The Produce Says Fall But My Heart Says Summer

These pictures were taken August 22 at Frog Pond Farms in Afton, New York.  Fall has finally arrived, even though the calendar says "summer".

Winter squash.

Early apples.  In fact our major u-pick apple farm in the area started to offer u-pick today.

The garlic harvest is drying.  Our area's garlic festival is next Saturday.

A fall display. 

Let's wrap up with some daily bread.

Fall is the most popular season where I live in the Southern Tier of New York, but right now my heart and tastebuds still say summer.  

This is a transition season, where winter squash and apples compete with sweet corn, summer squash, eggplant, tomatoes, and melons, but soon enough the summer produce will be dwindling and fall will come on full force.

Such is life in a four season climate.  I will enjoy summer while I still can.

What's Almost Heaven to You?

No, this blog post is not about West Virginia (don't worry if you don't get the reference - it's from a song by the late singer John Denver.  I'll include the song at the end of this post.)

It's partially about the first tomato of the year, but it's more than that.

I wait for most of the year for the first tomato fresh off the vine.  Store bought do not compare unless they come from a local farm stand.  The season is too short for me.

Now, about these tomatoes.

Actually, there were four of them - small cherry tomatoes. Not enough for my beloved tomato and mayo sandwiches.  The slicing tomatoes will take longer to start ripening.

Which leads me to today's question for my readers:  what's almost heaven for you?

Is it a food? (sweet corn? the first local melon?)  Is it a place, like a day at the beach?  Or a visit from or to family?  Or even a quiet day with no obligations?

To thank you, this is my recipe for a tomato sandwich.  But first, the John Denver song I mentioned at the beginning of my post.

From 1971, Take Me Home, Country Roads, which has also become West Virginia's official state song.

This is the recipe:

Take room temperature (tomatoes should not be refrigerated - did you know that?) tomatoes, preferably heirloom for taste reasons.  Take bread.  Add mayonnaise to taste.  Eat.  

And that's it!  (I don't bake bread anymore - sigh - this would be even better with homemade bread.)

Soon....

Shadows on a Late May Morning #ShadowshotSunday

 Taken this morning at our local rail trail, as we had a beautiful, sunny morning:

What a shame dame's rocket is an invasive wildflower. It would look so nice in a wildflower garden.  In fact, it was introduced in the 1600's for that very purpose.  But here's why you should never consider planting it (and note, some wildflower mixes include it!)

I wonder if the yellow flower you can barely see in the middle of the picture (I took this from a distance and don't dare blow it up further) is yellow flag iris.  If it is, it is another invasive, at least in New York State.  It's alongside a stream, so the environment would be right for yellow flag iris.

Shadows on the ground.

Taken this morning at our local year-round farmers market:

Shadow selfie on asparagus.

Carrots.

Two bicycle stands.

Joining Lisa at Lisa's Garden Adventures for her #ShadowshotSunday a day early.  We'd love you to come out of the shadows and join us.  All you need is one shadow picture, inside or outside.

Tomorrow is my Memorial Day post, also a day early.

May We Celebrate May Farmers Market Visit

It's time for our local farmers market to move outdoors.  Let's celebrate this market from last Saturday with:

The first asparagus of the season.

Hanging baskets

 Rhubarb.  I'm not a lover of it.  Apparently, at least here I'm a minority opinion.

Spring garlic 

Finally, bidding bye to mushrooms.  This grower only grows it in the winter and first part of spring.

Recreation Park Bandstand, Binghamton, New York

Our county has four farmers markets, one of which is year round.  They have been instituting some nice programs in the last couple of years, including a monthly giveaway of $15 coupons to military veterans.  This year we are getting, for the first time in years, a Sunday market in the Binghamton park that was the setting (not filmed there, but the inspiration for, the Twilight Zone episode Walking Distance.

Does your area have a farmers market?

Total Eclipse Freakshake #WordlessWednesday

In August of 2017, my spouse, son, and I were in Columbia, South Carolina to watch a total eclipse of the sun.

We had no idea what a Freakshake was.  It's too bad we didn't check it out.

Turns out it had nothing to do with a freak out (panic) over the total eclipse.

Rather it is a dessert item you have to see to believe.   (click the link for an article on them)

I do wonder what they did for a total eclipse, though.  I'll probably never know.  But this article wrote more about the delicacies various restaurants served up for the 2017 eclipse.

Joining Sandee at Comedy Plus for her #WordlessWednesday.

Do Better Idaho

Strange that I need to give publicity to an advertisement I detest.  I've seen this on our local TV several times this week.

In this commercial a family freaks out because they are being served homegrown (from the backyard garden) potatoes rather than Idaho potatoes.  Even the dog shames this woman.

Sorry, Idaho.  We've grown our own potatoes for years in our community garden (not in Idaho), and when we run out, we buy more at the farmers market from a local farmer. This past year, we even grew some potatoes in our small front yard in a bag.

Shame on that woman for not buying from a state possibly hundreds of miles away and instead, serving her family fresh and homegrown produce lovingly tended by her.

Dear Idaho, no offense, but we will continue to grow our own, or purchase from local farmers.  It's the right thing to do.

You can do better than shame family gardeners and local growers, Idaho!

Do better. 

New York Tea

These tea bags (and a CBS Saturday Morning segment) led me down an interesting rabbit hole the other day.

 Did you know that a well regarded tea company is headquartered right in New York State?  You might guess, "oh, it's in New York City."  It's not.  It's located in a small village of about 1000 people in rural New York near its border with Connecticut.  It's called Harney & Sons and its teas are delicious.  

I don't know if this link will play outside the United States, but it is interesting to watch.  It will take about seven minutes out of your day, and introduce you to the family that founded this tea company.  The original founder is deceased but his 92 year old widow is still involved in the business.

You would think this company was British from the name, but it's not.

But this American tea is sold in Great Britain in some Royal palace gift shops.

Right now, tea is only grown commercially, I understand, in one state, and I have been to that place in South Carolina.  

But there is another company attempting it in New York State near the Finger Lakes.  I was there several years ago.  I wonder how they are doing.

In the meantime, tea drinkers in New York State can rejoice.

Holiday Farm Market 2023

 Enjoy the sights of the season at the Broome County (New York) indoor year round farmers market from earlier today.

 Let's go inside and warm up.  Yes, no snow on the ground.

There's something for everyone.  Bread and baked goods.

Lettuce.  

Garlic and onions.

Mushrooms, which this farmer grows in the late fall and winter.  By mid spring it will be gone.
 

Cabbage.

For those who eat meat, meat.

Trout, smoked and fresh.

There were lots of cookies and candies, available, but lots of people around those stands, too.

Traditionally, this market (which is a Saturday only market) closes the last Saturday of the month, and I wonder how many vendors will be there next Saturday.

We are so fortunate to have this market.

Happy Saturday to you!

 

Thankful Thursday Thanksgiving #ThursdayTreeLove

What am I thankful for today?  So much.  Being able to spend a small Thanksgiving (I like it that way) with some family.  Having food on the table. 

I am thankful for all the people in my life who have been friends, family, mentors, co workers, or those who were in and then out of my life during a time I needed them. Many of them have moved on to wherever we go after our time on Earth is done. Others are still here - I have never thanked them enough.

I am thankful for the people working today to safeguard me, and make my life comfortable.

I am thankful for living in a part of the world where I can enjoy fall color in its season.

Today I'll be busy so here is more of the bounty at our local farmers market, continued from yesterday. 

 Here in the United States, today is Thanksgiving, a day to spend with family or friends if at all possible.

First mushrooms of the season.  This is a winter crop for this particular farmer.

Parsley root.

Living herbs.

Cranberry sauce, made homemade by me, for today's dinner.  Here's the recipe.

And, before I go, a song for the season.

I hope you have a happy Thursday or Thanksgiving, free of drama and full of love.

Joining Parul at Happiness and Food for #ThursdayTreeLove.

60 Years Later #WordlessWednesday

In the United States, it is the day before Thanksgiving.

We have so much to be thankful for, and sometimes it is easy to forget how fortunate we are.

On Saturday, we visited our local farmers market and saw the bounty of the season.  

Carrots and parsnips.

Yellow and purple cauliflower.

Wild Twist apples, a cross between Honeycrisp and Pink Lady.  These are a late apple, unlike Honeycrisp.

But today is more than the day before Thanksgiving.  It is an anniversary of the event that marked my generation the way a great tragedy marks (it seems) each generation.  But let me start with the story of a pet bird, a repeat of part of a post from 2022.

I grew up in a New York City housing project which prohibited dogs or cats.  My Mom had brought home various goldfish, but eventually they all went to the large aquarium in the sky.

One of my aunts, who lived a couple of miles from me, had three pets:  two cats and a canary.

It was a male (only male canaries sing) and it sang so beautifully.  For me, watching it, it was instant love.  I've always been attracted to birds and started begging Mom for a canary of my own.
 

When I was about eight, Mom decided I was old enough to care for a pet, and  off to the pet shop we went.  Mom and I came home with a yellow canary.

"Singer" became a friend and companion for me, an only child.  He would sing for me, do little tricks with his seed bell and swing, and entertain me in general with his antics during his weekly bath.  In fact, I was able (with a lot of patience) to train him to sit on my finger, and even to sit on my shoulder.  I have a picture, somewhere of me (in a bathrobe, as I recall), with "Singer" perched on me. 

His songs and company were just what I needed after I broke my leg in three places and had to spend the next two months at home because my elementary school classroom was on the 4th floor and there was no elevator in the school building.  (I was home educated by a teacher sent to my apartment until after my cast was removed.  I blogged about that several years ago. I owe a lot to that teacher.)

Sadly, Singer passed away during my recovery.  I remember the date, too, because it was the day before President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.  I was still in my leg cast. 

Yes, people of my generation remember the date November 22, 1963 well. 

That morning, I was at home, reading or doing homework, perhaps.  My mother had left me to go shopping.  She returned home, and was crying as she opened the door to our Bronx apartment.

Mom turned on the TV, and the next three days were nonstop television coverage.  I had a doctor's appointment the following Monday to have the progress of my leg healing checked, and I remember watching some of the funeral coverage in the waiting room.

We went to the pet store the day after Kennedy died to buy another canary.  In the pet store cage was a yellow canary with a black spot on top of his head.  My Mom and I agreed the bird had the spot to mourn Kennedy, and that was the bird we took home with us.

It's been 60 years since that sad early afternoon when my Mom came home crying and turned the TV set on.  I still find that, in some ways, hard to believe. 

I am thankful for you, my readers.  For those in the United States, may you have a joyous Thanksgiving tomorrow.  For the world, is it too much to hope for peace and full stomachs for all?

 

Joining Sandee at Comedy Plus for #WordlessWednesday.

The New Closing Time

It's closing time, and it's not like in the old days.

Where I live in the Southern Tier of New York, the indoor farm markets used to close up (for the most part) on October 31.  Some of the markets that were also gift shops, or nurseries, would close on Christmas Eve and reopen sometime in April.

But that was then and...

Our two indoor farm markets (not our farmers market, which is open year round) have, in the past three or some years, been open in early to mid November.  One gets a lot of produce from southern Pennsylvania so they still have plenty to sell.  One is open only weekends in November, although they will also be open this Tuesday for last minute Thanksgiving produce shopping.

This year, both of them are closing the day before Thanksgiving.

One, the next day, is going to reopen as a holiday market (selling things like candles, teas, coffees, and little gift items) on Friday.

I will say the words for why:  Climate change.

Today it's bitter.  I exercise walked with my spouse right after noon and it was 43F (6.1C) with a brisk wind.  But yesterday, it got up to 63F (17.2C).

I think second summer is over.  And soon, some of these stores I shop at will be closed for the long, long winter.

I'll be waiting eagerly for April.

October Produce Color Show

Seen this month at the Regional Farmers Market in Binghamton, New York.

 The decorated entrance.

Romanesco broccoli.  A mathematician would love to analyze these buds.  This is an heirloom dating back to the 16th century.

Yellow and purple cauliflower.

Celeriac and celery.

Brussel Sprouts.

Assorted peppers.
 

The produce is almost as colorful as the fall foliage.  The leaf turning has accelerated in the past couple of days, although colors are still muted due to the cloud cover.

Our weather is about to turn blustery with showers.  Tomorrow we only have highs in the 40's F (4 to 5 C).  At that point the weekly farmers market will be completely indoors.

The season continues to change.

A Comforting Apple Crisp

I am turning today to one of my favorite fall comfort foods - my annual apple crisp.

Each year it's a little different.  And, it's Weight Watchers friendly, so if you decide to try this recipe, please be warned that it is not the usual apple crisp you are used to, with butter and lots of sweetness.

Let's give it a try.

Fruit Crisp (9 inch square pan, serves 9)

1 1/2 pounds baking apples (I used Cortland)

3 Asian Pears (sometimes called "apple pears", but you can use regular pears if you wish.  I had Asian pears on hand).

1 tbsp raw sugar/stevia blend (or 2 tbsp white sugar) or to taste

2 tsp lemon juice

Method

Peel and slice cored apples. Add the sugar or sugar/stevia blend and mix well.  Add the lemon juice.  Mix all ingredients together. 

 Place in a 9 inch square baking dish that has been oiled or buttered.

Top with topping.  Again, please keep in mind this is an adaptation of a low-cal topping.  It may not suit you.

Topping

1 cup quick oats

1/4 cup brown sugar, unpacked

2 tbsp light Olivio spread

1/2 tsp cinnamon 1 tsp vanilla extract

Mix topping together and top.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 50 minutes or until the apple slices are the consistency you want (the pears may not soften as quickly).  Let cool, unless you can't wait to eat it.

The original recipe says you can leave peels on.  We peeled the pears but not the apples.  I think the apples should also have been peeled.

But oh, sniffing that cinnamon when it was baking.  Yum!

And yes, I'll make it more than once.

I like to serve warm.

Comfort food.  Ahhh...

Do you have a favorite fall season comfort food?

Saturday in the Park

Today, we traveled to Norwich, New York to check out Saturday in the Park with Chobani. 

If you are of a certain age and are from the United States you may recognize the name Norwich from "Norwich Aspirin" (1907) and Pepto-Bismol (originally sold in 1901 under the name Cholera Infantum).  Other products produced by the then- Norwich Pharmaceuticals included Unguentine, originally sold as a surgical dressing. Under a different name, this company is still in business.

For a city of some 7000, this Saturday gathering was a blend of farmers markets, crafts, non profits, and people meeting up with each other.

We got there about 90 minutes before it was closed.  Here are some highlights:

Saturday in the park.

The day started with a beautiful blue sky.

If you have had Chobani yogurt, this company is located about 15 miles (24 km) from Norwich.  Chobani likes to give back to communities (including communities in Idaho, where they also have a facility) and its contribution to the gathering included a food truck with free containers of their Greek yogurt (I had a coffee and cream yogurt, so good).  Because I try not to publish faces, I didn't take a picture of the food truck.

The Bread Poets Society (don't you love these puns?) booth was one of two I spent a lot of time at. Deia from Brazil, the Brazilian woman who bakes this bread is a master salesperson.   She allowed us to sample several of her products, including a yucca bread, a cheese bread, and a banana jelly.

No cheese bread was available but we got the last loaf of rye caraway.

The other booth was Little Farmhouse Lavender.  She allowed me to taste honey bees made from lavender flowers and contrast with a springtime honey.  She also taught me some interesting things about lavender, which I may share in a later post.  I bought some essential oil and lip balm from her.

My finds from today.

And, of course, I must include this song. It's so hard to believe this song is over 50 years old.

Fall Is Nearly Here

Say goodbye to summer - the long days, the songs of birds, watermelon, a relaxing of life, no fear of frost or early snowstorms.

Autumn begins on Saturday but the signs of fall precede it.

No filter was applied to this picture.  I don't know why it has the orange cast, but it came by it naturally.  I don't think it's the several orange cauliflower (that are really orange) in the photo.

This tiny garden on the Vestal, New York rail trail pays tribute to someone who died in 2002.  It was redone recently with those rocks (possibly because it was being invaded by Japanese knotweed) and a fall display lives there now.

Japanese anemone, which blooms each September.  It's one of my final perennials to bloom.
 

Beets at a farm market's stand.

Peppers.  Some supermarkets here sell potted ornamental pepper plants in the fall but we got this ornamental purple pepper from a nursery near Syracuse, New York back in the spring.

Pumpkin spice everything.  Incidentally "made with verified rescued pumpkins" is a real thing.  Fruit and veggies that doesn't look perfect, too often, ends up in landfills here in the United States.  Why?

We can't stop it.  Autumn is nearly here.  Our trees aren't turning yet, but once they start, I'll be caught up in that beauty.

Stay tuned.