It’s a shame that with all this beautiful fall weather, that instead of enjoying the beautiful fall weather we have to think about the government shutting down as Congress misses the deadline.

The U.S. government has shut down for the first time in 17 years after President Barack Obama refused to give in to the Republican demands that he roll back his signature healthcare law. Around 700,000 federal workers were placed on indefinite unpaid leave after a lot political fighting failed to yield any deal between the Democrats and Republicans. Obama care is already funded, so to me this is POLITICS. Two in our family are affected, Steve, our son-in-law, who is a contract worker for the Army and our daughter, Vicki, who lives in Germany. Also, our son, Kent, who is an agent for the Treasury Department. I think most of this is being done in hopes of who will win the next election and all this bickering won’t help any American. Yes, we’re all Americans.

Right now as farmers we’re more concerned with the harvest. It seems in the last week the colors of the browning of the cornfields and yellows and some browning of the soybeans signals harvest time is here. Also this year the apple crop looks great compared to last year. As the sun was going down last night our Linden tree, which is green was just glittering with yellow and gold leaves that couldn’t be seen until the sun was just right. The position of the sun in the sky lends a special quality to the autumnal colors. The change in seasons occurs when places receive more or less sun at certain times of the year. As the earth tilts on its axis and away from the sun’s rays, autumn comes. As autumn lengthens, the sun hits the earth’s surface at a lower angle, thus giving a greater brightness to autumn colors.

I know one of these days the summer like weather will be gone and we’ll have some rainy, cold days. However, then I think we’ll have more fall-like weather, which can be brisk, but warm and beautiful. Fall is the time when meals aren’t always on time, so I go to crock-pot meals. This is a recipe anyone can do. With the holidays coming up this is great for a holiday gift.

EASY CROCK POT APPLE BUTTER

3 quarts unsweetened

apple sauce

4 cups white sugar

2 cups brown sugar

1/3 cup apple cider or

apple juice

3/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground all

spice

3/4 teaspoon ground

cloves

1 Tablespoon cinnamon

Add applesauce, sugars and cider together in crock-pot.

Cover and cook on low for 3 hours. Add spices cook on low, covered for 3 more hours. Uncover and continue cooking on low for 1 – 4 hours or sufficiently thickened. Ladle hot apple butter into 1/2 pint or pint size canning jars and process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes. Makes about 6 pints. If you’re not in to canning, this also freezes very well.

“Enjoy the nice fall weather, that is if it’s warm and sunny.”