Sometimes, after making hundreds of tomato sandwiches and salads, and putting up dozens of quarts of tomatoes for the winter, you come home to kitchen counters filled with this.

And this.

Over 100 pounds of tomatoes, some to be used right away (there’s Roasted Heirloom Tomato Soup at Wheatberry, folks!), the rest to be sorted into flats, and stacked up at the top of the basement stairs to slowly ripen (I hope).

Other than the work itself, the only thing to do is to be grateful.  Grateful for a hot dry season that brings a crazy amount of tomatoes to us, grateful for the skills old and new to make sure those tomatoes are not wasted, grateful for all the hands that help make it possible.

Oh yes, and this bushel basket of carrots, too.

Have a wonderful weekend folks – see you at the Garlic and Arts Fest, I hope.  And now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a lot of veggies calling my name.

Edited to add: Stop whatever you’re going to do next, and read Kyce’s post on renewal – you’ll be so glad you did.

She woke before dawn and rushed right to the window.  “Mama, it snowed in the night!” she insisted.  “Put on my snowsuit and let’s go see!” Snowsuit on, we examined the driveway (it was balmy, no snow in sight).  “Let’s watch the sun rising up,” she said, and so we did.  We saw the peach clouds behind the trees, the leaves singing with color, the last stars fading.  We went on a dawn walk down a dirt road.  “Is it winter yet?” she asked.  “It’s the first day of fall,” I said.

We saw a children’s ballet at the Eric Carle a few weeks ago, and now every day is filled with “the ballet.”  She is the dancer, I am the audience.  I am the dancer, waiting backstage.  Now we’re both on tiptoe.  Today, she wanted a corn husk crown to wear.  It’s fall, my favorite season of all – my favorite quilt is on the bed, all the most amazing foods are coming in, next week is the Garlic and Arts Fest, and this poem walks beside me.  There’s a ridiculous amount of work to be done.  Perhaps that’s why I like it.

(about half the squash harvest from our Three Sisters field – woo hoo!)

I’d show you more . . .

but it’s a present.  From Patchwork Style, which I’m obsessed with.  I have a *lot* of scraps that need a home.

Last spring, we started building the wall . . .

Today, we erected the frame while Cole looked on in amusement and nervousness,

and finished putting the roof on just minutes before the rains came pouring down onto the new dried bean harvest.  Hooray!

So much gratitude for all the crew who helped, the incredible Seth who surprised us all when he lept onto the bent like a monkey, for Ella who rode in the Ergo on my back while we raced to finish, and especially for Ben, who visioned it all and makes it all possible.

After I mentioned this combination last week, I made it again for family this weekend, and decided that I am officially obsessed with this combination.  Which means that I really need to share the recipe with you.

First, I should confess that I’m not a huge basil lover.  It’s a bit licoricey for me, but we have a crazy amount of it in the garden this year, so clearly it’s time I started liking it.  And then this recipe was born.  Very easy, only a few ingredients, and a nice way to get started with some whole grains if you haven’t already.  It’s delicious as a vegetarian entree, or a side dish.  You could add some sausage or bacon if you were so inclined. I made it with emmer (also called farro) first, then with wheat berries, and am confident that barley, spelt, or rye would also be delicious.  Clearly I’ll have to do some taste-testing.  Yes . . .

(Also, it may seem like a 1/2 cup of grain is not a lot, but grains expand a lot as they cook, and they are super densely packed with goodness – a small serving goes a long way!  This should comfortably serve 2 as an entree or 4 as a side dish).

Emmer with Basil Cream Sauce

1/2 cup whole grains (emmer, wheat berries, spelt, etc)

2 cups water

salt to taste

1/2 cup basil leaves

1-2 leeks (onions work well if you have no leeks)

1 cup cream

In a saucepan, bring 2 cups water to a boil and add your grains.  Reduce heat to a simmer, and cook for 20-40 minutes, or until just tender.  (If you pre-soak your grains the night before, you can reduce your cooking time.)

While your grains are cooking, finely slice the white and tender green part of your leeks, and rinse in a strainer under running water to remove any grit.  Start sauteing the leeks in 1 tbsp of olive oil over medium heat, until they are meltingly tender.

Add the heavy cream, and just barely simmer the cream to allow it to thicken a bit.  Salt your sauce to taste, add cracked pepper if desired.  By now, your grains should be cooked, and you can drain off any excess water.  Salt grains to taste.  Once the grains are ready, finely chop the basil leaves, stir them into your sauce, and turn off the heat.

Serve with sauce poured on top of the grains, or serve in separate dishes and allow your dinner companions to combine them as desired.

Bon Appetit!

(P.S. Thank you for your kind words about Monday Night Menus – I’ll have to bring them back!  Suffice to say that this week I’ll be making this and this and this - yum! Oh, how the crisp fall air makes being in the kitchen a joy.)

Head on over to localgrain.org to see what we’re grateful for this week – the beginning of the bean harvest!

Ok, so it’s been quite a whole sine I posted a menu, mostly because I figure it’s not to hard to guess what a locavore eats in New England in the summer.  As in, everything!  Tomatoes, sweet corn, peppers, apples, berries, plums, peaches . . . as much as we can until we are so sick of them that we won’t miss them until next summer.

One thing that’s new at our house is the use of a rotating menu for the days.

Monday: leftovers

Tuesday:  “pasta” night (more on this in a moment)

Wednesday: red meat & root veggies

Thursday: casserole

Friday: chicken and green veggies

Saturday: soup

Sunday: pizza

I resisted a set menu like this for a long time, afraid I would find it too boring and restricting.  It took a while to figure out categories that worked, but overall, I’ve found this incredible useful each week when I set out to make our menu.  Sometimes, restrictions are freeing.

On Tuesday, we make “pasta.”  I use whole grains from our PVHG share, and cook them whole, then dress them with a standard sauce (marinara, alfredo, etc).  This has been a big hit – I’ve even made lasagna, layering cooked grains with marinara sauce and cheese.  Not only is this delicious, but so much easier to digest (and more nourishing) than pasta noodles.

Our favorite so far is emmer, with a cream-leek-basil sauce.  I would show you a photo, but we ate it too fast! Do you have a similar menu at your house?  Share it with us!

Have a great week everyone – photos of the bean harvest will be coming soon.

This week, I’m grateful for many things – the excitement in the air at the bakery with all the students returning to town, delicious new jam and mustards from Patti on the shelf at Wheatberry, our new tradition at home of veggie pizza on Sundays (so good! and so easy), the chance to help a friend clear some clutter, and many wonderful moments spent with Ben and Ella.

I’ve been practicing some serious gratitude lately, as I try to when life seems overwhelming.  One of the Yoga Sutras urges us to consider the opposite of our first reaction, and I’ve found this to be extremely challenging, and extremely gratifying.  Yesterday, I really needed to get our car inspected.  My usual thought is, “Ugh, I don’t have time for this, I don’t want to do this,” etc etc.  But I stopped myself and said (mentally, in a very cheerful voice), “How delightful!  I get to have the car inspected today.  How lucky I am to have a car, and to live in a place where we inspect them for safety.”

And you know what?  It was delightful.  I walked across the street and got a cold drink, I sat and read a book, and ten minutes later, it was done.  How lucky.

May luck and gratitude find you this weekend, friends.

of school at home.  Ella’s been very, very interested in school lately.  Luckily, my inner fire was kindled a month or so ago by some of Carrie‘s fabulous planning posts, so I had gotten a planner from A Little Garden Flower, and started putting our year together.  When I told her school would start yesterday, she was so excited!  She jumped out of bed and wanted to put on her fanciest dress.

“School” right now, is mostly just our usual rhythm, but with a weekly theme (an idea I garnered from Little Acorn Learning).  This week is babies, so we’re reading books about babies, yesterday we made a baby collage (and then made it again), and the story I’m telling this week is about the Rainbow Bridge (from Beyond the Rainbow Bridge).  Coming up weeks include: apples/Rosh Hashannah, nuts, sheep/wool, squash, gnomes. I’m not sure who’s more excited, me or Ella!

Happy start of the new school year everyone, at home or elsewhere!