I remember someone in my past calling me a little farmerette. I doubt it's even a word and should probably look it up. But some days, that's just how I feel. Well, most days actually :).
Tonight it's going to get cold. The coldest this season. Down to around 40 degrees. No frost yet, but it will feel like it's imminent. Probably because it is.
I found myself wanting to pick a bunch of flowers, thinking they may be my last fresh ones in the house this year. I finally got out and have them on my dining room table. I will miss their presence in my life over the winter. I dry some to give me some reminders of seasons past but we all know it's not the same!
Autumn does have it's own garden pleasures too...with orange bittersweet wreaths and gourds dressing up a shed or a front door. Pumpkins, fresh apples, indian corn. Mushrooms. I'll be talking about mushrooms in another post since I spend a little bit of almost every day hunting them at this time of year.
In the autumn, I rediscover meals like baked beans and biscuits,...last
night's meal. It'll be tonight's meal as well. I tried one of Alice
Waters's recipes for pork chops. So simple. And so good.
Salt and pepper both sides of a pork chop
leave out for a few hours
Press fresh herb into the sides of the chops (I used rosemary sprigs)
Heat olive oil
fry for 5 minutes over medium heat
flip over and fry another 4 minutes on the other side
let stand for another 5 minutes
I found them to be perfectly done, a bit of au jus left in the pan, and still moist and juicy. Delicious.
Chops went very well with the beans and biscuits.
Our first frost here in southern Vermont, at least at my house, was Friday night. Sometime after midnight probably which really makes it October 13th. And there was a frost the next night too. So gardens are pretty much gone.