Well it's August already and I can't believe how fast the year flies. We got 3 hens last month and everyday I open their nest box slowly, hoping to spy our first egg. So far, nothing! But they are lovely girls and glad to eat a slightly overripe apple or unsold biscuit after market. We have an amazing little chicken tractor for them to live in; a moveable floorless enclosure with a cozy little spot for nesting and roosting. So far it's been a lot of fun for us to watch them (and wait for that egg.)
August is probably the best month when it comes to variety of produce. I am amazed and delighted at the abundance of peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, herbs and fruit that the farmers bring to the markets every week. I love to let my eyes dance over the colors and textures, while the aromas of basil and onions and tomatoes warmed in the summer sun absolutely make me giddy! Keep your produce department with flourescent lights and fake thunderstorms, I prefer my shopping al fresco.
We've been taking advantage of all the local goodness and have been featuring peach tarts, blackberry goat cheese brioche, plum financiers and of course, scones and muffins with everything from blueberries to figs and walnuts. I picked 7 1/2 pounds of blueberries yesterday with my daughter and today is the perfect day to make a blueberry crisp (our first rainy day in quite a while.) It's also a good day to start preserving some of this abundance for the cold and lean winter months, but doing that would imply an acceptance that this summer windfall will all end all too soon. And I'm just not ready to admit that yet.
