Autumn’s Harvest and Food Day

Those who have been readers for a while know I always wax poetic come autumn.  You’ll remember, too, that I always encourage some kind of harvest-y type of activity.  Stop long enough to notice this moving change of seasons and deep-rooted feelings get touched.  As those feelings are exposed to a little autumn light, the reward is a unique warmth and comfort.

Pickling is a great harvest-y thing to do. You can pickle just about any darn thing. Have you ever Googled “pickle recipes”? Three of us went crazy one day in September. This is what 45!!! jars of pickles looks like.

Harvest-y activities are easy to find.  Head to a pumpkin patch, make a thick butternut squash soup, can some tomatoes, freeze some peppers.  And this year, apples are everywhere, often going to waste.  Pick your own or a neighbors, cut out any bad spots, chop roughly and throw in the slow cooker for a totally autumn batch of applesauce.  Cinnamon and raisins are good additions.

For something a little different this year, I’m linking to a lovely harvest-time post appropriately titled, “The Sweetness of the Season.”  It is made all the more lovely by the fact that it was written by a bright young woman who is devoting her energy, intelligence and skill to growing amazing food for people in Pennsylvania.

Something else is special about autumn, i.e., Food Day on October 24th.  This nationally recognized day has several goals:  1) to celebrate and honor the food that is at the heart of our survival (and which we can easily take for granted in a nation of such fabulous food wealth); 2) to change our own diets in ways that are healthier for us and the planet; and 3) to  gain awareness about and take action to correct serious deficiencies in our food system.

You can easily take part in Food Day.  Head to FoodDay.org for ideas and resources and to find out about hosting an event–which can be very simple, e.g., having friends over to share a great healthful meal, bringing healthy snacks to an office meeting, hosting a neighborhood potluck, etc. .

For 2014, Food Day is focused on food access, a glaringly sad deficiency of our food system in the land of plenty.   In honor of that goal, the following posts address the problem with food waste, how it affects hunger and food access, and how we can do something about it.

This series of Waste Not, Want Not articles is part of Food Day’s first-ever Coordinated Blogging Event.  Please check out the following blogs written by other authors participating in this Event:

Scantily Clad Photos and Burgers by Denise the Dietitian posted on A Dietitian’s Diary: Finding a Healthy Balance

2 thoughts on “Autumn’s Harvest and Food Day”

  1. Pingback: Happy US Food Day (Week) from the Land of Chocolate and Fries! | Food (Policy) For Thought
  2. Pingback: Why Organic Food Matters, Beyond Our Plates

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