Day: August 22, 2019

I admit it – as much as I love summer, love salads with fresh lettuce from our CSA, love making pickles and picking berries, and love getting away to the mountains as we do every year, I’m ready for fall.  Which means on some level, my garden enthusiasm for the year is starting to slowly wane.  It’s funny, I get like this every year just as the preserving, which I truly enjoy, ramps up.  It’s as though I know if I power through a few more weeks of Salsa Verde, Oven-canned tomatoes, and homemade salsa, I can start to rest on the literal fruits of my labors.

Of course, there’s the garden clean up to do in late fall, and this year we finally need to finish that last fence section, but in about 6 weeks the only thing left to do will be to pick the last pumpkins and squash and put the garden to bed for the winter.

I finished off the pickle making with one last batch of the bread and butter type.
We have enough pickles to put jars on every table at the wedding, and plenty for us as well.  There’s more pesto, to make,  of course.  Canning tomatoes and tomatillos is coming, but not quite yet – our harvest is increasing by the day but the volumes aren’t there yet.  I am ready for chilly nights, pumpkins on the porch, and no more weeding.  I want roasted vegetables, a pot of soup on the stove, and lazy weekend mornings followed by apple picking.  I want to be able to put on a pair of jeans without them sticking to my skin, and a pair of boots.

I love the 4 seasons.  I used to think I hated winter, but then I moved to South Florida for a couple years and while I loved so much about it – Florida is so much more than Disney and hot – it wasn’t home.  Since then I’ve come to like winter – the stillness of it, the softness of falling snow, even the ice.  I work from home more than half the time, which makes it easier – when the weather is bad I don’t have anywhere I need to be, and if I’m traveling, it’s hotels and no shoveling.  Winter is peaceful.  We don’t rush off to ski every weekend – I don’t ski at all – and often the most exciting thing to do, other than training runs for me, is to plan what’s for dinner.

Spring is exciting – there’s seeds to plant and outside to be excited about. Every time the first of our crocuses bloom, I get a thrill.  I still remember the first year here, watching the gardens unfold into flowers and greens.  That excitement never changes, nor does my optimism about my gardens.

But fall is by far my favorite season, with all it’s New England-y assets.  There’s the colors of the leaves, and the crunch of the way they feel under my feet.  There’s hot apple cider with cinnamon sticks.  The way the air smells, clean and crisp.  For us, there’s the Topsfield Fair, which for 10 days in October every year turns our town into candy apple-covered mob scene, complete with giant pumpkin contests and fried whatever-on-a-stick.

The garden will wind down , the wedding and all it’s associated planning and projects will be over, and once the fair comes to an end, there’s nothing other than starting to get ready for winter to be done.  For us that’s firewood delivery – we’ve used up most of the viable firewood the previous owner left us, insulating windows and doors, and making sure storm windows are ready.  A brand-new firewood rack for the porch should be here soon too, something we’ve been needing to get for a bit now.

For today though, sunflowers are in bloom at the farms nearby and the temperature hit a high of 89 degrees – it’s hard to imagine being cold again.  The idea of no fresh-picked salads, no sweet corn, no roadside farm stands is almost impossible to contemplate.  I want the fresh food to linger while the days cool, an impossible feat.

That said, I’m hearing small complaints of boredom with the grilled-chicken-and-salad-with-side-of-corn-on-the-cob repetition, which are probably the smallish people’s way of communicating their readiness for a change in seasons as well, or maybe just Mom’s lack of inventiveness on the subject of dinner.  So tomorrow we are having taco night, complete with Instant Pot Carnitas, homemade guacamole, and all the toppings.  I know when my ratings are dropping, and clearly, action is required.

Still, we’re in the home stretch of summer, and I might throw in some grilled corn just because I can.