It’s Fall & It is NOT Sweater Weather

I’m dreaming of 60 degree weather & what the warm temps mean for produce

I’m so sick of the heat and summer weather. The Twin Cities Marathon, which I have cheered people on in for years in the wind and cold and rain, got canceled early this morning due to the weather being dangerously hot and humid. If you needed a concrete, in-your-face example of climate change, it’s this. That, and I have been able to wear long sleeves to work only ONE day since the start of the school year. This is not normal, and yet it’s the new normal. 

one good thing about the warm temps is that I can enjoy an onion bialy with whitefish salad, radish, & dill from Asa’s Bakery by the lake for another weekend

With sustained higher temperatures in the upper Midwest, allergies are at an all time high, the wasps are still out and aggressive as ever, and our air conditioning has been running off and on all weekend. UGH. As a person with summer seasonal affective disorder (SAD), the weather is not a surface level concern. It deeply affects me, and it’s made the last few weeks really hard. I know that people joke that talking about the weather is the worst kind of small talk. But up here, we have a lot of weather variation, so it is an earnestly important part of daily life. There are regular 30 degree swings in temperature, which often means that we have to dress very intentionally, and that in the mornings I’ll be chilly but by the afternoon I am sweating and red-faced from the heat. 

My anxiety is higher when it’s hot and I go from neutral to panic much faster and without much logic between those two steps. When it’s cooler, I’m able to regulate both my temperature and my anxiety much more easily. So for very good reasons, I HATE being hot, and the weather usually directs how I cook. This has me wondering what people do in warm climates when fall rolls around. Without the transitional season and cooler temps, are they making soup and braised root veggies in the oven in 90 degree heat? I think the answer is yes, and this is unfortunately going to be our future too in the Deep North more often than not. 

This is going to take a lot of getting used to - how to dress in fall colors without wearing long sleeves or pants, how to cook with fall flavors without running the oven for too long, and thinking of new ways to appreciate end of summer tomatoes for a few weeks longer! It’ll be a little bit of a challenge, but humans are adaptable so I’m sure in a few years, this will easily be my new normal for this time of year!

my pouty comfort breakfast this weekend: toast with butter and chai cinnamon sugar

Fall Produce Storage

Veggies are so different now than they were even a month ago! The Deep North is so special because the food that grows is abundant and fleeting. You’re going to eat your fill of corn, but then when it’s time to move on to the squash, many of us are not shedding a tear about not eating corn until next year. 

Fall is here despite the warmer temps. Soon we will be getting squash and storage crops like root veggies and I cannot wait! Most of the veggies below are still very summer-y but there will be more fall veg coming soon. Here is how to store these veggies you’re seeing at the grocery store, co-op, or farmer’s market: 

• Dill - Treat these like flowers: a little bit of water in a jar (make sure it’s just on the stems and no leaves are touching the water for max freshness), then put a plastic bag over the top and zip it closed as much as you can and/or use a rubber band around the plastic at the top of the jar. Carefully squeeze the air out of the bag. 

• Garlic - This garlic is cured so it can be kept on the counter or in a cool, dry place. I usually throw them in the same bowl as the onions.

• Jalapeño peppers - Zip top bag in the fridge

• Lettuce head - Zip top bag in the fridge with a paper towel to absorb moisture

• Onions - At this point in the season, these onions are cured so you can store them on the counter or in a cool dry place (away from your potatoes).

Our fall CSA starts next week so here’s hoping we get some more fall-ish produce! 🤞

Check out the early summer produce, mid-summer produce, and end of summer produce newsletters for more if you’re also not in fall veg season yet.

The time lapse below is what it looks like for me to unpack and process our veggies from this week!

Autumn-ish Meal Planning

As you know, I’m a soup girlie so that will always be an easy way to use up the vegetables we get in our CSA. This week was our last summer CSA box of the season! Now we will be getting a fall box every other week with lots more storage crops for the cooler months. The key to early autumn meal planning is still focused on eating or preserving the food. We are not yet in the more laid back seasons when you can let the produce chill on the counter for a few days. So until then, here is how we are using up the produce in our box:

• Friday dinner: frozen dumplings and quick pickled veg w/ rice

  • uses cucumbers, carrots, bell peppers, cherry tomatoes

• Saturday dinner: braised apple cider pork loin with roasted veg

  • uses fennel, carrots, onions, swiss chard

• Sunday dinner: pasta and meatballs with fresh tomato sauce w/ salad

  • uses heirloom tomatoes, lettuce head

• Monday dinner: cold noodle salad with spicy peanut sauce

  • uses bell peppers, cabbage, jalapeno peppers

• Tuesday dinner: roasted potatoes with salad

  • uses potatoes, lettuce head

• Wednesday dinner: grilled chicken and remaining veg

  • uses whatever we have left!

We’ll snack on ground cherries, kale will be stripped from the stems and go right into the freezer for use throughout the winter as usual, and extra tomatoes will also go straight into the freezer to be thawed and peeled for sauce this winter.

Welcome (almost) to fall produce, the transition season, and the return of the sheet pan and ovens on without breaking into a sweat. It’s not quite here yet, but we are eagerly waiting.

Things I Like

• This jumpsuit 😍

• Outfit planning for upcoming trips! I usually draw out my clothes, but I have friends who use Pinterest or who make a slideshow with all the clothes they’ll wear. 

• Our chest freezer! Being able to stock up is a privilege and a gift. 

• Travel agents still exist and we have loved our experience with our agent! They are so helpful in trip planning when you’re going somewhere new and/or for a long time. 

• My bread machine! There’s nothing like pumpkin bread (that isn’t a sweet pumpkin bread) with a thick slab of butter and a bowl of soup. 

May your week be gentle and may you eat well. 🌲🥣