Summertime and the Livin’ is Easy

My favorite part of gardening is watching the seeds sprout and poke up through the ground.  My second favorite part is harvesting the food. Third, is eating it.

It is immensely gratifying to actually see the results of all your hard work. Watering, weeding, keeping after pests and fungi is hard work. Never mind the transplanting and soil prep.  It’s definitely work!  But there are so few things in life where you can actually see, taste and experience such tangible and direct results.

Harvesting means menu planning.  Now, in the winter menus are usually about the finished product – casseroles, soups, stews and meatless meatloaves.  In the summer it is about making sure I have cooked rice and beans in the fridge, nuts in the pantry and a few things in the freezer.

spinach for lunch

Our morning routine is to do an inspection tour as we drink our coffee.  We stroll around the garden to check it out and to revel in the beauty.  As we listen to the birds and we see if there have been any animal/insect visits overnight, what has sprouted and what is ready to eat.

This morning?

  • Ripe tomatoes today.  Yummy! And a whole month earlier than last year – thanks to the greenhouse!
  • Spinach in full scale revolt!  it’s been too hot for them and they are complaining (otherwise known as bolting or turning to seed). In an effort to buy a little more time, I grabbed my scissors and cut back all the bolting stocks. Major haircut for the spinach – lunch for us!

On the menu today: from the garden, tomato, spinach, onion and herbs.  In the house there is spaghetti squash, garlic and pine nuts.  For lunch: a sauce from the tomato, onion, garlic and herbs.  Once the sauce is cooked;  add spinach and pine nuts and cook for another 5 minutes.  Serve over the spaghetti squash. BTW, for those who eat cheese, parmesan or feta cheese are wonderful additions.

Now I need to go check  the lettuce – hopefully there is enough for a salad with radishes, carrots and celery.  If not, I’ll just chop the carrots and celery with onion greens and top with a vinaigrette.

Oh yeah, this is the life!

Oh and here is it a picture of how it turned out. . .

Lunch from the garden as described here

About Genene Cote

Genene Coté -- Nutrition Advocate, Counselor and Coach who is also a Whole Food Plant Based Eater (vegetarian/vegan), cook and gardener.
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