Fresh Fruits and Vegetables
There are quite a few things that make me happy. One great happiness is getting local fresh fruits and vegetables in season. Oh, my, they are so good! Even the best supermarkets don't have fruits or vegetables that come close to the fresh local ones.
The peaches from the Farmer's Market and road stands -- they are so juicy and ripe and mouth-watering. With these peaches, you know they came from God through peach tree blossoms that miraculously turned into fruit. Just to look at the color of the peaches -- they are so rosy they can only be kisses from God. Do you see how beautiful and juicy the cut peach pictured above is? And the photo doesn't even do the peach justice.
You know the question: If you were on a deserted island, what three books would you take? I used to give my junior high school classes an assignment -- what three foods would you most want to have on a deserted island?
Beyond a doubt, fresh local peaches would be one of my choices.
Another choice would be the Romaine lettuce from Claude's garden that he brings over. Claude's Romaine is tender. It is rich with vitality. Claude also brings collard greens that are a breed apart.
Another choice, always in season, would be the cultured milk Kefir that Heaven Admin makes, though the island would have to have raw milk available as well to make the kefir from. I am sure this can be solved. There will be a cow or a goat on this island, so, no problem.
I sigh with joy to think of it. Of course, I wouldn't mind picking a coconut off a tree and drinking that milk too.
I also must mention local corn on the cob. Steam it for three minutes, slab plenty of butter on it and good salt, and it's a gift from Heaven. Fresh homegrown tomatoes! Red potatoes!
We have some crab apples trees in the front yard. I enjoy eating two or three crab apples right off the tree, sizzlingly sour.
You'll see some photos below. You'll see crab apples that look like tomatoes in the picture. Half of one of our crab apple trees fell down in a recent storm, so it's really easy to pick all you want without stretching.
You'll see Claude bearing a gift of his great greens. Imagine, I walk out my door, and there is Claude ready to give me the greenest happiest vegetables in the whole Universe. Note: In the photos, Claude is only pretending to meditate, though he really is sitting in lotus.
Saturday Claude is having Lauren and me over for lunch, and we will get to see his garden. There will be more photos for you too.
Claude lives now in EcoVillage - "... a place where village design, energy, shelter, water, gardening, farming, waste recycling, and landscaping are done in tune with natural law. In tune with natural law means, at a minimum, that the systems we use to obtain the services listed above do not destroy or damage the larger systems of the earth that maintain a hospitable environment for life on our planet... EcoVillage is designed to provide these services beyond sustainability, in a way that not only sustains but enhances the ability of the earth to clean our air and water, maintain the balance of gasses in the atmosphere, and in general provide a beautiful and safe place to live."
Lauren and I will visit there Saturday and have more pictures and more to tell you.
Comments
YUMMM ... My husband just brought home some absolutely wonderful Michigan grown watermelon. Nectar. When our corn came in, we ate corn on the cob (many ears each) for lunch then again for dinner. John says "get the water boiling, I'm picking corn." It's two or three minutes from picking to pot! Practically orgasmic. (Am I allowed to say that here? Well, I hope so 'cause it's the TRUTH!)
You mean organic, don't you!!!!
How taste differ. Pam a water melon to me is bland. Corn is for chickens. I like a pear a mango and lychee. We grow Banana (twelve different varieties) and Citrus in various types. Nobody likes Pomelo, they fall off, when ripe and are used for mulch. Our Mulberries (three types) are ripening and the Jaboticaba's just finished
Yes all organic. We grow several types of passion fruit as well. A beautiful Garden created with love by my son and daughter inlove I myself am a seaman and no gardener I only grab what I like with permission from the family. Yes a organic ( permaculture) paradise within paradise. our Jack fruit is as big as your water melon. Oh we are so lucky to have decided to live here. On a very busy day in the supermarket and all checkouts full the Manager walks around with a big box of chocolate saying Sorry you have to wait!!! and all smile. who would want to go elsewhere???? Love you All and come and visit us Jack
This year I really came to appreciate the value of locally grown organic food. I can really feel the difference. And every day I look forward to eating such food now. As you pointed out, the vegetables are so tender, it's almost like being caressed inside.
I haven't had a garden in 13 years, but this year I am so lucky to live at the Abundance Ecovillage and to have garden space available. Everyday I look forward to spending time in my garden, picking the weeds around my plants, one by one. I get very present when I do that, almost one with Nature. It's become a ritual, a meditation. It feels so good. I spend hours there whenever I am not "at work". It's a great excuse to be outside in nature, too. (I remember that I used to dread even taking a walk when I lived in Detroit for the past 9 years--I think I was out of tune with nature).
No wonder the vegetables turn out so tender, with all this love and happiness in me. You know, that's the key, just like with the cooking. My guests always ask me "This is so delicious, what are the ingredients for this?" after they taste almost any of the dishes I prepare. And my answer is almost always: "I can give you the material ingredients and steps to combine them, but the most important one is the love and attention you bring to the process of creating and savoring a dish--the consciousness of the cook".
I have to feel the bliss at every stage--when I start to think about eating or preparing a meal for people, when I go shopping or garden-picking to gather the ingredients, when I prepare them, when I present them on the table or in the plate, while I eat them, and after I eat them when they are digesting.
Of course I haven't mastered this bliss-creating at all levels all the time yet, but I am pretty close. The more you feel the bliss at EVERY stage of the process, the better the total eating experience turns out. By having his own garden, the blissful cook can make sure one more aspect of the process generates more bliss--the planting, caring and harvesting of each meal's ingredients, right there in his own garden. Local food at its best!
Jack, I have heard of everything! but not Jaboticaba! Tell us more! And what is Jack fruit? If it is named after you, it has to be wonderful!
Do you really mean your supermarket is like that? You indeed live in Heaven.
If enough people read your email, I imagine there will be a great influx of people to Australia, Jack.
And Claude, it is really true what you say about cooking with love and joy. I have tasted your food. I can attest to all that goes into it beyond the good ingredients. And my daughter and I are lucky enough to be going over to your place for lunch today. I can hardly wait.
Once upon a time, I used to love cooking. It wasn't work to me at all.
But now I don't really cook anymore. I throw things together. It's a scramble now, too much to do, and no time to do it in.
I have followed your recipe for chapatis. Sad to say, my chapatis didn't come out with the bounce yours do.
What a fun post to read. The Abundance Eco-Village sounds like a wonderful place, and I imagine it's even more magical after 9 years in Detroit. (I'm not a big city person--great places to visit, but wouldn't want to live there ... LOL)
Claude, your approach to growing food and cooking is sublime. I'm blessed having a husband who loves to grow organic and does it well. He has me bless the garden when he first puts it in, then spends time in it every day talking to his plants, weeding, watering, etc. It's his place of peace. We seldom have a critter problem (deer, rabbits and woodchucks) because when he thins the plants, he keeps it in a pile near the woods. They get their fill and generally leave the garden alone.
And Jack, I have the same question as Gloria. What is jaboticaba and jack fruit? Twelve varieties of banana ... I have a feeling the weather is way different than ours in Michigan. No growing bananas or mangoes here. BUT, we do have the best peaches, apples, cherries and berries--cold weather fruits. And maple syrup. I do like living in an agricultural state. I'd like it even more if they'd hand out chocolates and an apology for the long lines in stores!
Hello Pam, I hope you and your husband can visit Fairfield Iowa and the ecovillage some time. It is indeed a peaceful place, but I didn't mind living in Detroit when I did. Everything is perfect in its own time. I just make the most from whatever is available to me wherever I am. That's what I am doing now again in Ecovillage. The land was available for gardening to whomever wanted to, so I just weeded it and tilled it and planted stuff--more and more since nobody else was showing up. There was even straw lying around and some sticks and I used those, too, for mulching and keeping the tomatoes straight. Another lady who lives in the house where I stay inspired me to get going, offering me a few of her own seeds and I used empty tofu jars to plant them in some soil from her. When I saw things growing, I decided to buy a few more seeds, planted those, then more again. It was a very natural process, enjoyable at every step. I was looking forward to it every day and still am.
Jack fruit you can Google, Jaboticaba is a fruit growing on the stem and branches of a scrub tree about 15 feet high at least ours are, I cannot ask my son as they are away, but the skin is fairly tough and some eat them I do not but the seeds inside are very palatable. Jack fruit is I think related to Bread fruit and is the biggest fruit there is, with seeds as big as a navel orange slice with one pip in it each fruit has a lot of slivers, anyway wikipedia can tell you better than I can. See you, love you all. Jack