Enjoy the silence

It's that wonderful time of year again where the days are cool and the bugs have died off.  The wood shed is stocked and the snow plow has been put on the lawn tractor. We have been hunkering down waiting for winter to set in. Fall has been very mild so we have only had to use the wood stove a couple of times. The trees are just skeletons out my window now and without the rustling of leaves it is silent up here. No more summer creature noises in the background, just deafening silence. I can hear the gunshots off in the distance for small game hunting.
We have been looking for ways to cut down on our grocery budget. We thought about alternate sources of meat. Since both of us grew up in the city, our diet growing up was store bought meat with venison once a year from my uncle. My dad is famous for frying eggs and venison into a tough leather like material that was terrible to eat and that made me loath it.  Our neighbor had us over for dinner and served us wood smoked venison and trout. It was wonderful, I even took seconds of the venison. He also took my husband grouse hunting, they only got one grouse. He gave the meat to us. It tasted like iron to me, but I did have a head cold. My husband killed and skinned two squirrels. The first one we cooked on the grill, first seared then wrapped in foil and low and slow. but the kid distracted us and we forgot about it so it got over done. I thought that tasted like iron too. My husband said he loved the way the fat tasted. The second squirrel got simmered in water to make a stock, then the meat was shredded and turned into a squirrel stew that my husband gobbled up. I don't care for the way the squirrel smells but I'm trying to keep an open mind.

Squirrel stew

Raw squirrel before the grill

With the dryer weather and colder air I made my first ever batch of whipped body butter. Its made by whipping shea butter and meadow foam oil and essential oils. Its really great to put on after a hot shower and mine smells like cherry and almonds.

My friend gave me about 20 pounds of apples form her tree. I was busy making and processing crock pot apple butter with Bourbon and vanilla. I made my first batch of apple sauce.

All the squash I got from the farm I volunteer at and a friend who owns a pumpkin patch.

This past Halloween my son and I entered the pumpkin carving contest at our library. I came in second place and my son won first place for his age group. I also entered the pumpkin cooking contest but came in fourth place.