Every season, while we tinker and tweak these pages before sending them to the printer for assembly, I sit down at my desk to write this letter, a task I struggle with no matter how many times I do it. Occasionally I’ll give you a rundown of current events and these trying times (but hasn’t the news been unreal? Hoo boy, what a summer!). Maybe I’ll mention the upcoming season’s harvest and my plans for future cooking, plates laden with fall squashes/ winter stews/spring peas/summer tomatoes; there’s always something delicious on the horizon, no matter the time of year—we’re lucky like that in New England. Or it’s the weather I’m inspired by (we’ve got it all: extreme heat, bitter cold, too much rain, debilitating drought), chronicling how our food system will be impacted, what we can do to mitigate these changes, how to live with this new normal-abnormal.

But you know what? I’ve decided to give you a reprieve from all that and just throw out a summary of the excellent food writing you’re about to read, plus the introduction to a fabulous recipe and call it a day. We’ve had a hot, hectic, dry-as-a-bone summer and I’m sure everyone could use a comforting hunk of homemade focaccia—and less news—to carry us through to autumn and its reassuring routine.

When you’ve got a few minutes’ peace, grab a cup of tea and read about the challenges farmers face finding land in Massachusetts; there’s even a pair of them in Pepperell who found their successors right on their own farm. You’ll be introduced to the women in charge of Mayor Michelle Wu’s Office of Food Justice and GrowBoston, the Office of Urban Ag. You’ll take notes for your next day trip to Salem; whether you’re in search of a Haunted Happening or the Patrick Kelly show at the PEM, you’re going to need a good meal while you’re there. And I hope you’ll make stuffed fresh pastas filled with fall-centric flavors and some historical cider-based cocktails in homage to everyone’s favorite apple tree dealer, Leominster native John Chapman.

As we do every season, we curated a roundup of cool places you really should visit: There’s an experimental cocktail bar in Worcester, a cheese-and-everything-that-goes-with it shop in West Acton, an allergy-friendly bakery in JP, a store devoted to mushrooms and other foraged delights in Somerville and a Cuban sandwich pop-up inside a bagel shop that started as a pop-up itself. And once again, our friends at Barefoot Books have created content perfectly suited to the 4- to 9-year-old in your life, including a German cookie recipe and a mindfulness exercise to bring us all closer to the food we eat and where it comes from.

And now for that recipe, my gift to you; it’s a staple in our house now, as I hope it will be in yours.

FOCACCIA BARESE

Peace,

Sarah