Grow and Buy Locally

I am endeavoring to stick to my plan to raise edible food and buy what I can't grow. That adds up to everything (minus two tomatoes, two zucchini squash and a lot of lettuce and cilantro).

My garden is coming along and today I discovered three or four tiny Roma tomatoes on a plant. I have melons traveling up a fence and ginormous zucchini and yellow squash plants. Onions and carrots are coming along. My fallback plan is to shop at the roadside veggie stands and fill in from the grocery store. I located a great farm stand near our house so I go there first to see what is available, then go to the grocery store. Yesterday I found lovely tomatoes, peppers, fresh parsley, blackberries and cucumbers. Cukes were 75 cents each vs. 99 cents at Giant. I bought two boxes of tomatoes, one red and one yellow. I paid $7.00, but would have paid over 10.00 at Giant. Today I made Tabbouleh salad with the tomatoes, cucumbers, onions from another day, and fresh chopped mint and parsley. It is ever so much better than what I make from the box. I want to encourage my faithful readers to cook from scratch because it is gratifying and tastes better. My veggies looked so beautiful in the basket that I had to share. Here is a picture of my bought locally goodies.

I have also always loved daisies and am happy to report that I now have my own patch - another gift from the house. I have planted Black-eyed Susans and also have yellow Shasta daisies in the bed near the deck. Will share those at a later date. Hope you are encouraged to cook and eat well and watch birds and flowers.