{"id":872,"date":"2010-09-27T10:21:40","date_gmt":"2010-09-27T10:21:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/?p=872"},"modified":"2010-09-27T10:21:40","modified_gmt":"2010-09-27T10:21:40","slug":"satisfy-your-primordial-harvest-instinct","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/satisfy-your-primordial-harvest-instinct\/","title":{"rendered":"Satisfy Your Primordial Harvest Instinct"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"View
View of Mount Lamborn from our B & B<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We just returned from a biking trip to Colorado’s Western Slope.\u00a0 The weather was\u00a0 delightful, the color\u00a0 and scenery were stupendous and biking was exhilarating, with almost zero traffic.\u00a0 As great as all that however, was our last-minute “food hunt.”<\/p>\n

On our last afternoon,\u00a0 we scoured around the countryside, finding local meats , cheeses and honey, beautiful boxes of tomatoes, pears, peaches and plums, locally made mustards and sauces, and of course, joyous vegetables:\u00a0 some U-Pick eggplant and peppers, plus green beans and carrots grown right at our Fresh and Wyld B&B that are the best I’ve ever tasted.<\/p>\n

\"Garden
The Garden at our B & B, from whence came the best tasting beans I've ever eaten<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I am probably the only person on the planet who willingly and excitedly devotes vacation time to food hunting, so I’m not going to suggest this for your next vacation.\u00a0 However, can I suggest a little close in food hunting as autumn swings into full gear.<\/p>\n

I’ve discovered a long-dormant instinct that derives immense satisfaction from even the smallest autumn harvest activity.\u00a0 Ideas for this kind of completely illogical joy:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • Obvious choices:\u00a0 an autumn visit to a local farmer’s market or farm stand<\/li>\n
  • Something fairly obvious:\u00a0 a pumpkin patch visit.\u00a0 (Don’t be embarrassed if you’re kids are too big to go with you.\u00a0 I loved watching everyone else’s kids–and didn’t have to negotiate over which pumpkin to choose!)<\/li>\n
  • Something easy:\u00a0 Slice and freeze red peppers for those winter months when they skyrocket to $7 a pound (and don’t taste like much.)<\/li>\n
  • Something else easy:\u00a0 Puree a favorite combination of peaches, melons, pears, plums and berries in the food processor.\u00a0 Freeze the smoothie-thick juice for a mid-winter burst of flavor or cook up for a pancake syrup.<\/li>\n
  • Something heavenly:\u00a0 Bake peach slices until caramelized and freeze.\u00a0 Then, don’t touch this “peach candy” until you can’t stand any more cold and snow in March.<\/li>\n
  • Something very practical.\u00a0 Make a big batch of marinara sauce, use half and freeze half.<\/li>\n
  • Something lovely:\u00a0 Make a bouquet of cut autumn flowers<\/li>\n
  • Something unbelievably comforting:\u00a0 Cut up apples, throw in a slow cooker and cook overnight.\u00a0 Wake up to warm applesauce to top granola or pancakes.<\/li>\n
  • If nothing else:\u00a0 Buy a little extra from the store to stock the larder.\u00a0 Even grocery stores can have sales of autumn foods, like fresh -pressed apple juice (pop in your freezer if it’s not canned), Maverick chickens (on sale at Vitamin Cottage), Muir Glen canned tomatoes (also on sale at Vitamin Cottage.)\n

    \"Canned
    Canned summer for the depths of winter. (Those are pickled watermelon rinds in the center!)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Each autumn, I am surprised by the curiously satisfying feeling that comes from”putting by” a little for winter. \u00a0 Maybe your harvest instinct might like some indulging, and there’s little to lose. \u00a0 In fact, you’ll likely save money by buying now, while the best is in season.<\/p>\n

    \"My
    Talk about a handy grocery store: meats, juices, peppers, peaches, zucchini and more.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    I’ve discovered a long-dormant instinct that derives immense satisfaction from even the smallest autumn harvest activity. Why not indulge your harvest instinct? It’s cheap and can even save money. Find lots of ideas for tapping into this kind of completely illogical joy. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19,13,23],"tags":[50,226,322,371,419,518],"class_list":["post-872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-how-to-set-up-a-healthy-pantry","category-local-and-sustainable-eating","category-seasonal-eating","tag-autumn-harvest","tag-freezer-pantry","tag-how-to-stock-a-pantry","tag-local-and-sustainable-eating","tag-pantry","tag-self-reliance","masonry-post","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-50"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=872"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}