“Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”
― Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food
Yield from a September day.
Building my community garden plot with repurposed wood and PVC.
In 2008 my husband-to-be and I got really excited about food. We both had community garden plots established before we met and had big plans of pulling in large amounts of produce that summer. We did. Then we ate it. Thus passed a wonderful summer full of fresh food and romance- two of the very best things around. After the harvest season was over we began enjoying all the things we’d canned- tomato soup, strawberry/blackberry jam, squash/pineapple conserve, rhubarb, chutney, chili sauce, tomatillo salsa, and pickles. Under the influence of these summery foods we decided to organize a community cookbook in order to both strengthen bonds between friends and share something useful. After all, everybody runs out of new ideas for potatoes eventually. Community Cookbook 2009 was a hit- we invited all our friends to participate by submitting their best recipe with a photo. Now in 2014 we’re still making Steve and Sarah’s Encrusted Sesame Tofu and my parent’s German Oven Pancakes. You can take a look at the Community Cookbook_2009.
Curing onions on our back patio.
Today we find ourselves living on the other side of the country from many of our dear friends. Our Sunday morning brunch potlucks are a thing of the past but hopefully the future as well. Our gardening days are on hold while we live in a rental surrounded by moles, deer, rabbits, and bugs. Very destructive bugs. Hornworms and Japanese beetles are a couple that we’d almost forgotten about while living in the West.
Peas and early onions. June.
We have two young kids that prevent us from spending much time on meals. We used to strive to eat things we enjoyed that were also good for us. Now we just strive to eat. And so. It seemed time for another Community Cookbook in order to remind us that there are more than 7 possible dinners. And yet. We did require that this time the meals be suitable for toddlers because otherwise we wouldn’t be making any of them.
Lavender to attract bees, tomatoes, nasturtiums, kale, green bean sprouts, marigolds.
Presenting Community Cookbook 2014– The Toddler Edition (but not just for toddlers). You never know what you’re going to get when you ask a group of people who are mostly strangers to one another to share their “go to” recipe. You don’t know if there will be repeats or meals with very expensive ingredients. That’s why it is exciting. I highly recommend doing this with your own group of friends. It gives you a peek into their lives while enriching your own. Gotta love it when everybody wins.
Happy cooking!
Four in the Door 