Early Fall Happenings

Wow, October already? The start of the fall season has been gorgeous here in #rva and boy, have I been busy! I thought I would start of the month with an update on what I have been up to.

My most recent visit to Lockhart Family Farm had me tending to some bees and helping a little with some heritage hogs. I have this idea of putting a top-bar hive on our garage in the fan early next spring, so was excited to learn more about the process. No plans to add any pigs, as I am pretty sure since we just got the OK in Richmond to have chickens, pigs are probably a ways off!

Apples certainly made their way into the kitchen, as I did somewhat of a tutorial on canning apple sauce for one of my most recent guest posts over on the Relay Foods Simple Living blog. 

In addition to apples, last week was consumed with a full Thanksgiving dinner that I prepared for Relay Foods. Look out for the full spread later this month, complete with recipes and ingredients lists. All of the usual Thanksgiving suspects were around the table and here is a little sneak peek as to what is coming:

Homemade buttermilk biscuits...

A Polyface turkey, cooked in a turkey bag...

A sage sausage dressing I grew up on and a vegan braised collards recipe...

Of course their were sweets, including sweet potato pie and what is called an Impossible Pecan Pie. No worries, it is not actually impossible to make!

In other cooking news, find the recipe for this butternut squash waffle over on 17 Apart, my other blog — the butternut squash is from Origins Farm.

If all of the above hasn't been enough, here are two autumn projects I put together that are newly published over on Lot18:

10 DIY uses for corks — I mean the holidays are fast approaching and I know you have quite the cork collection from the summer, right?

And last but certainly not least — this easy weeknight salmon has minimal ingredients and can be ready in 30 minutes! Find the recipe here.

So as you can see, I have been quite busy in many places. Hoping everyone is enjoying the beginnings of fall and early October.

E.A.T. local E.A.T. well