Late Summer Decadence

Tomatoes, mushrooms and waterfall play.. the joys of late summer.

Having been a practitioner of growing much of my food in a biologically sane and sustainable way for most of my life, these are the halcyon days... Tomatoes perhaps being the highlight!

But also the potatoes, buttery good... and the cranberries.. and the blackberries and herbs... ok pretty much everything...

Nature provides even more delicacies!

But also just as fulfilling is the "second season" ofedible mushrooms.. None are pictured because I don't want anyone to use social media as a way of thinking they can discern edible from toxic fungus...

But as morels are easily distinguishable in the spring, so are Chicken of The Woods and Black Trumpets.. and delicious too!

Black Trumpet, in particular... chopped and sautéed lightly in butter, served over grits with eggs... ah the smokey richness is beyond words!

And of course our largest native fruit.. the pawpaw! Growing both stream side and in moist mountain coves, the sweetness is powerful... a cross between a rich custard, a banana, and a papaya, with huge seeds... there is not much better!

(Pawpaws have no, as in zero, insect pests.. but wildlife love them.. and their ripeness only peaks for perhaps hours at best! Like an avocado, its not ripe, not ripe, not ripe, RIPE, past its prime.)

..and of course, waterfall play. 

One thing about 2020, the rains that have stressed most folks who are yearning to get outside, have filled the streams to the brim...

 Secret falls... and sacred falls... secret Fall, Sacred Fall... the most beautiful season... until Winter of course... then Spring... then Summer ...

Embrace it all!