Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving. This is the turkey we encountered at the Bonair Winery last year. We liked him so much we had to post the photo again!

 Thanksgiving has been a busy time down at the Funny Farm. It's our favorite time of year. We celebrated the turning of the leaves....

 And the arrival of our first garden box from Full Circle CSA. Our back garden patch is pretty much done for the season. We still have a few root veggies and some herbs going, but this time of year is given over to slugs and mold. Our box this week contained Yukon gold potatoes, leeks, Braeburn apples, garnet yams, D'anjou pears, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, pomegranates, Cremini mushrooms, Cut greens braising mix, and Lacinato kale

 This year our thanksgiving recipes came from a wonderful spread in this November's Real Simple magazine. The menu included cider-glazed turkey, bourbon gravy, sausage and apple stuffing, scalloped potatoes with smoked apple cheese, sauteed Brussels sprouts with poppy seeds, brown sugar-glazed carrots with rosemary and toasted pecans, fig and cranberry compote, caramelized onion rolls, and sweet potato pie with candied nut cream.

 I cooked for three solid days! We made everything from scratch except the sparkling cider and wine from our favorite family vintners. It was fantastically delicious!

 We are thankful for so much: beautiful fall days, a warm home, our big wacky circle of family and friends, all our entertaining critters, and time to spend with each other.

And one final image of the biggest turkey of them all. Happy Thanksgiving!

Here's Harry!

 Anni decided she was going as Harry Potter for Halloween this year. Check out the school jumper, tie, and scar!

 She really liked the talking wand!

And that's a pouch of Berttie Bott's Every Flavor Jelly Beans hanging from her belt. This wizardess is all set to conjure up some mischief!

Halloween or Samhain is our favorite yearly festival. We've done lots of dressing up, decoration, and cooking up of treats, and a few tricks as well. Ari's been a pirate and Medusa. I've been the Morrigan, a dark fairy, and a fine young cannibal. We've visitied friends for a Dracula movie night complete with our annual veggie stew baked in a pumpkin, and danced our feet off at our favorite celtic pub. We also celebrated some of the fun Latin traditions for the Day of the dead. Anni and I dressed up as calaveras, and we had delicious Mexican food. Time to hit the gym!

 The last of this year's tomato harvest. Amazing! We were still harvesting tomatoes in November!

 Rainy day farmer, Julie Ann, after a soaking wet trip out to the veggies. Anyone got a towel?

 The daily take; lots of carrots, tomatillos, herbs, and a few greens.

The cleaned up treasures.

We been making lots of preserves with our harvest bounty. Anni and I made four quarts of apple butter last week with the remains of her apple picking adventures. I've been making up vats of spaghetti sauce to use up our enormous tomato crop, and tomorrow, I'm embarking on a tomatillo salsa extravaganza! Now, what to do with several hundred carrots, hmm???