Fall has officially arrived but we are still going strong.
I've often felt sorry for those down South who don't get to experience the seasons the way we do. We all know what the seasons look like, but you have to be here to know what they smell, sound and feel like. The colours are spectacular, the earthy, sweet smell of decaying growth fills the air and the honking of the Flying V's can be heard repeatedly from day break to sun set. It's perfect. Each season has it's pros and cons, but I feel Autumn is perfect. There is absolutely nothing better than a cool, crisp sunny day...the kind of day where I need a sweater and the tip of my nose is cold, but my dark brown hair feels warm to the touch from the sun beating on it. The Farmer's Market tables are weighed down by all the heavy squashes, bags of potatoes, baskets of apples and bottles of cider. I want to make soups, and stews with the bounty from Dalew's and bake bread with the flours from The Flour Mill and Loonsong Farm. Rather than dreading the heat from the canner full of boiling water, I think of it as a good way to warm the kitchen, better than turning the furnace on. The freezer is full and the cupboard is loaded with jars filled with all colours of goodness. It would make absolutely no sense to stop eating locally now that the time frame we gave ourselves has come and gone. We are allowing ourselves to bring in some things we went without this summer, like rice and pre-made pasta, guilt free, and I'm sure more will trickle in as we use up our reserves. And that's fine. Above anything else, what I've learned in this project is that 90% of the stuff in the grocery store is convenience food, meant to be used in a pinch, not as staples. If we all took that approach, what a better world it would be.
Isn't this photograph absolutely stunning? It was published in our newspaper last night, taken by a local woman, Dianne Monette.
It struck a chord with me.
In our family, Autumn also transforms us in to creatures most like our early ancestors. We take on the role of Hunters not just Gatherers. We have already spent an afternoon making sausages of the geese and ducks Keith bagged on his first hunting trip of the year. Over the next month or so, we hope to be adding moose and grouse to our freezer....the ultimate in free-range, organic, pastured meat available. I will be joining the crew in the moose hunt this year, for the first time since Sydney was born. I'm not sure how I will feel about the whole experience as I have never been present for the kill of such a large animal, but I am fairly certain that if we are successful, it will bring deeper meaning to our project of examining where our food comes from. It has been suggested in several books and movies that I have taken in lately, that everyone should, at some point, participate in the death of an animal they are going to consume. It sounds brutal, but I can understand how seeing your steak as a majestic animal rather than just, well, a steak, will affect how you treat it and savour it. I foresee this being quite an emotional experience, you just have to look at that photograph to see why, but I understand the circle of life, and I trust in my hunting party's ethics of a clean kill, safety and honouring the animal, so I'm actually looking quite forward to being there.
And even if we aren't successful, I will have had the opportunity to sit in a forest for three days, simply enjoying nature in all of Autumn's splendour. I just hope it doesn't snow!
Shannon A.
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