The Sun News - Editor, Leland Lehrman

A good frost a few nights ago turned leaves golden and late ripening apples sweet and juicy. My Asian pear tree is still not ripe enough, waiting for more cold and frosts to convert starches in its fleshy fruit into sugars and juice.

Quince, a nearly forgotten fruit of the Old World, is in its prime – fragrant and delicious, and just right for making chutneys, jellies and preserves. In many parts of the world, it is considered the queen of the fruit, best of the best of flavors. I tend to agree, although peaches are still very high on my preference chart. Our first experience with cooking quince was disappointing – instead of the promised deep purple or pink jelly, ours came out in an unimpressive shade of light yellow. No matter how much Scott and I dug through the books, we could not find an answer to such a turn of events. But then he called our Iranian friend, Zara, for a consultation. Peaches, apricots, apples and quince originated in Asia, where growing conditions are not that different from ours – thin soils, strong winds, hot and dry summer, occasional floods & monsoonal rains, cold winters. So we have a lot to learn from this region, both in the way of gardening and in the way of cooking and savoring the fruit.

Zara told us how her cousins used to compete for the most beautiful color of quince preserves, holding their jars against candle light for the best effect. She said quince needs to be cooked over a long period of time, on and off, allowing it to deepen in color and flavor. Ideally, it is also cooked in a copper pot (something that we don’t have) – this probably helps with the color! Scott and I followed her recommendation and cooked the next batch for several days – bring it to boil, turn it off, let is cool, repeat. The resulting jelly was a beautiful shade of deep pink, delicious and fragrant. Most likely, it would not take first place in a competition with Zara’s cousins, but it did look very good!

While it looks like the season is definitely over, life still lingers in the garden. Garlic is planted just about now – in thick leaf mulch, one big clove after another, a 25-foot row is said to be enough for one year for a family of four. The best garlic seed is found at the farmers’ market and it is time to hurry if you want to harvest it next summer. Garlic makes a very handsome petite garden hedge and it blends well with ornamental and edible plants, so plant accordingly. Garden greens – those that were allowed to bloom and set seed – are reseeding right now, with a medley of tiny young plants visible in your garden. Water them well on a warm day and cover with fluffy leaf or straw mulch – they will surprise you in early spring, way before anything else can be started out in the open ground.

Fallen leaves make the best mulch, so if your neighbors are raking theirs – get them to drop the leaves in your yard, hopefully they are organic neighbors! Compost or cover your planted areas with them – either way works, just don’t forget to water them occasionally to facilitate breakdown. Another source of great mulch is what comes out of the garden after it is deadheaded and pruned back. Use all that plant material for mulching under your fruit trees or around the garden – with very little fuss you can make it look good, believe me! Mullen, sages, agastaches, blue mist spirea, Russian sage, Echinacea, gaillardia are some of the plants that you can prune for this purpose. Mulch that comes from them will reseed, contributing to a more diverse orchard or a garden hedge. Just add some leaves or straw mulch for thickness, sprinkle some compost on top for nutrition and looks (if it matters) and return to your kitchen to stir up the quince chutney. It is the beginning of sleepy times in the outdoors.

Arina Pittman is a farmer, designer, gardener and sustainability practitioner. She lives in Jacona, NM among her chickens, goats and fruit trees, and runs “Lots of Life in One Place”, a permaculture demonstration farm with focus in Sustainable Living in Drylands. You can learn more about upcoming permaculture classes and applications on Arina’s website, www.permaculture.org , or read her blog on Farming & Permaculture at www.lotsoflifeinoneplace.blogspot.com