Soon, the sky will be filled with migrating geese and the sound of hundreds of red-winged blackbirds gathering near the stream for a drink before one sends the signal that it’s time to leave. They collectively rise and shift and then fly to warmer places. We miss them already. Birds leaving our northern climes, chilly nights to ripen the apples, harvest baskets stacked high on kitchen counters – these harbingers of autumn fill us with awe and tug at our heartstrings. They also nudge us into action, a reminder that before long, if we don’t harvest and put up food, our nourishment will soon be more limited to the grocery store shelves, where food is a far cry – in taste, nutrition, and personal satisfaction – from what can be sourced from our gardens and local farms. We envy those of you living where food is fresh year-round!
As the harvest moon waxes and wanes in the sky, the pantry shelves fill up, promising a season of rest is right around the corner. In this issue, we hope you find inspiration to stock up and lean into the pleasures of autumn. Rose hips are ready now, and “Harvest Rose Hips and Make Syrup” teaches us how to use them. We share recipes for pressure-canned White-Bean Chicken Chili and Harvest Treasure Soup Starter in “Pressure Canning Soup Recipes.” Both will make lovely (and easy!) winter meals. Cooler days are the perfect time to revive that sourdough starter or start a new one and fill your home with the scent of fresh-baked bread; “Sourdough to Savor” offers satisfying recipes.
We make lots of maple syrup and apple cider molasses, and this year, we’re excited to add homemade sorghum syrup to the list of local, homemade sweeteners with cane sourced from a local farm (and bartered for our extra sugar pie pumpkins). “Sweet Self-Sufficiency with Sorghum” outlines how to make this old-fashioned sweetener. In “From Trash to Treasure,” readers share practical and beautiful projects made from “junk,” which has motivated us to find an old $20 press for the sorghum cane, and to repurpose the maple syrup pan to boil down the sorghum syrup. Start where you are and find cheap solutions.
If you’re left with a huge pile of autumn vegetables and are wondering how to put them all up, check out “Canning, Freezing, and Feeding 5: How We Preserve a Year’s Worth of Food” for inspiration. Or, you might want to fill your freezer while simultaneously mitigating the ecological destruction caused by wild hogs; learn more in “Problematic Pigs“. “The Benefits of a Deep Pantry” shares tips to build, organize, and use your pantry. A well-stocked pantry is a good feeling when you’re stuck at home during a big snowstorm.
Finally, while you’re all cozied up with a full pantry, you might want to try your hand at using local fiber to create something warm to wear. “From Sheep to Sweater” shares the process of how a local skein of yarn becomes ready to cast on.
These seasonal rhythms, once a necessary part of our survival, connect us with our history and thereby bring us peace. Our modern world too often seems to get in the way of this connection. Take time to get outside and reconnect with the land around you while enjoying the fruits of your harvest. Happy autumn!
