Fall Activities

A few days ago I decided it was getting far enough into the fall weather to pick kiwi, so I did just that. I had gotten a couple of baskets full a few days before and wanted to just pick the biggest ones. One weighed in at 4.5 ounces. The average size for the ones sold in the grocery stores is 3 ounces. Perhaps next year I will see to it that the vines get some fertilizer in March as I expect next year to have them back into normal bearing.

I have some friends who look forward to these kiwi each fall. I think it will be putting them to better use to share with those folks then to try making jelly with them. However I may change my mind on that.

Hopefully this week the wild blackberry plants that I rooted earlier, can be planted on the hill in back of the house. They will be close by and I can monitor their growth much easier that way. I expect them to bear next summer. I noticed that the arapaho blackberry plants down in the front of my house have red stalks. The wild plants that I rooted also have red stalks. Perhaps they are related to the arapaho plants. If so, then I will have some very tasty, fat berries. I have tried to grow blackberries before about 12 years ago. They were thornless and not very tasty so I just let them die out. My intuition regarding these is that I will have a lovely crop !

I like to try new things and this fall I entered some of my jams, jellies and pickles in the county fair. That was the first time I had done that and I probably will not do it again. Reason being that it is just too much trouble to take the products in, register them and then after the fair is over go back and collect them. I read in the newspapers today that I could go online and see the list of winners . I did that and learned that my bread and butter pickles did indeed rate first place. The fig-strawberry jam only placed second and ditto for the muscadine jelly. So, that is not too shabby. We had rain all week so I imagine the attendance was not as great as expected in spite of having Charlie Daniels the featured singer on one evening.

When the days begin to chill it says soup should be on the menu. I did try a new soup this fall. It came from a magazine and is Vermont Cheddar soup. Rich, but filling and very smooth. A diversion from my usual vegetable soups. I do plan to make a base of tomatoes, okra and corn and let the rest just happen. My mother used to can tomatoes, okra and corn from her garden and use it for soups in the winter.

Also when it turns cold it seems a good time to make candy. My favorite is peanut better fudge. My sister would make this candy when she and her husband took us camping. She had a little camper cooker and using that on a picnic table she did her fudge. It was always so good !! I make my fudge with a very easy recipe and am willing to share if anyone is interested. It is in the cook book our church put together this year. I add walnuts to it and with the peanut butter I fool myself into thinking it is not too bad for the diet - unless of course you cannot have sugar.

So now that we are starting to use heat here in the south I will begin to look to inside activities to keep me busy. My next project is making lap quilts for patients at the Presbyterian Homes in Georgia. I have some colorful fleece prints to use. Also I have plenty of material in my stash upstairs to make adult bibs. These are among the items that are requested by the Homes. Our church will be collecting items during the month of November. The Homes will use them all during the year as gifts for the residents. I admire the people who care for older ones when they reach the age of not being able to care for themselves. I feel so blessed to not be among them, well not yet at least. In the meantime I will continue to fill my days with fun things and enjoy the beauty of nature from my window or from walks outside. I hope your days are fun filled also.