Summer... In Every Season

Autumn arrives tomorrow evening in my part of the world, which makes today the final full day of summer. It has been an active season on all fronts, as they say, and even as autumn arrives, the pace will continue to quicken, especially in the gardens and kitchen.

Already we've put by gallons of tomatoes, canned and dried... and they're still producing. Apples from our local farmers' market are all dried, save the bowl full for fresh eating, with skins and cores fermenting for what should be a gallon of apple cider vinegar. I hope we can snag another big box of apples this weekend. ::nods:: And yesterday marked the harvest of all but the last few fresh leaves of collards for canning. There's peppers, radishes, carrots, cucumber, and other harvests fermenting on the counter, and tomatoes and summer squash in the dehydrator.

We will be enJOYing summer throughout the autumn, winter, and spring seasons, until the wheel of the year turns and summer arrives again. And then some.

This coming week, as autumn takes center stage, I'll be harvesting and processing beets. I'll definitely have to make more kvass this year, as we have one delectable bottle of this jeweled beverage from last year, and I want more. ::nods:: I'm sure I'll make some fermented pickled beets, and borsht, and who knows what else. And some, later in the season, will go into cold storage to see us through the post-frost days.

There's still peppers, winter beans, leeks, onions, carrots, cucumbers, lemon grass, tomatoes, beets, lettuces, chard, eggplant, calendula, basils, shiso, dill, cilantro, and other herbs waiting for harvest. And maybe there'll be another batch of shiitakes before autumn is done with her dance. Not to mention horseradish, poke, chickweed, and other wild friends. And as I consider these things, I'm reminded that before you know it, it'll be time to plant the garlic... and light the first fire to warm our little hut. And I am grateful.

I am grateful to be an honorable steward of the earth, a devotee to Nona Gaia, as I tend the soil around me, the waters, and all our kin. I am grateful for the gratitude the earth expresses with generous bounty to nourish and sustain me and her, in every season.

As I tend to the patch of earth that I call "mine," I pray that others will join me in tending her. She needs our attention, our care, our understanding, our compassion, our penance, our love, now more than ever. In every season.

Peace.