Back to School

The fall always brings good memories of childhood. Though it always meant cooler temps and going back to school, it also meant new pencils and of course, canning. Lots of canning. My dad used to have a garden that was was probably larger than a couple city lots. We would can a variety of things, but mostly tomatoes. Oh my goodness. I wish I could show the number of jars we would can... we would tease my dad about his garden, joke with each other, get upset with each other, beg my parents to be done, and my parents would reply "we're almost done", only to bring in more buckets of tomatoes. And in single digit years, a half hour is a lifetime. Hey, it's even a lifetime in double digit teenager years.

Obviously, we didn't get to garden this year with all of the other changes we had going on, but I've been going to the farmer's market faithfully, in hopes of doing a little preserving. I'd like to preserve spaghetti sauce, salsa, and of course, just tomatoes themselves for chili, etc. As far as fruits are concerned, I'd love to make some apricot jam and pick some apples for apple pie and applesauce, as well as just saving them for smoothies.

I love harvest season, and the fact that I scored a couple boxes of canning jars at a garage sale for a buck.

Some other things I'm looking forward to this autumn:

* sewing (being outside is more fun in the summer)
* eating this
* fall hikes
* warm apple cider and freshly made donuts.
* getting ready for holiday season... did I just say that?

Anything that you guys are looking forward to?