Celebrating Local

The updates of week one of One Local Summer are up. It's so exciting to see everyone's meals from all over the country (and out of the country too). I spent last evening perusing various entries. I'm getting lots of ideas. It looks like I'll have new blogs to read. Now I just have to find the time.

In the garden I've pulled out the onions. They are small this year, but have good flavor. They are curing now. Charlie has bought lumber to start construction on the root cellar under the porch. This year we won't have to store potatoes under our bed! I've planted more haricot verts, golden wax and Roma beans. I like the Romas for canning. I've also started to fill in where we've dug potatoes. I'm planting cow peas and black eyed peas in those spots. I may not get much of a later crop, but they make a good cover crop and can be left on top of the row over the winter. I've somehow managed to squeeze in lots of garden work in lately. Now if only we'd get some real rain...

Eating locally and gardening go hand in hand. We are finally getting to the time of year when we can go out to the garden and pick dinner. The tailgate market has been a giant boon to the whole process. We've met neighbors that we haven't had a chance to meet in the three years we've lived here. There are many more like-minded people in this valley than I expected and it makes me hopeful that we'll never have subdivisions popping up. There's seems to be a genuine concern to keep this area agricultural and natural. We've also found lots of things we can't grow ourselves - beef, pork, sweet corn. Last night Monkey and I (Charlie was up in Virginia) ate an almost entirely local veggie meal of black-eyed peas and rice, early sweet (very sweet) corn from the co-op in Old Fort, and salad from the garden. The only non-local items were salad dressing, butter and the rice. That's not our "official" OLS meal this week, mind you. We're planning that for later in the week...