heirloom peas coming in

my mom & dad visited this place last fall and brought home some heirloom peas that the gardener shared with them. 

they are just starting to come in...time to start shellin'! 

little lemons

coming soon . . .

   scale:  |--------------------| = 1/2 inch

sage, oh the wonders...

my mom carried this sage plant home with her from italy years ago. they had eaten fried sage leaves while there and she found this large-leaved variety and tucked it in her bag and flew it on home. the leaves are indeed larger than most sages found here, but i bet a similar specimen could be found.

we cook alot this time of year- one thing we like to do is fry up these leaves and eat them straight up. or chop them up on top of a red sauce pasta, or like tonight, served them as a side dish to fresh pesto.

yum.

to make: pick your sage leaves. wash and dry them. whisk one egg with 1 tablespoon of cold water and place in bowl. in another bowl, place 1/2 cup of good cornmeal. meanwhile heat some olive oil in a pan 'til it sizzles. take each leaf, drag through egg mixture on both sides, ditto for the cornmeal, then place in hot skillet. cook 'til browned on both sides. remove and place on paper towel to drain. then, eat up! (note: you might could make these vegan, omitting the egg- use ice cold water, then do the cornmeal dip, and then fry...)

plants i am loving

these are a few of my favorite plants right now. all are 'performing', meaning that they are in bloom or plume, and they all mix well together. they sit in the same bed- full sun- and all ended up there by accident. they were either transplants from other areas of the garden, gifts from friends (but we did not know what they were), or unmarked seeds that surprised us (in the best of ways!).

from top to bottom: borage, lemon geranium, a grass whose name escapes me at the moment, my all time fav 'jewels of opar', fennel and bolted parsley, mixed in with lamb's ear blooms

csa goodness

we used to not think we needed to do a csa* box- we had a big garden, producing more than we could eat. 

then, the drought hit. after two summers of less-than-impressive yields in our backyard plot, due to the lack of rain, we decided to get a csa box from one of our local farms. we get ours every tuesday from woodland gardens. they grow for some of the area's best restaurants (here, here, and here).

what we like about it is the fact that they grow different things than we do, and it makes us have to learn to cook 'em. also, getting a box gives a feeling of comraderie- we visit with the other eaters each week when we pick it up.

oh, and you really feel inspired to cook it all, before it goes bad- you hate to let something so beautiful go to waste!

this week we had: fennel bulbs, fresh strawberries, red carrots, microgreens, kale, new potatoes,  & lettuce

* csa= community supported agriculture

happiness is . . .

. . . a full plum tree:

and also, here.

gardenia beauty...

...over here.

rounds in the garden

the garden is verdant from all the rain- a big difference from the last two years...after living through the worst drought in a hundred years, we are now living with afternoon rain showers, like the old days.

growing season is upon us!

{photos above: the 'emerald', and down by the stream}