Harvest Time

It's harvest time, and this year it really feels like it. In the midst of all the hecticness, we've been starting to put some things away for the winter. The garden is mostly done - just a few tomatoes still ripening - and Jim has started sowing some winter rye as a cover crop to help improve the soil for next year. Jim's also been hauling some more logs up from the woods and slowly but surely getting them split & stacked for the woodstove. He's also begun his annual scavenging of side-of-the-road leaf piles on his way home from work, again, to help improve the garden soil.

For my part, I've been learning how to preserve some fresh produce to keep for the winter. This spring I discovered a book by Michael Pollan called The Omnivore's Dilemma, which is an excellent book, and which describes four food chains by which we get our food - what is involved in, and the effects of each. This book and one by Barbara Kingsolver - Animal, Vegetable, Miracle - got me thinking quite a lot about where my food comes from, and wanting to make some changes. Namely, these books as well as a couple others I've read since then, talk quite a lot about the importance of eating food that is local and for the most part unprocessed. So I've been trying my hand at preserving some fruits and vegetables while they are in season. I've only tried simple things, and so far just freezing, but it feels good and I'm looking forward to eating some blueberries in January, or baking zuchini bread throughout the winter - from food that I got in season and preserved myself. Jim and I also learned how to can from one of his co-workers and are planning to try canning some tomatoes from our garden as well.

These may be simple and small things, but they feel good, and real. And in the end, that's what we're striving to find.