I LOVE this time of year when the seasons they are a-changing. Yes I have been busy — it is remarkable that even though we lost much of our garden this year I still had much to do in the way of preserving a bountiful harvest. I put up several quarts of sweet zucchini relish, which beats hands down, all sweet pickle relish I have ever tasted. We had a plethora of beets and I put up large quart jars of pickled beets upon beets upon beets. If you have any scandinavian blood in you, you know that pickled beets are like the mother country. True ethnic joy!

The twins’ sewing teacher has an apple tree in her front yard and she passed along a very large paper grocery bag full of apples which I made into applesauce and canned. We’ve been bringing her eggs every week, so it was a great trade. She also loaded me up with tomatoes for which I am ever so grateful. My tomatoes are a sad sight this year.

This weekend will be a busy one with 20 chickens to butcher. No it isn’t fun, but they are ready and we are ready to be done with having them around. Honestly, the egg birds are the most darling little personable things, more like a pet. The meat birds are foul (pun intended!) things — more like hogs than anything. I am ready to be done with them.

I may stir up some controversy with this one, but the twins will be on hand for butchering. I think it is important for these kids to know how food is made, where it comes from and how to do it! Not unlike a father who takes his son hunting, I want my girls to have these skills if they one day need them. You never know. I always say that knowledge is power — and I feel giving my kids the knowledge to be self-sufficient if needed is a worth-while endeavor. You never know when it might come in handy.

We still have the four turkeys, and we will keep them as breeding pairs. Mark put in for a turkey license this fall so we will have wild turkeys gracing our table this Thanksgiving. I am so looking forward to this.

And another adventure! I am into making kombucha these days. I have little scoby’s growing all over the kitchen. As soon as I get a working camera in my possession I’ll post some pics of the process. It is really quite satisfying to grow such a healthful beverage — again from thin air, just like the stinky cheese bread.