Remembering Fall

           Remembering Fall

      We are mid-way through September, the humidity is a low 55, and the temperature is 90. Everything in sight is some shade of green, and yet because it is fall, I feel like writing about the season. There is one tree I know in Ala Moana Park which all of a sudden, drops its leaves. Not one at a time, but all at once. Strange, but nice to kick through these leaves for old times.
      All you "Mainlanders" with gardens have to look to the time in the very near future when frost arrives and kills your gardens. I should like to tell you about an old trick I learned and used, called "Pit Storage." First you dig a grave-size pit, below the frost line. Then you fill it with loose hay. Cover  the pit with an old door or sheet of plywood. Next, rip up all your cabbages, carrots, and potatoes. Just put them in the pit as they are. Do not trim. Cover with straw and forget until anytime during the winter when they are desired. This works really well, as I have used this many times.
      If you live here on one of the islands, do not try this method. The dug pit will fill with water, the food would spoil, and where would you find all that hay?  Another neat trick is to pull up all your dead green bean plants. Pull off all the beans. Next, find some stout thread and needle, and begin stringing the beans from the center, one after another, until you have what looks like a Southwest string of chili peppers called a "ristra."  Hang your string of beans where they can dry. Farm people used to call these "Leather Britches." In the winter you would shell the beans, cook and enjoy. I doubt that this would work here in Hawaii, because of the humidity, but maybe I  am wrong.
      One last thing about the fall. Cabbage sliced and sprinkled with salt becomes sauerkraut. Liquid will shortly appear,and should be messed with once in a while. The cabbage will ferment with a sharp smell. You will know when it is ready. You can it in glass jars, or give it away to people you don't really care about.

               Aloha
               Grant