The temperature gets bearable, the air gets crisper (and I swear, feels cleaner), and the sky gets grayer.
Yes, I like gray skies and rain.
I don't get carried away by the hype that the rain-haters spout, trying to brainwash everyone into thinking that the rain needs to be gloomy or dreary.
(BTW - did you count the number of puns in that sentence? heh heh heh)
Instead, I like to think of the rain from a more natural perspective, and I tend to associate rain with things like freshness, cleanliness, and fragrant greenery. The smell of decaying leaves, paired with the earthy fresh dirt and grass smell kicked up by a recent rainfall... well that's probably my favourite smell in the whole world.
ANYWAY... I appear to be digressing. Although this IS one of my rhetoric posts (see attached label to this post). Thankfully (for you, the reader being subjected to this), I don't really do a whole lot of rhetorical posts. So much rambling prose, even if written with passionate conviction, does not really make for page-turning reading.
:)
The point I want to make, and I may make this every year, is that I love Autumn. A lot. I love everything about it. Especially the food. I mean, if ever there was a time to feast and revel in a crap tonne of bountiful food, it would be the fall harvest.
Do you think that when farmers first started to reap their fall harvests, they were like "Holy shit this is a lot of food. Should I save it all so that my family and friends don't all starve through the winter? Maybe I'll just have a nibble right now. Hmmm... well there IS so much of it, maybe just a titch more..." Until finally: "Ahh, Fuck it! IMMA HAVE A FEAST SUCKAS! That's right, GOD! You'll probably try to murder me and my entire community come January, but that's Starving-in-January-Farmer's problem, not mine!!!"
Heh heh heh heh.
I'm pretty sure that's how it went down.
I mean, maybe there weren't adequate storage capabilities back then. Right? You can only store in silos and preserve in jars so much... maybe the point of the Autumnal Harvest Feasts is to just put a big dent into the total amount (and possibly to put a big bulge into everyone's waistlines) while you could.
In any case, it's an old timey tradition that I am ecstatic to perpetuate.
Ye Olde Autumnal Feast.
Of course, I'm not a farmer. But, what Autumn DOES yield for me is a plethora of cheap, high-quality, locally grown, produce. In abundance. Apples, pears, tomatoes, potatoes, zucchini, corn (normally... this year was weird), even scallions (oh, and garlic! I almost forgot garlic!), are all excellent harvests here in the fall.
Anyway, I often like to get swept up in the Ontario seasonal produce craze, and will regularly use the opportunity to try making some (relatively) ambitious new projects and culinary experimentations.
This year I think I'm going to try making a few pies, and maybe even some apple or pear cider.
Yay fall!
