Fun Fall Activities, Projects & Recipes

Enjoying Fall Activities, Projects & Recipes

 

We have entered fall in Sonoma County. We still have some warm days ahead of us with longer daylight hours. It’s a wonderful time to decorate your home for fall, enjoy fall projects, and recipes.  There are so many fall activities available in Sonoma County, and I think fall is one of the best times to enjoy the beauty of Sonoma County. We share some of our favorite activities, projects, and recipes with you below.

 

Wonderful Fall Decoration Ideas

 

Fall is a wonderful time to decorate your home for fall. These decorations, with a few adaptations will carry you through till decorating for Christmas or Hanukkah. Most of us don’t have a lot of spare time these days, so having home decorations that can span nearly three months helps. Our local Farmer’s Markets have so many decorative gourds and pumpkins this time of year. You can find palm-sized pumpkins to the giant variety. Gourds come in so many beautiful colors, and they have lasting power if kept out of the rain. If you want gourds and pumpkins to last longer, spraying them with a satin varnish will protect them from wear and tear, UV damage, dust, and moisture.

 

Fall Pumpkin Keeping Secrets

 

We have some ingenious tips for being able to enjoy your carved pumpkins for longer periods of time. No one wants to deal with a sunken, fly-invested, moldy pumpkin. So, here are some tips that might help you enjoy your carved pumpkin longer.

• Be Gentle with Your Pumpkins: To extend the life of your pumpkins, it’s best to handle them as little as possible. The only time you should touch your pumpkins is when you pick it, unload it to your home, clean them out, and carve your pumpkins.
• Pumpkin Location Is Important: The extremes are what hasten the pumpkin decaying process; so rain and sun are the pumpkin’s enemies for longevity. Too much sun will dry out your pumpkin, while moisture from rain can lead to mold and mush!
• Keep Your Pumpkin Dry: Before starting to carve your pumpkins, let the inside cavity dry out completely; moisture inside the pumpkin is the pumpkin’s enemy because moisture with air exposure from carving will lead to quicker rotting.
• Clean Pumpkins Before Carving: Mix one part bleach and ten parts water in a large container or your bathtub if you have a lot of pumpkins to wash. If you only have a couple of pumpkins, you can use this as a spray and spray them inside and out. Make sure they are completely dried when you finish.
• Moisturize Your Pumpkin: If you do decide to carve your pumpkins from the start, rub down the insides after carving with olive oil or coconut oil to moisturize them. Since both are oils, it’s best to use a battery-operated candle in your pumpkins, since battery-operated candles produce less heat, they don’t speed up the pumpkin decaying process as much.
• Keep Pumpkin Pests Away: To keep fruit flies away, put out a saucer of wine next to your pumpkins or beer; the fruit flies are attracted to the liquid and die. The full proof method is a large mason jar with punches made in the lid and wine or beer inside the mason jar. The fruit flies can get in, but they can’t get out.
• Pumpkin Insurance Spray: This is a two-in-one remedy; use a peppermint-based spray for your pumpkins. Mix some peppermint liquid soap with peppermint essential oil. Peppermint has anti-fungal properties, plus both fruit flies and ants don’t like peppermint. The peppermint oil spray will keep your pumpkin soft and smooth when they begin to dry out, plus it’s a great natural pest deterrent.

 

Fun Halloween Decoration

 

The Halloween decoration I will try to describe how to build is so easy, and it’s all over TikTok and Instagram these days. The direction creates a ghost lit from below with a bowl for treats on top.

• 1 backless stool
• 1 string mini-Christmas lights battery-operated
• Old white sheet
• 1 bowl large enough to cover the top of the stool
• Museum putty or super-strong-double-stick-tape
• Candy
• Self-adhesive eyes for your ghost

Wrap the stool in Christmas lights. Stick the bowl to the top of the stool, cover the bowl and stool with a white sheet, pour candy into the bowl, and stick self-adhesive black eyes to the sheet for the ghosts eyes. In less than 5 minutes, you have a great trick-or-treat attraction for your front porch!

 

Fall Activities in Sonoma County

 

We have so much to choose from as great activities for adults and families this fall in Sonoma County. We could have written an entire article on just great things to do this fall, since there is so much to choose from. A great family activity is at Snoopy’s Ice Arena on October 4th, Celebrating 75 Years of Peanuts! This will be a fun activity for kids and adults. October 11th brings a Family Music Matinee to Healdsburg with free live music from the Healdsburg Jazz Collective from 12 pm-1 pm.

The Sonoma Valley Music Festival sells out quickly, and it’s not to be missed. I’ve attended a few times, and it’s an intimate venue with great artists! This year, they are featuring music honoring Fleetwood Mac, Joni Mitchell, Paul Simon, Burt Bacharach, and Stevie Wonder, and more! Concerts start on October 11 and go through November 15. The Sonoma County Harvest Fair is on October 11th and is celebrating 50 years of fine wine and food!

The SRJC Shone Farm Festival is on October 11th with activities that are fun for the whole family. Santa Rosa Junior College’s Shone Farm Fall Festival will showcase the farm’s seasonal produce and wines with a number of agricultural activities. The festival will include fall produce u-pick opportunities, farm tours, hay bale rides, animal meet-and-greets, farm equipment displays, student projects, and a kids’ zone featuring rotten fruit slingshots and compost lessons. From 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Entrance fee is $5 per car. 7450 Steve Olson Lane, Forestville.

October winds down with the 15th Annual Greek & Middle Eastern Festival in Rohnert Park, Weekend Along the Farm Trails Fall Tour, and lastly the Healdsburg Crush!

 

Quick & Easy Roasted Tomato Soup

 

Ingredients:

• 7-8 large tomatoes, quartered
• 1 large yellow onion, quartered
• 3 tablespoons olive oil or avocado oil
• 2 tablespoons fresh thyme or Italian Seasonings
• 1/3 cup basil pesto
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup canned coconut milk, seed or nut milk, or whole milk to thin, plus more if you don’t want a thick soup. I use half and half and almond milk in equal proportions.
• Parmesan or Asiago cheese for serving

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees
2. In a large oven-safe pot, combine all ingredients except milk or other liquid used for thin soup and cheese. Transfer the pot to the oven and roast for 20-30 minutes or until the top of the tomatoes starts to char and release juices. Let cool slightly.
3. You may transfer the roasted tomatoes and their juices to a blender and add milk to the right consistency. If you have an immersion blender, you can use this instead of the blender, and it really speeds up the process. If using an immersion blender, blend tomatoes in a pot, add milk for the correct consistency, then add pesto, salt, and pepper to taste. Thin with milk as needed.
4. Serve by using a soup spoon to add soup to bowls, and top with your choice of cheese from above. This is yummy served with garlic French bread or a grilled cheese sandwich.
5. Leftover soup stores well in an air-tight container in a refrigerator for about 4-5 days.