By LYNNE IRONS

Winter squash is a misnomer. For years I have saved them for post-summer meals. Thanks to the hideous squash bug, the vines are mostly dead and the squashes are no longer attached to anything. I see no point in leaving them in the field, probably to rot. On Saturday, Marie and I harvested a good number of hubbards, lakatas and spaghettis. We noticed that the Waltham butternut and the Tennessee sweet potato squash did not seem to be affected adversely by the bug. We left them to mature on the vine.

I peeled and seeded several small lakatas. After chopping into inch cubes, I sauteed with olive oil and chopped honey roasted cashews with a splash of red cooking wine and balsamic vinegar. Served with a crumble of feta cheese, it was delicious and not even wintery.

A couple of days last week with lower dew points did wonders for my attitude. I feel ready to get back to business. The season has progressed so rapidly that there is a feeling of fall. Hard to believe the Agricultural Fair is next weekend, not to mention the arrival of the Obamas. He is already receiving criticism about vacationing. Let’s see! He’s taken 33 days! George W. Bush took over 400 days during his presidency — over a year off! Too bad he didn’t take more!

My memory bank is in need of a bailout. There is a large, white-blooming tree on the Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road, opposite Cromwell up from Skiff Avenue. I think I inquired of my reading public last year for its identification. If not, I’m still wondering. It’s a beauty.

Kudos to Melinda De Feo. She organized a Homegrown tour of the Edgartown School garden. She is the facilitator of the project. A small but enthusiastic group attended. The garden is worth a drive-by. The children worked hard and it is obvious they are learning more than just growing food. The school holds a farmers’ market weekly.

We talked once again about eating local and mused over the failure of the 1970s back-to-the-land movement. Someone suggested the lowering of gas prices during the Reagan years. I guess, as humans, we need to have our feet held to the fire in order to bring about lasting change. I guess most of the hippies are on Facebook wondering about the status of their 401(k) plans.

Speaking of gas prices, I was thinking about the plugging of the Deepwater Horizon oil well in the Gulf of Mexico. Sunday evening the Weather Channel had a special about the Louisiana bayou culture of seafood and music. I remembered reading Evangeline, the Longfellow classic about the beginnings of the Cajuns. Try to keep up with my thought process. I rarely can.

Next, how about the famous populist Huey Long, who waged his political career by taking on big oil — notably Standard Oil in the late twenties. Then as a U.S. senator, he built his own company which drilled in the coastal wetlands.

The state of Louisiana has been cozy with Big Oil for decades at its peril. It is the closest thing America has to a petro-state. It is not unlike some of the oil and other mineral-rich nations — slow growth and lower-buying standards. The oil industry has fostered corruption and indifference to environmental damage. The Louisiana coastline has been far from pristine before the big spill. Even now Mary Landrieu, Gov. Jindal and Senator David (D.C. Madame) Vitter have called for an end to the drilling moratorium, claiming it will kill jobs.

Should the federal government take over Louisiana as in the case of General Motors? I hope this is not another missed opportunity really to change things around in our energy use worldwide. Forgive my ramblings — it’s August!