July 21st, 2006 - One local summer: Week 4
I’m sounding like a broken record, but it was salads again this week. This challenge just happens to be during prime season for lettuces in my garden, so I can’t justify spending money on other products (if I could even find them) right now. The lettuce, I’m sure, will start to bolt soon. But should last until at least next week. But then we’ll be on to other produce!
Maggie and I have had salads a couple of times. (Pictures may be posted later on. I keep forgetting about them when at home!) On Wednesday, I went to a potluck, and brought a local salad, too. I proudly announced it’s complete localness to the other eaters as well! They all thought that was pretty cool! Maggie went to the garden to help me pick some extra lettuce when I realized I didn’t have enough. It’s the first time she’s been out there since I planted. She doesn’t understand rows/aisles of course, so I’ve not wanted to let her wreak havoc unintentionally. It’s pretty safe now, however, since everything is so large. She stood quietly and watched me pick the lettuce, then we checked out the peas. I picked on and handed it to her–and she actually ate the whole thing! At dinner, she’ll usually not eat more than one bit of a pea pod. I don’t know if it tasted better straight from the vine (I think so!) or it was the novelty of it. But she at the entire pod! woohoo!
Eric had a salad last night as well, but his had mushrooms on it (ooops, so did Maggie’s, but she didn’t eat them, so I guess it still counts as local anyway).
I also made a salad dressing for the potluck–homemade yogurt, a bit of milk, ground dried veggies from last summer, fresh chives, and dried dill from either my Mom’s or my Grandmother’s garden. Not local here, but at least homegrown! My dill isn’t looking too good–I bought it half price at the end of the selling season. While this was a cheap way to get dill and basil, neither has grown much since planting. The cilantro I planted as seeds however has taken off. I need to harvest some tomorrow!