Communing in the Garden

Posted on September 27, 2011 by bitsandbreadcrumbs

The Mural at the Oakhurst Community Garden.

For all things produced in a garden, whether of salads or fruits, a poor man will eat better that has one of his own, than a rich man that has none.
– J. C. Loudoun

Amazingly, we now have 3 community gardens that I’m familiar with inside a less than 3 mile radius here in the Decatur area, as well as several farm to table school gardens and some urban organic gardens supplying local restaurants. In fact, almost every house has a garden of some sort around here! In part, this can be attributed to the likes of Farmer D, who has made it his mission to bring organic and bio-dynamic gardening—and the reaped rewards of it—to every child and adult’s table in Georgia. And being that I’m a very frustrated organic gardener myself, every now and then I like to go and visit some of those gardens that have more sun than I do and therefore can grow those things that I cannot. Continue reading →

Squashed.

Posted on June 23, 2011 by bitsandbreadcrumbs

So, if you read my CSA post from last week, you’ll remember I had squash in the box (sounds like a band name), and last night I squashed it into a casserole.

Squashed squash with onions and peppers.

When I was little I was like a lot of kids…I wouldn’t eat squash. It smelled bad, it looked funny and yuck! It was a VEGETABLE! My mom kept working on me though, and eventually came up with a recipe for a squash casserole featuring lots of cheese, and I started thinking: “hey, this squash stuff isn’t too bad.”

Nowadays it’s one of my favorite vegetables, and I so look forward to the fresh squashes that come with summer because they can and do provide some mighty fine eating. In addition to the ubiquitous yellow squashes and zucchini, some of the great heirloom varieties of summer squashes like Pattypan are now readily available, too. Continue reading →

Summer in the South: A Few of My Favorite Things

Posted on June 21, 2011 by bitsandbreadcrumbs

Easy, refreshing and delicious Buttermilk-Basil Sorbet

Summer has not been my favorite of the seasons. Of course as a child, there were some things I really liked about it: no school, swimming and vacation were chief amongst them. But summer is always hot here in the South…really hot. And I like cooler weather better.

As time goes on, though, I’m coming back around to appreciating summer again—it does have a lot going for it, after all. Longer and lazier days, cooking outdoors, taking a dip in cold bodies of water, and tons of fresh produce. Here’s my little laundry list of a few of my favorite things about summer, the things I look forward to—most of which are food and drink related, of course! What are yours? Continue reading →

CSA Today

Posted on June 16, 2011 by bitsandbreadcrumbs

Get ready, get set, open!

Thursday is CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) day and I awake on these days filled with the anticipation of a wonderful box of fruit and veggies coming my way. I am child-like in my excitement—it’s much like opening a present. And once I see all the beautiful colors of the fresh produce inside my box, my mind begins to race—thinking about what I want to make, how I want to play with the ingredients and what new recipe experiments I might try! Continue reading →