American Poet, Sarah Morgan Bryan Piatt wrote: “It is the summer’s great last heat, it is the fall’s first chill: They meet.” The temperatures begin to drop and days are getting shorter with every sunset and sunrise. Now that our landscapes have exploded with vibrant colors for us 
to see, we have less day light. A bit unfair don’t you agree?
There are many fall and harvest festivals everywhere right now. If you are unsure where to find one in your area you can look to your local Chamber of Commerce online and you will more than likely find what you are looking for. They are great sources to find local vendors who produce ciders, applesauces and butters as well as great places to meet like minded individuals for swapping great fall recipes. They can give you tips and tricks on canning and preserving your harvests and fresh fruit and vegetable purchases. I haven’t done any canning in years and I am hoping to meet some people who are close in proximity to me who will take me in and show me the process from start to finish. It’s great to see online demonstrations and photographs, but to have someone onsite who will let me be hands on and who can answer my 87 questions is definitely more my speed. From there I can take it to my sweet three who hopefully will just keep passing kitchen knowledge on down the line.
My daughter had thrown a comment my way a few days ago letting me know she was annoyed with the fact that I do holiday cooking and dessert preparation these days outside of the family circle. In other words, I putt around in the kitchen with recipes, cooking and testing without their help, while they do taste and eat the foods, she feels she is not actually involved at all times. Her being eleven in a few days, she would like more responsibility in the kitchen ~ for now, right? Give her a few months of kitchen responsibility and we will see how this tide turns ~ Our time for the rest of the day was limited, so while at the market I had them choose a couple of different candied and caramel apple kits for a quick piece of family fun and involvement. I have never used a “kit” before and thought it would be faster and something we could do toget
her in the limited amount of time we had. We scraped the wax off of the granny smiths and followed the directions on the box. When preparing “candied” anything you know going in you are in for a mess and plan accordingly. We did great, it was quick and I have included a pic of the handiwork of three children and grown up. I have to say it isn’t perfection from a photograph point of view ~ but the memory and joy of doing this with my children is all the perfection I need.
These kind of activities is what brings this time of year alive with excitement. I always see it as the kick off to the Holiday Season. While driving around yesterday I had not only seen fields awash with bright orange pumpkins they were filling the bins at the neighborhood markets as well. While cruising the markets for fresh produce my three and I found so many types of apples it was mind boggling and oh the smell of them! If you are thinking about heading out to the Farmers and Open Air Markets I suggest you do it quickly. Fall is such an amazing time to go strolling through these venues and quite a few of them are getting ready to close up their doors until mid spring.