Crisp Mornings and Blustery Days

With crisp mornings and blustery days there's no shortage of colorful leaves on the ground! Is this the day? ...is it time? Why, time for leaf-jumping of course! My children are no casual leaf-jumpers. They work on their leaf-jumping techniques - perfecting each calculated dive. They cartwheel, leap and long jump, hoping to break the records from the year before. Leaf-jumping is one of our fall traditions. It's one of those things we do each year to celebrate fall. These fall rituals are like check points, helping us mark and even slow down the passing of time - just a little.

How about starting a fall tradition with your children? There are many excuses to fall in love with the season of changes: caramel apples, scarecrows, leaf collecting, hayrides, and campfires. Short on ideas? Here are a few to help you celebrate the fun of fall.

Leaves have great kid-appeal. Raked into piles, they serve as tumbling cushions and sweet-smelling hiding places. And best of all - they're FREE!! So take advantage of this special gift from our Creator. When leaves cover the lawn, rake a twisting pathway through them. Copy a classic maze for extra credit. Hide a wrapped lollipop under a pile. First one to find it, keeps it. Get out the backpacks and hiking sticks and view the changing landscape up close.

How about capping off the season with a campfire feast. if your backyard doesn't lend itself to the event, check at a state park or local campground. Many have campfire pits for the public to use. Keep your foods basic like roasted franks. Just push a hot dog onto the end of a forked stick and hold it over the coals. A cookout wouldn't be complete without a toasted marshmallow treat! Graham crackers with a piece of chocolate and a melted marshmallow will have everyone asking for s'more.

Hold a harvest slalom race in which runners must weave through a line of potatoes or turnips or set up a row of pumpkins and take turns trying to land a hula hoop or circle of rope around one. you could even see who can "squirrel away" the most acorns or pine cones in ten minutes.

Scarecrows are interesting fall creatures. Each year we try to come up with a new way of dressing up or posing our latest creation. Why not start a new tradition by getting out an old shirt and pair of pants, stuffing it with hay or straw or even leaves. You could us a pumpkin for its head. Short on time or space? Make a mini scarecrow to decorate your front door by stuffing old baby or doll clothes and using a stuffed sock for the head.

The squirrels are busy scampering and scurrying through the leaves from tree to tree. Hmmmm....maybe they know something is up? Or maybe...just maybe they are getting in some last minute fall fun! How about you?

Have a blessed day,

Lori

Fall on the Farm

These were taken Sunday morning October, 19, 2008.

The Sunrise

The sunrise was beautiful on this Sunday morning before church. I had to run out and snap a few photos.



The Farm Home

Our home was built in 1913. When we purchased it in 1995 it was dilapitated and in ruins as it had sat empty for many years. Today we lovingly call it home. I'll tell you the story about how 'we got it' sometime. The Lord is a gracious gift-giving God!



The Pond

The old wagon wheel and pump are my treasures from Dad's farm in Northwestern ND.



The Barn

The sunrise glowing on the barn makes it look especially beautiful on this Lord's Day morning!



The Porch

This is one of my favorite places to sit in the spring,summer and fall months early in the morning. Here's where I meet with the Lord in my personal devotion time while sipping a little tea.




These are just a few photos around the farm at this time of year. This is why I haven't been blogging very much for a few weeks. I absolutely love this time of year and try to enjoy every moment of its fleeting awesome colors...as snow will soon arrive and blanket it all for winter.

Have a blessed day!

Lori

Apples in the Kitchen!

I love apples! Back about 13 years ago, I even very painstakingly hand painted and stenciled apples in a checked pattern on my kitchen walls, since that time....I've gathered quite an extensive collection of apples! Apple items adorn every nook and cranny.

Here's what we did with our own collection from our apple trees a few weeks ago...



We made applesauce:

Lots of apple crisp!

We had to peel and ... and peel...

(we had a little help, some of you know who this is)

and then arranged them in pans!



We topped them off with a crumbly topping...YUMMY!!

Here's the recipes we used:

APPLE CRISP
8X10 inch pan - 8 servings Time: 45 minutes Temp. 350 degrees

5 apples
1/2 cup sugar
Cinnamon

Crust
1 cup sifted flour
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar

Butter Pyrex dish or pan. Peel and slice athe apples into dish. Cover with 1/2 cup sugar and sprinkle with cinnaon. Mix flour, brown sugar and butter until it resembles cornmeal. Cover the apples with this crust and bake until light brown or well done.

(I double this for the 9X13 pan - it makes for a thicker, deep dish crisp). Enjoy!


APPLE DAPPLE CAKE
(courtesy of the Prairie Dwellers - www.prairiedwellers.blogspot.com)

Ingredients:
3 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 cup oil
3 cups flour
1 tsp.cinnamon
1 tsp. soda
1 tsp. salt
3 cups peeled and diced apples
2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup coconut or 3/4 cup oatmeal
1 cup walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream together eggs, sugar, and oil. Add dry ingredients, then apples, nuts, and vanilla. Bake in 9x13-inch pan for 45 minutes.

Icing:
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup margarine or butter
1/4 cup milk

Boil for 3 minutes. Poke holes all over top of cake, pouring icing over while cake is still hot. The icing will soak into the cake. Let cool.

Thanks Bryce!! This is extremely good!

Have a blessed day!

Lori

Apple Pickin' Time!

This past week was Apple Pickin' Time!

The kids rushed out to pick the apples before a hard freeze. I forgot to mention to them not to throw the apples into the basket as we didn't want them all bruised....but....

Don't worry Mom! We came up with an Ingenius Apple Pickin' plan...Using a blanket to throw them in kept them from getting bruised!The harvest is all in...just in time!


The best apple of the entire tree was way up at the top.

Apple of My Eye
The Ascent
Gotcha!
Victory is Sweet!
It's mine...all mine!!

OR IS IT?....

Autumn Harvest

What natural beauty bestows the countryside as fall comes to season. Leaves begin to change color in rustic shades of brown, orange and red. The trees boast ripe, juicy apples, ready for picking. Pumpkins and gourds adorn porches, and the autumn sunset glows of harvest colors onto the land.

Oh, for all the fruits and vegetables that abound during the fall! Apples and squash are two of the most plentiful and picturesque members of the produce family that graced grocery store shelves with the approach of cool weather. Both apples and squash are versatile members of the fall food season, meaning they are equally scrumptious served up in the bulk of the main course and as the headliner on the dessert table. Open up your hearts and kitchens to the most plentiful crops of the fall season – apples and squash!!

Johnny Appleseed, an American folk hero who was actually named John Chapman, covered 100000 acres in his lifetime – on foot, planting apple seeds, the fruits of which we’re still enjoying today. He apparently had a dream in which he envisioned a land completely covered in apple blossoms, and was inspired, beginning the very next morning, to spend the rest of his life planting and growing apple trees. Why not start peeling and whip up some of your favorite apple recipes, such as apple crisp, apple pie, apple upside-down cake, apple bread, or apple scones. With over 7500 varieties worldwide and several times that in recipes to use them, it shouldn’t be hard to find an apple-pleasing dessert!

Although there are no famous American folktales cataloguing the inspiration and glory of squash – seed planting, squash does indeed have a long and well-founded history in the young Americas. The word squash itself comes directly from the Native American word “askutasquash” which means, “eaten raw or uncooked”. The Iroquois tribe considered squash along with corn and beans to be the “sustenance of life”. Squash are nutritious (jam-packed with vitamins A and C) as well as delicious and abundant. How much more convincing do you need? Why not try some baked squash, squash soup, pumpkin pie, or any number of pumpkin dessert recipes you already have on hand.

With the pressing garden work of spring and summer behind, you now have time to enjoy your harvest. Warm fall colors will fill your kitchen as squash, tomatoes, pumpkins, eggplant and corn are harvested. The cool weather’s creeping up on us so, it’s time to heat the kitchen up with hearty soups and stews, and fill the house with the wonderful aroma of baking cookies and breads. Nothing quite compares to the satisfying wholesomeness of a hearty, home-made meal.

Get out your recipe box and start digging for those treasured delights of fall, today!

Have a blessed day!
Lori

Minnesota Fall Foliage

These photos are from Maplewood State Park. I took the two youngest girls on a day trip in early October to see God's wonderful Fall splash of colors. They were about 50% changed and gorgeous!

Autumn!

Hmmm…..If we could only capture the beauty of autumn and hold it to our hearts all winter long! Crisp mornings, warm days, azure blue skies, tasty apples, golden pumpkins, harvest moon…and perhaps most spectacular…the beauty of changing leaves, all typical sprinklings of the season. Yes, fall is my favorite time of year!

I love the whisper of the wind, the blustery breezes swirling fallen leaves and scattering them in colorful piles in otherwise barren places. I love the smell of campfires and burning leaves, the sound of crunching leaves beneath my feet.

It’s a time to slow down, a time to enjoy the beauty around us. It’s the season’s last hurrah before coming to a close and cuddling under a snowy blanket.

The bible tells us in the book of Genesis that the change of seasons was God’s idea. In chapter 8, the Lord reminds us, “While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.”

Virtually everything’s affected by the seasons. Farmers plant and harvest their crops in the warm months and mend fences and tend their livestock and machinery in the winter. As the seasons change, people wear heavier or lighter clothing and eat different foods.

The cycle of the seasons make up a year. Before the calendar, people looked to the sky for signs that a new season was approaching. The book of Genesis, chapter 1, says that God put the lights in the heavens, “…to divide the day from the night, and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years.” This knowledge was vital in determining seeding and harvesting times. That’s why we still call the low, orange colored moon, “the Harvest Moon”.

The seasons have a profound effect on plant and animal life, too. In spring, plants and trees sprout new leaves, flowers appear, birds migrate to warmer regions, and many animals emerge from hibernation. With summer, the lengthy hours of sunshine provide energy for photosynthesis and stimulate growth in plants and animals alike. In autumn, the final harvesting is done, many plants shed their leaves, birds migrate to warmer regions, and construct warm, protected burrows, seeds have hard coats to keep out the cold, and buds are wrapped in wax as protection against ice.

Out of these four seasons, autumn is my favorite! Check back again as I take some time to enjoy the beauties and aromas of this special season.