Daylight Savings Time

We have to reset our clocks here at Red Hill General Store.  Hopefully, we don't miss any with all the excitement over our big sale we had today.

The time changes at 2:00 am. Enjoy that extra hour of sleep.  Also keep in mind that it is a good idea to change the batteries in your smoke detectors when you change the time on your clocks, safety is always a priority.  While most of you will be changing your time, we recently learned that there are a few states and territories that do not spring forward or fall back; so those of you in Arizona, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands will not be gaining that hour of sleep. 

New Artisan Wares

We have a local artist who is selling some of her beautiful hand painted items in our store.  I hope I am able to get her to do a quick little interview with me next week.  But she is a local artist; she paints nature scenes on milk bottles, cowbells, ornaments, buckets, glasses, and more.  Right now in our store we have some of the milk bottles she has painted:

I love how the glass milk bottles turned out with the paint on them.

Halloween Safety

There are so many exciting things for Halloween and so much going on this time of year, it is sometimes easy to overlook little safety measures to keep everyone happy, healthy, and safe.

• Make sure your children know not to go into a stranger's house.
• Be careful crossing streets, and be sure to watch out for people crossing while you are driving.
• Know all activities your children are attending, even older children.
• Do not use a cell phone while driving on Halloween.

Last minute costume idea?

Go as a farmer, you can stop by Red Hill General Store and pick up some bib overalls and a flannel shirt, just add some boots, a straw hat, and voila instant farmer.  Step it up a notch and add some face paint and hay at the cuffs and collar and you can be an easy quick scarecrow.

We hope you have a great safe Halloween!  What are your plans?  How are you keeping it safe?

Cool Afternoons & The Sniffles

The evenings have a nice cool feeling to them, but unfortunately with all the leaves falling, some people are having sinus issues.  So I decided to cook a nice big pot of chili for the family.  I always have to double my recipe to feed everyone, as it is definitely a popular dish at home this time of the year:

 

It is especially delicious with shredded cheese and sour cream on top.  For my double recipe chili I have to use a big pot to fit all the ingredients in.  I currently use an 8 quart stockpot for my chili:

I do wish I had thought and bought the ingredients for cornbread. Cornbread is my favorite side to go with my chili. It always tastes perfect when baked in my cast iron skillet. I love cooking with cast iron.

But without the cornbread the chili is a little healthier. My chili is half lean ground beef, and half lean ground turkey. So far no one has complained about this mixture. I also go half and half on the beans, half kidney beans, half pinto beans.

Autumn Has Set In

The chill was definitely in the air in little Hillsville, VA today.  The leaves were being blown around and while they look beautiful they do tend to create a mess in the yard.  But as with every year, the falling leaves bring back memories of being a child and playing with my Childrens Fan Rake, and Childrens Wheelbarrow in the back yard, gathering up all the leaves into one huge pile, just to jump into it repeatedly.  I'm sure as a child most people spent hours doing just that during those cool crisp fall days.

Another great memory, is the delicious pinto beans that were cooked all day long, so that they were nice, warm, and tender at dinner time.  Now, that is a memory easy to replicate, I'll just be sure to buy some beans from our store tomorrow and bring them home to cook this weekend.  You should stop by Red Hill General Store and replicate some memories of your childhood fall.

What are your favorite memories of your childhood autumns?  Have you blogged about them, feel free to link back to your autumn blog in our comments.

Red Hill General Store

Hello and welcome to our first blog.  We are Red Hill General Store, and things are in full swing for fall already.  We cannot believe that the summer went by so quickly.  Our brick and mortar store in Hillsville, VA is already decorated for the season.  You should stop by and see us there if you live close enough we are located just outside the town limits of Hillsville, at 1035 Sylvatus Hwy (Rt. 100)

The Lost Confederate Gold

 This weekend we are having a full blown treasure hunt!  For more details click HERE.  It will be lots of fun, with a possibility of winning a prize at the end.

As you can see we have supplies for the football season.  Our favorite item for the game would have to be our cowbells, you can have the imprinted and customized for your own hometown team.  To see what we have to offer click HERE.  These are the perfect noisemakers, and would make a great gift to a die hard fan.  Speaking of gifts Christmas is just around the corner, so keep checking back as we will be blogging about gift ideas and more!  And don't hesitate to comment, we love feedback from our customers and readers.