Lovin’ these cool, crisp, mountain mornings.  Ah, fall is in the air.  Once the kiddos are on the bus, I shall get cracking on another batch of apples. Crockpot applesauce today and then apple pie filling in a jar later today. Then school work, housecleaning, work, and whatever else needs to be done around here (never a lack of that!).  I don’t have any classes today at UNCA so that’s a nice little break.

A nice gentle spring rain is falling outside, so inside activities are what’s on tap around our home, Hearth Haven. James is making chocolate chip cookies and I have bread dough rising. Joe, Topher and TJ are working on their Odyssey of the Mind column structure project for the state competition which will be held at Wingate College on April 10th. Their team won first place in the regional competition, so they get to compete at state! If they win that, then they will head to the world competition. Go Team Kane!

Miss Shayla came through her surgery last night with no signs of cancer! Apparently the radiation had caused some scar tissue to develop which became infected so they had to remove a few inches of her bowel and her appendix. She’s still in pain and needs her rest, but no signs of any other cancer, so that’s wonderful! The power of prayer and positive though is amazing.

Now that spring is upon us, it’s time for us to get some more baby chicks. We’ve reinforced their pen and coop area to keep the raccoons at bay (sadly, raccoons massacred our small flock just before Christmas). The boys cleaned out the coop yesterday. Now that we have our new pup, she’s going to be given the job of protecting our girls, too, along with Roscoe, our Great Pyrennees. Thankfully, a friend of ours just down the road has a huge flock, so we’ve been able to get ‘real’ eggs during our own lapse.

Along with checking out chicks, it’s time to start planning the garden, ordering seeds, etc. I love spring and all that come with it!

We need to be conscious this time of year of how deeply commercialization of this season has prevaded our society and we need to try to steer away from some of it and make the holidays more of what they should be. A time for being together, for sharing and for loving. And that does not have to mean breaking the bank or hurting our planet. Here are some ideas that I hope help us all.

Keep it simple. One thoughtful gift means much more than a pile of wrapped packages of unwanted gifts. Draw names or share the cost of a gift with a relative or friend.

Make your own gifts: knit, sew, paint, crochet, bake or make recycled art.

Look for gifts that are: durable; not overly packaged; reusable; energy efficient; recyclable; and not made from tropical woos like teak, rosewood or mahogany.

Look for gifts that are made of natural components, like sustainable harvested woods, natural fiber, or glass.

When choosing toys for children, choose items that won’t impact their health.

Purchase gifts from local vendors or that were locally made.

Give a membership or donate in the name of friend to an organization they feel strongly about.

Give a gift certificate of your time for babysitting, housecleaning, meal preparation, pet sitting.

Help someone start a garden. Give them seed and tools. Help plant, weed and water.

Plant a tree in someone’s name.

Create a recipe book from your favorite collection.

Create a photo book or make a calendar for the coming year using your own photos.

For Children

Box of dress up clothes

Makings for hand puppets

Homemade bird feeder kit.

Teach a child knitting or some other favorite craft of yours. (This will last a lifetime!)

Write and illustrate a story with the child as the main character.

Create a photo album of the year with photos of the child doing fun things.

Our Tree of Thanks

The preparations for our Thanksgiving feast are well under way. Joe just went to his mother’s to pick up our extra long table. Last night the kids and I made our pumpkin pie. Today we’ve made the stuffing, a pumpkin cake, whole berry cranberry sauce, and toasted the nuts for the sauteed green beans. The kids have also cut out all the leaves for our Tree of Thanks which will be on display tomorrow. Everyone will write some things they are thankful for on the leaves and then hang them on the tree.

We’ve cleaned out the refrigerators (yes, we have two. With a family of seven, it’s pretty much a necessity!) to make sure there’s room for everything. The turkey is thawing. I’ve made what I hope is my last run to the grocery store. Things that need to be refrigerated are in the frig, just chillin’.

And we have such a beautiful to celebrate. The sky is blue and it’s in the low 60′s. Thank you, Universe!

Twas the night before the night before Thanksgiving at our house. We are cutting out foam board leaves to decorate our Thanksgiving branches with leaves filled with things we are thankful for. The kids are having a great time and are spending time thinking about those many things in their lives they have for which to give thanks. A special pondering and one we should all do on a daily basis, not just once a year. After dinner, we will make our pumpkin pie and a pumpkin cake (my husband’s favorite!). Tomorrow we will work on stuffing, homemade whole cranberry sauce and berry cobbler. We made our pumpkin and banana breads over the weekend. Our house shall be full on Thanksgiving day with our gang of seven, my mother-in-law, sister-in-law, brother-in-law, my mother, and our dear friends, Dawn and Thomas and their son, Jed. Looking forward to breaking bread with some very special people in our lives!

1 c. blanched, slivered almonds
1/2 c. butter
1/2 c. sugar
1 T. light corn syrup

Line bottom and sides of 8 or 9″ cake pan with aluminum foil. Butter foil heavily; set aside. Combine almonds, butter, sugar and corn syrup in 10″ skillet. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Boil, stirring constantly, until mixture turns a golden brown, about 5-6 minutes.

almond butter crunch

This is an awesomely delicious and easy recipe. Great for breakfast, after school snack, or dessert. A 13 x 9″ cake doesn’t even last 24 hours in our house. Yep, our kiddos can scarf this down in no time flat.

Ingredients
Filling:
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 cup chopped pecans
Glaze:
1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
2 1/2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon almond extract
Cake:
1 package yellow cake mix
4 large eggs
1 cup sour cream
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Directions
For streusel filling, combine all ingredients and set aside. Blend glaze ingredients and set aside.
For cake:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Combine cake mix, eggs, sour cream, oil, water, sugar and flour in a large mixer bowl. Beat at medium speed for 3 minutes with electric mixer. Pour 1/2 of batter into a greased 13 by 9-inch pan. Sprinkle streusel filling on top and swirl the filing. Spoon remaining batter evenly over filling. Bake for 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan 25 minutes invert onto serving plate, cool completely.
For glaze:
Combine sugar, milk and almond extract in bowl. Whisk until smooth. Drizzle over cake after cool.

On Sunday, we headed out to Edneyville to pick apples at our favorite apple pickin’ place, Justus Orchards. We just love the setting, the atmosphere and the warm welcome we always receive from the owners.

Although hail damage was evident from the severe thunderstorm we had the week before, there were more than enough beautiful apples to be picked. And pick we did; three bushels full of those glorious, sweet orbs. We always pick a large variety, as I like to mix the different types together in my asundry apple concoctions. Adds more flavor, in my opinion.

And so, the apple madness has begun at our dining room table and in our kitchen. For the past three days, and probably for the next four days, apples have been being peeled, sliced and canned, in one form or another. We have done, at this writing, two batches of crockpot apple butter, two batches of stove top applesauce, a batch of ‘apple pie filling in a jar’, and right now, there is a batch of applesauce slow cooking in the crockpot. And, we’ve only worked through half of the apples. Oh, but I tell you, the smell of apples simmering away, mixed with cinnamon and nutmeg; there’s not much that can top that heavenly, autumal aroma!

Joe and I were just sitting on the front porch, in our respective rocking chairs, discussing our lack of storage for all these jars. With all the apples being put up, as well as all the jars of peaches, pickles and grape juice we’ve done over the summer, we need more space. So, Joe is going to build a special canning shelf for the corner of the dining room. Yippee!

Well, it’s pickling time around here. Over the past 2 1/2 days, we’ve put up 14 quarts of bread and butter pickles and 10 quarts of dill pickles. That used up one case of cucumbers. Still have one more case to go, so we’ll double our pickle stash. Tomorrow afternoon the kids and I will work on crockpot peach butter with the beautiful free-stone SC peaches we bought over the weekend. Ooooh, yummy. Our grapes are looking very promising on the vines so that will keep us busy in August, as will all our tomatoes, beans and squash. Of course, September is apple picking time! I just love the satisfying sound of that ‘pop’ as the jars seal on our freshly canned goodies.

It’s such a great feeling to know where are canned goods came from, how they were prepared, how few preservatives they contain. And the jars are so pretty lining the shelves in our pantry and our cabinets! Yeah, this is life as I dreamed it.

So many eggs. Our girls are in overtime mode. Love those fresh from the coop brown eggs with their golden yolks but in reality, there’s only so many we can eat at one time. Solution: quiches. We’ve been making quiches and putting them in the freezer. What a great way to use the eggs and store them. Quiche Lorraine, asparagus quiche, broccoli quiche, spinach quiche and my newest creation, arugala quiche! Oh, my, the arugala quiche is to die for! Even the kids love it. With our spring crop of arugala, it’s a great combination. I use it in place of the broccoli or the asparagus. Eggs and arugala. Yeah, baby.