Well, everyone else is saying it, so I will too. There is fall in the air!!! I had forgotten about having winds, so the other morning I found 2 of my large patio umbrellas blown into the yard. It had gotten some good gusts in the middle of the night and then we had that wonderful rain storm and cleaned up all the dust off the trees and shrubs. The air smelled heavenly.
My roses are blooming again so they are enjoying the nice cooler weather too. I had been so busy, I did not have a chance to dead head or cut off the rose hips. I am glad now, though because I am having my Floral Design class on Thursday and I think I am going to cut them to have Lisa show us how they can be used in an arrangement. My rose hips are all these nice orange/dark pink color and some are absolutely huge!! I have seen some recipes to make rose hip jelly and the teas, but have never made them myself.
I have hydrangea bushes planted all over my yard and they never disappoint me with their beauty. I almost think the drying flowers are more beautiful than the fresh blooms. In this photo, there are only 5 hydrangea flowers in this vase. One measures over 12" across and almost a full circle. I just put them in water and when the water is all used up the flowers are dried and I have them for all winter. Not all hydrangea blossoms work that way but most do, some actually wilt and those I just eventually toss.
With the CSA business being finished, I have had some time to slow my pace; not be so frantic about trying to get everything done. I had my canning classes and did some more canning with a friend and once a whole day on my own.
On Pinterest, I saw this recipe to can applesauce and combine with other fruits, strawberries, blueberries and peaches. I still had some fresh peaches and I had a few bags of strawberries frozen in the freezer from our garden. I made 5 batches of applesauce, 2 just my regular applesauce recipe; 2 using peaches; and 1 batch using strawberries. I was pretty tired by this last strawberry batch and my kitchen was a disaster or I would have made another one using strawberries again. The flavor is so wonderful and the colors in the jars make me think that they will make great Christmas gifts or the applesauce will look great on the table during the holidays. Out goes cranberry sauce and in comes applesauce!
Speaking of Pinterest, I took a great class last week on using Pinterest for Marketing your business. I LOVE Pinterest and am out there pinning away almost every day but had NEVER thought about how it could be used in business. It was provided by the NEC (NorthEastern California) Small Business Center through Butte College. Fabulous!!! I was so inspired and learned a great deal in a very short 1 hour time span. The instructor was very knowledgeable and SBCD offers free one-on-one meetings in the Butte, Glenn and Tehama areas; to help small business owners with any part of developing, starting, running, marketing, anything to do with business. My blogging abilities really do need to be improved so I am hoping this winter to make some time to have them work with me. I know many fellow bloggers have moved over to Word Press to write their blog, but I am determined to learn as much as I can with Blogger before I abandon ship.
If you are local, our Floral Design class still has a few openings. In case you don't know Lisa Hunter, she is a Gridley floral designer who does the most beautiful weddings and other events and is going to teach the class. Set for this Thursday, September 26th; 6-8:30pm; $25. Hope you can make it. Please call me if you think you can make it.
My goal for myself this next week is start to get back to taking walks; enjoy the seasons colors; and stopping to smell the roses (or hydrangeas) along the way.
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