A Week Filled with Variety: Family, Apple Butter, Gardens, Booths and even a Book

I love this time of year. We've been so busy with fall activities and storytelling that I haven't been taking the time to write. Sometimes it's like that for me. It's not easy to slow my mind down enough to allow that clear space needed for writing.

But even with all the busyness, we've been able to enjoy the fall colors because storytelling has taken us on the road in many directions. It's been a gorgeous fall here, with a slow onset that continues even this week. I expect that to change tomorrow night with the arrival of our first frost expected.

So what have we been doing? Well, the most important thing is apple butter! Last weekend two of my sons and some of their family came to help with the cooking down. We'd already made applesauce--60 quarts of it--so all we needed was the 5-6 hours of cookng over a wood fire outside. It was a drizzly day, but we put up a couple canopies and got to work.

It's always such a pleasure when everyone comes to help with this annual ritual. We got lots of catching up done as we stirred, minded the fire, and washed jars. Daughter-in-law Sandy earned huge thanks as she washed close to 200 jars, almost single-handedly! There were the 60 jars from the applesauce, and about 100 pints and half-pints that had to be washed before being filled.

Sandy and Grace washing jars, Ryland investigating.

This is the start--we didn't take photos at the end--everyone was too vusy. This year we tried putting foil around the rim to make cleanup easier. Larry (the pot cleaner aroud here) said it helped.

Of course, company coming means housecleaning! We have been giving it a lick and a promise for a couple months, and it showed. So we spent a couple intense days giving the place a good cleaning and polishing. I am glad we did it because now we are in good shape going into the winter holidays. I am constantly amazed at how much dirt two old people can make, though.

Nice clean kitchen

...and living room too!

Storytelling has had me hopping as you can imagine, with many ghost stories presentations. I have one more tonight, and then the season for spookiness is over, I think.

My new ghost stories hat. I love it, but so far it's only had one outing. Maybe tonight, as I have ghost stories for a haunted trail this evening.

Next up for me is a storytelling session for WVU's Mountaineer Week on Saturday, and then a folklore workshop at the Kentucky Storytelling Conference later in November.

I also got back into painting, at last, and finished up a dresser and a desk that have been half-finished since July. Talk about procrastinating! We've been making  changes at our booths, too--here's a few photos of yesterday's work at the Marietta booths.

This table has been at Ravenswood for about 6 months, with no sale. So, trying it in a new place. We shall see.

The dresser I finished. I painted it a distressed blue first, didn't like that and started over.

Remember these?

This is actually bright orange, and looks like new. Talk about 1970's!

And at Ravenswood: (photos by Heather at LML Riverbend Antiques)

The desk I finished,

and a small washstand I painted.

And then this arrived in the mail:

I have two flash fiction pieces in this little collection. It was a fun thing--the publisher ran a weekly contest of writing prompts. Writers wrote a short piece based on the prompt, and one winner was chosen each week. I didn't get to participate every week, but I enjoyed the challenge when I did give it a go. The books are now for sale (7.00 and free shipping if you're interested!).

We're still getting veggies from the garden although that may be coming to an end with the cold weather on the way. This is the latest we've ever had tomatoes and cucumbers, I think. Kale, turnips, radishes, yellow and zucchini squash, beets and leeks are still doing well as of today.

Beet greens which were sauteed and added to

onions and squash, then put into a quiche with cheddar cheese. Delicious!

Time to get ready to go--it's rainy and windy but the show will go on inside a barn, I understand. Wish me luck!


Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.