Fresh chanterelle mushroom.
Seasons change. The rain comes. The last of our summer crops wither. But we are still thankful. In Northern California the fall and winter rains bring the “green season”, and the green season brings its own treats. And our favorite treat is the chanterelle mushrooms. Chanterelles are beautiful, meaty and tasty. The chanterelle emerge after early season rains, and our friend Bill has a steady crop. Bill invited us over to take photos and grab some mushrooms (and he didn’t have to ask us twice). It was a good haul and the chanterelles will be on our Thanksgiving table. Bill will be there too, so he gets to enjoy his mushrooms. Thanks Bill!
Big chanterelle.
A good haul…don’t worry, they clean up nice…
Now that we have the mushrooms and the holiday is coming, we look around the farm to see what else will reach the table. We have olives, but they will stay on the tree (probably). The pomegranates cracked with the rains, but we managed a few tastes. The Oranges need more time, but the Meyer Lemons are in full swing. We will make some kind of punch with the Meyer Lemons for Thanksgiving. The Kaffir limes are still inedible, but the leaves remain a delight, bringing southeast Asian flavors to our dishes. Our friend Anne shared some of her Hachiya Persimmons, if they ripen soon enough they will make for an excellent dessert (thanks Anne!). And the herbs are very happy with the rains…plenty of flavor left. Plenty of things to be thankful for.
Hachiya Persimmons.
Pomegranate that’s seen better days…
Young Eureka lemon, a few months away from being ripe.
Cara-cara orange. Pretty but rarely sweet enough…too cold.
Meyer Lemons. The tree is sagging under the weight of the lemons.
A Kaffir Lime. The rind smells great but the fruit is very acidic.
Kaffir lime leaf. This is what you cook with. Good stuff.
The basil is still happy.
Lemon Verbena.
The squirrels decided to do a little “foraging” of their own….
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Putney Farm 
I want to live where you live!
Thanks- we do love NorCal…
It take a generous man to show you the whereabouts of his chanterelle patch! I keep my secret spot on my GPS, which is then encrypted and kept under lock and key.
I’m generous AFTER I cook ’em. Stingy and secretive about the rest!
Since we are often the cooks, it all stays “in the family”…and he does have a larger stash that I haven’t seen…
I love foraging, haven’t managed to do much this year because the rain has made it difficult. Nothing I forage looks quite so tasty as what you have around you mind!
Thanks! We would like to have more mushrooms on our land…but so far lots of “inedibles”…we keep looking…
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Heavens, I’m jealous! All that bounty. I foraged for chanterelles for the first time this year and had so much fun. Unfortunately, it’s a bad year for them up here. So we had two meals and that was that. Sounds like your Thanksgiving table will be stunning.
Thanks! We will see about the rest, but we know the mushrooms will be good!
These are great pictures!
Thanks!
Oh for fresh, truly fresh chanterelles!! Take me back to France I demand !!
love dthe shot of the pommegranate – even if it dod mean you didn’t get to enjoy it, it made for a great photo 🙂
Thanks! We did get to enjoy some of the pomegranates…but so did the critters…such is life in the garden…
Utterly delicious photos – we eat a lot of Chanterelles in Sweden – my favorite mushroom – the flavor is so fabulous … Do you have olive trees too??? You must be running the Garden of Eden with all that goodies.
We do have olive trees, but still trying to figure out what they are and how to use the olives. Some are good for eating, but some mostly ornamental…you may see some “experiments” soon.
Loads of energy in the “stones” – we have a company in Sweden that create energy from olive “stones” – I kilo olives will give you a warm bath and 25 smoothies.
You’re sitting own a fortune.
I love mine marinaded.
What a beautiful post. The photos of all the produce are stunning!
daisy
Thanks! Most appreciated!
Gorgeous photos, I’m envious of all the bounty, but really…you had me at “lemon verbena”!
Thanks! We love the verbena…we run our hands through it every time we walk by…it smells delightful…
I’m loving Meyer lemons for all of my cocktails right now. Especially The Bullseye!
The bullseye is very tasty…and should be even better with the Meyers…my need to make one tonight!
I really enjoyed this post! The pictures are colorful and beautiful and the chanterelles… I can almost taste them!. I am one of those cooks that couldn’t live without mushrooms… and all varieties of them!. I’ve never found chanterelles when muchroom hunting, but my father-in-law lives on a small farm north of the city that I live in, and on his land, during the right season, there are a generous supply of morale mushrooms! I make a morale mushroom pizza for my husband, that is his favorite! I also enjoyed seeing the Kaffir lime. Interesting… I’ve not been exposed to them and now I’m on a hunt for one :0
Thank you very much for sharing!!
~ Jen
Thanks for the visit. The Kaffir limes can be hard to find, since most people value the leaves (in some countries they use the juice as a cleanser- it is so acidic). But some farmer’s markets will have Kaffir limes…and some backyards have them, as the Kaffir limes can handle cold weather.
Funny, we still haven’t found a good mushroom stash on our property…but it is good to have generous neighbors!
Those lemons are gorgeous!
Thanks! They are very tasty, too…sorbet on the way…
Everything looks fantastic! I especially love the persimmons as my aunt has a tree in her backyard 🙂
Persimmon bread recipe coming- very, very tasty..
Ooh! Can’t wait!
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