Scenes from Our Garden and Table

I'm still very excited about what I am reading in "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" and am going to try to document my own experience with eating locally as much as possible. Here are some pictures to illustrate.

Back in early May, ds used our new raised bed planter as his favorite hang-out. I was afraid he wouldn't give it up, so we built him a similarly sized sand box in the back yard and he has spent many happy days digging in it and leaving the box in the front yard for vegetable appreciation. Before I planted the box, though, ds got in to help turn over the soil. I couldn't imagine a more enthusiastic helpmate.




Here is the garden in its happy adolescence, the picture taken earlier this week. The lettuce had already started to bolt - we have been getting so many salad greens from Full Sun Farm (our CSA) that I left our lettuce in till the last minute, just so I could enjoy its pale green beauty next to the vibrant green and reds of the chard. Both got fully harvested a few days ago to become multiple salads and a delicious dinner of Eggs in a Nest - a recipe from Camille Kingsolver in A, V, M.








Tonight my parents came over for dinner and I prepared a chilled Patty Pan, Leek, and Buttermilk soup from Butter Beans to Blackberries, a cookbook written by Ronni Lundy, my former next-door neighbor, and an incredible resource for using up the bounty from Southern gardens. We've been getting patty pans from our CSA almost every week since mid-June. The squash has a delicate yellow skin, pale white flesh and looks like a flying saucer - who wouldn't love them? We also got the leeks from a neighboring farm featured at our farmer's market. The soup was delicious - cool, light and tangy - just perfect for a hot, humid July evening. Ds loved getting into the act by ladling it up and ate every drop from his bowl.