Golden October Days

Golden Days

St. Luke's Little Summer

Lovely, summerlike days that occur around October 18 are called St. Luke's Little Summer in honor of the saint's feast day. In olden days, St. Luke's Day did not receive as much attention in the secular world as St. John's Day (June 24) and Michaelmas (September 29), so to keep from being forgotten, St. Luke presented us with some golden days to cherish before the coming of winter, or so the story goes. Some folks call this Indian Summer, but that officially occurs between November 11 and November 20.

From the Old Farmer's Almanac at www.almanac.com.

Hill top tree tops glow in the morning sun,

I woke to an owl hooting in the woods outside my bedroom window.  It was seven o'clock and I was surprised to hear him so late in the morning. By 7:30 I stepped out of the mudroom door on my way to feed calves and chickens and was treated to one of the most beautiful sunrises I've seen all year.  The eastern sky was painted in shades of pink and gold and the whole landscape glowed.  By the time I'd finished my chores the sky had changed to a soft glowing gold and the sun, though not yet breaking the horizon was arcing light across the sky to touch the tops of the maple trees and set them on fire with light.


The opposite hill. This woods is oak, maple and hickory.  The understory of Korean honeysuckle gets no light.

My brother has been out in the woods digging up maple seedlings to transplant  along his pasture fence lines.  He has no animals at present so no one (except deer) are likely to chomp on the trees. This is a very good time of year to transplant maples and most other hardwood trees. They will  stay dormant over the winter then awake in place for the spring and hardly know they were moved. It's also a good time to see what fall color the trees produce so you can get trees that will give a good fall show. I love seeing the maples all red and orange - in the woods where I don't have to rake their leaves.  Most of my yard is either locust or ash both of which have small leaves.  We've also planted a few oaks - they keep their leaves until spring when they will be chopped up in the first spring mowings.   I'm sure I'll loose most of the ash eventually, but I'll replace them with small leaved trees that are easy to chop with the mower and collect.

When the Frost is on the Pumpkin

My pumpkins are still green but the leaves have been destroyed by the recent frost.  The vines look OK. I keep holding out hope that these pumpkins will eventually ripen and turn orange.

WHEN the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock,
And you hear the kyouck and gobble of the struttin' turkey-cock,
And the clackin' of the guineys, and the cluckin' of the hens,
And the rooster's hallylooyer as he tiptoes on the fence;
O, it's then the time a feller is a-feelin' at his best,	5
With the risin' sun to greet him from a night of peaceful rest,
As he leaves the house, bareheaded, and goes out to feed the stock,
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock.

A few lines from the Hoosier poet James Whitcomb Riley.  Some how I had this in my head as being a Robert Frost poem - maybe it was the word frost in the title that threw me.  Anyway, I can completely relate to Mr. Riley's poem.  The frost sure is on the pumpkin and we have a flock of turkeys ranging the woods and pastures - the first flock we've had on the place.  Certainly the fodder's in the shock - everyone is busy combining beans and picking corn and soon all those golden fields will just be stubble, but until then the deer and the turkeys are having a good time eating up the farmer's profits.

The weather has been beautiful and the sassafras trees have some of the best color I've seen in years. 
This picture of Jealousy with sassafras trees in the background isn't very good. It doesn't show the intense and varied shades of red and orange leaves that produce that color.  When we were kids we used to collect the sassafras leaves, looking for really good reds and oranges. Then we would press them between the pages of old books. Later in the winter we'd find them in those books still strongly colored but flat and dry and we'd enjoy the an impressionist painting.

Can you see all those holes in the kale leaves?  Kale is of the cabbage family and this kale was attacked by green cabbage worms!  I finally was able to pick enough to cook up for supper tonight. I sort of stewed it with some smoked sausage and it was very good. This bit of kale was very easy to grow, and except for the cabbage worms, rates high on my list of seeds to plant next year.  The Swiss chard in the background, which I like much better than spinach, does not seem to have any worm problems. 

Pumpkin Brulee

I'm always looking for ways to take an old favorite and tweak it a little to make it maybe more healthy or tasty or both.  It's my turn again to make dessert for the family's Monday night get together and my Mom and Dad requested pumpkin pie.  Pumpkin is very good for you, loaded with vitamins and beta carotene.  The filling for a pumpkin pie is really just a pumpkin custard, so I often make the filling and bake it in custard cups eliminating the fat and calories of a crust. But for the family get together I thought I'd fancy it up a bit and  give the individual custard portions a brulee topping.

One large can of Libby's pumpkin makes nine servings of one cup each. You can see the white sugar on the custard with the pecan half.  Don't put the pecan half on the top until you have completely melted all the sugar and there is no white showing. The pecan will burn right away.

 

It takes a good minute to caramelize all the sugar. You have to move the torch around a lot so you don't burn the sugar - even though that's what brulee means in French.  You just want all the white color gone from the sugar.

The sugar is all caramelized and I've added the pecan for decoration (and to hide where I stuck a table knife in the middle to check for doneness)  Of course, the caramelized sugar is the same color as the pumpkin so you don't see it like you would on creme brulee. It will be a nice surprise when the family starts to spoon out the first bite.

A note on the recipe:  I use Libby's pure pumpkin and add my own sugar, eggs and spices. It's a simple recipe and always works very well.  The only alteration I make is to halve the amount of ground clove.  The recipe calls for half a teaspoon and I cut it to one quarter of a teaspoon. Otherwise, I follow the recipe on the label.  I plugged the recipe into an online calorie counter and here's the nutritional info. The eggs and milk contribute to the fat content, but I like the fiber number per serving. I love that high Vitamin A number and the calories at 268 for a one cup serving are not half bad.  You could make the recipe out of the smaller can and use 1/2 cup custard cups and save even more calories.  I did not include the pecan in the calorie count. And you know I will be adding real whipped cream to the top.

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size

11 serving (286.2 g)

Amount Per Serving

Calories

268268

Calories from Fat

4444

% Daily Value^*

Total Fat

4.9g4.9

8%8

Saturated Fat

2.7g2.7

14%14

Cholesterol

96mg96

32%32

Sodium

338mg338

14%14

Total Carbohydrates

51.2g51.2

17%17

Dietary Fiber

2.7g2.7

11%11

Sugars

45.1g45.1

Protein

7.1g7.1

Vitamin A 220%220	•	Vitamin C 6%6
Calcium 16%16	•	Iron 6%