The Art of Harvesting

The busiest times of year for a gardener are in the Spring and the Fall. My dear friend Laida invites me to photograph both the tender beginnings of her gardening season as well as its bounty. Harvesttime is what I most relish, where I have the privilege of taking in with my senses the fruits of her exquisite, sweeping, vibrant, magical vegetable garden that she tends to lovingly, with soul, for a large portion of her days. At the entrance to Laida’s autumnal garden is a stand of amaranth in potent crimson, plumes towering over me in arches heavy with fruit, ready to be harvested and transformed by her lithe hands into a protein-rich, healthy baking flour. Inside the gates you will find ripened butternut squash, beets, potatoes, parsnips, carrots, varieties of onions and tomatoes, peppers, basil, kale, and the tallest rows of corn I have ever seen. I am drawn to the rich, fuchsia pink flowers of Kiss Me Over the Garden Gate, an old-fashioned, tree-like plant with cascading chains of delicate clusters of flora, which self-seeds and grows along the edges of her garden, naturally attracting Japanese beetles, keeping them away from the food, while beautifying the garden, giving it a romantic aura. There is an art to harvesting onions which Laida has mastered… the time-intensive process of curing and storing for the cold months ahead…My friend was stirring an earthy, fresh pot of hardy tomato sauce when I visited, while I admired her latest batch of jars glistening in the light. Everywhere I turned in her home, my eyes were captivated by yet another fruit of the Harvest; like this basket of carefully arranged red, yellow and light green peppers, hot peppers, and small, oval-shaped eggplants. Sunflower heads were drying on a ledge in the greenhouse, and would soon be turned into stamps for making garden art prints. Colorful bundles of decorative Indian corn (which can be turned into hominy) adorned tables throughout the house in celebration of the Harvest. In celebration of Autumn!Happy Harvest!
XO