~*Fall Harvest and Halloween Decorations*~

It's finally fall....and it feels like it too!

The leaves have turned and the fruit is ripe.

Emergency preparedness has been on my mind a lot lately, particulary food storage. Growing up, my parent's food storage room was always full of home canned food....peaches, pears, apples, green beans, tomatoes....pretty much anything you can preserve in a glass jar. I remember my dad going out in the backyard every fall and picking all the fruit from the trees and bringing them them into my mom who would spend days in the kitchen canning everything she could and taking it down into the storage room. I have always wanted to learn how to do that myself so I can have that homemaking skill up my sleeve. Today, my mom brought over two boxes full of farm fresh, Brigham City peaches, and taught me how to go through the process of home canning.

First, we boiled the peaches in a large pot on the stove, then put them into the sink where we cut, peeled, and pitted them, and then put them into the quart jars with hot sugar water.

After putting the lids and rings on them, it was time to put them into the big canning pot, where the jars would boil for a half an hour.
Then it was time to take them out of the hot pot and set them on the counter to sit until they seal. Each jar makes a little "pop!" when it seals shut.

Kenzi and Ashlin had fun helping too!

The color of the peaches was beautiful, and they look so pretty in the jar.

I'm so excited to have all this yummy fruit to eat for breakfast during the winter, and to make peach cobbler with. Mmmmm!

I also found time during the last week to get out all my Halloween decorations. I was excited to FINALLY finish my witch that I've been working on for what feels like forever.

Our house looks very Halloween-ish!

I also bought a few new decorations to add to our little collection this year.

So now my house looks ready for fall, and my peaches are canned and ready to be stored.

Now, it's time to start on the huge box of.......

...sitting in my kitchen. I'll be making yummy apple pie filling! Yum yummy!