It's Harvest Time!
Summer has come to an end, and the Harvest Moon rises, so it’s time to pick tender summer crops in the garden before the first frost. However, there are some crops that will continue to thrive with a bit of cold weather, allowing for an extended harvest.
What to Pick Under the Harvest Moon
The Full Harvest Moon is this Saturday, September 26th, 2026. The Harvest Moon is always the full moon nearest to the autumn equinox in the Northern Hemisphere. The Harvest Moon is given this name because the extra light helped farmers to work in the fields or garden well into the evening or night.
Right now, it’s time to clear tender vegetables like tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, and string beans. Once all the vegetables have been picked, the main stems will simply be cut at the soil line. Keeping the roots in allows them to naturally break down, which feed the soil microbiome.
Next, let the weeds grow wild! No more picking weeds, in fact, letting weeds like clover and the other roots stay in the ground while it’s cold is known as a cover crop. Cover crops penetrate nutrients under the cold surface all winter long. The disadvantages of not having a cover crop include soil erosion, lost topsoil, and a less diverse soil microbiome for next year.
I would be remiss if I didn’t point out the similarities in soil and human microbiomes. They both need diversity, they both act as decomposition systems, and they both act according to environmental stress or the lack thereof.
The direct connection? Eating fresh, plant-based foods transfers beneficial soil-associated nutrients directly into the human gut microbiome.
Crops to Leave in the Ground
Not everything must go just yet… I will be leaving root vegetables like carrots and potatoes in the ground longer because the cold converts their starches into natural sugars, giving them a more nutritious taste.
Also getting a second wind are the hardy greens like Swiss chard, arugula, and lettuce. They have been re-planted in my garden after the first round ended, known as succession planting, because hardy greens do better and taste better with some cold as well.
From Garden to Pantry
Finally, once the summer vegetables and herbs have been picked, it’s time to chop, dry, freeze, jar, and save seeds for next year! My favorite thing to do at harvest time is to dry all my fresh herbs. Next comes cooking seasonal dishes like turkey, soups, chillies, and roasted vegetables to keep warm during winter.
Sow Health, Reap Happiness
Good health can be really simple, in that we must eat well to feel well. When we sow seeds into an abundance of our own crops, we reap the rewards. It connects physical work into physical health and leads to a more simple, joyful life. It truly is reaping happiness when you can pick a gorgeous red tomato that you started from just a seed. Psychologically, when you eat your own yield, your brain experiences a chemical release of dopamine and serotonin. This is the biological "reward system" for completing any task, and in this case, it completes an ancestral cycle that goes back to evolutionary foragers and cultivators.
Let us all continue this satisfying work, whether you have a full garden or just a few pots, we can grow our own food, one seed at a time. Sow health, grow goodness, reap happiness.
I can say with certainty that at the end of my first garden of the first year on my homestead, I am proud and thankful for this year’s bounty.
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