Autumn 'n' Cabbage

And just like that ::snap:: it’s Autumn! 🍃🍂

We’re celebrating this first full day of the fall season with about 40 pounds of cabbage. 🥬

First, we started with the sauerkraut. I prepped the kraut on the mandoline, and my spouse massaged the salt into it… we both checked for flavor, and I added a little bit of sweet onion, and caraway seed as we layered it in our 5 gallon crock. It’s all tucked under its own brine to ferment in our cool room.

We used 8 cabbages for that (I think), and next I’ll be preparing three cabbages (with some red onion, peppers, and carrots) to sit overnight for the canned coleslaw I’ll be making tomorrow. Also tomorrow, or the next day, I’ll be making cabbage soup to can. And we’re leaving one head of cabbage aside to make my Nono’s Italian boiled dinner – cabbage, pepperoni, and potatoes in tomato sauce. A perfect autumn dinner!

We love cabbage. Can you tell?

Autumn blessings to you!

🕊

Seasonal Gratitude

I give thanks to this harvest, to the spirit of these plants, to the spirit of their Medicine… tansy, summer savory, and peppermint, and to all their kin, allies, and comrades of every kind.

As I move through these waning days of Summer, toward, and into the days of Autumn, I honor the harvests… the spirals of birth, life, death and renewal. I honor the soil, the air, the warmth 'n' light of the sun, the waters, and the very spirit that keeps me true to my purpose, true to all life, true to the Earth that nourishes and sustains all of us.

🕊 Peace.

Genovese Pesto

It’s about basil again today. I harvested two baskets of beautiful, fragrant Genovese basil, and made not quite two full pints of straight-up pesto. 

By straight-up pesto, I mean just sweet basil, olive oil, and a pinch of salt. I pack this in jars removing as much air as I can, then top it off with a generous layer of olive oil. This keeps in the fridge for quite a while.

And while I was harvesting Genovese basil, I got some of the Thai basil to hang to dry. I’ll likely harvest more of this to preserve in oil as well.

Our little hut smells of divinity.

🕊 Peace.

Dried Genovese Basil

This harvest of Genovese Sweet Basil is headed for the dehydrator.

Dried sweet basil is so different from fresh, yet I do love to keep it on hand. I’ve been trimming it throughout the season to use fresh, and to toss in the dehydrator with whatever else was in there. This respectable harvest should now pack the jar I have started to keep us in dried sweet basil till next year.

Plus, I sometimes make a sweet basil tea with the dried stuff. Sometimes I drink it with honey, or with one of my syrups... sometimes I sip it salty, like bouillon.

There’s more to harvest, and those will become a simple basil ‘n’ olive oil pesto that will be packed in a glass jar with a nice sealing layer of olive oil on top. And this will last for months in the refrigerator. ::nods::

I’ll be doing this with Shiso as well!

🕊 Peace.

Black Currant and Black Raspberry Juice

Yesterday we freed up a little space in one of the freezers by processing our summer collection of black currants, and black raspberries.

So today… 3 quarts of black raspberry juice, and 7 quarts of blackcurrant juice are all washed in preparation for labeling and putting on the shelves. Plus there’s almost 3 quarts in the refrigerator.

There’s really no recipe for these these. I cook them down in equal amounts of water by volume, smashing the berries with a potato masher as they simmer for 20 to 30 minutes. Then I strain them, return the strained juice to the pot, add a little organic cane sugar - mostly to enhance the fresh flavor and sweetness of the berries. I do this by taste. I like adding this - as is - to plain or sparkling waters, though my spouse prefers them sweeter and can add more sugar to his at serving time, if he chooses.

These were hot packed, and pressure canned, but folx do HWB sweetened juices.

So now there’s the tomatoes in the freezer to tackle, plus some lovely chicken necks and backs, not to mention cabbages on their way, and the other garden tasks. I guess I better get prioritizing, plotting, 'n' planning! 

🕊 Peace.

Infused oil of Saint Joan's wort

Getting my Saint Joan’s wort infused oil strained, bottled, labeled, and ready for its place on the officina shelves.

Hypericum perforatum, such a beloved ally.

🕊🌱☀️🌼☀️🌱🕊

A Full Sage Harvest Moon

This harvest moon, among other things, is also a sage moon for me.

Among other garden ‘n’ kitchen activities on this beautiful harvest moon day, I got to harvest some garden sage, beautiful Salvia officinalis, to hang to dry for use throughout the coming month for culinary creations, for tea, for potpourri, and whatever else this botanical inspires. There’s still plenty on the little shrub to use fresh until the snow falls.

And I finally started an alcohol extract of white sage, beautiful Salvia apiana, which will be used as Medicine, but mostly for creating a spray to use in lieu of smoke for sending prayer, healing, and for filling space with all the nourishes and sustains.

Full moon blessings to you.

Harvest moon blessings to you.

Sage moon blessings to you.

Stuffed Pepper Soup

Behold: Five quarts of stuffed pepper soup. This soup is one of the reasons I grow peppers. ::nods:: You'll find the link to the recipe I use as guidance in the comments section.

This soup went into the pressure canner as 7 quarts. During the pressure-down part of the process, two of the quarts popped their lids. I don’t know if I overfilled the jars, or maybe overtightened the lids, but this hasn’t happened before. What I do know is that it made a mess, but one that was easily cleaned up, and left us with over a quart ‘n’ a half of unsealed soup, so we only lost a pint ::sniff:: in the mishap. We enJOYed some for supper last night with saffron jasmine rice, and have the remaining 2 pints in the freezer.

Preserving food by canning is not without its challenges and mysteries.

Now I need to get these labeled and onto the pantry shelves.

🕊 Peace.

September. September. September.

I saw you coming, and yet you still somehow snuck up on me, my fine 'n' familiar melancholy summer friend. You'll ratchet up my sense of urgency and keep me focused 'n' busy preparing for the months ahead... and then you'll offer the full arrival of autumn. I already notice the daylight waning, and I know that by the time you're finishing your dance that observation will be even more obvious. Oh, September. September, September, September, it is good and right to meet you again.
 

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I sit here writing on the first morning of the month... the month that transitions our hemisphere from summer to autumn... a morning flooding the day with sunshine. I slept late. I woke refreshed. 

My farewell day to August offered me time 'n' space with kindred spirits. We wandered the little acre. Beautiful, spontaneous blessings were offered in the garden. And at the table where we sipped tea, and shared heart. Today, I feel those blessings lingering, settling, and taking root around me, and within me. This gateway day to September has my roots sinking. I distinctly feel the work that must be done. The urgent work of the external world that I know well in this season, sure... and also a renewed sense of urgency for my inner world. This is a gift and a blessing. And I am so very grateful.

May you greet September with an open heart. May you notice, acknowledge, honor, and act on the gifts 'n' blessings of this transitional month.

🕊 Peace.