we went to the park, looking for friends to play hide and seek….we found a lot of crunchy leaves so went back for the rake. i’m excited for fall now!

the garden was a neglected project. still, some carrots grew and the tomato plants have grown more green and healthy than other years - not sure why they’re only ripening now.

so it was buttered carrots for teatime today. woohoo.  oh and the tea was homegrown chamomile - enough for only 1 pot so it was pretty special.

i finally made jam!

i think i procrastinated so long because the amounts of sugar are shocking and while i enjoy a fair amount of jam i just couldn’t bring myself to sweeten it so.  i tried agave syrup in place of sugar a few weeks ago with the strawberry jam but it didn’t pass little A’s “sweet test”. i like it though. After peeking at several recipes and consulting with my mama i came up with a modified version;

3.5c raspberries

1/2 c organic grape juice

3/4c evaporated cane sugar

2 tsp calcium water

2tsp pamona’s pectin

Mash berries, add grape juice and calcium water. Bring to a tumbling boil and boil 2 mins. Add sugar and pectin, stir vigorously and boil another minute. Remove from heat and blend with beaters for 4 mins. (to avoid hot splatters i covered the bowl with parchment and poked the beaters through). The grape juice was to sweeten as well as to make the jam less seedy. My mama uses a full cup of apple juice with 4c berries.  Pour hot jam into hot jars ( i heated them on a tray in the oven), seal with hot, dry lids and wait for the pop. all done.  i’m out of bread to sample but it’s tasty on wasa crackers.

we spent an awesome day picking and eating the most delicious “duke” blueberries.  i have decided that they are the most fun berries to pick and i think my most favorite uncooked berry to eat. they are sooooo good especially with unwhipped whipping cream.

time to pull this book off the shelf again;

it’s been a year since i changed my header and now there’s no need as we’re back again at Emma Lea’s to pick jam berries, tart berries, home made ice cream berries, smoothie berries, freezer berries, berries for birthday cake coulis…i didn’t even mind so much that it drizzled and was cool and felt very unlike summer - i ate a hot strawberry sundae anyhow.

so good to have extra picking hands because i spent most of my time nursing and changing diapers in the field.  these 2 were pro berry pickers - you should see all i ended up with (thank you S);

(looking disheveled and feeling a little so too)

can’t wait for the raspberries to sweeten up!

without words.

Kyrie from Are So Happy has so cleverly organized a Seasons Round Exchange to inspire more magic in all of our nature table projects that we share with our children. This Autumn Harvest i was coupled with the lovely Emma whose words and photos i have long admired and followed. On this appropriate Fall afternoon our package arrived! yay. i’m so happy to have my hands on these beautiful autumn picnic adventure prints and i’m determined now to find myself a thermos flask to hold  the hot cocoa on our own such adventures.  So far the bar smells dark and delicious and i know it’s going to go well melted in our raw milk.

Little A wants to build this needle felted bear a den to hibernate in but i think first he has some Autumn harvesting and picnicking to do.

Thank you Emma for your gifts, thoughtful words, seed gathering games and the feather which was promptly stuck into the little one’s chapeau. xo.

In exchange, little A and i sent off to England a play silk which we dyed in onion skins along with some of our other favorite Autumn nature table crafts. For Emma’s family. (Her own photo collage is so beautiful);

Our own nature table space holds some things similar along with some seasonal books.

there are many uses for a play silk;

…were full as they often are. Perhaps it was the fall of the acorns that set me in a bit of a panic, grasping for more sunshine, more fruits, more spontaneity…

A peek at the forecast reveals that sunny Sundays might be over (at least for this week) and i reminisce. There certainly hasn’t been enough of baseball or bike rides.

I hope to share a bit of a birth and a wedding in the next little while after i edit some hundreds of photos. i think these last jobs took the clickety click out of me as the Okanagan photos are sparse. Trust me though, the time was well spent in the orchards, at the beach, visiting friends and family (and cats).

and now this not so little one prepares for the gradual entry back to school. He’s not at all excited. In fact, he’s breaking my heart with his anxiety about it saying the only thing he likes about school is baking bread and that we can do at home.  i’m trying to be confident for him, knowing there is so much more that he enjoys that he’s forgetting or not thinking about. Fortunately his teachers are awesome and supportive of all sorts of quirks and situations. Still i can’t help crossing my fingers.

Most of my trips out east have been in Summertime except for one April when i went for my Aunt’s 80th birthday and also in hopes of tapping some trees and experiencing the whole process of making maple syrup. We tapped some trees and sap did run but not for long before a huge snowstorm froze things up. i guess i’ll have to return again one year. In Summer a short wander down the road;

takes you past the donkies and horses;

past Jed;

and the kyloes;

to the sugar shack where it sits looking abandoned and ever so curious. One day i’ll see what goes on in there;

check out Jed on the left, waiting for us to return. i should liked to have brought him home with us;

sugar on snow. oooh i was giddy for this! how clever to freeze the snow;

i ate 3 forkfuls.

After much humming and hawing about what to do i finally followed through with the day’s original plan to return to the island for more delicious berries. Is Summer passing all too quickly for you?  I can hardly believe there’s just 1 week left of picking these delectable fruits. I better call grandma for some recipes  or another jamless year will pass me by. Oh she’s more than generous with her bounty but it’s one of those things i’ve always wanted to learn and do all on my own. I’m sure it’s not difficult and i know i’ll have to suck it up and put sugar in (i am notorious for skimping on sugar when i bake and then wishing later for something sweeter) but i best get on it….raspberries are next in season and that is my most favorite jam of all time.

“Follow me” he says. “I know a short cut.” For weeks i’ve rather followed than carried. His walk is gimped but he’s walk hopping and last night he put on a “walk dance” show. Woowee (or yeehaw as he says wearing this hat) he’s on the mend.