4th week of August 2007
The heat of August is still upon us but there also are glimpses of summer's end as the locusts sing and dusk arrives sooner each evening. This weeks veggie baskets included the first of fall salad greens with lots of edible flowers - nasturtiums, garlic chives, borage and more. I'm thankful my nasturtiums finally started producing blooms and not just leaves. 
I'll be taking an order of nasturtium blossoms (120 flowers) to the ice-cream man in Kidron this week for his Nasturtium Pistachio ice-cream. They are quite peppery and blend into an interesting flavor with the sweetness of the ice-cream and nuts plus there is a flower confetti effect throughout. Some interesting melons came ripe this week and our family is having fun taste testing them. Ali Baba is an Iraqi watermelon (grown in protest over the US government ban on seed-saving in the new Iraqi republic), Banana melon is a type of muskmelon and there is an unknown dark green melon with ribs that has a lovely honeydew flavor.
My two cold frame seminars were good learning times for everyone. I had a group of 4 ladies one time and 5 the second session with an interesting blend of folks including an Amish friend, some young adult gals, plus experienced gardeners wanting to try something new. 
It is always fun to share some unusual vegetables and greens and expand people's world of produce plus I learned a few gardening ideas from them as we talked together. Hopefully I'll hear back from some of them that they have successfully harvested spinach, mache, arugula, etc. beyond the normal gardening season. It is a thrill to see people learn and I am looking forward to doing more gardening demos at Lehmans store every Thursday in September.
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