Photo by FotoSearch.
It's long past due for me to commend Grandpère for his gardening prowess. At the present time, we are enjoying bell peppers, yellow squash, zucchini, eggplant, Creole tomatoes to die for, corn, and blueberries, fresh from his garden. We are savoring some of the sweetest and best-tasting blackberries I have ever eaten, picked in the wild by him and my grandson.
In addition, we eat fresh fish and shrimp that he catches, and fresh crabs and, in season, fresh crawfish that we buy. I tend to take this bounty for granted, because we have enjoyed it for such a long time, but I should not.
I thank God and my hard-working husband for providing the sumptious feasts. In addition, Grandpère does most of the cooking.
I'm ashamed that I don't have my own photo and had to borrow one online.
We are still on the asparagus diet - rhubarb is appearing - nothing else will be edible until late summer - oh the joys of Wyoming high altitude gardening when freeze can happen any time of year. All gardening is done by my beloved. I am a slacker.
ReplyDeleteAnn, I am a slacker, too, except for the eating.
ReplyDeleteI love fresh asparagus, but Grandpère does not grow it. I believe it doesn't grow well in this area - not enough cold weather.
Thank goodness for such wonderful men. If nothing else, my children have commended me for marrying twice to excellent cooks. Their father was the vegetable gardener extraordinaire but their stepfather more than makes up for his absence from the garden with his prowess in the kitchen (his passion is his Penzey spice catalogue). I'm trying to get inspired to do some of the gardening myself since I've begun to read Barbara Kingsolver's new book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle – A Year of Food Life, but I'm not sure I'll ever find where or how to begin. Meanwhile, there are always the local food markets and farms. The AVM-AYOFL website has a links to organizations and places to find local foods. I've discovered sources nearby here I would never would have known about otherwise. But I guess you don't need to go online to find Grandpère!
ReplyDelete(Hey Mimi, have you seen Maddy's latest plug for your blogsite? Check out his blog roll -- you're bound to get a zillion hits).
Mmmm... I'm hungry!
ReplyDeleteKlady, my husband does it without pesticides, using ladybugs and marigolds to keep the pests away. He hand-picks the caterpillars off the tomato plants. The birds are the major problem once the tomatoes begin to ripen.
ReplyDeleteI have seen MadPriest's parenthesis behind the name of my blog. I hope when the folks come over here and do not find adult-only, x-rated content that they get angry at HIM and not at ME.
I am reading AVM too - her writing in itself is wonderful - but the encouragement to buy locally has inspired me. I was amazed at how much fuel it takes to get food to me each meal. I may have to try making mozzarella cheese. Their diet is too high fat for our cholesterol challenged bodies and I know I can't kill chickens myself! I am on the rooster chapter right now - ROTFLOL. Her sense of humor keeps me reading.
ReplyDeletefurther note - I was halfway through the book before I realized the title was Animal, Vegetable MIRACLE and not Mineral.
ReplyDeleteI am grateful to get most of my food locally grown, organic at least, or locally produced.
ReplyDeleteAnd I am not a slacker, I am an apartment dweller; everything grows in pots, or it don't grow a' t all.
Makes nice reading, though, for a dyed in the wool "foodie".
The book sounds like a hoot, but a helpful hoot. I know I'm not killing chickens.
ReplyDeleteJohnieb, there are vegetables that you can grow in pots. i've known folks from cold climates to grow tomatoes inside, because their growing season is so short. That is, if you're so inclined. Otherwise, buying locally grown food is a good alternative.
I just showed Grandpère my post on his garden, and I believe he was pleased.
My mouth is watering. We don't get good tomatoes in upstate NY. We too are still at the rubarb stage so it will be 8 weeks before tomatoes are good enough for 'just eating.' I live in an apartment with little or no sunshine but I do get pots of fresh herbs. It makes everything else tasty.
ReplyDeleteMuthah+, the herbs do help. Everything seems to be tasty this year. The tomatoes are unbelievably good. I eat them the way I'd eat a peach.
ReplyDeleteGrandpere's prowess in these matters doesn't surprise me at all. Say hi to him for me...OK?
ReplyDelete--scout
Scout, I will.
ReplyDeleteYea, Grandmere,
ReplyDeleteI've done that, too, with tomatoes, peppers (Chiles & "reg'ler"), and some lettuces. I haven't space nor enough light to do more.
Thank God for Mike & Tony, and the Co-op; I haven't been to a supermarket in months.
Sure, and we wouldn't want you to to hungry, Johnieb, just because you can't grow your food in your apartment. Thank God for the markets for home-grown produce.
ReplyDeleteNow I know what Grandpère does while Grandmère is otherwise occupied. I have to find a hobby for my husband so he'll not notice when I'm blogging.
ReplyDeleteKJ, you have no idea what truth you spoke. Grandpère is on my case about my time on the computer much more in the winter, when he has less to do. I like him busy.
ReplyDeleteYum! Gorgeous basket of produce and bravo Grandpère! And lucky Grandmère.
ReplyDeleteI eat local and mostly organic and it is such a blessing to enjoy produce in season. It's worth waiting all year for a good tomato. Actually, the tomato season is pretty long here.
And at the farmers' market where I went early this morning they also have locally produced goat cheese. Mmmmm.
Soon I will be in California (for a visit, not to move back there) where the farmers' market, at least in Berkeley, is at a civilized hour (not early in the a.m.) and the apricots will be coming into season. Woo hoo! And there will still be strawberries. Today in Greensboro it was all salad and squash. But there are melons in the supermarkets. Heaven knows where they're from, though. Does Grandpère grow melons? In the late summer?
Mimi, if I ever get down there, I will make you my homemade ratatouille, unless Grandpère has a special recipe of his own. And he fishes, too! Nice man. You're right though, he does need something to do while you blog...
And now we know what gets the most comments (cf. recent long thread at MadPriest's): sex AND FOOD!
(johnieb, as you may have seen on the right hand column of my blog where the resources and links are, it says I'm a foodie too.)
All y'all would enjoy the blog Cookin' in the 'Cuse. Jennifer, who writes it, is an Episcopal priest who loves to cook and who does her best to buy and eat sustainably (local preferably, organic if possible) and affordably (a big issue for people who want to eat healthy delicious food -- junk food is so much cheaper and often more accessible, hence the obesity and diabetes 2 "epidemic" among poor people). It's refreshing to read a blog by a clergymember who doesn't spend her time commenting on The Current Unpleasantness, too. She was just off in the Caribbean (her husband is from there) but is back now and should be posting again; in any case you can look at her already existing posts and resources. Great stuff. I knew her when I was living in CA -- she's now in upstate NY --Syracuse, hence "the 'Cuse"-- as a rector and university chaplain. You should also know that she has a very cute dog.
Mimi, tell Grandpère we are now his fans as well as yours. Watch out, one of these days a big party of people is going to descend on you. Fortunately, I bet this crowd is good at potlucks.
Jane, y'all come on down, and you can cook the ratatouille. Grandpère does that, too, but we're always open to trying new ways.
ReplyDeleteWe must be creative in finding different ways to use the home-grown veggies. We serve them over pasta, sliced into chunks and grilled, sliced and microwaved with salt, pepper, and butter. The other day, we had a shrimp-eggplant casserole.
I'll check out the cooking website.