Fall Food

Fall in the United States involves two main activities:  football and harvest.  And, in that order. Thanksgiving is a celebration of when, many years ago, two different cultures came together to recognize a bountiful harvest. While Thanksgiving predates football, American culture has become less attuned to harvest as the the number of persons in agriculture as a percent of the population has decreased. One hundred years ago, over 30% of the population was engaged in farming, but today only 1.3% is involved in such activity. Most Americans know little of how their food is produced and where it is grown. As bountiful as the land in the US  may be, the US still imports about 15% to 20% (depending upon source) of its total food supply.  Gardening has grown in popularity since the great recession, and this year it took another bump as more persons were home due to Covid-19. Food security has been a big word in the planning field for many years now, but regardless of actions taken most people are still divorced from their food supply.  But, a garden can produce some bountiful harvest.

Cold frame on Raised Bed, Oct 22, 2020
Lettuce, Radicchio and Radishes
Frame made out of old Storm Windows and Deck Wood

What the bounty of a garden can provide hit home a couple weeks ago when my spouse made dinner.  For that dinner, everything of substance that was put on the plates came from our garden.  For dinner she took eggplant that we grew and froze, and made eggplant meatballs, which are balls made with eggplant, some egg and bread crumbs. Essentially, eggplant replaces the meat.  It may seem illogical for us to call them eggplant meatballs, instead of, for example, eggplant balls, other than convention. Is the the use of eggplant meat balls illogical?  They contain no meat, but the dictionary identifies meat, and in its first definition, as "1. Food, especially: solid food as distinguished from drink." Given this, eggplant meatball is a proper descriptor.

Cold Frame closed

Playing off the meatball theme, my wife also made spaghetti sauce, of which the tomatoes we canned in  later part of August into September, and seasonings like garlic, basil (this year) and possibly the oregano came from our home garden. Some homegrown pepper was also added to the mix. Onion and the tomato paste (thickener) had been purchased. I used to grow onions, but stopped a few years ago since our heavy clay soil is not conducive to well formed, large onions.

Cold Frame made several years ago out of Repurposed 
Shower Doors and Deck Wood
Lettuce, Spinach, and Radicchio

Meatballs and tomato sauce are customarily served over spaghetti, but for this meal she cooked up a spaghetti squash.  While we grew spaghetti squash this year, we have plenty left from 2019, so we used one that was over a year old.  Hence we had eggplant meatballs, spaghetti squash, and tomato sauce on the main plate, with a side plate consisting of a salad.

Some of the Kale remaining

For the salad we used all homegrown garden produce consisting of radicchio, spinach, lettuce, arugula, and a curly green I am not sure what it is called. The lettuce and spinach was from a second or third planting, while the rest of the greens were continually harvested from the initial planting. Some of the arugula was derived from what was planted and some were volunteer plants growing from their own seed dropped last year.  Fresh greens are a nutritious side for most any meal.

Kale and Cold Frame
Garden was overseeded in September with 
predominantly Rye Grass

The greens are still growing, and I hope to extend as long as possible.  As readers of my blog are well aware, I use some cold frames to start a small planting area earlier, and so it is that I am not using cold frames to keep the plants going.  The nice thing is the plants can take some light frost, and we shall see how long they may last when we start to get temperatures that will freeze. I am not too optimistic, but am giving it a try.  The decreasing daylight does not assist in growing and keeping the soil at a sufficient warmth to head off cold temperatures by helping to trap heat in the cold frame.  The only other crop remaining in the garden is kale, although that is too tall to fit in a cold frame, so that may well be more at the mercy of mother nature.

View of Lake Kegonsa State Park 
on Park Road near Dog Park Parking lot
Oct 21, 2020

Fall is also a good time to enjoy soup. This year we have made tomato soup with our home grown tomatoes.  It was sufficiently cool this year that when the tomatoes stopped ripening, the ripe ones available I used in a fresh homemade tomato soup. A fitting end to the tomato harvest season.

Chicory Flower, Lake Kegonsa State Park, on trail to beach
Oct 21, 2020

We made not have had a feast like the first Thanksgiving, but I think we have done pretty well with our garden produce.  At some point we will be back to buying greens, but we have been fortunate, but for perhaps a couple weeks during the summer, our home grown greens filled our plates. Summer turned to fall and it is only suitable that we eat the bounty the earth has provided, and for which I join past and varied generations, and cultures in giving thanks. 

Author photos from Oct 21 and 22, 2020