Fall Memories by Heather Gooden
It’s fall again; the time of year when the air smells rich, teeming with life and death simultaneously.
In between trying to keep up with the regular household chores, this time of year also makes me yearn to go outside and tidy it all up.
As a child, I remember spending long days harvesting vegetables with my grandparents. I loved the way everyone would pitch in and pick an entire field of corn, then I’d watch as my grandmothers blanched it, and my grandfather would use the coolest electric knife to take the kernels off. I would hold a freezer bag open as he filled it, then suck out all the air, twist it, and put on a twist tie to close it as tight as I could, my hands so sticky from the juice I smelled like corn myself.
At the time, I didn’t realize how much these memories shaped me. Now, as I look back, I can’t help wish I’d appreciated it more. But even then, even as I balked at the work, I loved the way the sun would warm my skin. Cool breezes caught the yellow and orange leaves and pulled them off the trees, then we’d rake them all into a large pile and burrow through them, hiding from the adults to jump out and scare them.
(They knew, of course they knew, but pretended to be surprised when we shot out of the leaves as they walked past.)
Fall also brings Thanksgiving, a time for enjoying the fruits of our labour throughout the summer, turkey, and more pie than one person should ever eat.
One of my favourite dishes is one I started making my first adult thanksgiving, an easy sweet potato casserole. I’m sure it could be classified as a dessert, but the recipe said it’s a casserole so I’m sticking with that.
I haven’t met anyone yet who didn’t like it (including my father-in-law who doesn’t like sweet potato) because it’s just that good.
It had become a staple of most of our fall and winter holidays, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
Requiring very few ingredients, the hardest part is precooking the sweet potato itself. Follow THIS link to the recipe:::
Enjoy!
Readers, make sure you check out Heather’s latest release:
2020 was a year that changed life as we know it.
In this collection of poetry and prose, Gooden explores her longing for more than her daily routine as she makes her way through a “once in a lifetime” world event.
In the middle of turmoil, she creates magic in the mundane as she examines her life in an honest, poignant, and often irreverent way.
