Henny Penny Farmette

On the Henny Penny Farmette, the signs of autumn’s arrival are evident almost everywhere in our orchard and garden.

Lavender and sunflowers still bloom but the summer vegetable garden has run its course

I’ve made jams, cooked produce, and dried fruit. Of late, I’ve been harvesting heirloom seeds for next year’s garden. The birds will pick over what’s left and the soil can rest. Fall fruit now hangs on the trees in a showy splendor.

The pomegranate trees support a multitude of leathery-skinned, ruby-red fruit holding hundreds of sweet seeds. On the Fuyu and Hachiya persimmon trees, the golden fruits hang like ornaments. In the squash patch, French sugar pumpkins cling to dry, stringlike vines and you might find a butternut squash here or there.

We’ve harvested some pumpkins and heirloom butternut squash symbolize the arrival of autumn

I picked most of the late summer pears two weeks ago, putting a few in paper bags and storing them in a cabinet for two days. That allows them to reach the perfect ripeness for eating them fresh.

We grew corn this year, but the triple-digit heat and smoke from wildfires turned the lush, tall green plants to papery stalks before the corn really ripened. Still, before the stalks can now be composted, a few can be bundled together and placed in a porch corner to symbolize the arrival of Autumn and her festivals.

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Succulent, sweet, and juicy, ripe Hachiya persimmons are worth the wait

If you love persimmons, it might interest you to know they are from a genus known by the Greeks as Diospyros kaki, “fruit of the gods.” But these sweet fruits must be fully ripened before consuming. The Fuju and Hachiya are the two main types grown in Northern California gardens. My favorite is the Hachiya; it has to be one of the most sensuous and luscious fruits on the planet to eat.

The Fuju fruit is more like an apple in shape and texture. You can differentiate it from the Hachiya because Fuju is squat and firm-fleshed, reddish yellow, and about the size of a baseball whereas the Hachiya fruit is pendulous-shaped, soft like an overripe plum, orange-scarlet in color, and about the size of a hefty apple or softball. Tamopan is a larger persimmon with a shape like a turban whereas Chocolate is so-named for its brown streaks; its flesh is quite sweet.

Persimmon trees look stunning in a garden, possessing outstanding ornamental qualities. They are relatively pest-free and produce consistently when mature. These small trees are easy to grow, have striking foliage and interesting branch structure, exposed after the leaves have fallen in autumn. They can even be espaliered against a frame or wall.

Hachiya persimmons are astringent on the tongue unless eaten when they are fully soft-ripe. Birds love them, too, so you have to pick them before they are pecked. Ripen in the kitchen before eating or cooking with them. If you want to dry persimmons, pick while the fruit is still firm and with some stem. Tie a string around the stem and hang in the sun until the fruit becomes dried. It will taste something like a high-quality prune or lichti.