Colorful Tomato Pickle Salad (Photo provided — Yvona Fast)

We have crossed several autumnal milestones. Labor Day marked the end of summer vacation as kids went back to school. The Equinox marked the true beginning of fall — shorter days and longer nights. The Jewish season of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur also marked the beginning of the year.

Trees are in a blaze of color. Hummingbirds have left. Geese are flying south.

And our farmers are also leaving. Eileen, whose farm stand in Ray Brook I visited all summer, had her last day selling veggies in our mountains. One week after Invasion Day (aka Indigenous People’s Day, aka Columbus Day), the farmers market is moving indoors, with fewer vendors.

The peach season ended a few weeks ago. Pears were done shortly after. These have been replaced by apple season.

I already miss those juice-run-down-your-chin fresh peaches. I will miss fresh corn. (I hope to freeze some, but I know it won’t be the same.)

I will miss the variety. Many vegetables at the farmers market are not available at the supermarket and don’t come in the frozen veggie aisle. There are beets, but they only come in crimson. The farmers market has yellow ones. Cauliflower is available, but where are the purple and orange varieties?

Then there are vegetables like kohlrabi — resembling a miniature parachute or hot air balloon; tough-skinned celery root, leeks … on rare occasions, when these show up at the supermarket produce aisle, the clerk at the checkout counter looks confused, asks “what is this?” and begins flipping through the little book of code numbers.

In winter we move from the many delectable varieties of tender young potatoes to plain old large ones.

I’ve eaten the last of my homemade fermented cukes … and there are no tough-skinned baby pickling cucumbers to buy now.

Addio Pomodore (Italian) and Addio Paradisa (Serbian/Croatian) — these are different from tomatoes. Yes, you can buy so-called “fresh” tomatoes at the supermarket — those flavorless red things picked green in Mexico or California and refrigerated on their way north and east. No comparison. And of course in fewer varieties — no yellow, orange or multi-colored heirlooms.

Goodbye ’til next year.

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Colorful Tomato Pickle Salad

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A colorful salad that can accompany any meal.

Ingredients:

1 red tomato

1 yellow or orange tomato

1 or 2 pickles

Handful (about 10) pickled green beans

Few scallions or 1/2 cup diced sweet white onion

1 Tablespoon pickle juice

1 teaspoon olive oil

Crumbled feta for garnish (optional)

Directions:

Slice or dice all vegetables int a salad bowl. Stir to combine. Drizzle with pickle juice and olive oil. Stir again. Garnish with crumbled feta, if desired.

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New Potatoes with Kohlrabi and Carrots

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An elegant side dish that goes well with fish or chicken.

Ingredients:

2/3 cup vegetable broth or water

1/2 teaspoon salt (if using water)

1 kohlrabi

1 carrot

Handful or tender young potatoes — I like a combination of the small pink-flesh ones, red-skinned, and white; you can also use Adirondack blue)

1/4 cup fresh minced parsley

1 Tablespoon butter

Directions:

Peel and dice the kohlrabi. Bring broth to boil, add kohlrabi, lower heat, cover, and cook about 5 minutes. In the meantime, dice the carrot; add. Then scrub and dice the potatoes, and add. Keep simmering, with a lid, and keep an eye on the amount of liquid; if it goes dry, add a little more water or broth. When vegetables are tender, test for seasoning; add additional salt and pepper, if needed. Stir in parsley and melted butter. Serve warm. Serves 3.

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Yvona Fast lives in Lake Clear. She can be found at www.yvonafast.com and reached at yvonawrite@yahoo.com or on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter: @yvonawrites.