Sunday, October 07, 2012

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways....

Last week we had pumpkin curry, spicy pumpkin muffins, curried squash (pumpkin) soup, and pumpkin pie cake (I made the latter two for church potluck) – and haven't made much of a dent in my pumpkin supply. I got scared away from canning pumpkin, then was encouraged to do it. (I don't know what is behind the relatively recent revamping of canning guidelines, but have decided that "autoclaving" food with a properly functioning pressure canner presents a far lower risk than getting in my car and driving to town, so I'm going to proceed.)

But more than pumpkin is on the menu. I was also given some beautiful basil; I see fresh pesto in our future – and more of that heavenly no-cook pasta sauce while we still have vine-ripened tomatoes!

But probably not for long. Fall feels like it is flashing by. Day length is dropping dramatically, and our dry weather is running on borrowed time. Rick has been spreading composted manure on the pastures at every opportunity and finally finished today. He built a rack for the flatbed trailer my dad gave us and hopes to pick up a load of firewood before next weekend, when rain is forecast. I picked two big buckets of apples this afternoon and am in the middle of processing two batches of applesauce. I wanted to get a dehydrator-load of apple slices going tonight, too, now that the prunes are done, but I can see now that I will run out of time.

More squirreling away to come on Monday, at . . .

6 comments:

farmlady said...

It all comes at once doesn't it? We wait for the cooler weather and then, all of a sudden, it comes and everything has to be tied down for winter and all the fruit and veggies have to be saved. It's a busy time.
Carry on... there will be fires in the stove and cool nights soon. We've been waiting for this... remember?

Tina T-P said...

I made a pumpkin cream cheese bar for church this a.m. - recipe called for pumpkin, an angel food cake mix, cinnamon & water - then you drizzle thinned cream cheese over the top and marble it - I was astonished when the cake mix had some kind of "chemical reaction" and started foaming up - I imagine that's what it is supposed to do, but I was afraid it was going to bubble right up out of the mixing bowl! LOL - Everyone at church loved it - The Shepherd wasn't too crazy about it, nor was I, so I'll probably send that recipe to the recycle bin. I think Farmgirl's muffins are still my favs, but a friend gave me her pumpkin bread recipe - I need to try that next. T.

Sharon said...

My dehydrator is full of onions - smells like bad body odor. Apples would be much nicer. They're soon on the list. I love this month!

Michelle said...

Eeew, Sharon! Actually, I still haven't done any apples. I had a bag full of Asian pears that needed attention, so I dried those. They turned out really good, and I didn't even peel them! I'm going to try a batch of unpeeled apples. Sure would save on time if they are edible that way.

Michelle said...

I'm thinking that I could add pumpkin puree to lots of things to up the nutritional content without making pumpkin take center stage, Tina –– chili, soups, casseroles, etc.

Michelle said...

I'm thankful the cooler weather is coinciding with canning/drying time this year. In the past, I seem to recall canning in the heat of summer; no fun!