Autumn's Bounty

Heritage Tomatoes from Chick-a-biddy AcresI often find Autumn a melancholy time. It is hard to let go of summer, and I feel some dread for the long winter months ahead. But the beauty and the bounty of Autumn are spectacular, particularly in this part of the world. The wealth of color on the trees and the richness of our harvest gentle me along this transition from a season of growth to one of fallow.

For the last decade, each February I have purchased a share in a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). My share is an investment in a farm for the season ahead. My share buys the seed, and from June to October, my family reaps the benefits: a weekly delivery of fresh herbs, leafy greens, legumes, melons, squash, potatoes...even free-range eggs, honey, maple syrup...We share the bounty of the harvest until the weather turns cold.

It is a wonderful way to enjoy farm fresh foods while living in a big city, and to connect with the farmers who grow that food. I know intimately what the impact of a dry year is, or of a cool wet summer like we have had this year. The gorgeous, colorful tomatoes pictured above are the late yield after a cold summer and hot September: more sizes and varieties and quantity than we have ever had before! They are so sweet, even the green ones, that I have been eating them all week as snacks from the fruit bowl.

I will miss these bright bursts of flavor, as I will miss my weekly dose of fresh, fragrant herbs (I put them in everything!). And I know that the earth must rest, the farmer must rest, and that spring, and summer, and autumn, will come again.