I could not be happier to see the first week of fall. It is so wonderfully cool and clear. The gardens are looking spectacular in this lower light. One must look, of course, with a soft eye to avoid seeing weeds and dead flower stalks. The wild goldenrod I neglected to pull now looks like I planned it. Once again, I shall take credit for Mother Nature’s work.

One more plus in the fall season — I found a parking space twice this week.

A large portion of Flat Point Farm in West Tisbury has been permanently placed in conservation thanks to a purchase by the Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank completed last week.

What a busy weekend for our family. We had a wonderful end-of-summer soiree in the vegetable garden. I was able to pick a boatload of potatoes to serve to the guests. I cut them into small chunks, added an entire stick of butter (no water) and steamed them in a cast-iron Dutch oven over a charcoal fire.

We enjoyed tons of vegetables raw in salads. Grandson Christian ground up some Canada goose into burger patties. Everyone brave enough to try them was pleasantly surprised.

“A man’s kitchen is a reflection of himself,” the great French chef Alain Chapel confidently reflected as he looked upon his kitchen.

I love when the previous week’s column gives me some material for this week. I talked about the extended family of turkeys in my yard and how if times really got tough I could have one for supper. I meant to say . . . “talk about local” but it printed up low-cal. I guess that would work as a sentence too! I’ve never really cared about calories so I probably wouldn’t say that.

Here we are . . . the end of another summer. I know the following sentence bespeaks my advancing age . . . where does the time go? Wasn’t Memorial Day just a few weeks ago?