Happy Halloween and Harvest Table

So many of you have been dressing up, going to parties, and/or taking the kids trick or treating. I love seeing all the photos and videos. Keep them coming!  I especially love seeing what each of the kids chose for a costume - it's such a hilarious and insightful glimpse into their little souls.

I came home feeling so inspired after the Manger workshop that I promptly went out and bought too much squash for one person and piled it all on the dining table. And then I moved the veggies from the back counter to the dining table as well, and it's a big ol' food party all the time.   

Seeing this produce bounty brings me joy in such a simple and visceral way.  Perhaps it's because I'm so drawn to well-sourced whole food, or because I feel so strongly about it, or that it reminds me of the cooking possibilities that lie ahead, or just because it's kinda pretty in a rustic way.  Whatever the combinations of reasons, I freaking love it.

Over the last week and a half, I've been making my way through the pile in the most delicious ways I can imagine: garlicky breakfast potatoes using homegrown rose fingerlings and duck fat that I rendered a few days prior, Kuri gnocchi with a brown butter and sage sauce, a variety of roasted root vegetables (some from my own garden) drizzled with homemade vinaigrette, chicken puttanesca using the last of my summer tomatoes, and of course lots of pumpkin soup.

This is what makes me happy.  So this is what I'm filling my dining table and time with this Autumn.

What about you?

illustration by Keith Ward for MotherEarthNews