October Harvest

And St. Luke's Little Summer

So. Many. Tomatoes.

We probably don’t need to plant any tomatoes on purpose next year. Of course, I will anyway, because I can’t resist seed packets, but we have bountifully-producing accidental tomato plants all over the yard. More each year. Several varieties of cherry tomatoes. Our larger tomatoes this year were from starts gifted by Phillip’s brother, and those were the plants that got fertilized with homemade potash. They were gorgeous and plentiful and delicious, but the continuing proliferation of smaller tomatoes, to which we’ve contributed no cultivation, is simply wild.

Harvest of volunteer cherry tomatoes. Picked before the frost.

Cherry tomatoes are easy to preserve, which is especially lucky in years like this when I haven’t been able to dedicate a weekend to canning. We freeze them in quart bags, to be tossed into stews or chili during the winter crockpot days. We dehydrate them in slices, which can then be stored in jars or airtight bags, in the freezer or on the pantry shelf. Dried tomatoes are delicious in omelets, pasta dishes, and salads, or on their own as crisp little snacks.

Prepping tomatoes & peppers for the dehydrator

We threw some hot pepper slices on the dehydrator trays, too, and they’re now in a jar on the kitchen counter, to be tossed into a pan when a little spiciness is in order.

Aren’t they gorgeous?!

We’ve harvested the butternut squash (yum!) and gourds (not edible, but they turned out well for decorating). Planning to try some suggestions from gardening Instagram on preserving zucchini. Also have been picking marigolds, that I’ll use for making little jars of balm for beestings. And we’ve been drying seeds to save for next year’s garden. There is still fresh fennel and chives for the picking. The wee bit of honey we allowed ourselves was heavenly, but the bees are keeping the rest for themselves to feed them through the winter.

St. Luke’s Summer

October 18 is St. Luke’s feast day, and this week in the northern hemisphere traditionally holds a few warm, sunny days. We’ve already had our first frosty mornings, so days like that are a gift before the chill really sets in. I am off work this week, which I planned months ago by the Farmer’s Almanac in hopes of good weather and time in the garden. (What? Don’t tell me you don’t consult the Almanac when scheduling your vacation time!)

Mid-October day in the garden, warmth & blue skies

Here in the U.S., a string of warm-weather days after the frost is more commonly referred to as Indian Summer. The etymology of the term is unclear, but the internet did reward my search with a legend from the Abenaki indigenous peoples, who lived in what is now the northeastern U.S. and around Quebec. It’s the story of a family whose crops had failed due to poor weather, and so were facing starvation in the coming winter. Their prayers were answered by a string of warm, sunny days and a collection of miraculous fast-growing seeds. Within days, the family harvested ripe corn, squash, and beans (the traditional Three Sisters), and so were saved.

The same phenomenon of warm days after first frost is recognized in other countries as well. In areas of Central and Eastern Europe, it is called Old Woman’s Summer; in Sweden, St Bridget’s Summer (her feast being October 7); and in Gaelic areas, “Little autumn of the geese.” It was apparently during these warm days that the October (Bolshevik) Revolution took place in Russia. A similar stretch of days in mid-November is known as St. Martin’s Summer.

Honeybee taking advantage of the warm October sun to harvest from a fading zinnia.

So how is your October, friends? What have you harvested? How do you preserve what you grow? Do you have a name for warm days during cold seasons?

I’m just hoping the weather during this week off matches the historical precedent.

— Erin, in Michigan