Fall Bounty from the Farm

We just returned from a quick weekend trip to my parent's farm. Every fall we make apple cider. There are usually 30 or so friends and family, and we have a huge potluck lunch. I think we made 30 gallons this year. The most we ever made was 65 gallons. That was too much... we couldn't even give it away. I also bring back all sorts of farm goodies. The apples are from an apple tree next to an old house. They are very sweet and full of juice. We will be making apple butter out of those.



The walnuts are from a Carpathian Walnut tree. These are from this year and will need to be dried for a few months before they are ready to eat. The shells have such a pretty color.



Here's a close up of the cider. If you drink too much, regularity is NOT a problem... as Miss Elsie discovered. Of course, when you make cider, you have to do a fair amount of sampling while you are grinding and crushing the apples. Elsie did more than her share.



Then there are the gourds! We brought back four grocery bags of gourds...



Mom has a spot next to one of the fields where she started throwing leftover gourds a few years ago. They get chopped up and worked into the ground in the spring by the field equipment. Then they grow and cross breed and grow some more. This is the fifth or sixth year they have been out there, and there are some real strange ones this year...



So Elsie and I decided to bring back a lot to decorate the outside and the inside....



Since the house is still under construction and the dining room is a temporary storage facility, most of the gourds are outside for now. I have some that are still in a bag that I need to find a spot for. I'll post more pictures once we are all decorated.