Fall Blessings, Halloween Ghouls, and Winter Fright!

Winter came knocking at our door this week! David was thrilled that the snow was perfect for a snowman---well a very ghoulish looking snowman! We thought he was quite unique looking with onion eyes, celery nose and leafy mouth! Welcome to Winter!!!!















The Blessings of Fall and Harvest---not to be confused with the Curse of the Canning season---is coming to an end! I think about in mid-September I start praying for a killing frost so I can be done canning and then of course, I'm disappointed that I didn't get everything done that I'd planned. This year I had some wonderful blessings that I wanted to make sure and mention.

• The first was a mother-in-law that canned green beans and pears for me----2 things I despise picking and canning. 96 quarts of beans and 52 quars of pears! Wow!

• The second was some wonderful ladies in the ward that were looking for someone to serve and wanted to can all my applesauce for me---all I had to do was pick the apples, wash bottles and provide lids---well, do you think that I could even get that done? So the kind ladies took pity on me, used their own apples, jars and lids and brought me 48 quarts----for applesauce, that is huge! Now, they did this for MANY different people in the ward, I can't imagine how many hours of service that was. I did get bottles and lids eventually washed and returned to them with LOTS more boxes of apples for them to can, but I was thankful they didn't wait for me or they would have never gotten anything done.

• The third was my kind husband who's ingenious tomato contraption produced picture-perfect tomatoes this year that actually ripened! Wow, this was a new experience! Usually Idaho frosts beats us to them. Also, my Dad provided us with lots of buckets of his tomatoes that added to ours in order to can lots of tomato soup! UMMM! Thank you Jeff and Papa Joe!
  

• The fourth was Joseph and Papa Joe that provided yummy venison to can and add to our food storage! I love canned venison in stew----it's so fast and yummy!

• The fifth was another very busy family in our ward who were wondering if they could have some of our apples to press into apple juice. We happily gave them whatever they could take and they brought us back some very yummy juice! Wow, nothing like that canned stuff in the store! But that's not all, they wanted us to have the great experience of pressing our own apples and so that made time in their very busy day to bring over their in-laws apple press and help us press about 25 more gallons. We had a great time and the rewards were scrumptuous!

As I gaze at all of the bottles lining my shelf, I feel very blessed and safe---what is it about looking at jars of food that you've canned (well---with lots of help, that is!) that makes you feel content and fulfilled? Kind of weird---I know, but it is a great feeling----kind of an "I did that!" feeling.

We also had a great Halloween---here are some of our cute little critters: