Wednesday, August 30, 2017

August Garden - Dedicated to Chipmunks


Imagine you are a tiny animal . . .  in a Great Lakes summer. The path from your burrow is a wild colorful canopy of Nasturtium stems and aggressive Morning Glory vines. In this brilliant jungle the tantalizing fragrances of thyme and basil, rosemary and mint spin into morning mists filling your tiny but powerful lungs. Your home paradise is my herb garden.

Our other garden, is void of small mammals. Only we large hopeful humans come to observe and pamper and gather the fruits from struggling vegetable vines for our own sustenance.

These two gardens and frequent trips to the weekly farmer’s market have been the source of steady day by day preservation of food. We have stored in dozens of jars fruits from trees and bushes along Michigan’s third coast, amazing blueberries, peaches, apricots, combining strawberries and tangy rhubarb. Most have jelled, though the magic of heated fruit and sugar still eludes me and I am forced to label many of these special flavors as “sauce”.



Tomatoes, however . . . Ah tomatoes. We wait all summer for August when solid brilliant globes of red and gold fill baskets then jars of soups, juice, pasta sauce. With our trusty Victorio bound to the kitchen counter we team up to begin quartering, grinding, and filling a very large steel bowl with thick seedless tomato juice. Of course we cannot go through this process without our mouths watering and begging for juicy pieces that dribble down chins and arms. My mouth is watering now just telling you about this wonder of the earth.


Now go, make yourself a great tomato sandwich with all the supporting actors – mayonnaise, lettuce, cheese. Go and take in these pleasures of our world.
While you enjoy these gifts you may want to take a look at the ebook , A Homestead Decade -How Crunchy Granola Changed My Life, Amazon kindle books 2.99

Thanks for stopping by, and thank you for sharing this Crunchy Granola blog with friends.
love, Helene


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