Independence Days – Week 15

Wow – I can’t believe I’ve been documenting this stuff for 15 weeks already!  This week was particularly productive.  The picture is of our freezer as it’s slowly filling.  I can’t wait to show you what we have next week… we should have pickles, pesto, potatoes, peaches, peppers and more to show you.  But this week….

Plant Something –  none.

Harvest Something– zucchini, yellow tomatoes, Sun Gold cherry tomatoes, Sweet 100’s, carrots, eggs, Romas, Cherokee purple tomatoes… 

Preserve Something –  Chopped and froze beans, carrots and musk melon; dehydrated celery (for soups & such)  I hope this works well… I’m new!

Waste Not – Figured out a way to get the chickens in the compost!  This is great because they get extra snacks, and they scratch around in there and poop, so it helps with the making of the black gold! 

Want Not/Prep & Storage – We’ve started really taking advantage of this awesome book I got: The Encyclopedia of Country Living.  Rick also cleaned up a free grill we got from a friend.

Build Community Food Systems – Setting up a cheese making class for ?September.  Farmers market usual, of course. 

Eat the Food – the most fun to eat this week has been the watermelon!  We got red and yellow melons from the far this week!  Delish!  So your recipe….

Ratatouille
1 small chopped onion
2-3 cloves garlic to taste
1 TBS olive oil
1 large eggplant, peeled, sweated and then cubed
1 medium zucchini, sliced
1 cup chopped tomatoes, or 1 cup cherry tomatoes
1 medium green bell pepper, chopped
3 TBS dry white wine
3 TBS (or to taste) fresh snipped basil
black pepper

Heat oil in large skillet and saute onions and garlic until tender.  Add veggies and white wine.  Season with pepper to taste (should be salty enough from sweating the eggplant.  If not, add salt to taste).  Bring to boiling, cover, reduce heat and simmer for about ten minutes, until veggies are tender.  Uncover and cook 5 minutes more, stirring occasionally, until most of the liquid is gone.  Stir in basil and serve.  YUM!