Walking through an Autumnal forest is an experience akin to walking the sacred aisle of a holy sanctuary. Multicolored leaves litter the ground like the broken panes of a great cathedral. A hush falls over the landscape only to be broken by the rustle of foraging creatures.

So much is to be gathered from field and forest during this season of harvest and the following sausage recipe has been handed down through the generations of my family. Each kitchen in which it has been prepared has added ingredients but the basic idea remains untouched. A soul warming food made from that which the woods and water provide.

Apple, Walnut, Wild Rice, Duck Sausage

3 lbs wild duck meat

2 lbs ground pork or country pork sausage

3 medium onions chopped

2 apples peeled and chopped

3 cups unseasoned bread crumbs

1/2 cup raisins

Run these ingredients through a meat grinder then add:

1 teaspoon ginger

1/4 teaspoon allspice

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1 cup cooked wild rice

1/2 cup morel mushrooms cooked and minced

1/4 cup black walnuts ground into powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Combine well and chill covered overnight to flavor through.

Fry as  patties, bake as a meatloaf topped with rich ketchup, or put into casings as sausage.