There was a lot of leaf play this last weekend, before the rain came back. It was the first weekend where wool sweaters felt very much needed…for one of the days, not so much for the other. We picked what was likely the last of the green and purple beans, the tomatoes, the annual herbs. The very last, squishy, over-ripe, late season raspberries.
In the mornings my children know that they can help themselves to a piece of fruit, to tide them over until breakfast is ready. This morning it was a big bowl of autumn olives, gathered with friends the day before. The autumn olives are our delicious consolation for wild grape season having come to an end.
We ate breakfast by candle lit to try to chase away the dark, the damp, the chill. Beeswax candles with apple holders.
I’ve been thinking a lot about how our children forage. Pretty much from mid-spring through early autumn there is always something for them to gather, to store, to snack on. How it shifts and changes so naturally, the blueberries are getting scarce as the blackberries start to get ripe and now there are apples, then cranberries, wintergreen berries… Even the very little one calls out and points to the vines hanging high in the tree, urging someone bigger to bring some fruit down to her. I cut way back on the amount of fruit I buy at the store. Everyone is getting many servings a day, without my help or the added expense. Branch to hand to mouth. It doesn’t get fresher then that.
Not only does each season have it’s own feel, it’s own smell, taste, texture, sense memories, but the season as it passes by is marked by subtle and not so subtle variations of these as well.
Today it is clouds, rain on the roof, mums on the table, wet wool, as stains soak out of sweaters, the smell of 4 different kinds of squash baking together in the oven, a gray world full of leaves so bright the contrast is nearly blinding, the tang of autumn olives, and later the sweetly spiced scent of cinnamon and ginger mingling with apples as my sauce cooks on the stove.
I have always been very much impressed with the foraging you have done as a family!
I can imagine the wonderful spicy fall like smell of your home. . .and I know the smell of wet wool well!
Speaking of which. . . what have you been knitting lately? I am about to start the knitting pure and simple neckdown cardigan for my Asa (age 3)- am I remembering that you have made this one?
I had no idea autumn olive was edible (by humans) until you mentioned it and I looked it up! I only know it as an invasive plant. At least is has a positive quality!
LOVE these photos! they look so classically autumn to me – your description poetic~
Melanie- I love that pattern! I’ve made two; one for Galen and one for Elijah. I’m in a knitting funk at the moment. I did finish up a vest that I’ll share eventually, but otherwise there is not much going on. I just don’t seem to have the time right now, but, oh, do I miss it! At night when I used to knit, I’m either canning or caring for sick kids or trying to catch up on lost sleep. I’ve suddenly started getting car sick again, which is so not fair! But that keeps me from knitting in the car. And I’m finding the combination of teaching 3rd grade and 5th grade to be a lot. So much so that we haven’t even been getting to our handwork (I know, for shame!) because I want to make sure that the kids still have time to play. I’m sure something will give eventually.
I had missed your knitting posts! I do totally understand the time constraints- I am just doing grades 4 and 1, and finding that quite a juggle (even though grade 1 really doesn’t involve all that much).
Playtime is so important!
I get carsick too. . partly the motion, partly the smells (I am so super sensitive to smells).
Anne- It’s really tasty too! Most invasives do have something positive about them, even Japanese Knotwood, which I detest! Which is not to say that people should grow them or anything, but if they are already there, might as well take advantage! In this case someone was clearly cultivating it here. It’s just one large plant. It doesn’t seem to have spread from the area it was planted at all. It does produce a ton of berries. Plus I actually think it’s very pretty. So, since it’s not my place to dig it up (renting and all), I’m enjoying while I have the chance!
I love this post so much. It’s such a gift to children to teach them foraging. My little ones just had an afternoon tea of carrots from the garden and the very, very last of the wild blackberries out back (so seedy and not very sweet this time of year, but they don’t mind because they picked them themselves!) Blessings to you, sweet friend.