This is the time of year when surplus is the word when it comes to the fields and gardens around us. Harvest, harvest, harvest day and night. What to do with the surpluses.
Everywhere you go people are handing you zucchinis. There was a time on Vashon when they would regularly show up in your shopping bag after you got home from the market. The checker had thrown one or more in there for you, spreading the wealth.
Anyway, I was actually thinking of beans here, green beans. In Spain they served them in a broth which I loved. So, that is what I am doing lately. The beans are cut into one inch pieces maybe at a bias to make them more interesting looking. Then for each serving cook in one cup of bouillon. The amount for two people could be cooked in two cups of broth. Then it is served in the broth in a bowl with a spoon.
Of course you can only eat s much fresh produce and that is where freezing and canning come in. This is a big chore at times trying not too have waste.
OK, just giving you a snapshot of the time and place. Off I go now to work on preparations for the Veranda.
serve with a spoon loves, Felipé.
I remember once I left my car unlocked, parked right by Intervale Farm in Vermont – must have been after the first frost. Later that night when I opened my trunk it was full of kale! I guess they had loads extra and were looking for ways to distribute it. Straight into the freezer & beautiful all winter.
C ~ good one! Yes, same idea. I’m personally not a kale fan so it is hard to tell where that would have wound up with me in charge. But it is all the beauty of harvest time. F.x
I’m coming back a few hours later to leave another comment (probably before you’ve even had a chance to read the first one…!) but I was thinking about kale and zucchini all day, and then our veggie box delivery came with a whole bunch of extra zucchini in there (currently bubbling away in the big dutch oven with eggplant, tomatoes, little studs of garlic and sprinklings of parsley to make my favorite French ratatouille)…and ANYWAY somehow all of this merged in my subconscious with a conversation about William Blake on another post (and probably all the other blog entries rattling around in my head, too).
One of his quotes sprung to mind…’the road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom’. Now, Blake was a man who REALLY knew pilgrimage and the bible, and it always struck me as strange – even knowing that it was in contradictions and (seeming) opposites that Blake found sparks and fires of divine energy.
Today, after the zucchini story, it suddenly became clearer – yes, the Camino or path can be thin – sometimes we’re beat up, hungry, tired…but there is an abundance – an excess – of all of the important things including love, hope, and compassion. Sometimes there is even an excess of soap to be found in the tiniest sliver (your regular readers will know what I mean, there). Also, knowing when enough is enough – and learning to share.
I think reading the blog posts from 2014 to now and then landing on today has given me some kind of post-Camino re-entry issues as I digest it all, so thank you for bearing with me!