Autumn in North Idaho revives one's soul. Spring and summer days filled with casually planting, weeding, mowing, mulching and trimming finally offer the bounty nurtured from seed six months ago. It's harvest time. Picking tomatoes, zucchini, pumpkins, cucumbers, onions, herbs and peppers on a crisp, dew filled fall morning create the need for an active kitchen in the afternoon. My wife and I spent our day making then freezing tomato soup, baking zucchini bread, drying hot peppers and picking the remaining cucumbers and zucchini as the vines wither from exhaustion.

After picking from the garden then setting the soup to simmer, I head to the woods to sight in my rifle in preparation for the deer, elk and bear hunting season. Spending time in the mountains is cathartic. I am always amazed how the mountains change from summer to autumn. Two months earlier while picking huckleberries in the thick brush, the mountains were emerald green. Now the umber, amber and golden leaves of the same bushes that offer my favorite purple berries lay on the ground, the green grass turns brown and the western larch begin to yellow.

I love this time of year. With the change of colors come comfort and work. I feel like a squirrel gathering and hiding nuts prior to the first snow. Filling the freezer and cupboards with harvested and prepared soups, wild game, canned fruits and vegetables and dried herbs feels like filling a savings account with hundred dollar bills, but this squirrel has more work to do.

Now that my gun is sighted in, it's time to go hunting. People have different views on the benefit or detriment of hunting. As a culinarian, I hunt for nourishment, the health benefits (both eating and the activity of hunting) and the extraordinary flavor wild game brings to the plate. Like a sun-ripened organic, heirloom tomato eaten fresh from the vine, wild game tastes better when allowed to live as the animal was intended to live. Because the animal is allowed to roam and eat naturally, the meat of the animal is healthier and has a richer flavor than domestic animals.

Wild game is a healthy and natural alternative to factory and feedlot produced meat and poultry. Preparing wild game is as easy as cooking common proteins while allowing the consumer steroid-free and growth hormone-free meat.

For one on a low fat, low calorie diet, consider wild game. Here are the nutritional comparisons.

• Beef, USDA Choice - 6.5 percent fat, 72 mg cholesterol, 180 calories

• Chicken - .7 percent fat, 62 mg cholesterol, 135 calories

• Pig - 4.9 percent fat, 71 mg cholesterol, 165 calories

• Elk - .9 percent fat, 67 mg cholesterol, 135 calories

• Deer - 1.3 percent fat, 107 mg cholesterol, 145 calories

• Bison - 1.9 percent fat, 62 mg cholesterol, 138 calories

Three recipes bring me comfort throughout the cold winter months - cream of tomato soup, zucchini bread and rack of venison with huckleberries.

Cream of Tomato Soup

1/4 cup olive oil

1 medium onion

1 t ground white pepper

6 garlic cloves

2 T fresh oregano

2 sage leaves

2 T fresh basil

1/4 cup tomato paste

2 1/2 lbs fresh ripe tomatoes, cored, seeded, quartered

2 cups heavy cream

Salt to taste

Warm oil over medium heat. Add onions and garlic and cook until soft. Add tomato paste and toast lightly. Add tomatoes and herbs and simmer for 40 minutes or until tomatoes are broken down. Puree in food processor in small batches then strain. Pour strained soup back into the pot. Add cream (more or less to your taste) white pepper and salt to taste. Bring back to simmer and serve.

Zucchini Bread

1 cup oil

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

3 cups grated and pealed zucchini

1 cup dried cranberries

2 t of your favorite spices - nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, ginger

3 cups flour

1 t baking soda

1/4 t baking powder

2 t vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream oil, sugar and vanilla together in a mixer. Add two eggs and mix. Add dry ingredients and mix well. Stir in zucchini, cranberries and nuts. Poor mixture into two buttered loaf pans. Bake for approximately 1 hour.

Rack of Venison with Huckleberries (Borrowed from "Wild About Game")

4 oz mesclun

1 full rack of venison

1 t kosher salt

1 t black pepper

3 t fresh thyme

2 T canola oil

2 T extra virgin olive oil

1 T shallot, chopped

1 T balsamic vinegar

1/2 cup huckleberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place greens in the center of two plates. Rub the salt, pepper and thyme into the meat. Heat large skillet and add canola oil. Brown meat on all sides, place meat into baking dish and place into the oven. Cook until meat thermometer reads 136 degrees in the center of the rack. Remove meat and let rest while you make the sauce. Return the skillet to the stovetop and add olive oil. Saute shallots until brown. Add balsamic vinegar and huckleberries and stir gently. When berries are warm, pour over the greens and toss. Cut rack into two-rib chops and serve on salad. Yumm!

Bill Rutherford is a psychotherapist, public speaker, elementary school counselor, adjunct college psychology instructor and executive chef, and owner of Rutherford Education Group. Please e-mail him at [email protected] and check out www.foodforthoughtcda.com.