Some Garlic & Wine thoughts on Fall. May we all celebrate today in good health. I bought a pie pumpkin today along with some mini dried corn. Time to decorate the house for Fall!

Fall brings a certain magical chill in the air and spice in the kitchen. I love sweatshirt weather, good boots, and cooking up the harvest. Who doesn’t love being under a blanket sipping on mulled cider or wine, or bonfire-side bundled up and hanging out.

Happy Fall.

In my candle studio, I offer beeswax candles, which I also like to burn around the house in the evenings. The sweet honey and floral smell of the wax means Fall to me. Nature’s gifts rule the Fall, and I’m a nature girl.

Yes, I have a candle studio and I sell candles in my other online business M Design Boutique.

This Summer, I illustrated a couple of pumpkins (gourds, squash, call it what you will). I love the way they turned out and decided to put them on some kitchen/table decor to offer in the M Delish Boutique shop. I think they would look great with a centerpiece of fabric pumpkins, tall honeycomb candles, and wood candle sticks. 

I make copious volumes of  soup and chili in the Fall. Slow-cooking makes the house smell lovely and frees me up to bake some rustic bread to go with it. My two labs hang out in the kitchen with me, often to be rewarded by falling bits of this or that, or even homemade dog treats. I make large batches of the dough and freeze it in small portions to make them fresh treats, especially on Sundays when the cooking is in full force.

I love roasting a chicken or smoking a turkey breast all day while I prepare an apple crisp and the fixings to go with the chicken or turkey. This is what I use to make my perpetual bone broth, and getting the smoked or roasted bones in it really adds richness to the flavor. The added bonus is a home filled with the scent of comfort for several days while the stock becomes something special. Over the days I add veggies and spices & herbs that enhance the flavor and fragrance. This is Fall. Home, harvest, hearth.

The decor of Fall brings my favorite colors in the form of multicolored squash and gourds, pumpkins, cinnamon sticks, mums, and dried grasses.

I know I’m not alone, and there are lots of you reading this that feel the same way about this seasonal change we’re celebrating today. I wish you cozy socks, crisp air and a table full of friends and family joining together in good health.

Happy Equinox 2017! Cheers to the season.