Fall Fun List

Since summer is officially over, I thought it would be a good time to share some of our favorite fall places, crafts, and treats from last year. If you have any suggestions you'd like to share, from your own blog or around the web, please link in the comments! Also, if you do any of these, please write and let us know how you enjoyed it. :)

I'm cuddled up under a wool blanket as I type this and I love love it. Welcome, fall!

GO:

-Bergey's Breadbasket: Quite possibly the best petting zoo in the area, with a PYO pumpkin patch and a delectable bakery attached. Bergey's inspired our apple dumpling recipe (below).

-Hunt Club Farm: The photos at the bottom of this post is from our visit last October (look how small my Nou was!). Their fall harvest fair runs through Nov. 1 this year and you can bet we'll be there again.

-Apple Picking at Martin Vineyard & Orchard: A recent trip that's going to become a family tradition. Apple season ends in November, but I would call ahead to make sure they're still open (their website doesn't seem to be updated frequently).

-New Earth Farm: A beautiful farmer's market in Virginia Beach, with probably the most interesting and delicious organic and seasonal produce in the area.

-First Landing State Park: So gorgeous this time of year. Try the Bald Cypress Trail, an easy hike for little legs.

-Big Woods State Forest: Some "real wilderness" hiking just about an hour away in Sussex County.

-Bennett's Creek Farm Market: Bennett's Creek is a treat in any season but fall makes us hungry and when the weather turns cool, we crave their she-crab soup.


MAKE: 

-Pumpkin pie playdough: Adding pumpkin-pie spice makes everything feel more festive.

-Gravestone rubbing: A spooky craft to get older kids interested in family history.

-Pinecone prints: This is a great time of year for nature painting.


COOK:

-Maple cinnamon marshmallows: Dresses up hot cocoa; a lot easier than you'd think.

-Apple dumplings: A quick and easy version of the famous ones at Bergey's Breadbasket.

-Pumpkin quinoa: The perfect breakfast for fall mornings.

-Sugar cookies: Not our recipe, but one we use constantly. These cookies are tasty and don't spread!

Sand Clay

I've had a bag of sand hanging out in the garage since I planted my raspberry bushes a few months ago (they like a mix of sand and soil for good drainage). The hardware store where I bought my bag only carried sand in 50 lb increments, and I only used about 2 lbs in my planting, which means I have 48 left to use up somehow. Enter sand clay.

The texture of this clay is just like a grainy play-dough, but the real fun of it is that it will dry hard, meaning that you can use it to make summer treasures to keep.

Ingredients:

2 cups sand
1 cup cornstarch
1.5 cups water
2 tsps alum (found in the spice aisle)

Directions:

Combine the ingredients over medium-low heat, stirring constantly. Within a few minutes, the dough will begin to thicken up like playdough. Turn out onto a surface, kneading smooth when cool enough to touch. Shape and let dry overnight (or longer) to set. The clay can be stored in an airtight container for three or four days or so.

We made a sand castle, of course, and used our beach toys to cut out shapes and some shells from a recent beach trip to decorate them with. About halfway through I realized I could make Christmas tree ornaments and so I worked on that while A. made a few extremely scary sand snakes. We set our shapes outside in the sun to dry (it took about 12 hours) and put the rest away to play with over the next few days (by the end of day four it was gummy and pretty much finished). And only one piece broke, which is a higher success rate than we've had with either salt clay or baking soda clay.

I think this would be a great craft for when you want a little beachy fun but can't get to the beach, or a creative way to use up some of that sand you might bring back from a special beach vacation. I have a jar of sand somewhere that J. and I brought back from the red sand beaches of Prince Edward Island a few years ago -- if I can find it, I'm going to pull it out and make of ornaments out of it.

That last picture makes me think of this. Snake! A snaaaaake!