Under the harvest moon

Under the harvest moon,

When the soft silver

Drips shimmering

Over the garden nights,

Death, the gray mocker,

Comes and whispers to you

As a beautiful friend

Who remembers.

Carl Sandburg, American Poet

With the cool summer slowing crops and hearts, the heat of fall is here. Time to feast on the bounty of harvest streaming into farmers markets, here in California and across the land. Find pumpkins and parsnips, peppers and potatoes. All good things were waiting for me a few weeks ago at the year-round market in Roseville.

I walked the market with Joanne Neft, a long-time promoter of Placer County farmers markets, and an outstanding chef and cookbook author. With winter only a few months away, she says fall is the best time to get it all, soft fruit and berries (I tasted some mountain peaches that kissed my tongue) admired root crops, and munched raw corn at its most tender moment.

Here’s a sampling of what we found:

We hope you'll venture to your local farmers market while the silver moon still shimmers over the treasures of the garden. To find farmers markets in California, look online at www.cafarmersmarkets.com/ and click on "Find a Market." Bring the kids, don't forget the camera.