Happy Halloween!
Here is what the trees in our apple orchard are looking like. These will make for perfect caramel apples on halloween. The rest will be used for bobbing for apples, or will be pressed into the most delicious apple cider. The ones that fall onto the ground before we get to them? We feed them to the neighborhood horses. 


Speaking of horses, anyone willing to watch our lane tonight and keep their eyes open for the headless horseman? Happy Halloween!
Lentil Soup with Carrots & Bacon
This lentil soup has been a go to fall and winter recipe for us for years. It's easy enough to make on a weeknight, makes plenty of leftovers, and is satisfying without being bad for you or unhealthy. Plus it's affordable and perfect for fall! It's a real winner winner not chicken dinner.  




4 strips of bacon
3 medium carrots
1 yellow onion
1 1/2 cup dry lentils
2 tsp dried Tyme 
Salt/pepper 
2 cans chicken broth 
1/2 cup water 
3 garlic cloves 
2 tablespoons tomato paste 
1 tsp red wine vinegar

Chop your bacon into lentil sized peices. In a heavy soup pan crisp your bacon on medium heat. (Non crisp peices will be gross in the soup later, so be patient). Then chop your onion and carrots into lentil sized peices and add them into the pot. Cook until onions are clear. Add salt and pepper. Then add minced garlic and tomato paste and cook for another minute. Then add your lentils, cans of stock, Tyme, and salt and pepper again. 

Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer and cook covered for 45 minutes. If you cook out all the stock you can add 1/2 cup of water later on. Add your vinegar at the end. Salt and pepper again as needed. You can top with Parmesan shavings if you want, but it really doesn't need it. Enjoy!



Hope this soup makes all your cozy autumn dreams come true. Enjoy!
Gnome Cottage Jack-O-Lantern Pumpkin Carving Idea
We took a break from harvesting apples in our orchard today and got creative. We decided to make a little gnome fairy cottage for our halloween pumpkin this year. It couldn't have turned out any cuter!


Directions: 
Hollow out your pumpkin as normal. Carve out windows and door. We even carved out little window in our pumpkin door. Attach door hinge using a skewer. Use the cut out windows to cut little peices into window boxes. Attach with tooth picks. Forage in your yard for berries, flowers, and grasses. Put berries across the top of the pumpkins, place the flowers in the window boxes. We used grass and tied them with a string to look like fall decor. Then We covered the bottom with moss and berries and added little gnomes for fun. 

This is the perfect non-spooky and fun jack-o-lantern and even little hands can help. The foraging as a family for the decor was the best part. Enjoy!
Farm Friday
For the next few weeks we thought we would just feature a quick simple photo of the farm on Fridays. Just a peak into what we are doing, seeing, or working on. We hope you enjoy it. 

This view. This is the view from the front porch of the Lavender Apple homestead. The lavender is sleeping as autumn begins. There is a nice meandering lane that heads towards a road that leads into town. There are plans to develop the fields west of this property and fingers crossed this view never changes. Its beautiful and renewing to the soul.