For the week of July 21, 2008, we got cucumber, Basil, Onion (fresh – keep in fridge), Zucchini, Sweet corn, beans and PLUMS – the variety is Methley.

Basil and tomatoes – my favorite time of summer produce! Break out those pesto recipes. If you don’t eat pasta, you can use your pesto with rice, potatoes or meat.

This past week I made my first batch of chilled herb soup. Great for hot weather. There are many variations, but the basics include something like this:

Chop and saute onions, zucchini, celery, etc in butter or olive oil for about five minutes until onions are translucent. Then throw in 2-3 cups of chopped herbs and sauté for another couple minutes. Cover with 6 cups of broth. Simmer for five minutes and then take off the stove and allow to cool. Liquefy in a blender and put in a casserole dish or soup tureen with a lid. Add about a cup of yogurt or sour cream. Add spices e.g. salt, pepper, cumin, nutmeg, etc Stir and chill for several hours. When serving, top with fresh chopped herbs. Keeps well for several days.

You may find the Institute for Nature & Leadership and their newsletter appealing. The purpose of the group is “to provide resources and inspiration to live in greater connection with the natural world and your authentic self.” In their Summer 2008 newsletter, there is an article about the Permaculture farming concept of zero waste also called, reciprocity. The concept of reciprocity can be applied to everything – not just growing food. It is one of Nature’s best themes. From the newsletter…

“Here’s a definition of “reciprocity” given by the on-line permaculture course offered by Heathcoat Community in northern Maryland: “This (reciprocity) means there is a give and a take between elements. The output from one element can be an input for another element. A good example of this is composting. Kitchen scraps could be an output from our kitchen where we have left over organic matter and we use that as an input to our compost pile. When it’s in the compost pile it will turn into a valuable fertilizer which we can then put on our garden. And then an output of our garden is food which would again be an input into the kitchen. So, you can see that the inputs and the outputs are circulating within our system — Kitchen scraps to compost pile to fertilizer for garden to food from garden to kitchen scraps.” (For more info on composting, see Compost Guide).”

Enjoy,

Erin
Sandy Spring CSA