Darkening Days

     August and we are heading into Autumn.  The days are visibly shorter now.  Time to submit to the darkening season as we head for the Autumn Equinox.  We continue to pull back and in and down giving thanks for our bounty.  I write an assessment in September, taking it all in and reminisicing.  An opportunity to take a look at the big picture and the personal growth this year.  The rain has brought lower humidity and cool mornings.
     I have begun my Winter stores having harvested Garlic and made two quart jars of Lamb's Quarter Pesto.  I have hung Mints (Peppermint, Spearmint, Chocolate Mint) to dry for Winter tea as well as Anise Hyssop.  Also weeding Three Sisters (Corn, Beans and Squash), Mustard Mix and continuing to tie up Tomatoes.  Beets are ready.  Extra hours into the evening with a whirring food processor or something boiling on the stove.  Visions of cold Winter days with hot tea and jars of vegetables that hold their fresh picked color.  At the whim of dear Mother we begin to imagine what She holds in store for us this Winter after a hot and beautiful Summer.  After three years of warm Novembers last November seemed to cool rather quickly and the temperature dropped to fifty-five after an unusually hot week in Miami.  We wait with bated breath.
     Writer's block this week.  I sat before the page with - nothing.  Not too bad for having started this blog in April.  I have been a writer since I was thirteen when I bought my first diary for my birthday.  I wanted to write the great American novel someday, so I figured I should start taking notes.  I wanted to finish that novel by the time I was forty.  I finished two years early at thirty-eight.  I look forward to the day I can dust it off and take a look with fresh eyes.  I feel blessed to have the opportunity to explore my writing self now.  I want to write for the rest of my life.  At the very least this blog is a regular writing exercise.  It's been fun and a bit stressful churning out a post weekly.  
    Beet (Beta vulgaris, Chenopodiaceae, Biennial grown as an annual, grown since Assyrian times) contains folic acid and potassium.  I make two pints of pickles.  What a treat in January.
     Mustard Mix (Pink Lettucy Mustard, Ruby Streaks and Tatsoi, Brassica juncea, Brassicaceae, Annual or Biennial, Central Asia, Himalayas (considered one of the ancient areas of domestication, cultivated since 3000BCE)) contains vitamin A and C, calcium, iron, potassium, phosphorus.  Lamb's Quarter and Purslane are still available as Wild Salad, but Mustard Mix makes for a great cultivated change from Wild Salad for the end of the season.  We will have harvest up until the end.  
     Anise Hyssop (Agastache foeniculum, Labiatae, Turtle Island)  Wonderful aromatherapy tea for the Winter.  Indigenous cough medicine.  Lovely licorice flavor.  Imported to Europe for honey. 

Anise Hyssop, Agastache foeniculum