I LOVE the fall. To me, Fall reminds me of back home in Indiana. I LOVE Indiana Fall Season. I love the changing colors of the leaves. But here is what I REALLY MISS.I miss getting fresh Apple Cider from Miller's Cider Mill in Middlebury. I miss the local High School Football games (Go Raiders!). I miss the harvest season; big pumpkins, squashes, and Indiana Sweet Corn.
And let me tell you that you have NOT tasted GOOD - I mean REALLY GOOD - Sweet Corn, until you've had some from Indiana. We actually have the corn all summer, but the fall is when I remember trying to hurry and eat it before the season ended. Often times dinner at our house was Corn on the Cob and bread & butter. It was divine!!! Let's see... I also miss seeing the pails hanging from the sugar-maple trees in Amish Country.
I remember my Grandpa (Miller) used to make his own maple syrup. I remember when I was little, and he'd hang the buckets to collect the sap. And behind his house was a shed, and inside was a bit Vat over a fire pit. He would cook the sap in there to make the syrup. I also recall my grandma gathering pie tins and butter knives and bringing them out to the shed to gather a little syrup on them. Then, all the older kids and adults would "work" the syrup with their knives to "pull" homemade taffy...mmm. I sure do miss that!!!
Funny thing...now that I remember the "vat" in the shed, I remember when Grandma and Grandpa had pigs, and finally about this time of year, the pigs were "ready". I don't ever remember a pig roast or anything like that. However, I DO remember Grandpa cooking (deep frying) pork rinds in that vat as well. (Hopefully it was cleaned out before the sap was added!)
Wow - I really have a hankering for maple taffy and pure maple syrup right about now...mmm.
