Enjoying Fall and Preparing for Winter

September 30, 2018

I have spent the last week enjoying "Fall". It is chilly in the morning but afternoons are nice.
I have bottles 10 quarts of assorted Crab Apple Juices. It is kind of fun, they are Pink.
I started what I hope will be two large bottles of Apple Cider Vinegar. I have long read about making your own and now have apples to spare to try it.
I have a large box of Apples to use, waiting for me in the Shop, and more crab apples on the trees.
My super wonderful brother fixed my dehydrator yesterday so I hope to dry some apples in the coming weeks.

Yesterday we spent the day Preparing for winter.
My Sweetheart chopped more wood and put the last piece of tin on the Main coop.
In the past week my super talented brother made me a brooding coop, for the hoped for brooding chicken to raise babies in the spring.
My younger children and I cleaned up fallen apples. (I am hoping in future years to have a winter pig to feed the fallen apples too. Would that make Apple bacon? Just kidding:)
It just felt like a super productive day, finishing off little things left over from summer and preparing for cooler weather to come.

As I watch potato harvest in full swing, I am hoping we can find a farmer around who will let us glean a few potatoes from their field after they are done harvesting.

Today at church I got to be part of a lesson. My part was on the Sabbath. I related the Sabbath to Celebrating Christmas and suggested that maybe we could "Celebrate the Sabbath".
Things like on Christmas we have special foods, on the Sabbath we partake of the Sacrament, but might also choose to have special meals...
On Christmas we might have special PJ's or Sweaters, on the Sabbath we might have "Sunday Best" clothes. In Sacrament meeting today one of the young men who spoke talked about maybe wearing our Sunday clothes all day to help remind us of the day.
We prepare well in advance for Christmas, maybe we should prepare ahead for the Sabbath, at least on Saturday, and maybe starting Monday Morning, or even Sunday afternoon for the next Sabbath.
We have special traditions and things we do for Christmas, perhaps we should develop special Sunday traditions.
We Celebrate Christmas to show love for our Savior and our family, shouldn't we Celebrate the Sabbath for the same reasons?
On Christmas we exchange gifts. There are gifts of the Sabbath, ones we can give to our Lord and ones He offers us.
It was really good for me to have time these past weeks to think about these things. Now I need to figure out how to apply them in my home, family and my personal life...