The way fall looks around here

We are enjoying an exceptionally beautiful autumn here in the north country. Each morning I wake up and declare today more breathtaking than yesterday. The sun and the cool temperatures and the bright colors and the fallen leaves all adds up to absolutely amazing. I wish I could bottle these days and save them up for those times when my soul needs a boost, because they are the sort of days that simply don't allow for melancholy.


Last Thursday two bushels of apples arrived straight from apple country. Not only were these apples perfect (I only tossed 1 apple of the whole bunch out because it was too bruised to salvage, and there were maybe a handful that needed bruised spots removed at all), they were also $8/bushel. Perfect.

Jackson showing off the impressive size of the 20oz apples

Friday found me processing these apples for hours, literally. I'm pretty fast at peeling and slicing apples after years and years of doing so every fall, but still... two bushels of apples is a lot to process on your own!

This is what was still left after making 2 big batches of applesauce!

I jarred 16 quarts of applesauce and made more to eat right away, peeled and cored and sliced 80 cups of apples for freezing, allocated the most beautiful apples for eating, and filled the bottom drawer of my refrigerator with apples for immediate baking use.

10 bags full of 8c of apples each for baking in the next few months.
(I would freeze more, except I don't have an extra freezer and can only take up so much of our regular freezer with frozen fruit!)

My canning cupboard. It looks like it gets direct sunlight thanks to my mediocre camera, but I promise that it doesn't. Ever. A local friend who does the majority of her family's food preserving told me everything in it would be just fine-- she, too, leaves her canned goods in open cupboards in her kitchen.

Saturday afternoon we walked down to my parents' because the girls had raked up a bunch of leaves and offered to let the kids come and enjoy their efforts since we don't have many trees in our yard.

The walk down is a leaf-covered one, which the kids love


Aunt Julia showing Gabriel who's boss


Aunties and their kiddies

And, around here, fall this year is also looking like a very round belly. I'm officially overdue (shocking, I know) and a walking time-bomb. We hold our plans very loosely these days, knowing full well that as much as we plan, He will decide exactly how our week goes!

40+1 weeks!