Autumn Harvest
Autumn is one of my busiest seasons. We begin our home school year right as the garden peaks and farm chores abound. I find my days very full and I often feel as though I run through each hour of the day. This year’s tomato crop has flourished bringing a steady flow of tomatoes for over two months now. Planting them in the greenhouse has lengthened their production by at least a full month. Our freezer is full of tomato sauce and stewed tomatoes. The pantry shelf has jars of salsa and dried cherry tomatoes. Last week, the kids and I went to our CSA farm and picked even more tomatoes out of the field for freezing. My daughter wondered why we had bought more when she felt we already had enough. This was difficult to explain but she seemed satisfied with my answer of, “You can never have too many tomatoes!”
The pumpkins have been pulled from the garden and are waiting in the greenhouse to be brought inside to a cool location. I have only had time to cook one which quickly became pumpkin bread and pumpkin pancakes. As the winter approaches, I cook the pumpkins and freeze their pulp to use in soups, pies, and baked goods. This year I hope to make pumpkin butter as well
.
Today the kitchen smelled of cooked apples and cinnamon as I cooked about 50 pounds of apples. Most of them went into applesauce but I saved one batch for making apple butter. The remainder of the apples will find their way into pies, salads, and apple bread.
Outside, the leaves are reminding me that autumn is here and quickly passing. The mountains are dotted with beautiful golden, orange, and red leaves. I know that there are only a few more weeks left of harvesting before the cold sets in and the garden comes to a halt.
Robin @ Heart of Wisdom
Great photos. We went to a pumpkin patch this weekend.
http://www.heartofwisdom.com/heartathome/
Do you have a sheep dog? We have goats and prys.
I posted several free audiobooks for homeschoolers would like at
http://www.heartofwisdom.comblog