In the spirit of some of my absolute favorites, Joy’s Sunday series and Tieghan’s Nine Favorite Things, I’m going to start sharing campfire conversations on the first Sunday of the month! A little bit of real life, a few links from around the internet, and some meandering thoughts as if we really were huddled together by the fireside.
Let’s dive in!
October favorites. Mountain hikes to marvel at the fall colors. Cosy soft flannels. Colorado beeswax candles. Homemade maple syrup lattes. Secretly planning a not-so-secret Halloween party for my favorite holiday. Definitely carving pumpkins, or at least painting them. Roasting all the pumpkin seeds. Drinking all the chai tea.
Homestead. I’ve been calling our little corner of the world the Hubbard Homestead, so how loose we can be with the word homesteading? We have lots of veggie garden dreams, and I’m loving our big compost pile by the garden. We chop firewood (read: I spend several hours swinging an axe and swearing, and then Kirk chops firewood). We have a well & septic & solar… but our only animal is a dog that’s been renamed Mudball Wigglebutt.
Merriam-Webster simply calls it the home and adjoining land occupied by a family, which is good enough for me.
Solar! Speaking of self-sufficiency, our solar panels are up! One more checkbox towards being kind to our earth. Shoutout to the local company we went with, Namasté Solar – totally amazing all around, we loved working with them. Highly recommended for other Coloradans!
Cookbooks. Our library recently received a metric load of cookbooks and I’m in heaven! Love flipping through the stacks to find new favorites… which obviously I turn around and end up buying them all anyway.
I already raved about the Half Baked Harvest cookbook on IG stories and I’ve only gotten more obsessed because it’s cookbook perfection. Get on that right away, girl is genius.
Showing up late to the Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat lovefest – it’s a love letter to cooking and embracing the most basic elements! If you’ve ever wanted to become a more intuitive cook, this is the guidebook you’ve been looking for.
We’re all learning the art of hygge so let’s cook that way: with chapters like “What I Eat During The Day” and “Friends Over For Christmas Lunch”, Scandinavian Comfort Food is the cookbook equivalent of wrapping yourself in a soft blanket by a roaring fire.
Check out my full list of Cookbook Favorites for more recommendations!
Friendship. Let’s be really real with each other for a moment: I miss the kindergarten days when you could run up to someone on the playground and announce that you’re friends. (This is legit how I met my very best childhood friend. Her name is Colleen and I still know her phone number by heart.)
I love our little town, but it can be hard to make those meaningful connections! I just want more people to come over and eat s’mores around the campfire… this shouldn’t be too hard. Hmmm.
Relatedly…
Dinner clubs. I’ve been majorly thinking over this for the last couple weeks: I Started A Dinner Club And It Changed My Life. Wherein Lindsay tells us about the soul-warming, lifetime relationships she’s made with these women who weren’t previously connected, and my heart says: YES. Yes to good food and great people and opening another bottle of wine.
So on the tiny chance any of my Colorado readers are near Golden, please let me know if you’d like to come spend an evening on our little homestead and we’ll make it happen. ♡
What are your plans for these last few weeks before the holiday craze? I’ll be outside wrapped in a blanket, ideally with a steaming mug of cocoa (and maybe bourbon). Cheers to fall, friends.
Our plans are to celebrate fall by making applesauce, football games, donating to three charities, and travelling. Maybe have a dinner for 10 and include a campfire as you suggest!! Love this post.
Sounds wonderful! Enjoy!!