Pickles and Pumpkin Soup

The last tree with colour.

With the crisp clean air and frost filled mornings, the last of the coloured leaves are falling to the ground, Autumn is coming to an end. As I open my eyes each morning I wonder, will there be snow today? Surprisingly, I woke up today to sunshine. It got to a high of 60 today, which means outside for everyone! Once school was done for the day we opened windows inside, and headed outside to enjoy the weather while it lasted. Mama went kayaking on the lake, I read in the hammock swinging amidst the trees, and the dogs happily played around in the leaves. 

Later, Mama had me hoe the garden for the last time and sprinkle dried dill leaves in it. How good it feels to work in the garden one last time. 

To feel the soft dirt under my hands and feet as I break up the ground, an earthworm is exposed to the cool air and quickly wriggles back into the warm dirt trying to find a hole to call his home for the winter. I crumble up dry dill leaves from the summer and scatter them on the ground. Hopefully next spring some of them will sprout up and we can use them for making pickles.

Dill

Our last cans of pickles!

We love pickles! That is one reason we are starting a garden next year. This summer our friends offered us some cucumbers, because they had an abundance of them, we picked them and used them to make pickles. Gathering fresh dill from our other friend’s family farm we found two delicious recipes for dill pickles. My mamma, being the genius that she is, combined them for the perfect pickle. That is exactly what they are, beautiful perfect, crunchy, dill pickles. Sadly our supply won’t last us much longer. We only have 3 quart jars left! I guess that is what happens when you are canning something, you think it will last you forever but it turns out it barely makes it into the winter.

Some of our pumpkins

Winter is coming soon here in central Michigan and before long we will be sledding and skiing to our hearts content, or at least I will. Our family loves to make bread and soup in the cold months of the year. Sitting down to a nice bowl of pumpkin soup with fresh bread, still steaming, is the perfect way to warm up on a cold wintery afternoon. Right now we have three lovely pumpkins sitting ready to be made into heartwarming soup. I can’t wait until the house is filled with the wonderful scent of pumpkin soup and fresh bread. Mama makes the best bread and soups in the world!

The days are getting shorter and I must say goodbye for there is still much to be done this afternoon. God Bless!