autumn field notes

buried treasures, drying flowers, french onion soup

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Late fall has settled in here, and some of these autumn images take me back to moments that feel like a different season altogether… Maybe it really wasn’t that long ago and time just feels like an illusion. Was it really just last month?

In October, I planted all 600 daffodil and tulips bulbs. I smile and think about how it feels like I got to bury treasures into the Earth for winter to do it’s magic and spring to push it forward. Pure alchemy.

creeping thyme

celosia

Gathering buckets of flowers from the garden, adding to the bundles lining the clothesline in my basement, and realizing I’m in need of another space so I hang others in the shop, which is sufficiently dark, but cooler, so they may need more time to dry.

I have 4 more pepper plants to dig and put into buckets at an attempt to overwinter a dozen or so of them — first attempt. Collecting New England Aster seeds too. I want to share some of these with the Forest and Flowers Retreat cottage garden.

Oh how the Dahlias have continued to bloom into late fall… I’m amazed they just seem to keep on going.

Since this is my first year growing (and digging) Dahlias, I learned I should label the dahlias while they’re still in bloom. Once lifted, it’s nearly impossible to tell the dahlia tubers apart from another. So I label while they’re still on show, before I cut another armful for the Garden Room open house event, and before the frost makes them unrecognizable.

I planted Peony roots since they started to arrive in early October. Filling a row at the Retreat House with 25 pink, red, white, and yellow varieties. It’s one of those investments you wish you’d made sooner, as they’ll likely take about 2 years to get established and bloom. Nonetheless, welcome peonies… to being supported through the winter with strong roots.

I dig Rosemary and Lavender from the vegetable garden and transplant them into pots for the winter — welcoming them inside and enjoying the aromas.

Speaking of herbs, French Onion Soup is on the menu. A slow simmer with the delicious onions I pulled from the ground in August, the fresh sage and thyme I snipped from the hillside while the onions were caramelizing, and the spiced apple wine from a local winery that’s been sitting in my fridge for awhile.

Here’s the recipe — Rosemary herb crackers on top, without the bread and cheese, is good for me.

Ingredients

• 6 tablespoons salted butter

• 4 medium yellow onions, thinly sliced

• 1 1/4 cups dry white wine (or spiced apple sweet wine, in this case was delicious)

• 3 cloves garlic minced or grated

• 2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves

• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage

• 1 teaspoon honey

• 6-8 cups vegetable broth

• 2 teaspoons tamari

• kosher salt and black pepper

• 1/2 cup heavy cream or coconut cream (canned)

• 6 slices french bread

• 2 cups shredded Gruyère cheese

Instructions

Melt together the butter, onions, and honey in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring occasionally until softened, about 10 minutes. At this point, you want to slowly add 3/4 cup of the wine, 1/4 cup at a time, until the wine cooks into the onions. Continue to cook another 10-15 minutes until you've used the 3/4 cup of wine and the onions are deeply caramelized.

Add the garlic, thyme, and sage. Season with salt and pepper, cook another 3-4 minutes. Add the remaining 1/2 cup wine, the broth, tamari, and a pinch each of salt and pepper. Increase the heat to medium-high and return the soup to a simmer, simmer 10 minutes, then stir in the coconut cream or heavy cream and cook another 5-10 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Arrange the bread on a baking sheet and toast for 10-15 minutes, until very dry. Switch the oven to broil. Ladle the soup into oven safe bowls. Add a slice of bread to each, and top evenly with cheese. Place each soup bowl on a baking sheet and transfer to the oven, broil until bubbly and golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Top with fresh thyme. Eat.

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Days of gathering leaves for mulch and compost… sneaking in final paddles at the lake at sunset… reuniting with the mother water for my cold dips… and now it’s started to rain, which means the peony roots are getting a good drink.

To the rains
to the winds
to the water
to the earth holding all the roots
and to the bronze, gold, burgundy, and rust magnificence 
you've blazed our hearts with color.
Thank you.

Thank you for reading.

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