Still Woods Farmhouse

 Welcome to my harvest open house!  Before it's time to tuck away some of the things I truly enjoy most, I wanted to share a few of them with you.  Come on in!  These two fellows are here to greet you. This has been a warm fall in the south.  I have held off buying my real pumpkins and gourds for outside decorating due to the heat.  My first tiny gourds and mini pumpkins began to mold, even inside...yuck!  I replaced them with safe, fake, but pretty odds and ends.  Our dining room table decor depends on my mood.  If you came back next week, it will probably be different! If you love cookbooks, you must pick up Gooseberry Patch Hometown Harvest.  The cover makes me happy and I love to display it on my cookbook stand in the kitchen.  This one has some of by favorite sections...church gatherings, game-day get togethers, slow-cooker pleasers, and more.  I picked up the "Live Life Simply" one year to remind me to focus on ...

For me, Halloween brings to mind chili dogs, bags of candy, and caramel apples. We always had chili dogs before heading out to a church fall festival or trick or treating in the neighborhood.   It was a quick meal and one of our favorites as kids. Of course later in the evening, we ended up with a bag full of candy and one special treat made by a sweet neighbor.  She always made caramel apples for the children she knew the best.  It was better than any candy in our bags! My first real memory of caramel apples brings me back to an excursion with my parents and little sister to Apple Valley in California.  The tree branches were heavily laden with crisp, luscious apples.  Various vendors dotted the roadside selling their baked good ranging from apple pies, breads, dried apples, caramel apples, and my favorite candy apples!  As our day ended and we drove back home, my sister and I sat in the back seat happily eating our apple treats. Caramel apples are per...