TONIGHT: Baked winter squash, cannelini beans, and red chard

The weather turned crappy overnight -- substantial rain, and a high today of only 60. We've been favoured with an extended Indian summer right up to yesterday: sunny and dry and into the 70s most days in October, but now it's over for the year, I think. The previous day I had harvested my shelling beans (speckled bays) and also seed heads from my fennel and lovage plants, knowing this was coming, and tomorrow I'll pick my remaining tomatoes and zucchini. The bell peppers can hang on for a while yet, unless it turns really damp and cold for days on end.

So this was a fine meal for a fall night -- thick slices of Blue Kuri squash tossed in olive oil with salt and pepper and baked in the oven for half an hour or so; red chard braised with onion and garlic, and cannelini beans cooked with garlic and sage, seasoned with salt and pepper and lots of olive oil. With grated pecorino cheese, it made a substantial and colourful meal.

This is my first entry for several months. An eventful summer made it hard to write and do as much gardening and cooking as I would have liked, but in any case it's always easier to write in the fall . . .