A Taste of Fall – Kayaking, Harvest Festival and Picking Apples

They’re calling for a hot week here in Southern Ontario, but over the weekend it dipped into cold fall temperatures. We turned our furnace for the first time and were pleasantly surprised that it worked so quickly to get our house nice and toasty. I reluctantly put on socks (although I was happy it meant I could wear my new boots), lit a caramel apple candle and we dug out the fleece jackets and puffy vests. The colder weather definitely got me into the mood for fall!

There was a canoe and kayak event in town, and despite the cooler weather it was really nice to get out and move around. You don’t even feel the cold after a few minutes (unless you splash water on your jeans. oops!)

My dad and I went together in the two person kayak and had fun pointing out all the things we saw along the river. No one fell in so that’s a win!

There was also a harvest festival in town with a farmers market, vendors and a petting zoo. I couldn’t resist stopping in while I drove by.

Hey goat. Want to come live on our farm? I swear the chickens and dogs will be nice to you!

I picked up a big bag of local McIntosh apples while I was there, to test out some new fall recipes and make a batch of applesauce to freeze.

On Saturday night we loaded up the dogs and headed to Garrett’s parents’ for dinner with my parents. The dogs were happy for the car ride, but snuggled up on top of each other to keep warm. I think it’s time to dig out their sweaters too. Cola has gotten seriously muscular since we’ve moved – maybe all the running around and digging holes in my garden? I have a feeling that nothing is going to fit him and I’ll be making him a new jacket. There is a reason his name was Taurus at the rescue – he’s our little black bull.

Dinner was a huge success. My in-laws put together an awesome spread of appetizers, grilled steak, chicken, sausages, corn on the cob, grilled peppers and onion, roasted baby potatoes and salad. I brought one of my test recipes from the apples (which I’ll share this week) and my mom made a delicious peach-blueberry crisp with vanilla ice cream. Needless to stay we were all stuffed!

Sunday morning was even colder and I would have gladly stayed under the covers and read all day with a book and a cup of tea, but we had lots to get done. While Garrett and my dad worked on the garage gym, my mom and I headed over to my aunt and uncle’s cottage nearby for a visit.  I’m trying to get ideas for what to do with our garden next year and they have beautiful ones all around their cottage.

…along with some super fun lawn art made by a local artist. Do you spot the metal flowers and the bird planter made from a bike?

They also have huge McIntosh apples in their backyard and offered me some of the grounders for the chickens. I’m going to slice and freeze them as a treat for the chickens during the winter.

I also grabbed a few more from the trees  for my mom and I to make a few recipes. If you come out here on cold fall nights, you’ll often find deer helping themselves to a little apple treat.

We took a walk down to the lake, but the water was too rough. The strong cold fall winds could just about pull you off the dock.

Back at the farmhouse, it was chilly but beautiful when the sun started to set. I can’t wait to see how our silver maple looks when it starts to change colour.

We had a beautiful full arch rainbow show up out of nowhere. It went from one side of the house…

…all the way over to the cornfield across the way. It was too big to get in one photo!

When the sun starts to set and the sky is warm and golden, you’ll often see the chickens start their march up the ramp to settle in for the night in their coop. We just put a roost up this weekend, so hopefully they’ll start using that to sleep and we can open the nesting boxes in the next few days…and get eggs soon! I can’t wait!

And that sunset? It was beyond words and looks almost out of this world.

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