The work of harvest

By fall my gardening brings me indoors. After the kids are in bed I turn to a task.

Boiling elderberries into cough fighting syrup. Shelling Anasazi beans. Crushing dried nettles into glass jars. Cracking walnuts and digging out the sweat meat. Slicing hundreds of tiny chile peppers. Cutting tomatillos into small half moons and placing them on a drying rack.

My plants sleep but I am awake.

 Walnuts, from my tree, to be cracked:

Anasazi beans to be shelled:

 Pomegranates (from a friend’s tree) to be made into syrup, if not eaten first:

 Elderberries (from Red Tractor Farm) to be made into syrup:

Elderberry syrup:

Nettles ready for drying:

Drying nettles, corn silk, red raspberry leaf, oregano:

A very prolific hot chile harvest to be preserved:

Pickled chiles:

Boxes of grapes (from mine and a friend’s vine) to be made into grape juice:

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Edible Santa Fe

Edible celebrates New Mexico's food culture, season by season. We believe that knowing where our food comes from is a powerful thing. With our high-quality, aesthetically pleasing and informative publication, we inspire readers to support and celebrate the growers, producers, chefs, beverage and food artisans, and other food professionals in our community.

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