Welcome Fall

Fall display by the 49 Ford truck


Happy first day of fall to you!

My twin sister’s birthday is next week and as a gift I picked a passel of gourds for her to decorate her house with.

And that inspired me to do a little fall display for us to enjoy as the days wind down here in Minnesota.

And then I snapped a few pictures to remind me of what we grew and harvested in the pumpkin patch during the summer of 2011.

And I wanted to share them with you.

May your fall days be full of sunny days, cool nights, and lots of creativity!

Creating in the Kitchen Instead of in the Studio

We woke up to 40° weather this morning with a promise of 30° tomorrow morning.

Puts me in the mood for soup.

I strolled through the gardens earlier and this is some of what I found.

I’m thinking Butternut Squash Soup.

Or maybe Roasted and Curried Butternut Squash Soup.

Hmmmm.

I think I’ll go with just regular ol’ squash soup tonight and do the curried one later.

There are tons more tomatoes, which will all need to be picked tonight before the freeze. So a roasted tomato soup sounds good for later in the week.

Or maybe…..

I'll keep you posted.

In the meantime, may your day be full of warm and wonderful things!

The Gleaners

It is impossible for me dig potatoes from my garden without thinking about Millet’s The Gleaners. Impossible, I tell you. Which is a good thing. I always feel connected to the art world and women throughout history. Nature’s bounty teaching me life’s lessons.

Recently I was talking with my Mom about a farm that was down the street from my suburban LA home (yes, there used to be many farms in So Cal) and she told me that we were allowed to pick veggies from the fields after the farmer was done harvesting. How about that, I was a gleaner and didn’t even know it. More of life’s lesson. Fantastic.

Here are the first potatoes we have picked this season, some of which we had for dinner last night.

And the original inspiration.

The Gleaners by François Millet, 1857

And just in case you wanted to know more about the practice of gleaning, here it is:
 
In this depiction of the rural life of nineteenth century France, we see three female figures gathering the leftovers after the harvest. This practice – known as gleaning – was traditionally part of the natural cycle of the agricultural calendar undertaken by the poor, and was regarded as a right to unwanted leftovers. Although the practice of agricultural gleaning has gradually died away due to a number of historical factors (including industrialization and the organization of social welfare for the poor), there are nonetheless still people in the present day that we might understand to be gleaners.

I hope you glean much from your day!