4th week of August 2009

Tomato Plate I am loving the colorfulness of everything coming out of the garden right now. The zinnias are a gorgeous kaleidoscope of hues, the tomatoes are in grand array and then there is purple cabbage, yellow patty pans, peppers turning to orange and red,... This week I was able to share some of that colorfulness with our local librarians when our Friends of the Library group took in lunch. Here is the tomato plate that I shared including Persimmon, Rose and Green Zebra tomatoes sliced up and drizzled with olive oil, shallots and basil. I also took a bowl of Mexican Sour Gherkins and ended up with a request from one of the librarians to have a plant of her own next year. It is fun to share abundance from the garden this time of year though I have to find folks who don't already have piles of tomatoes, peppers and zucchini of their own! Abundance that doesn't get shared is going into pizza sauce this week so we can enjoy a taste of summer this winter.

Wilderness Scouts Flower Activity Recently, I had the privilege of hosting two groups in my garden. The first was the Wilderness Scout girls group who came for a picnic supper and an evening of flower activities. After taking a walk through the garden with buckets to gather flowers, my daughter and I taught them to make flower dolls and daisy chains plus we did painting using flowers as our "crayons." It was a delightful time of creativity as you can see in the photo. The other group was the gathering of a dozen ladies who came to learn cold framing. It was a beautiful mix of folks - my teenage garden helper and a young adult friend, a couple Amish friends, retired ladies, a gardener I met at Lehmans and more. They enjoyed mint tea as they learned about mizuna, arugula, claytonia and mache followed by a tour of my coldframes. Everyone went home with seeds and plants to start their own cold framing adventure. I really enjoy sharing my knowledge with groups like that and it's nice to know they will be able to grow their own salad greens this fall and I won't have to do it for them!

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