End of the Season & Almost Stocked Up for Winter

This week was the last of our weekly Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) distributions for 2010. Here’s a fellow member picking up her share, and here I am on Site Coordinator duty. I’m hauling the pole we hook the hanging scale on.

Just two days after picking up my CSA share, I went to a potluck thrown by Brooklyn Food Coalition members. I brought agrodulce Delicata squash (a nice potluck dish because it’s just as good at room temperature as warm). Entertainment was provided by the son of one of the members. Here is Benjamin treating us to the Blues:

At the BFC potluck, there was a fundraising table set up by the Bed-Stuy Farm Share. Their farmer’s barn burned down a couple of weeks ago to the tune of thousands of dollars in damages. So the farm share members were trying to raise a little money to help the farmer by selling some of the leftover produce from their distribution the day before. Having recently picked up my CSA share, I really didn’t need any more fruits or vegetables. But I wanted to help out, so I bought the equivalent of a week’s share. I’ll be doing a lot of food preservation projects this weekend to make sure none of it goes to waste!

My “pantry” is almost as full as I want it to be before winter hits. I’m still harvesting and drying herbs from the garden and oyster mushrooms from the park. I found some butternuts out on Long Island, and gingko nut season is in full swing (tip: do not bring the putrid-smelling orange pulp home with you. Squish that off on the spot-wearing plastic gloves or a plastic bag over your hands-and just bring home the seed kernel).

But the harvest season is winding down, no question about it.

I’ve been enjoying the fall foliage, both on the street trees and up at The New York Botanical Garden where I was teaching last week. Besides the glorious trees, at NYBG there were also some massive pumpkins being carved into fantastic faces and figures:

My last Food Preservation class for 2010 is next Saturday 13th at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. The class is almost sold out, but you may be able to register for the couple of remaining spots here.

Hope you’re enjoying Fall and the tail end of the harvest season as much as I am!

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