Powisset Farm CSA Tomatoes ready for the dehydrator!
Our shelves are stocked! The last several weeks I have born witness to the pickling, canning, and freezing fervor of my roommate and dear friends. We have canned tomatoes, berry jams, pickled root veggies and cucumbers, frozen pestos, and dried herbs, fruits and veggies. Over at one friend’s house, a posted notice on their refrigerator catalogues their preservation efforts so that the jars and cans are identifiable months from now.
This is one of the many reasons why I have been feeling so great about being back in New England for the last two years. No doubt, my time in the Bay Area was replete with these preservation projects (jamming sessions with Forage Oakland come to mind), but here in Boston, it is less a treat and much more a necessity, since we’re entering the months where fresh, local produce will be something we won’t be able to take for granted. Being responsive to the demands of changing seasons feels right, but more than this, it feels sacred. The sense that our activities have structure, range, and changability… it’s how I understand being rooted in a place and living responsibly on the earth.
The pantry
More on this in the coming months, as I head to Italy to spend five days contemplating Health and Terroir at the Anna Tasca Lasca cooking school.
To my fellow Jews, Happy New Year, to my fellow harvesters and preservers: happy autumn.
Summer's red tomatoes preserved
