Greetings, Friends of First Muse,

Happy October, and our final 3 weeks of the CSA shares!

Did you see the full harvest moon this weekend? Beautiful! With harvest in mind, make your way to local farmers markets and stock up on PA apples for applesauce and apple butter; locally grown bell peppers (that are only a quarter of the price of grocery store peppers grown outside the US) which freeze nicely as strips, and will supply you through the cold months in soups, stir-frys, and pasta dishes; and winter squash and pumpkin that can be cooked, pureed, and frozen in freezer bags for up to a year. Now is the time to take those First Muse herbs and make veggie, chicken, or beef stock for cold season soups and rice. Homemade stock is so much yummier than store-bought, and it’s much more wallet-friendly.

Friends are coming next weekend to teach us to make celery salt with our cutting celery, and flavored vinegars and honeys with our oregano, sage, thyme, and lavender. What’s leftover, we’ll dehydrate and use as culinary herbs throughout the fall and winter and into spring.

Enjoy the harvest and your week,

--Calliope & Jim