#2
Hello,
And welcome to our new subscribers! We are finally back with our newsletter and it will arrive to your inbox every Wednesday.
It’s finally fall, y’all!
My favorite time of year, when hot days that feel as if you are trudging through a steam room slowly fade to crisp mornings, cool mist hugging mountains that display a tapestry of color, leaves crunching underfoot… This is the time of year when we just itch to get outside. Luckily, there is an abundance of outdoor activities to enjoy in our region.
Events This Weekend:
Take your honey to the Botetourt Honey Fest this Saturday. Featuring bee keeping demos, honey tastings, a honey competition and honey and beeswax products, this is surely a sweet start to your weekend.
Big Lick Oktoberfest
After the honey festival, you can head down 81 to t Roanoke for the Big Lick Oktoberfest. From 12-7pm in Elmwood park, enjoy music, beer, German-style food, competitions and local vendors.
Crozet Arts & Crafts Festival
The Crozet Arts & Crafts festival returns this weekend for their fall festival edition. On Saturday and Sunday artists from all across the state will showcase their work. Food and beverage options available on-site as well as activities for all ages.
What We’re Drinking
October is Virginia Wine Month!
This is the busy time for vintners. Harvest is ending, save for grapes destined for dessert wines and vintners across the Shenandoah Valley are hard at work on their 2021 vintages. If you’ve spoken to a local winemaker this past summer, you may have heard that 2021 looks to be a fantastic year for Virginia wines. The dry summer was hard on stone-fruit crops but the vines have thrived, producing a plethora of plump, flavorful fruit.
It’s a beautiful time of year to visit a winery. Above Ground Winery opened its tasting room doors in Middleburg, VA this past summer. Having relocated from Loudon County, the owners wanted to capture the terroir of the Shenandoah Valley in their wines. At 2,100 feet elevation, the vineyard is one of the highest vineyards in the state. This coming Sunday, they will be hosting a paint and sip from 2-4pm. Enjoy some wine and create some art to give to a friend or hang on your wall.
Harvest Notes:
It’s pumpkin season! Apples are on the way out and pumpkins are here to fill all your carving, roasting and baking desires.
You’ll see many a pumpkin at your local farmer’s market, but if you want to pick your own, consider visiting one of the following farms:
Chiles Famile Orchard, Crozet
Jeter Farm, Roanoke
Layman Family Farm, Blue Ridge
Middle River Pumpkin Patch, Grottoes
Winter CSAs
Your weekly veggie share doesn’t have to end with the first frost date. Winter CSAs challenge us to seek out new recipes, get creative with cabbage (this recipe is a staple in our house) and to explore our roots— root vegetables, that is. Often, you’ll find sweet potatoes in your weekly share. This tuberous root is a delight and can be used for any meal; sweet potato-kale-egg baskets for breakfast, curry with sweet potato for lunch, roasted sweet potatoes with tahini and pomegranate for dinner….yum!. This week, Bon Appétit published 46 Best Sweet Potato Recipes to Cook This Fall. The Farro-Vegetable Hash recipe is calling to me and the ingredients have already made their way onto this week’s shopping list.
Poem of the Week
We’ve gotten a fair amount of rain these last few days. The river looks high out the back window and I’ve got mushroom caps peeking out from all over the yard. As the dog and I took our morning stroll along the greenway, feet damp and the air warm, I thought of this poem by Mary Oliver:
Mushrooms
Rain, and then
the cool pursed
lips of the wind
draw them
out of the ground -
red and yellow skulls
pummeling upward
through leaves,
through grasses,
through sand; astonishing
in their suddenness,
their quietude,
their wetness, they appear
on fall mornings, some
balancing in the earth
on one hoof
packed with poison,
others billowing
chunkily, and delicious -
those who know
walk out to gather, choosing
the benign from flocks
of glitterers, sorcerers,
russulas,
panther caps,
shark-white death angels
in their town veils
looking innocent as sugar
but full of paralysis:
to eat
is to stagger down
fast as mushrooms themselves
when they are done being perfect
and overnight
slide back under the shining
fields of rain.
Thank you for reading and until next week,
Eat Well,
Lisa