Preparing for Winter

I've been busy the last week or so, trying to get some foods put up for winter.

My uncle made molasses, and while we were at his house for that, he invited us to pick apples and pears. OH, BOY, You don't have to ask us twice! lol He had the coolest apples...black ones.

This is one of the black ones, and a regular one we got off another uncle's tree...I think they're Winesaps. The black ones are Arkansas Black, or Black Arkansas. I thought they were really cool. Anyway. ; )

Daddy cleaned out our garden spot, and the girls' garden spot, and found a watermelon on Emma's plant that she didn't even know was there. The vine was dead, so he picked it, but it wasn't quite ripe...almost, but not quite. She ended up carving it like a pumpkin and putting it one the porch with a candle underneath. lol I wish I had gotten a picture of it.

The girls are getting ready for H'ween again....they get SO excited about it's coming they can't wait and start putting up decorations as soon as October begins. Anna did most of the decorating and did it well, too. : )

I've been making salsa, putting pears in the freezer, and today I'm going to try my hand at applebutter...crockpot applebutter, that is. We're probably going to buy some from my SIL's mom's ladies group, but we wanted to try our hand at making it, too.

We found chinquapins and chesnuts, too, and walnuts, so we've been in nut heaven. lol I'm going to try to get a chinquapin tree started....I might try a chesnut tree, too. I "had" a walnut tree started, but Daddy *accidentally* mowed it down. He's *very* allergic, so I suspect it might not have been an accident. lol I'm hoping I can get some trees started in pots, then move them outside when they're big enough. I don't know if it will work, but I don't have anything to lose by trying.

I've been reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (http://animalvegetablemiracle.com/ ) and am inspired to do more with my little patch of ground. Also, to eat more locally produced foods. We went to two farmer's markets last weekend, and I got lots of peppers (which explains the salsa, lol) and okra, tomatoes, pumpkins...seems like there should be something else....I can't think...Anna is barking behind me. ; ) One of the booths at the farmer's market had water buffalo....I would have liked to try some, but we weren't going straight home, so we didn't. Daddy says maybe next time maybe we'll take a cooler. I think they only have about three more weeks that they will be open, so we might not make it back to get some.