What are your favorite ways to celebrate fall?

My three little grand-nephews went apple picking last Sat. The flu kept me inside, sadly. But the local apples are wonderful. Even the bitter little ones on my wild apple trees are worth risking a belly ache for.

I also love the slanting light at the end of the day, across my field, woods and pond. And the sound of the Canada geese (and Milo getting his faux fur coat out of storage).

@gailcalled I love apple picking and cider presses! (Especially tart, crisp New England varieties.)

Putting on my favorite boots with a sweater and heading into the mountains.

I always go to the local pumpkin festival. It has arts and crafts booths, pumpkin decorating for the kids, food booths, pumpkin ice cream, funnel cakes, apple butter making, and did I mention funnel cakes?

@chyna I love pumpkin-flavored anything. I have a great pumpkin bar recipe with walnuts and cream cheese frosting.

@marinelife When you get a chance, copy it and send it my way.

Eggnog milkshake from Jack ‘n The Box.

I’m also enjoying planting my fall garden. It’s the first time. So. Cal gardening is great.

I eat absolutely everything that has pumpkin in it that I can find- and I mean everything! Muffins, pie, pancakes, ice cream, cookies, whoopie pies, coffee, cake, my home-made pumpkin seeds (technically not pumpkin-flavored, but just as delicious), even soup! You name it, I’ve eaten it or will eat it in the near future. ;)
I’m currently dying to get my hands on a pumpkin funnel cake…fried and pumpkin, what could be better?

I should add that it’s probably not the healthiest way to celebrate fall…

@tinyfaery: We are about to put our gardens to bed, which always makes me sad. What are you planting? Give all the details in order to make me even more envious. My sister planted her last crop of lettuce three weeks ago and just harvested them.

Tis Harvest time in my hills, one of the main attractions is the famous “Apple Hill” ranch loop, and it’s harvest/crush season for all the vineyards too. Apples, pies, wine and maximum hedonism abounds around these farm trails. ;-D

www.applehill.com

@gailcalled I’ll post pictures on Facebook tomorrow

We just had a heat wave. My strawberries got confused and now I have new fruit in October.

@tinyfaery:Fresh strawberries?

Yep. Many plants grown as annuals in other places are grown as perennials here. We rarely frost.

Outdoor swimming and tanning. I’m in denial.

I imagine it would be leaving Florida to actually experience Autumn. I’ve never seen an actual Autumn, but I think it would be my favourite season

@marinelife I think we’re all going to need that red cabbage with bacon and blue cheese recipe…

Corn maze!!! (preferably spelled corn maize, because what isn’t better with a pun?) And apple cider with caramel. Mmmmm…...

Just sitting in a park looking at leaves or skeletal trees, and listening to the river. If Autumn was a person, they would be my lover.

Watching the 10 or so deciduous trees in So Cal change colors. ;-)

Watching the MLB playoffs, World Series, and NFL football.

My wife asked me if I wanted to go to Florida for Thanksgiving. I politely declined by saying, “No thanks!”. I love classic autumn and even though there’s very little of that in Hell A, 85º weather, palm trees, and hurricane warnings are a step in a direction that has even less appeal to me.

@Fly A girl after my own heart!

@martianspringtime One of the happiest things about moving away from Florida for me was getting seasons back.

@Aethelflaed

Braised Red Cabbage with Bleu Cheese and Bacon
2–3 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
2 cups red cabbage, shredded
1 Tbsp. cider vinegar
Water
2 Tbsp. butter
⅓ c. bleu cheese, crumbled
Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Place the cabbage in the pan and coat with the melted butter. Add the vinegar and enough water to a depth of about half way up the cabbage. Simmer, turning the cabbage periodically, until the water is cooked out and the cabbage is soft.
Transfer the cabbage to a serving plate and sprinkle with blue cheese (stirring to distribute the cheese evenly). Top with crumbled bacon.

@chyna It is a sugar-free recipe. Do you still want it?

Yes.

@marinelife Yum, thanks!!!