Turn, turn, turn

As the weather turns cooler and the leaves fall from their trees, it seems a time for 'drawing' in. A settling down for that long winters nap if you will.

I love the fall. The way the leaves look on the ground, the cool nights and mild days. Makes me want to get outside sometimes and play like I did as a child.

Way back when, fall was a time for the last minute things to prepare for winter. The final harvest was gathered in, put up, set aside and preps were made for the sleep of winter. I guess we are doing that here.
We've been catching sales and buying extra, I'm still reaping the last of the garden harvest with bell peppers and banana peppers. The gourds are hanging and the sweet potatoes are almost ready to be dug.
I've put up pears recently, and still have more to do. It's a tiring, long process with the peeling and the cutting and the coring, but I LOVE to look at the end result. It's a good feeling looking at the larder and seeing mostly home canned products instead of store purchased ones.

I've dried some hot peppers this year, and they hang on the peg in the dinning room. They look very nice as well as knowing, should I need a hot pepper..I've got it! (not that I use that many of them and I've probably got enough for the next 4 years or better, but even so, I like the way they look!)

I think the final harvest of bell peppers and bananas I get, I'm going to dry. In the oven. Dried foods do take up less space for sure. I've dried blueberries and figs and chilli peppers before, so it's time to give something else a try.
I remember a time, sitting on my grandmothers (we called her mamaw) porch and literally stringing beans. We'd take each green bean and run a needle and thread through it till there were long ropes of green beans. She'd hang each rope on a nail on the back porch so the sun shone on them each day till they were dried and shriveled. Some people call them 'leather britches'...to me, they were just sun dried beans.

So tell me...how does your larder look? When the trees go bare, the larder should be full! Want to learn more about 'larders and 'thrawls'..take a look here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larder

I guess most people don't think about the larder and harvest season anymore. The stores are too easy to get to now-a-days. If you run out of something, you simply run down to the local market and get it, but back in the day, that was not the case. You had to prepare for every season you had and the summer and fall seasons were a big time to prepare to keep you in food for winter and spring, till the next garden could be planted and produce started coming in.

Ahhh, the seasons, they do turn as does the times. Convience is the 'larder' of today. It's a shame too. I truly think people were closer when we lived closer to the earth. We had a dependence on the earth and each other that you can't find on a grocery shelf today.

Till next time..