One of my favourite things about farm life is having a vegetable garden. Although this isn’t my first attempt at vegetable gardening, I’ve never been this pleased before with my ability to buy so little at the grocery store.
The garden, though a little overgrown at this point, has been producing a lot of food for us over the past few weeks. I’ve heard from many people in the area that zucchini is extremely abundant this year, and we are no strangers to that fact. I think I’ve used zucchini in every possible way over the last two weeks. I’ve eaten so much of it that I’m not sure I can eat any more. Is there such thing as too much zucchini?
We’ve made zucchini bread and muffins, lasagna with zucchini noodles. Roasted zucchini. Zucchini curry. We’ve put it on kabobs with chicken. We’ve had ratatouille, stir fry, and fried zucchini. We’ve even used it as a “bun”, or boat if you will, for sausages. I have yet to try making zucchini ‘chips’ but that’s next on my list.
Zucchini is very good for you. I read on healthline that it contains almost zero fat, is high in protein and fibre, contains many essential nutrients and is high in antioxidants.
I think my all-time favourite way to eat zucchini is to roast it in the oven or on the barbecue. Just a little olive oil and salt and pepper, a few minutes on each side, and you’ve got an excellent side dish.
READ MORE: Life on the farm: an introduction
It’s a good thing that we have pigs, because anything that we don’t or can’t eat they get to, and they love it.
Our corn will be ready soon, which I’m very excited about. I’ve definitely never grown corn before. Coming from Ontario, where the corn is the best I’ve ever had, I will have very high standards for this corn.
Our peppers are starting to pop and our tomatoes are finally fruitful. We also have an abundance of beets, fennel, peas, beans, rhubarb, raspberries, several varieties of lettuce and herbs, broccoli, squash, and carrots. The carrots are one of my favourite things to eat - they are so sweet and crisp and wonderful. They taste nothing like those little baby carrots in a bag. We’ve also eaten all of the radish but I plan on planting more this week.
Our pumpkins are also starting to come through and I think I might have seen a few watermelon starting to come to life when I was in the garden over the weekend. Perhaps it was just a mirage because of my endless love for the summer fruit, but a girl can dream.
I just don’t know if there’s anything better than walking outside with my garden snippers and basket to trim some fresh kale and herbs, grab a few tomatoes and peas and throw together a salad. Meal planning has completely changed for me this summer.
Not to mention the meat we have on hand was all sustainably raised on the farm. It is so incredibly rewarding to look at your plate and know where everything came from and how it was treated. My life is the literal definition of farm to table right now. Not to brag or anything.
I’m interested to know, which vegetables do you have success with growing? Also, what are your favourite ways to cook them? Feel free to send recipes my way.
corey.bullock@kimberleybulletin.com
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