The fruits of my not-quite labours...

This post is very pic-heavy, so be warned! I just figured I'd show you all what I've been up to this week... I roasted a few pumpkins:

I cut up a bunch of fruit to freeze (the idea here is to make jam when it's a bit cooler in my un-air-conditioned kitchen!):

Those are frozen kiwis and apples on the top shelf, and trays of pears,
strawberries and peaches on the bottom one. Please forgive the ugly ice packs.

These are Bing cherries (lots more in the bottom of the freezer),
pumpkin puree from last summer, and an absolutely stupid amount of
frozen rhubarb from my mom's garden!

Something new I found this year - PLUMCOTS!!! I can't wait to try
these. Just going to do these plain because I want their flavour to shine.

And while I was digging around in my late mother-in-law's old recipe booklets, guess what I found? A VINTAGE BALL BLUE BOOK!!!! For a home canner, this is like finding a Guttenberg bible!

No idea what year it's from,but the cover price is 10ø!

And yet to be processed are some yellow plums I got an EXCELLENT deal on, and some roma tomatoes from the Orleans Fruit Farm. I bought some crab apples too, but the kids gobbled those, so none for canning.

(Sorry those pics are fuzzy... I was literally taking pictures into the bottom of my fridge). And of course, there's this weekend's project... the cantaloupe!

This - and the gorgeous display Mother Nature puts on - is the reason I love fall so much. It's a time of preparation, of anticipation. It's a time where we put things by, like squirrels and bees, to get us through the long, cold darkness of winter. It's a time for knitting cozy warm things, and for stewing fruits and vegetables on the stove in anticipation of these things becoming scarce (or at least prohibitively expensive). It's a time of apples and pumpkins and spicy goodness, and a time to kick piles of leaves while walking in the forest. It truly is a time of thanksgiving for all that we are given. I hope you all take the time to enjoy it to the fullest!

Next post: KNITTING!