In the garden, we are out on the warm days doing more clean-up. Stevia, rosemary, lemon verbena and pineapple sage are getting potted for indoor winter storage, Corn Husk Dollsthe rosemary in our living room window and the rest in a cool basement. All the tomato stakes, bean trellises and other fences are being put in storage. I'm also reminding our oldest son that he wants to make sure the potatoes are all dug before the weather gets nasty and he freezes his fingers finishing his task.

It is also time for gathering corn husks for all our corn husk crafts. Our Amish neighbor let us know that he will be picking corn this week so we'll plan to go help for an afternoon and my goal is to follow behind gathering large bags of husks. The husks are used for corn husk dolls, corn husk mats and other creations. Pictured are the corn husk dolls and critters created at the Fall Crafts Workshop last weekend. The kids at the workshop really had fun being creative and there are burlap sack overalls, bouquets of dried flowers, wild corn silk hair and even an angel.

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