Inspirations!

Sunday was a day of events that continue to fuel my drive to evangelize the numerous benefits of growing our own food and when that's not possible acquiring locally grown food from other sources.

Jack (my husband) and I went to our plot at Lanier Community Garden in Buford early (for us!) Sunday morning to water and harvest. As usual, we were delighted to find an abundance of tomatoes (black russians, yellow stuffing, grape and red and yellow stripies) ready for picking. The cantaloupes were few and apparently some kind of mold had attacked the leaves, so we ended up bringing home three and composting the rest along with the vines. We also picked some peppers and basil. Our neighbors, the Yoga Garden (from my yoga center, Yoga in Daily Life) also had an abundance of tomatoes, peppers, okra, melons and more.

We hung out with some of our fellow gardeners, comparing notes and gardening challenges, before we watered the gardens and headed home.

Sunday afternoon, I went with friends to see Julie and Julia.....the movie inspired by Julie Powell, a woman who devoted a year to preparing all of Julia Child's recipes from Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Another source of inspiration - for preparing, eating and sharing good, real food. See it, but eat first!

After the movie, I went to visit my parents. They live across the street from a day care center and in front of the building is a beautiful fig tree. Prepared to harvest figs, I parked in the parking lot, grabbed my bag and set out. Unfortunately, there were more figs on the ground below the tree than actually on the tree. I did gather up enough figs to make a small container of fig jam, and there are more green figs on the tree....must be more diligent about harvesting (and visiting Mom and Dad!)

Dinner Sunday night consisted of small red and white potatoes roasted in fresh pesto (basil from our garden, potatoes from Suwanee Farmers Market). A salad of tomatoes, red onions, cucumbers, lettuce (OK, not local, but I need my lettuce occasionally!), pecans (from my friend Barbara's tree) and goat cheese. What a wonderful, light, but filling summer meal and most of it we either grew ourselves or got locally!

EAT-IN update: I am in the process of entering email addresses that were obtained when Slow Food Atlanta tabled at the GA PTA convention. Once the e-mails are entered, we'll get out more EAT-IN info to schools around the state!

Until tomorrow....... eat well and locally!