Peanuts, Cotton & Pecans ... Fall in the South

Went to the country last week for Thanksgiving. MIL, FIL, SIL, Niece & her boyfriend came for Supper. Had all the usuals ... turkey, ham, sweet potatoes, broccoli casserole, butter peas, snap bean  corn casserole, mac & cheese, dressing, gravy, rolls & pumpkin & pecan pies. It was all very good & the weather cooperated so we could eat on the screened in back porch.

After cleaning up hubby & I took our niece & boyfriend to the Lights! Lights! Thanksgiving Night in our nearby town. It is a beautiful little town with a town square with a beautiful Courthouse in the middle and restaurants & shops lining the square. They string lights from the top of the Courthouse & light them at dark. They bring in Santa & he goes to the top of the Courthouse stairs where the little ones can visit. Almost all the shops open up for more window shopping than anything. It's not as commercial as it sounds, not like they are trying to 'get a jump'. It's really more of a social affair where neighbors meet & talk & stroll the streets.

The next morning was our 34th Wedding Anniversary so we didn't want to work all day. We had gotten some pecans from a cousin & I had picked up a 5 gallon bucket so we took them to the Cracking & Shelling place, .40 a pound & worth every penny. They do a great job so there is very little to pick through before storing.

Then we went to a special place to buy some sausage. This place sells, smoked & fresh links as well as 'loose' sausage. We had some at the family reunion & it is really good so we wanted to stock up on some for ourselves.

On our ride we passed many cotton fields which is gathered this time of year. The fields that have been defoliated are just beautiful, it's the snow of the south.

Some farmers harvest into large rectangle shaped pods:

And others in rolls:

Either way it's a sight to see them gathering & to see all those rolls out in the field before they are picked up by many semi trailers (usually in the middle of the night for some reason).

The other fall thing to see is rolls of peanut hay. Peanuts had been gathered in September & October & the leftover plant is harvested & rolled into hay. Good for cows, horses generally won't eat it.

Got back home & just couldn't stand it, we had to fill our time with some kind of work, so we mowed the grass, the last time for this year, yea!

The next morning we cleared some of the fence line that had gotten out of control then went visiting. When picking up some fallen pine logs we discovered that one had partially turned into fat lighter! This is like getting an early Christmas present.

See the top portion that looks really hard, that's fat lighter. Nothing better to use for starting a fire! We'll chop it up soon.

Of course we ate leftovers all weekend long but I wanted to try my hand making biscuits like my friend in SC does. It worked!

They were light & fluffy & delicious. The secret is to use Martha White Light baking flour & follow the recipe on the back except to replace the lard with frozen butter (grated into the flour). I am so happy I finally have a biscuit recipe I can turn to, this has taken a long time for me to master & that may or may not be a good thing!

The moon was a full one on Thanksgiving night & I finally got a decent photo through the trees.

I'll sign off with a pic of the beautiful sunset the last night I was there:

Note: All picture, except the biscuits, fat lighter, moon & sunset, were taken from various sites off the internet. I was lazy with the camera, again.