Frost has come, rainy days, stoves back in action..... Fall is upon us.

The Farmers Almanac, to the best of my ability to decipher, says that we, here, will have a cold September then basically the same type of winter we have had the last few years and a Cold February.  I think that would make for a nice winter all in all.  I do like that we have had the best huckleberry crop I have ever seen, in this area, the last two years, so if like winters contribute to that I am all for it.  It is funny in my life time the winters have changed a lot here in Montana.  As a tiny child in northern Idaho we had snow that was a fence post height and I can remember snow coming in September here in Montana, and definitely by Halloween but of late we don't get the snow of my childhood.  I think that the mountains still get a lot really but the valley floors don't get the amounts they once did.  The last really big snow we had here was in the winter of 96-97, and we literally had roofs cave in that year.  I don't miss the snow as I age, but I really would rather have snow if it means the cold will come and we have been blessed with less and less snow.  Why am I talking about snow on the first full day of Fall, well in Montana, fall brings snow.  I have a friend trying to decide what crops to plant where she lives, we don't actually plant much in September in Montana, some do little crops but even those little lettuce or pea crop are hit and miss at best. 

We have had a nice rainy September of late,  the rains have been a blessing, but you can truly feel Fall in the air.  I always find that ironic, Fall is probably the season, well here any way, that you can most feel one day it is hot and dry and over night there is a crisp coolness in the air and you just feel Fall has come.  Winter and Spring have a change about them but it is not a feel in the air like Fall is really.  Poppie but the stove back in our house, well not the stove but the chimney as we had had it out since we had painted in the spring.  He is going to go help Belle put her chimney in later this afternoon.  I like the feel of the house when a fire burns for the first time of a season, you feel a comfy feeling of warmth almost like a blanket being wrapped around you, it calls for homey cooked soup as an accompaniment. 

My friend called Friday night and they had pulled all of their cucumber plants in preparation of the frost coming, and wanted to know if I wanted to buy their last 5 gallon bucket of the season, yes I did, there is nothing better than the little pickles that come from the last picking of the season, I got 17 jars of those lovely little pickles.  Poppie picked the last of the zucchini's and I got 13 jars of zucchini pineapple.  I made end of the garden fruit pie Mincemeat, no meat but pears, tomatillos, green tomatoes and apple made up the base, very yummy. I love the combinations that come from the end of the garden canning.  Necessity in the Mother of invention and I think some of the best recipes are made just that way by the mad chemists we canning mothers become to make use of that last little bits of our gardens.  I am getting half case of jalapenos from Lady later, she ordered one and I shared with her.  I will make fermented hot sauce with mine, I am going to add some of my frozen habaneros to it,  it will be a whey fermentation, I can't wait to see how it comes out.  Today I will try the Kimchi  I started fermenting last week today, I hope it is good. 

I love the warmth of the Fall, outside it is rainy and the cold has crept in, but inside we are safe in the warmth of our fires. I believe the Fall or even the Winter of time is upon us.   I pray that you are safe in the warmth of being in Christ Jesus.  I hope you have heard the gospel preached or just heard it period.  I pray that you know that Jesus was born of a virgin, lived a perfect life and was crucified for our sins and died.  But more importantly that you know that he died and rose again, if all we know of Jesus is that he died on a cross is to know nothing of Jesus, with out his rising from the dead it is just a good story. Jesus is so much more than a good story,  Jesus arose from death and became the savior of one and all that believe.  Faith cometh by hearing the word of God, hear, believe and receive salvation... tomorrow.