SUSAN SAYS

Autumn is finally here

Autumn is officially here and the lovely month of October has begun. Clear, sunny days give way to chilly nights and mornings when the pasture is covered with dew and moisture drips from the roof overhang.

Sister Nancy showed me the seasonal display she was building in her front yard with hay bales and cornstalks, pumpkins and a scarecrow. That prompted me to make a trip to the shop and hunt up my brightly painted wooden pumpkins and the pumpkin “Welcome” sign to push into the earth beside the front steps.

The farmers’ market is still going strong. Last weekend I bought two boxes of okra, some nice yellow squash, fresh spinach and banana peppers. Plans are to continue through this month. Vendors have promised to return as long as they have produce to sell. Some have planted fall gardens and there’s the prospect of some crisp radishes this Saturday.

I saw a friend when I went to the bank a few days ago and she remarked, “I wish I’d known I would see you and I’d have brought a jar of that apple butter I made.” I told her I wished she’d known it too!

That encounter reminded me how my dad always wanted to buy a bushel of apples in the fall and have Mama make apple butter. It was an annual ritual to makeapplesauce and apple butter, seal it and store it in the cellar beside the blackberry and plum jelly.

We’re fortunate to have nearby orchards where families can “pick their own.” When fall weekends arrive, folks fill baskets with the fruit they need to make huge batches of spicy apple butter. It’s great for gifts and on your morning toast. You need lots of apples as well as brown sugar, cinnamon, cloves and allspice and lots of patience because the process requires considerable boiling. But it’s all worth it when the house fills with that wonderful aroma.

Jo Northrop, author of the Simple Country Pleasures column, wrote almost three decades ago, “This is a time of year when nature provides some of the most pleasing seasonal accents. A pumpkin in the corner, waiting to be made into a jack-o’-lantern, a cluster of bittersweet vine tucked into a redware crock and deep green acorn squash and butternut squash heaped in a bowl are at home in the kitchen. Also at home are stacks of cookbooks. I love to sit down with a good cookbook and ‘prospect.’ It is especially nice now, when the air is cooler and our menu planning turns from the summer’s goodness to heartier fare.”

A few years later Northrop admitted, “During October I behave like a squirrel inreverse, dragging out all the things I put away last summer. I remove brass beehive candlesticks from the cupboard, polish them and set them on the mantel. Then I pull a quilt from a chest and fling it over the back of a rocker. Next, I fill a basket with dried flowers and place it by the back door. Finally, I fill the old burl bowl with crimson apples, butternut squash, two-toned gourds and Indian corn and put it back in its place of honor in the kitchen.”

The beautiful autumn weather stirs in us an urge to get involved in outdoor projects again. Jim was busy Friday mowing yards at home and at Aunt Leta’s. Finally it’s cool enough to sit on the patio again and enjoy the sound of splashing water in the fish pond. Grandson A.J. has been over and done a good job of cleaning summer’s dust off the floor. He didn’t like themop his grandpa gave him so he got down on his hands and knees and scrubbed it with a sponge. A real worker!

Many indoor projects are waiting too. I’ve neglected the housework the last few weeks as I’ve made trips to the hospital and rehab center to visit Mama, so I need to run the vacuum and dust every room. Mama came home over the weekend, so now maybe I’ll be able to catch up on my correspondence or even tackle creating some more scrapbook pages.

I made Jim a special peanut butter cup dessert last week and now it’s time to bake some fresh cookies for the cookie jar.

Susan Holland, who works for the Westside Eagle Observer, is a lifelong Benton County resident.

Opinion, Pages 6 on 10/05/2011