IEatLocalBecauseICan

In Denver we pay a bit extra to have a compost bin. I don't mind the cost, though it would be nice if everyone could have access to a way to compost. Mostly I put our compostables in there and it gets removed each week, but I also have a small bin where I'm creating some compost for use in our garden. Then I get to be extra picky about what goes in there. Paying attention to where waste goes tends to trigger a reaction to try and stop it at the source. And growing some of my own food gets me more energized to try and use all the pieces I can. That's why I found this cookbook so appealing: Yesterday I harvested some carrots and decided to make carrot top salsa verde from this book. Delicious! And I feel good for using every part of the carrots.

We had a busy weekend so didn't get to the farmers market on Saturday or Sunday. I have some leftovers from last week to use up, and some things ready to harvest in the garden, so it was okay to skip a week. I'm not sure if it is due to the unusually wet spring or some other factor, but my neighbor and I have noticed an increase in the number of butterflies in our yards this year. It's been really fun to experience. As usual, I let some herbs flower for the butterflies and for our other neighbor's bees. And now that the purple cone flowers are in full bloom, the butterflies are flocking.  Tomatoes are coming in nicely, but are mostly green still at this point. Same with the peppers. So the big harvest starting now, that should last for a few months, is the green beans. I picked enough last night for a meal and am planning on pickling both dilly beans and spicy beans this year - and hoping to get at least one of those done this weekend, with maybe a little addition...

This week the Farmers Market was full of peas! Snap peas, English peas, pea shoots... I bought them all. We had a long spring this year, with cooler than normal temperatures and more rain in May, so the produce we think of as spring is showing up in summer. And it is delicious! Delicious salad with spring greens, snap peas, pea shoots, goat cheese, and roasted almonds.  The weather now, though, is all summer. It's been relatively dry (a few afternoon thunderstorms some days) and hot (highs consistently in the 90s). It was perfect weather for curing the garlic harvest. I've got plenty to use in my August/September canning - pasta sauces and salsas - and the soft neck variety will store through the winter. I might not even have to buy any this year. And I can save a few bulbs to separate and plant again in early October for next year! I'm itching to do some canning, but there isn't much available just now. I've already canned a few recipes with bing cherries a...

I overbought at the farmers market last week - a somewhat regular occurrence. But I try my best to waste as little as possible, so knew I needed to do something with the leftover bing cherries ASAP. I didn't have quite enough to make it worthwhile canning, so I grabbed a few more Saturday morning and canned two half-pints of sweet cherry butter. If you've never experienced fruit butter you should give it a try. It's thicker than jam and pureed. Apple and pumpkin butters are common, but many fruit work. Plus it's delicious in the baked oatmeal recipe in one of my favorite new cookbooks -  The Food in Jars Kitchen: 140 Ways to Cook, Bake, Plate, and Share Your Homemade Pantry, by Marisa McClellan. I needed to wear an apron, though, because bing cherry butter bubbles and stains. This week also marked the first Western Slope peaches at the farmers market. The first ones are always cling peaches, so great for snacking, but not for canning. I learned that lesson the hard...

The Cherry Creek Farmers Market is getting busier on Saturdays as more booths appear and more people are in the mood for local produce. My favorite go-tos that have been there since day one are Unni's Kimchi - a new booth from two sisters who moved here from South Korea. I was actually their very first customer since I get to the market when it opens on Saturday. The other is a wonderful local mushroom grower. I didn't know until watching a special on Colorado Public Television that this state is a large producer of mushrooms. They have different varieties each week and I stir fry their mushrooms with some spinach from another booth, spoon on some "Magic Soy Sauce" from Unni's and serve it over brown rice with a big spoonful of kimchi (cabbage or Korean radish). Delicious!