On Festivals and Fruit

Autumn is beginning to show her colours here in the Valley.  We are having quite the warm September, so there has been plenty of opportunity to get out and enjoy the views.  Ripe apples abound in the orchards, geese are gathering for their long journey South, and the Fall wine festivals and tours are in full swing.

I am spending this weekend at the yearly Wise Woman Festival in the neighbouring town - meditating and learning and partaking of the lovely healers available.  As a result, I don't have a Farmers Market Saturday post for you this week.  As always, I'll just encourage you to get out into your local farm & market community and take advantage of the plentiful harvest available this time of year.

Looking for dinner ideas when you bring home that harvest from the market? 

Squash is now in season, and it's one of my favourite veggies!  This post sings the praises of squash.

I also make bruschetta weekly this time of year, because of the abundance of tomatoes and peppers.

And for dessert - apple pie of course!

Take a moment this weekend to get outside and see if you can spot signs of Autumn in your area.  Or - for our friends in the Southern Hemisphere - signs of Spring!

Farmers Market Saturday - Pumpkins!

Today at the farmers market, I saw the first pumpkin for sale! 

Never one to pass up an opportunity to score a pumpkin, I went for the handsome squash, only to be foiled by the little boy in front of me, who had convinced his mother to buy it for him.  In an effort to console myself I came home and dug through some Autumn decorations and then went through my recipe box and pulled out a few pumpkin recipes to try (I still have frozen pumpkin in my freezer from last Halloween's jacks.)

While I was in the pumpkin mood, I tracked down a few pumpkin festivals that sound too good to miss.  If you are in the area, check out these popular pumpkin parties:

Keene Pumpkin Festival in Keene, NH on October 22, 2011.

Halloween in Central Park in Manhattan, NY - October 9 through the 31st.

Half Moon Bay Art and Pumpkin Fest in Half Moon Bay, CA - October 15 & 16, 2011.

South Jersey Pumpkin Show in Egg Harbor, NJ - October 8-9th, 2011

Festival of Pumpkins in Snohomish Valley, WA - throughout September & October at multiple farms.

Circleville Pumpkin Show in Circleville, OH - October 19-22, 2011.

Nanaimo Pumpkin Fest, Nanaimo, BC, Canada - October 16, 2011.

There are so many more too!  Check out your local farms and other agricultural organizations to see if they have any Autumn themed festivals planned.  There are many farms that turn their corn fields into mazes and open their pumpkin patches for picking.

With a bit of planning, you can stretch Summer's harvest into an abundant Autumn by making your way to your local farms and festivals this September and October.  Enjoy!

Festival of the Grape

On Sunday I went to the next town to tip my glass to Dionysus and partake of some of my Valley's best wines.  I spent two hours at the wine festival with my girlfriends and let me tell you - it wasn't long enough! 

There were so many fabulous wines that I had a hard time keeping track of the ones I liked the best.  It could have had something to do with the amount of wine I was drinking...

The wine glasses we were given for "tastes" were filled sometimes half-full by the generous winemakers, instead of the typical ounce or two generally given at a wine tasting.  It didn't take long to catch up with us.

I really loved some of the clever winery names, such as "Church & State," "Dirty Laundry..."

...and "Misconduct."  This "Massacre Rose" was my favourite red (almost-red) I tried.  I love the label!  They were also tasting "Misfit - White Blend," "The Big Take - Red Blend" and "Suspect Series." 

Who wouldn't want a little tast of "Forbidden Fruit?"

There was even a cover-band doing ABBA songs.  I snickered a little at first - but they ended up doing realy well and getting the crowd all worked up.  (Not hard after all that wine, I'd imagine!)

There were pretty big crowds there, and the wine tasting tents were swarming with people.  But there were also food and artisan venders there too that you could wander around to see.

We also did some faux celebrity spotting.  I wish I'd gotten a pic of the girl who looked exactly like Pink - it was uncanny.  This guy did seem to have a Robert Pattinson thing going on though - and that girl is looking at him like he sparkles!

We really did have a fabulous time, and then staggered off to a three hour dinner afterward.  There is nothing like a day full of wine, friends and silly fun! 

Cheers!

 

Spring Festival

I've just come back from the "Spring Festival of Awareness" here in British Columbia, Canada. A lovely festival, and one of two put on each year by a group of like-minded people (the other is the Wise Woman's Festival I attended in September,) the weekend was just what I needed to decompress after doing year-end books, a busy Vegas 'vacation' and getting our little business ready for the summer markets.

It was a weekend filled with meditation, yoga, dance, chant, and plenty of learning. I took two classes on Shamanism and found it is very similar to my own garden-witchery in that it revolves around gratitutde and offering to the earth Mother. Shamanism is such a mindful practice, and the wonderful Mexican man that lead the group spoke genuinely about his village and their love for the earth, and how much gratitute they have for everything they grow to feed themselves. Things we sometimes take for granted when we can just pop down to the grocery store....

I was amused that the Festival kicked off with a circle dance and the leader started up the chant "Earth and Air and Fire and Water, the Goddess is alive, magic is afoot." Although this was an open festival and many religions were represented, there was a definite theme of earth-centered spirituality. (The above photo is one I found online, and not from the festival. There were about 300 or so people at the Festival - a much larger circle!)

I even had time between classes to walk the labyrinth on the site, and get a bit of healing done at the "oasis" where all the practioners come to offer their services. It was a wonderful, relaxing, enlightening weekend!

Now, back to work and a busy week ahead with a full moon tomorrow (early Wed morning,) and Beltane coming up on Friday/Saturday! Looking forward to catching up on your posts and finding out what everyone is doing to celebrate this week!