Over the Labor Day weekend, we drove up to see Mom, Sis, the BiL and Nephews I and II. (Nephew I is a senior in college with a girlfriend so we just saw him for one afternoon.) 🙂 It’s always a great and relaxing time there. Their gardens are amazing, even in the drought they are experiencing. You can’t hardly walk anywhere in their yards that there is not something edible growing. There’s rhubarb on the corner of the house. Raspberries incircle the garage with another thicket in the back corner. Pull up a chair and you can pick tomatoes by the bucketful. You might have to wait a month but then you could pick your fill of pumpkins. And, although we missed apple picking, we saw baskets of them in the basement and were treated to two delicious apple pies and apple fritters from that harvest.
Of course, we had to bring some of the goodness home.
I’ve posted before about mom’s delicata squash. I snagged two more while I was there. We’re definitely saving seeds so we can grow some next year. I have two great delicata squash recipes and will hopefully be posting some more soon.
Delicata Squash, Apple and Spinach Salad
Spicy Roasted Delicata Squash
Buttercup squash was a new variety to me. It is another winter squash and is sweeter than a butternut (but with the same orange flesh). Can’t wait to try it. Perhaps in a soup?
Mom also gave us some apple butter, from a family recipe.
Mom’s apple butter, local honey and red wine vinegar.
My sister gave me some homemade red wine vinegar. She is the vinegar queen and would do this for a living if she could.
I love their town’s farmers market. It has such a community vibe. We always buy something. I found some really great cedar goat milk soap and we also bought five pounds of honey (for a really reasonable price). They also have the most beautiful flowers there.
Now, on the home front we have our own apples. I didn’t make anything out of them; we just ate them. 
The grapes were a bit more prolific than our apples. I picked six gallon, made three batches of jam and called it quits.
I’m about to call it quits with the peppers, too.
Tomatoes!
I’ve frozen tons of tomato sauce, have canned a bit, and have pickled jalapenos and made pepper jelly. I think I will start dehydrating the rest of the harvest. I really want to make some tomato powder and pepper powder for spicing things up.
I’m a sucker and a marketers dream (according to The Hubs) so I couldn’t resist buying these during the Hatch chili festival at our local grocery store.
These were not great. At. All.
Finally, for my curveball. I’ve been eyeing this pot (at our local grocery store of all places) since the beginning of summer. It’s in the Talavera style but is definitely not authentic. Still, it was over $70. I grabbed the last one on clearance in August. $17.99. I was ecstatic!
Jump on over to Sherry’s Pickings (the host of IMK) to see what is going on in kitchens around the world.
I like your planter pot. how marvellous to have home made vinegar. I’ve always wanted to try making it. Thanks for joining in IMK this month. It’s great to have you here. cheers
sherry
Great month in the kitchen — but August-September had better be great when it comes to produce, since it’s harvest time (at least in our part of the globe).
Your new pot looks like a wonderful deal.
best, mae at maefood.blogspot.com
I am envious of your tomatoes and peppers, it’s too cold and foggy for me to grow them near the coast. Tons of tomato sauce, did it for me. What a gorgeous farmers market. Good deal on that pot.