To end this first week's roll call of how I am putting up the harvest 2015, I am going to make plenty from the spoils of Mother Nature. Well, not really spoils, but to some may be seen as spoils. See, here in Calgary this week, we've been hammered by a few big storms as they have swept through our town with deluges and flash floods and huge garden-decimating hail. There was even a tornado spotted just outside of the city this week. I don't know how it is where you live, but our summers here are so very brief that for one to dedicate your time and love to growing a vegetable patch in this so very short season (always turbulent; hey, it's the Prairies!), it's pretty heart-breaking when in one fell swoop of Mother Nature's whim, your hard work and dedication can be wiped out just like that.
Read moreWe are taking a regularly scheduled break from tomatoes. Fret not, we will return to tomatoes, but goodness knows there is a lot more out there that could be 'put up' from your favourite road side stand or farmers' market. And this one is a bit more time-sensitive (as will be tomorrow's). These things, they're all contingent on having that extra hour window of time where you can do the work that needs to happen.
Read moreTomato tomato tomato tomato tomato tomato tomato. All around me these days there are tomatoes. They are fresh, they are juicy, they are plump, they are delicious, they are plentiful, and I feel this urgent need to somehow retain this brief snapshot of summer sun and heat and flavour that it is all I do, it seems, is figure out ways to keep that tomato lovin going all year round.
Read moreI love tomatoes. This is no lie. They are so versatile, wouldn't you agree? I mean they make ketchup, they make tomato sauce, pasta sauce, pizza sauce, marinara sauce, puttanesca sauce, not to mention supplying the base for luscious soups and stews, chilis, and stuffed they are a delicious side dish, and simply sliced with balsamic and olive oil and maybe some basil and maybe fresh burrata cheese and olives if you have em, they're a slice o' heaven. They are the epitome of August and late hot summer weather, one of my most favourite times of the year. And so, it seems to me we should somehow bottle this late summer hazy feeling, no?
Witness: the slow roasted tomato.
Read moreIt's that time of year, when your neighbour comes knocking with baseball-bat-sized zucchini they are desperately giving away to good homes; where your herbs are growing wildly out of control despite your best intentions to use them up during the BBQ season. It's also the perfect time to saunter on down to the Farmers' Market and load up on local foods in big quantities: the price is right (especially when you are buying in bigger quantities), the nutrients are dense, and you have a few lazy days ahead of you which means perfect timing for a preserving frenzy in your near future.
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