Fall. My Familiar friend. Your gentle reminder to let go and make space for what is to come. The gentle nudge to stay a little longer between the diddle and daddle because magic will find you there. The gentle finding: enchantment of change, in the simplest form. Oh fall, my familiar friend, I welcome you.

Whether it has been Fall, herself, or being in a healthier mental state, all I have wanted to do is write again. So here I am, for now. Writing down my thoughts in a familiar place and excited to share my latest endeavors.

I have been learning so so much lately and cannot wait to share! Hopefully someone somewhere will find my “knowledge-vomit” enticing. but for now, I am going to be doing this for me 🙂

On the subject of fall and autumn, I had a pretty special moment around the Autumnal Equinox. It happened on September 22nd, for those who, like me, may not be familiar with it. Why is it important? Because it is the start of shorter days and longer nights. Fall and winter season officially upon us as Summer comes to an end. Now what makes it extra special is during an equinox; the sun is EXACTLY above the equator which only happens twice a year. This means the day and night are actually equal. Pretty special in my book.

I don’t know what started my little rabbit hole of learning about the equinox, but it resonated with me. I felt a deeper connection to letting go and allowing myself to slow down during the upcoming colder months- To spend a little more time diddle-daddling versus being in a rush all the time.

On September 22nd, it rained, and I felt like it was a nudge to allow the negativity, pressure, and expectations wash away. It was extra special because Texas usually has a ton of rain during the fall, but we have had very little this year. It didn’t feel like a coincidence but rather a choice. It rained on purpose on the very day that nature was returning to balance. It felt like I was being given permission to allow the space within myself to allow opportunities that may not be within my control. That as life ebbs and flows, we will find our balance too. It is within our nature.

Onto the physical adventures, I have pushed myself to learn new things this year. I canned my first peaches ever, by myself, and they are SCRUMPTIOUS. We have literally only 3 jars left and it has only been 2 months.

I will say that Texas Peaches are something else. Some of the best peaches I have ever had and I am going to go HARD next peach season. Since I came late to the peach season, it was hard to find good peaches and a lot of them, for that matter. But I am so happy I did it and cannot wait to start canning more! Hopefully with veggies/fruit from my very own garden.

My garden? You may ask. Yes I have a garden! Spencer and I are renting in North Dallas, Texas and it has been wonderful! The garden is flourishing!

I grew squash & Zucchini, tons of tomatoes, lots of herbs, peppers and then everything else in pots. I cannot wait for next year to see what will grow. I am pretty much out there as often as I can be!

For the fall, I am growing garlic, onions, and planted Saffron.

I also planted Calendula flowers to make homemade salves. I could nerd out on Calendula for days, lol. I will eventually write about it, don’t you worry.

My tomatoes are still going strong, herbs are living their best lives. If I am being honest, Texas gardening is quite a bit different than Utah/Idaho. The growing season goes quite a bit longer into Fall than what I am familiar with. For example, the first sign of frost in Texas is usually in late November, whereas Utah will end sometimes in October.

This was our home grown tomato on the left and a store bought tomato on the right. No comparison! Spencer said it was like comparing steak to ground beef. Steak being the home grown tomato 😉 so delicious!

I actually ended up taking a virtual class on gardening in North Dallas and it was VERY Educational. I had no idea that USDA zones are based on the temperature LOWS and not the highs. Which can be pretty misleading in states where you have a high of 90 but then low of 50. My banana trees do not like any temp below 65 so I have to bring them in whenever the temperatures get below 65, even though they flourish in Texas. I also learned that pollen becomes unviable in temperatures over 90 degrees daytime and over 75 degrees at night. Which is why during the Summer in Texas, your plants will survive but won’t produce very well. Who knew?! I definitely did not!

Real Quick, since i am talking about the garden, I have been growing milkweed for a year or so in pots. It is flourishing and this year, I got QUEEN Butterfly Caterpillars! Naturally! 2 of them and they have chrysalis-ed up. I am beyond happy 🙂 I decided to leave them outside and let nature take its course versus me taking them inside. I hope I will get to see them become butterflies and they will want to stay a while 🙂

ON the subject of plants… Sorry.. Cannot help myself! If you are not interested in plants, I promise you can scroll down and there will be much more on the fun adventures 🙂

I grew MUSHROOMS. I grew reishi and Lions Mane mushrooms. They were wild! I will include some pictures of the progress of them.

First up, REISHI.

Fun Fact About Reishi: It has the nickname “Mushroom of Immortality”. It helps boost your immune system, regulate your hormones/mood, helps with stress & anxiety, and so much more. At one point, somewhere in China, it was considered only for royalty. They look like little alien fingers when they are small but grow into shelves. It is better to harvest them when they are soft because they get SO hard that you may have to use pruners to cut them. (Trust me, I had to lol) I also have tried reishi straight into boiling water and it literally tastes like earth. Wood and dirt. Yum. Nothing like Mud water to give you immortality.

Now Lions Mane:

FUN Fact about Lions Mane: It has the nickname of “Bearded tooth” because as it matures, it grows these long hairs. I believe Lions mane is one of the most researched mushroom and is often used as a meat substitute. When cooked, it has the texture of meat so people use it to trick their brain and taste buds. Lions mane helps with your immune system, brain health (Memory, Nerve growth, brain cell growth), and are rich in antioxidants. I have tried Lions mane and it tastes almost like seafood? but in a mushroom kind of way? Brain was definitely not 100% convinced.

Other Plants, here is my beautiful plant room and office. I am working from home and there is nothing better than working in a beautiful environment!

Now for the Fun adventures like I promised! Spencer and I went to the Ridley’s Believe it or Not museum. They had all sorts of celebrities there, just waiting to take pictures with us. Do you believe me? haha! Ok ok they were wax and some of them were a little hard to believe… cough cough… taylor swift, I am talking to you. More like Taylor Swift’s long lost cousin.

Even being wax, it is still eerie standing in a room full of humanistic figurines staring at you. You half expect them to move and I would catch myself holding my breath in anticipation.

There were some pretty crazy things. There was a shoe made entirely out of toothpicks! I didn’t get to try it on but I couldn’t image it being very comfortable walking around.

The Crooked House is made entirely of Matchsticks.

They had a display for the tallest man in the world (8 Feet 11 Inches). I felt bad for his knees.

They had this fun mirror maze that was pretty cool! Lights were dimmed just enough that it was harder than it looked to find the way out. I may or may not have ran into a mirror or two… ha.. ha.. let’s say that I did everyone else a favor by leaving my finger prints on the mirrors lol

Of course we went to the botanical garden and played with butterflies. Both Spencer and I had a butterfly tagalong. I found out later that the reason why it liked our feet/shoes so much is because they love salty water and actually dead things like roadkill. I tried not to be offended by the obsession it had with my feet.

Tis the season for CACOA BEANS! I think the last time I had tried to make homemade chocolate was in the fall/winter in Utah. Enjoy!

I made Scallops for the first time ever! Spencer and I are big fans of cooking shows and Gordon Ramsey. We decided to splurge for my birthday and they turned out phenomenal. Beginners Luck for sure but 10/10 would recommend.

I also made homemade Vanilla extract! Ordered beans from Madagascar and boy do I wish I could send you smells. Heavenly. Absolutely heavenly.

They take a long time to marinate before they are good to use in cooking but regardless, very easy to make and worth all the smells. I made quite a few to give away for Christmas and as gifts. Aren’t they pretty?

OK this is turning out to be WAY longer than I anticipated. I guess I should keep writing then 😉 I will leave you with a Ukulele song (remix?) for old times sake.