 |
| Loaded with Apples |
Ellie draws in a big gasp of breath then “tomatoes” gushes forward followed by “from my grandma’s grenhouse” in an equally breathless excitement. Ellie is bursting with pleasure.
We go into the kitchen where Will and Jessica are preparing the cherries they just picked for a pie. Ellie is fascinated with this and wants to work the cherry pitter so she gets plopped onto a kitchen stool and instructed in the art, Will and Jessica happy to share the chore.
Minutes later the door bell again. In come friends wearing Ellie’s expression, like a cheshire cat without the mischief, a pleased-with-oneself look worn all over the valley these days which prompts me to ask “Whatcha got”. “Your favorites.” They’re carrying jars of pickled beets and a bunch of just harvested carrots. Smiles all around. With apologies to Mr. Shakespeare, Sharing the bounty pleases both those who give and those who get.
So it has been going for weeks. Along with the carrots and beets we’ve been the happy recipients of lots of home grown. English cucumbers, heirloom tomatoes, and crunchy peas in the pod. Birch syrup collected by one of Will’s friends, jams and jellies, wonderful zucchini bread, salmon smoked and caned, basil fresh and in pesto. All of it celebrated in “thrown together” harvest meals.
This night, with our cherry pie we have newly caught salmon, just dug potatoes, Ellies tomatoes in a vinaigrette, the beets and carrots. Another night friends treat us to a delicious dinner of just caught lake trout filleted, floured and fried, the way I like it best,
with freshly picked cabbage in cole slaw, freshly dug potatoes in potato salad, and an assortment of garden vegetables, slices of green tomatoes, zucchini, onions, eggplant, dredged in coarse rice flower and deep fried in the wok. Brought up with visions of “poor children starving in China” I try not to let my Irish guilt get in the way.
While all this is going on we’re also sharing the bounty at the state fair, mostly apples, but currents, gooseberries and lots of flowers as well. Lots of blue ribbons for Dan and me.
Our turn comes at the end of the season when the apples have finally ripened. Friends come to help haul out the apple press and make cider. We all stand around like connoisseurs at a wine tasting sampling the juice as it comes from the press, weighing in on whether its too tart or too sweet. Then off we go to round up apples from some tree designated by Dan as needed to perfect the taste.
Lots of covered dishes come to the picnic representing the offerings of one’s gardens. A tray of mouth watering sliced tomatoes, a delicious salsa, baby peas in the pod, a smoked salmon dip, rhubarb betty. Home brewed apple wine is on ice made from our
apple juice by a friend with a knack for the process and the patience to see it through.
We’ve gathered on a gorgeous fall day - sun, colors, a fruity scent coming from the woods, just enough warmth in the brisk air. We wonder if cranes or swans will treat us to a fly by on their way out of town. Snow on the mountains reminds us that winter is just around the corner.