When I lived in Williamson, New York, I lived in a 1900's farmhouse literally in an apple orchard. The house was formerly a migrant house for when they came and still come every year from the south to pick the apples. There was a row of apple trees on my property line, so when we bought the house we made a deal with the apple farmer instead of cutting them down. He would take care of them and take the apples and we would be able to go into any part of his orchards and pick whatever apples we wanted. What a deal that was! I even had an orchard lane on one side of my house flanked with poplar trees that led back to acres and acres of apple trees. I used to look so forward to Fall when the leaves from those trees turned the most gorgeous color of yellow. I also went crazy making any apple recipe I could find. I loved to go pick the 20 oz. apples for pies. The farm market was across the street from me so I got my fill of vegetables and apples three seasons of the year.
One year before I had children my husband and I went up to the Berkshires where my college roommate owned an inn. We decided to try horseback riding one day. Three hours later and a runaway horse (mine!) we came back exhausted but exhiliarated. The thing I remember most is that in those Bershire hills the leaves were pink and purple. Really! I had a pink and purple earring on which got brushed off as I passed by a tree limb. I got off my horse to try and find it but it was lost forever, blending in all those gorgeous leaves!
One of my favorite traditions to do in the Fall is to gather the most perfect yellow and red and orange leaves and iron them between waxed paper. Then I would scatter them on my dining room table for decoration. So pretty! I even made a wreath out of them one time. Another tradition is to make my pumpkin bread and pumpkin cookies and apple crisp (the recipes are in an earlier post!). I usually decorate the main floor of the house for Fall too. It is my most favorite season in Upstate New York. The colors and smells, the leaves and the acorns, the pumpkins and gourds are just good for the soul and remind me how creative and good our Lord is!
When my kids were little I did all the typical things for them and with them in the fall, even making the mistake one time of taking them to a haunted hayride! I made all their costumes, we carved pumpkins and we jumped in the leaves. We would go to the local farm market Fall events and have caramel apples. I am looking forward to when I can do all that again with my grandchildren.
Fall is also the time that I start making my Christmas cookies. November 1st I start. I make them and freeze them unfrosted and when the time comes to start giving them away as gifts, which could be early December, I am ready. I just have to defrost them as I need them, frost them, put them in a nice tin and there is the gift.....one of the best gifts of the season I can think of!
If I am ambitious someday maybe I will post some of my most prized Christmas cookie recipes....would anyone be interested in that?
Have a wonderful evening....
AnnMarie
This is an Etsy Blogger team post
To read my fellow EtsyBloggers team posts for this carnival- visit here
http://etsybloggers.blogspot.com/2011/10/etsybloggers-blog-carnival-for-103111.html
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