As the days shorten and the garden slows, the kitchen takes center stage. This is the season of stews that simmer all afternoon, of braided garlic and baskets of root vegetables, of cast iron clanging softly in a quiet house.

We call it the autumn kitchen: not just for the food, but for the feeling. The warmth, the rhythm, and the gathering of everything we’ve grown, hunted, traded, or stored.

Let’s cook like the grandmothers did: with intention, with what we have, and with the kind of simple joy that comes from putting real food on the table.

Feature Recipe: Venison & Garden Vegetable Stew

This recipe is pure frontier comfort; rich, rustic, and packed with fall vegetables. If you don’t have venison, you can easily substitute with beef, bison, or any other red-meat variety of game but there’s something about wild game that grounds this stew in tradition.

Ingredients:

• 1½ lbs venison stew meat (or beef)
• 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour
• 2 tbsp lard or tallow
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 carrots, peeled and sliced
• 2 parsnips or turnips, cubed
• 2 cups cubed winter squash (butternut or acorn)
• 1½ cups green beans, trimmed
• ½ cup corn kernels (fresh or frozen)
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 4 cups bone broth (venison or beef)
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• Salt & cracked pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. In a gallon sized plastic bag, toss cubed venison in flour until thoroughly coated. If desired, add salt, pepper, or other spices to the mixture for flavor.
2. In a Dutch oven, heat tallow over medium-high. Brown the venison in batches. Remove and set aside.
3. Sauté onion and garlic until soft and translucent. Add tomato paste and stir until darkened.
4. Return meat to the pot. Add carrots, parsnips, squash, thyme, bay leaf, broth, salt, and pepper.
5. Bring to a boil, then lower heat and cover. Simmer for 1.5 to 2 hours.
6. Add green beans and corn in the last 20 minutes of cooking.
7. Serve with fresh cornbread or crusty sourdough—and if you’re lucky, a cool breeze through the window.

Note: If your stew hasn’t thickened to your desired consistency, you can add a cornstarch slurry (1/4 cup water + 2 tbs cornstarch, mixed well) to the pot, stir thoroughly, and cook for an extra 15 minutes.

The Seasonal Pantry Roundup

You don’t need much to eat well in autumn—just a good base and a stocked larder. These are the ingredients that carry our kitchen through the shoulder season:

Squash

Roasted, stewed, puréed. Keep a few on your porch or pantry shelves—they’ll last for months if stored dry and cool.

Zucchini

Sautéed with bacon, carved into boats and stuffed with goodies, grated into bread or fritters. This easily home grown hearty vegetable is a nutritious and highly versatile addition to both garden and kitchen.

Cornmeal

From skillet cornbread to fried mush or Johnnycakes, this is a staple you’ll reach for again and again.

Dried Beans

Pinto, cranberry, or black beans make hearty soups and filling sides. Bonus points if you grow your own and string them to dry.

Tallow

Use it to cook. Use it to care. We keep jars of rendered tallow for frying, seasoning pans, and whipping into skin balm.
Pair it with our favorite tallow balm for cracked hands and dry winter skin.

Root Veggies

Beets, carrots, onions, turnips, and the classic potato—store them in baskets or crocks and eat them slow all season long.

Set the Mood

The autumn kitchen isn’t just a place to cook, it’s where we huddle up and come back to ourselves.

• Light a candle. We love the Beverly + 3rd Apple Orchard Candle for a clean, sweet, natural fall scent that pairs perfectly with simmering broth and baking bread.
• Play some fiddle tunes or a harvest playlist.
• Pull out a wool throw for the chair in the corner, it’s stew-watching season, after all.

Heirloom Wisdom, Everyday Living

Cooking like this connects us to the land, to the people who came before, and to the ones who’ll gather around the table tonight. It doesn’t take fancy ingredients or hours of prep. It just takes a little planning, a well-loved pot, and an appreciation for the season.

We’re not chasing perfection here, we’re keeping house like the frontier taught us: with heart, with grit, and with gratitude.

—

Written by Jenny Barnett
Wild West Topos Contributor & Keeper of the Hearth
Tallow on the shelf, broth on the stove, candle lit by 5