It’s not quite fall yet; however, cooler weather has finally come out way. The mornings are crisp and invigorating while our days are still warm and sunny. I’ve been working on overdrive to can and preserve as much of our summer harvest as I can.
So far I have two full tiers of shelving full of winter gourds, canned goods, potatoes, and more. Bryce had been gone for about two weeks to Colorado, and my roadside stand has been busier this year than ever before! While I do enjoy the processing and storing the food our garden has produced, I was definitely in need of a day off to slow down and spend some time with our boys.
The Painting of the Pumpkins
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We don’t celebrate Halloween, but do choose to decorate for the fall and celebrate a good year’s harvest. One of our ongoing traditions has been to let the boys paint pumpkins of their choice. Stirling has been begging to paint his for over a week, so today he was finally able to!
This year they were ALL about the glitter glue. It was neat to see them interacting and talking things over as they decorated and painted. The encouragement and delight they had for each other’s work was truly a beautiful thing.
I’m always looking for ways to reduce the toxins in our lives, so for our next painting adventure, I’m going to have this water-based, toxin free paint set available for the boys! The paint set we have now is from a department store, and while it does wash off nicely, the smell is absolutely horrible.
Yes, I know glitter is terrible. I’m only human and sometimes I enjoy the sparkles just as much as my kiddos do!
Fall Decorations
Last weekend we visited my favorite plant nursery to pick up some beautiful fall decorations for outside. My intent was to decorate our roadside flower and produce stand, but decided to decorate our greenhouse instead. Having something beautiful to enjoy as we go outside really goes a long way when gardening, caring for the animals, and foraging can start to feel mundane.
We currently have an overabundance of culinary herbs, which I used in a grapevine wreath for decorations. The smell is unbelievably fantastic! After the fresh herbs dry, I plan on hanging it on the inside of our bedroom door for the winter. I will probably add in some dried berries or flowers once it’s ready to be hung just for a pop of color.
Last year I grabbed as many flowers as I could the day before our first hard frost to dry in our kitchen. They were used as gifts (check out some of our low waste Christmas ideas from last year!)
I used a 10″ grapevine wreath and wove the herbs into the vines. USUALLY you can find some grapevine wreaths at dollar tree (for just $1!) But after checking several different locations with no luck, I ended up purchasing them elsewhere. I hope someday to make our own wreaths with vines from our property. You can order similar ones for about the same price as I found locally online here.
The warmth and textures those dried flowers brought into the house were lovely. Today I spent some time collecting several bundles to hang dry in the green house. I plan on using them in floral arrangements and in more decorative wreaths when the weather starts turning colder over the next few months!
A few years ago, I planted two highbush cranberries in the garden that finally produced well this year! (Just not well enough to actually use for recipes). But the bright red berries were too tempting not try and dry to use for decorations this year. Hoping they dry and stay on their stems well!
What about you?
How are you enjoying the season changes? Do you have any family traditions you’re getting ready to start? I’d love to hear about them!