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There’s something about fall that makes me want to simplify everything.

Pumpkins on the porch. Apples piled in a basket. Dried flowers from the garden. Cornstalks tied to the fence. A cozy quilt tossed over the couch and something warm baking in the kitchen.

That’s my kind of fall decorating.

You don’t need bins full of plastic pumpkins and brand-new decorations to make your home feel cozy for the season. In fact, some of the prettiest fall décor can come straight from your garden, yard, pantry, or even the thrift store.

Old-fashioned fall decorating was practical. Pumpkins were food. Herbs hanging in the kitchen were being dried for winter. Baskets held the harvest. Firewood was stacked for the colder months.

It was useful—and somehow incredibly beautiful.

This year, I’m embracing more of that simple, natural, use-what-you-have kind of fall decorating.

Start by Shopping Your Yard

Before heading to the store, grab a basket and walk around outside.

Look for pinecones, fallen branches, colorful leaves, dried grasses, seed heads, herbs, flowers, and other interesting natural materials.

Then check the garden.

Pumpkins, winter squash, sunflowers, cornstalks, herbs, apples, and dried flowers can all become part of your fall décor.

Sometimes the plants that look “done” for the season are exactly what you need.

Just gather responsibly and stick to your own property or places where collecting natural materials is permitted.

Decorate With Real Pumpkins

Real pumpkins are hard to beat.

Mix traditional orange pumpkins with white, green, blue-gray, and heirloom varieties. Scatter them around the porch, pile them into an old wooden crate, or place smaller pumpkins down the center of your table.

They don’t need to be perfectly arranged.

Actually, I think they’re prettier when they’re not.

And depending on the pumpkin and its condition, you may be able to cook with it, save the seeds, give it to livestock, or compost it when the season is over.

Decorations that can become dinner? Yes, please.

Save Those Cornstalks

If you’ve grown corn, don’t immediately toss the stalks after harvest.

Let them dry, bundle them with twine, and tie them to porch posts, fences, garden gates, or your farm stand.

Add a few pumpkins around the bottom and you’ve got an instant old-fashioned harvest display.

Fill Baskets With the Harvest

Old baskets are perfect for fall.

Fill them with apples, pears, small pumpkins, squash, onions, potatoes, pinecones, or dried flowers.

You can also use baskets around the house for blankets, firewood, hats, or other things you’re actually using.

Check thrift stores and yard sales for inexpensive baskets. The older and slightly imperfect ones are often my favorites.

Dry Flowers From the Garden

Don’t say goodbye to all those summer flowers just yet.

Many flowers and herbs can be dried and used throughout fall. Depending on what you’re growing, hydrangeas, strawflowers, yarrow, lavender, statice, celosia, grasses, and herbs can all be beautiful.

Tie small bundles with twine and hang them to dry, or arrange the finished flowers in old pitchers, or mason jars.

Those faded, earthy colors fit fall perfectly.

Leave Some Sunflowers Standing

Your garden doesn’t have to be perfectly cleaned up as soon as September arrives.

Leave a few sunflower heads and interesting seed heads standing for the birds.

Not only can this provide food and habitat for wildlife, but there’s something beautiful about a fall garden that’s naturally winding down.

Fall doesn’t need to look perfect.

Make a Natural Fall Wreath

Instead of buying a new wreath, make one from materials you already have.

Start with a reusable grapevine base and tuck in dried grasses, seed heads, herbs, leaves, pinecones, dried flowers, or corn husks.

Add a simple ribbon or strip of fabric.

Don’t worry about making it perfectly symmetrical.

A slightly wild wreath looks right at home on a homestead.

Make Dried Orange Garland

Dried oranges are one of my favorite decorations because they can take you from fall right into Christmas.

Dry thin orange slices and string them onto twine. Leave them simple or add cinnamon sticks, wooden beads, or other dried botanicals.

Hang the garland across a window, hutch, kitchen shelf, or mantel.

Those deep orange slices are gorgeous in October and November—and they’ll still look beautiful when the Christmas greenery comes out.

Hang Herbs in the Kitchen

Why buy faux farmhouse décor when the real thing is so pretty?

Bundle herbs such as rosemary, sage, thyme, oregano, mint, or lavender and hang them somewhere appropriate to dry.

They make the kitchen feel cozy while also putting away herbs you’ll actually use.

That’s exactly what I love about old-fashioned decorating:

It’s pretty because it’s practical.

Decorate With Food

Some of the prettiest fall decorations aren’t decorations at all.

Try displaying a bowl of apples, garlic braids, onions, winter squash, fresh eggs, bread on a wooden board, or jars of preserved food.

A kitchen filled with the harvest automatically feels like fall.

And you don’t have to grow it yourself! Grocery-store apples piled into an old wooden bowl can be just as beautiful.

Bring in Branches and Pinecones

A fallen branch placed in a large crock or vase can make a surprisingly beautiful statement.

Leave it bare or add a few dried leaves.

Pinecones can go into wooden bowls, baskets, wreaths, or table arrangements.

Just inspect anything you bring indoors first.

We want rustic fall décor, not surprise houseguests with six legs.

Stack the Firewood

Some of the coziest “decorations” are simply signs that you’re getting ready for winter.

A neatly stacked woodpile beside the porch or woodstove instantly makes everything feel more autumnal.

Add an old basket or galvanized bucket for kindling.

You’re preparing for winter and decorating at the same time.

That’s efficiency.

Create a Simple Fall Table

You don’t need an elaborate tablescape.

Place a wooden bowl or bread board in the center of the table and add a few small pumpkins, apples, dried flowers, herbs, pinecones, or candles.

Keep it loose and simple.

I love when a fall table looks like someone just walked in from the garden and set down the day’s harvest.

Create an Old-Fashioned Fall Porch

Your porch doesn’t need twenty different decorations.

Try combining just a few natural elements:

Pumpkins + cornstalks + a basket + dried flowers + a lantern.

That’s enough.

An old wooden crate filled with pumpkins beside the front door can make more of an impact than an entire cart of seasonal décor.

Add Warm Lantern Light

As the days get shorter, bring out lanterns and candles.

Place lanterns on the porch, steps, or table. Battery-operated candles are especially handy around dry leaves, wood, cornstalks, and other natural materials.

That soft glow makes even the simplest fall display feel magical after dark.

Make Your Home Smell Like Fall Naturally

You don’t have to decorate only with things you can see.

Bake bread.

Make apple crisp.

Simmer cider.

Dry herbs.

Cook soup.

Make apple butter.

Or simmer food-safe aromatics like apples, oranges, cinnamon, and cloves in water while keeping an eye on the pot.

Sometimes the easiest way to make your home smell like fall is simply to cook fall food.

Bring Out the Quilts

Fall is the time to bring useful cozy things back into the house.

Pull out handmade quilts, crocheted blankets, flannel, old table linens, and warm throws.

Instead of buying another orange throw pillow that will live in a storage bin for eleven months, decorate with things you’ll actually use.

Thrift What You Don’t Have

If you’re missing something, check the thrift store before buying new.

Keep an eye out for wooden bowls, baskets, crocks, cutting boards, pitchers, quilts, candlesticks, galvanized buckets, glass jars, and simple pottery.

Nothing needs to match.

In fact, that collected-over-time look is part of what makes old-fashioned decorating feel so cozy.

Let the Season Decorate Your Homestead

That’s what I love most about decorating this way.

You don’t have to buy fall.

Fall is already happening all around you.

It’s the pumpkins curing from the garden.

The apples sitting on the counter.

The herbs hanging in the kitchen.

The leaves covering the driveway.

The jars filling the pantry.

The firewood being stacked for winter.

The quilt you reach for when the evenings suddenly get chilly.

So before you head to the store this fall, take a walk around your home and see what you already have.

Use the pumpkins.

Save the cornstalks.

Dry the flowers.

Gather the pinecones.

Bring out the old baskets.

Pull Grandma’s quilt from the closet.

And let your home look like fall actually lives there.

To me, that’s what an old-fashioned fall on the homestead is all about.

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