Frugal Friday-Fall Decor

I’m posting today about some Frugal Fall Decor. I just love decorating the top of the china cabinet for holidays. I also love using what we already have and things from the earth. For the fall this year I gathered a bunch of things from around the house and our fall bin. I found some gourds at a farm stand and bought a strand of orange lights from Walmart. (cost: $3.44 per strand)

The lantern and flowers are from a wedding we were in last year, the lighted Jack-O-Lantern is something my mom bought for the girls a few years ago.  The star candle was a white elephant gift last year for Christmas. There’s are a couple of ceramic pumpkins I’ve had for year and a cloth pumpkin I purchased two years ago from a craft fair. The large black tray is from a Butler’s Tray Table we’ve had for a number of year and I simply took the tray off the stand. The black horitzonal sign in is something I picked up at another craft fair also a few years ago. You can’t see all of it, but it says “Fall Gatherings”. There is a bundle of Indian Corn onthe far left and gourds to take up the rest of the space. The orange lights are simply woven in and out of the decorations.

With the exception of the Jack-O-Lantern this decor will work all of the fall season and cost under $6.00, with $3.44 of it being the lights which are reusable.

Life can be simple and beautiful all at the same time.

Fall Cleaning List-10 Easy Things for Outside Clean Up

When the weather gets to the point of “not too cold to be outside”, but “cold enough that you know whatever work needs to be done outside you should do relatively soon”, it’s time to clean up the outside. Here in the Northeast it’s that time of year. I don’t know about your house, but our warm months end with a lot of randomness lurking in our grass and bushes. Chairs end up in a crazy sort of circle around the fire ring and the garage…well the garage is it’s own problem. It’s time.

A few weeks ago we posted about 10 Easy Things to Refresh Home for Fall.That list, though short, is sweet and will freshen things up inside in order to get ready for the inside days of winter.

This list, which I have to admit I’m hoping Jeremy does most of…. #ifimwrong #idontwanttoberight #whoswithme  will really freshen the outside, get it ready for snow or frozen ground and pave the way to outside holiday decorating.

1. Basic yard cleanup-look around your yard…anything sitting in the grass that doesn’t belong? Yesterday alone I found two dog toys, a plastic bowl (?), a plastic cup that had been run over by a car tire, the newspaper and an umbrella. The dog toys I can explain. The bowl is the result of procrastination after collecting corn from the back already harvested corn field behind our house and feeding the squirrels. The newspaper simply hadn’t been brought in yet, but the umbrella and plastic cup I can give no account for.
2. Outdoor Living-Clean and pack away any outdoor furniture, fixtures or plant pots that aren’t winter/snow ready. Our picnic table, grill (covered) and fire ring stay outside year round, otherwise chairs, umbrellas/canopies and flower pots head back into storage.
3. Garage general clean up– At the end of a busy few months of outdoor living our garage gets, let’s say…disheveled. A good hour or two and some solid 1980’s rock roll played on a cassette through our old turquoise tape player and a cold drink will get the job done. Bikes need to go back to their place, toys need to be put away. Items for donation need to be delivered, basically the car needs to have a space to avoid direct snow fall.
4. House: Review door frames, window frames, windows and touch up, paint, repair, or wash any of those that need to be done before cold weather sets in. Remove screens or screen doors. Power Wash house if needed.
5. Check outside light bulbs and fixtures. Repair and replace as needed. 
6. Trim bushes and cut back any perennial plants who’s leaves don’t last through cold months.
7. Garden: We are still growing some plants, despite that we’ve already had a frost. Our herbs, peppers, kale and cabbage, and sedum are still doing fairly well. We will leave them in until they can’t survive anymore. Otherwise it’s time to plant fall bulbs, pull any remaining stalks or garden plants that aren’t thriving, cut back perennial plants (flowers, herbs, shrubs, ferns), and plant a cover crop OR add fertilizer to renew nutrients in garden beds from summer use. Toss pulled plants and leaves to the woods, the compost bin or leave them in the garden area for natural decomposition (a technique called Cut and Drop). Wrap hoses up and put away. Clean bird baths (leave these out if you can…birds still need water in the winter!)
8. Tune up yard equipment and prepare them for winter storage.
9. I’d say put the trampoline away…a lot of people do…but my kids think it’s cool to jump in the winter so we leave it up!
10. Lastly, but hardly a chore…Rake up those leaves and jump!

 

 

Craft and Coffee Night

Looking for an easy, fun and comfortable NO PRESSURE ladies night for your church? This is it. Craft and Coffee Night.

It’s nice to host an event that is a lot of hands off, relaxing and cozy. Fall is a perfect time for that. I found these mason jar pumpkins and apples on Pinterest and knew we had to make them.

I provided the jars (because, hello, I have 4,9837,3023754,304950 of them in the garage) and everyone brought a snack to share. Women’s Ministry events don’t have to be expensive or super involved. Sometimes it’s nice to simply have a space to relax, chat, drink something hot and eat something you didn’t make. Kaitlyn helped me so much with this night that she really should get credit for doing it.

Budget Breakdown:

Jars and rings, most seals: FREE. If you don’t have any amount of extra jars check out thrift stores, use non-canning jars (anything would work) or have the ladies bring their own jars and lids.

Supplies: 2 bottles Red Paint, 2 bottles orange paint, 1 bottle yellow paint, 1 bottle green paint, 1 bottle brown paint; 6 peices card stock (3 green, 3 brown): foam paint brushes, craft glue, white or clear spray primer: about 60$ (Women’s Ministry Budget)  I also had to buy $5 worth of seals

Acorns and sticks: FREE from the backyard.

Cider: 20$ (My Budget, because hello…you need cider in the fall)

Drinks and Snacks: Each lady brought a snack to share. Drinks (except for cider) were already at the church-hot chocolate, tea, coffee, water and soda. FREE I forgot to get a picture of the snack table. We had all kinds of yummies. Apple Caramel cupcakes, donuts, cake, candies. I made these Sweet Potato Muffins with Brown Sugar Glaze.

Set up:

Each work table (set up for 6 women) was covered with a plastic table cloth and had a plate of red paint, a plate of orange paint, a plate with brown paint and green paint, two paintbrushes per plate of paint, a roll of paper towels, 2 pencils, 6 empty plates

The supply table had primed jars, stems, acorns, and extra supplies

The snack table had fall centerpieces (church owned), nice table cloths (church owned) and snacks.

Schedule: 6:30 p.m.-8:00 p.m.

1. Play Fall version of Would You Rather*
2. Prayer
3. Instructions for the night
4. Instructions for craft
5. Rest of the night is casual, come and go, get to know each other.

Time Spent: 3 hours prep, 2 hours for event (including clean up)

To Do Ahead of time: 

1. Prime jars with spray prime, let dry.(do this the day before)
2. Cut small tree branch into 1-2 inch lengths
3. Collect acorns
4. Cut half of green and brown card stock into leaf shapes. Cut the other half into strips 1/4 inch wide and 6-8 inches long.
5. Make two examples-one apple, one pumpkin.

To Make Pumpkins:

1. Paint lid/seal brown. Let dry.
2. Paint jar orange.Let dry.
3. Gather two brown leaves, one strip of brown card stock and one stem
4. To make vine, wrap strip brown of card stock tightly around a pencil and hold for about 30 seconds.
5. Glue leaves and vine to dried lid.
6. Glue stem.
7. Attach lid to top of jar.

To Make Apples:

1. Paint lid/seal green. Let dry.
2. Paint jar red.Let dry.
3. Gather two green leaves, one strip of green card stock and one stem.
4. To make vine, wrap strip green of card stock tightly around a pencil and hold for about 30 seconds.
5. Glue leaves and vine to dried lid.
6. Glue stem.
7. Attach lid to top of jar.

Add a tealight in the jar or fill with candy and it’s an instant fall decoration.

Fall Version of Would You Rather: Simply come up with 20-25 fall comparisons and ask the ladies to shout out their answers.

Examples might be:

Pumpkin Spice vs. Apple Cinnamon

Sweater vs. jacket

Football vs. Soccer

Hot Chocolate vs. Hot Cider

Candy  Corn vs. Anything

Apple Pie vs. Pumpkin Pie

Corn Stalks vs. Scarecrows

Chilly Evening Walks vs. Snuggles by the fire place

Thanksgiving vs. Halloween

Pumpkins vs. Apples

We use Kaitlyn’s Charlie Brown Inspired Pumpkin jar along with Anna’s Apple and another pumpkin jar with tealights in them as a centerpiece for the kitchen table.

 

 

Pumpkin Soup-Recipe

 

Last year we posted a recipe for Pumpkin Soup, but you know the thing about soup? The recipes can change constantly! Jeremy is into soup making, particularly pumpkin soup, though his repertoire is growing. He’s always experimenting and changing things. In the case of pumpkin soup one time it could be sweet. Another time it could be savory. One just never knows.

Here’s the latest recipe for Pumpkin Soup. It’s so good and warm on a cool fall day. It’s also fairly inexpensive to make especially if you have some frozen pumpkin or access to a farm that sells pumpkins.

First things first though-if you are using fresh pumpkins you need to bake the pumpkin. To do this simply wipe the pumpkin clean and place the entire pumpkin (unpeeled with stem still on) on a cookie sheet or cake pan. Bake at 250 for 2-3 hours until fork tender. After pumpkin is fork tender remove cookie sheet or cake pan from oven and let cool on stove top. If perfectly done you should be able to pull the stem and the whole peel comes off in one piece. It’s pretty cool.

Ingredients

1 whole large apple

1- 16 oz. chicken or vegetable broth

1/2 cup apple cider

2 small whole pie pumpkins

1/2 large onion

1 cinnamon stick

dash nutmeg

1/3 cup maple syrup

1/3  cup light cream

To Do:

1. Bake pumpkin and let cool. Peel. Cut in half and remove seeds.
2. Cut pumpkin into large cubes and place them in a large soup pot.
3. Add 1 cup broth.
4. Simmer on low for about 1 hour. (this gets pumpkin soft without burning it.)
5. Place onion, apple and 2 cups broth to pot. Cook for 15-20 minutes.
6. Let cool.
7. Place soup pot ingredients into Ninja or blender and puree.
8. Place soup ingredients back into soup pot.
9. Add cinnamon stick, dash nutmeg, maple syrup and light cream.
10. Sir well.
11. Let simmer for 30 minutes until all ingredients are warmed through and flavors mixed. You may need to add the rest of the broth for texture sake.
12. Before serving remove cinnamon stick.

Check out our other soup and chowder recipes! 

Homemade Chicken Soup

Easy Homemade Chili

White Chicken Chili

Corn Chowder

Seafood Chowder

 

 

 

 

 

Cahn Chowda

Sometimes a chilled fall night calls for a big steaming bowl of Corn Chowder for dinner. Also, the amount of corn one has in the freezer might also dictate this choice.

Because I’m a food nerd I needed to research the history of chowder. Take a look at what  What’s Cooking American has to say about it if you’re a food nerd too.

There are many versions of chowder, but naturally I’m akin to the milk based New England style of the dish. A good hearty, creamy, buttery spoonful of warm steamy goodness.

With just a few ingredients that many of us will have on hand already it’s an easy dish to put together. Serve it with warm popovers, fresh from the oven for a warm fall meal.

Today I’m sharing a basic corn chowder recipe.

Ingredients

3 cups fresh, frozen or canned corn, drained.

1 small-medium onion diced

2 large potatoes, cut to small bite sized

5 cups milk or cream, either works or use a combination of both

1 stick of butter (1/2 cup), seperated

salt, pepper to taste

To Do

1. In a large soup pot boil potatoes to fork tender.
2. In seperate frying pan add 1 tbsp butter and onion. Fry them until onions are transluscent.
3. When potatoes are fork tender, drain and place back into soup pot.
4. Add onions and remaining ingredients.
5. Simmer on stove until all ingredients are warmed through.
6. Serve with popovers and strawberry jam on the side.

Pear Butter in the Crockpot

I made Pear Butter last year and posted about it in our 30 Days of Fall 2015 campaign. I made it again this year and wanted to repost for anyone not with us last year. Not only is it a mostly hands-off recipe (cooked in the crockpot), but it’s pleasant taste is a perfect amount of pear-ish-ness. When preserved in a 4 oz jelly jar they make great gifts. They also make great Pear Butter Bars or spreads for biscuits, warm toast or popovers.

There are many ways to preserve fruit-jams, jellies, chutney, curds. All are slightly different,but have the same basic base of fruit and sugar. Jams include chunks of fruit. Jelly is simply the juice of fruit (no chunks). Chutneys are thick and include things like raisins. Curds have eggs in them and are a creamy texture. Fruit butters are probably most similar to jams, except that the fruit and sugar are cooked together for hours until they can be blended or put through a sieve to reach a smooth texture.  Fruit butter thickens to a spreadable consistency.  Sometimes by the time fall comes around I am jellied and jammed out. Fruit butters are a nice change.

Ingredients:

20 medium pears, peeled and roughly cubed
4 cups Sugar
1/3 cup Orange Juice
*1 teaspoon grated Orange Rind (I don’t use this)
1/2 teaspoon Nutmeg (don’t leave the nutmeg out….it adds a worthwhile touch of pep to the pears)

How to:

Put all ingredients in the crockpot. Set on the lowest temperature, cover and let simmer, letting the ingredients love on each other. After about eight hours, remove crockpot insert from base and let cool slightly. After ingredients have cooled place in blender (we use the Ninja) until texture is smooth like baby food. Place back in crockpot, keeping the lid just off center to let steam out. Set temperature to medium heat. Stir frequently until texture is thick, about 6 hours. Place in jars and process 15 minutes in waterbath. This amount makes about six 8 oz jelly jars or twelve 4 oz jelly jars.

See the step by step picture gallery HERE for making pear butter. 

 

 

The Ultimate Fall Family Fun List-100 Things to Do This Fall

We LOVE Fall around The Parsonage! Love as in…move out of the way Summer, Spring and Winter. We love ya, but not quite as much as Fall. Quiet nights in, dinners around the table, pizza in front of the fire place, Charlie Brown tv specials, cookies..they all have a place in The Smallwood’s Family memory bank.

Below is a list of 100 things you can do this fall. Pick one, pick a few, pick them all..but whatever you do remember to just enjoy the season. Cuddle a little longer, eat a little heartier, drink a bit more cider, spend more time around the campfire. Smell the leaves and watch the leaves change. Whatever you do…do it fully.

Enjoy.

1. Attend a Football Game(High School, Little League, College, Professional).
2. Better yet…become your town’s biggest football fan!
3. Tailgate! 
4. Put together a pick-up football game
5. Visit a Corn Maze
6. Make a bouquet or wreath made entirely from things found in nature (dried leaves, acorns, worn husks)
7. Attend a workshop on food preservation, wildlife, hunting, fall craft making
8. Make a bird feeder 
9. Check out your local museums or living history centers
10. Pick Apples…or pumpkins…or pears
11. Snuggle up under a blanket and read
12. Host a Friendsgiving
13. Likely not free or cheap but: Visit New England!
14. Head out on a fall car ride and buy hot drinks at your local convenience store
15. Attend a state fair
16. Explore a new town or village
17. Visit a Farmer’s Market
18. Hop on a hay ride
19. Make Mulled Cider or Home Made Hot Chocolate
20. Start working on Operation Christmas Child Shoe Box
21. Thank a teacher with a homemade gift or gift card to her/his favorite coffee shop
22. Try a new fall inspired recipe
23. Visit a working farm
24. Try canning homemade jam
25. Attend or host a Farm to Table Dinner
26. Put together a Smores’ Bar
27. Buy a new fall scented candle
28. Host a campfire
29. Spend a day finishing unfinished projects
30. Buy a new book
31. Buy a new sweater
32. Buy a new scarf
33. Take a Day Trip to a National Park
34. Make an apple dessert
35. Organize a neighborhood kickball tournament
36. Go Horseback Riding
37. Try cool weather backpacking or camping
38. Host a game night with family or friends
39. Bake Fall Cookies
40. Make Pumpkin Soup
41. Host or visit a Trunk or Treat
42. Give out candy to Trick or Treaters
43. Deliver home baked goodies to the neighbors
44. Deliver home baked goodies to a local fire house or police station
45. Make a family day of outside clean up
46. Inside Fall Cleaning 
47. Go for  a hike
48. Have a pumpkin carving day
49. Visit the local library for story time and crafts
50. Make one new craft each day
51. Bake pumpkin bread
52. Make applesauce
53. Stay outside when it’s cold…breathe in the air…remember you’re alive and well.
54. Make your own potpourri
55. Make your own Halloween Costume
56. Family Movie night and sleepover in the living room
57. Visit a local fall festival
58. Build a scarecrow
59. Leaf Pile!
60. Warm Apple Cider in the crockpot and drink it outside
61. Star gaze
62. Go for a slow walk, observing life happening around you
63. Do a nature study
64. Go on a fall scavenger hunt
65. Get a new haircut
66. Go on a fall pumpkin or fall decoration scavenger hunt (both links are free printables)
67. Learn to track animals
68. Learn to identify leaves
69. Bird watch and begin a journal for the next year
70. Study Monarch Migration Patterns
71. Attend or host a Harvest or Halloween Party
72. Learn about Animal or Bird Migrations
73. Build a Scarecrow Family
74. Pack a picnic and view some foliage
75. Make Mason Jar Crafts
76. Dry flowers or weeds for crafting
77. Read local Folklore
78. Spend time with people,visit a new friend
79. Watch Halloween Specials on television (Charlie Brown!!)
80. Attend a Homecoming
81. Decorate your front door with corn stalks, pumpkins and mums
82. Attend a soccer game
83. Fall Family Photos
84. Fall Nature Photos
85. Go for a family hike or bike ride along a foliage viewing path
86. Make Apple Dumplings
87. Make Homemade Caramel
88. Eat Candy Corn!
89. Hot Dog Roast over an open fire
90. Chili Cook Off!
91. Make Mason Jar Lid Pumpkins
92. Make Halloween Candy Bark
93. Serve Apple Nachos
94. Wander
95. Smell the air
96. Enjoy the hazy mornings
97. Spend a day and shop for corn stalks, pumpkins, and hay bales, eat lunch at a new cafe
98. Stay outside long enough to become cold…then warm up inside
99. Wear a flannel shirt
100. Plant spring bulbs

Enjoy every moment of fall!

Need more ideas? Check out our 30 Days of Fall 2015 posts!

Have more ideas? Leave them in the comments!