From the garden to the kitchen!

I have always known how important access to plants/gardens are to me, but sometimes I forget. Yesterday I was reminded in a huge way!

I woke up early and biked to the Saturday Market and worked the Mountain Meadow Farm booth (Dick's garden that I've been working at this summer) with Josh, Jess, and Kalen. Loads of fun to see people come buy and take home all of the beautiful veg! And after market, I ended up back at the garden with Jess, Josh, and Kalen. Jess entertained Madelyn while Josh, Kalen and I got sucked into the raspberry patch (Josh introduced me to the beauty of the sun-dried raspberry!). We also harvested a bunch of potatoes, carrots, beets, cucumbers, garlic, tomatoes, spinach, and sunflowers. We finished off the day with burgers and a salad from the garden. I was GLOWING, it was so good to spend a full day focused on harvesting, fresh food, and friends!

And, as a result of overzealous picking of cucumbers and raspberries, today I spent the afternoon making pickles and freezer jam! Yes, we are now the proud owners of 12 large jars of garlic dill pickles (we're experimenting with spice levels), and 8 tubs of huckleberry and raspberry jam! Also carrot and zucchini baby food, cilantro chutney, pesto, and bags of beet greens, spinach, and swiss chard stacked up in the freezer. Anyone read/reading "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver? I'm a believer! Hard to do in the Rocky Mountains, but excited to make our food choices as local as possible - we'll be eating this veg all winter!