Let Food be Thy Medicine and Medicine be Thy Food"

...So the father of Modern Medicine (or the school of Socrates) said, but seems like a strange thought today.  Most people don't consider their food to be medicinal.  I suppose this depends on your ideas and definitions of medicine. 

Artichoke Flowers

I can't help but include many angles in my definition of this word.  For example, it is great medicine to consume something like a tomatillo that I grew myself.  Tilling in early spring, laying out and organizing the beds for planting, setting the seeds in the dirt and waiting... every once and awhile tying and maintaining, waiting... and now these sour and sweet little husk fruits are falling to ripeness!

When I bite into them, especially one that is particularly ripened to perfection, I get extra nourishment!  Not talking about extra vitamins or minerals, but nourishment.  I recall an interview with Susun Weed on http://herbmentor.com/ discussing this very thing.  The idea I got from her in that interview was that nourishment cannot be taken away from you.  Once you've got it, you've got it forever. 

I can say with 100% certainty that I've never felt that kind of nourishment from anything I've bought in a supermarket.  I may get a good portion of the vitamins, enzymes, minerals, etc., but I'm missing out on the vitamin D from being out in the sun , the body movement and sweating and reconnecting with the environment around me.  All of this and more makes for a SUPER tomatillo!!  That's Juicy!

Linguine with Garden Topping

I said I'd get into the veggies this time.  To list the things I've grown would be just that, a list.  A long, wordy, boring list... I have the info if anyone ever reads this and would like to know exactly what varieties, just ask:*)

For starters lets talk meals...

The other day I was between classes (Greenhouse Management & Entomology),  I needed a treat of a meal.  Something that would take me through 3 hours of talking about bugs but not put me in a food coma or take too long to make. 

Pictured here is what I had and although the linguine was plentiful, it didn't make me full and sleepy.  I topped it with a mini eggplant lightly fried in coconut oil, a spicy chili oil made earlier in the week, yellow pear tomatoes, garlic/dill cheese chunks, and fresh mint & basil.  It wasn't anything fancy but a great way to incorporate herbs and tomatoes.

What's there to harvest now???

Well, its August 20 here in Southeastern Pennsylvania.  (Whoa).  Last week I dug up the last of the fingerling potatoes that I planted in the spring.  The shaws (stems and leaves) had been dead for some time and I was behind on getting a new crop in that bed.  

 I wanted to sow lettuce seeds- so just to make sure all the tubers were gone I dug into the soil only to pull out another 5lbs. or so of potatoes, a welcomed surprise!

July Harvest: Tomatoes, peppers, melons

Tomatoes have been coming on since July.  I've got four different kinds going.  Yellow pears, red cherry, green zebra, and purple Cherokee.  The smaller ones make it easy to add them to any meal since they're bite-sized.  The green zebras are delicious and medium sized, I often just eat them like an apple since their taste is so delightful, to mix them with other food, I feel like I'd miss out somehow.  The purple Cherokees have been LARGE and in-charge!  So good..., there have been many tomato and mayo sandwiches.

Recently we've decided to throw the purple Cherokee toms in the dehydrator since there are too many to eat right now and I don't have the time to make sauce.  DELICIOUS snacks~!

Next time... prep, use, storing herbs:*~)