I'm using the last ripe summer tomato today :( This is the end of truly fresh vegies for us until late April. Since we don't have a yard situated in a manner conducive to growing our own vegies, I have become a faithful devotee of Joe's Garden which just happens to be right down the street from the high school where I work. During the school year I can grab my handy dandy shopping bag, throw it over my shoulder and take a short, pleasant walk on a path through the woods, imagining that I'm walking the hills in Tuscany. This path drops me right between the fields at Joe's which are full of luscious, healthy lettuce, carrots, chard, broccoli, potatoes, leeks, etc.

Joe Bertero grew up in Genoa, Italy, but moved to America during the First World War. In 1933 Joe and Ann Bertero bought the property which became Joe's Garden which was then and still is organic. It was a well-kept secret for locals until word-of-mouth made it famous. Joe farmed it along with a steady stream of faithful helpers well into his 80's. In 1959 teenager Carl Weston began working for Joe. Ann and Joe had no children of their own, but Carl quickly became the son they never had and Joe and Ann eventually turned the farm over to him and his wife, Carol. Now Carl is in the process of turning the farm over to his adult children who are continuing the tradition of farming the very best food in the very best way.

When Jess was little one of Joe's traditions was to pass out a free carrot to every child that came to the farm stand. That doesn't sound very exciting, but you've never had one of Joe's carrots...sweeter than candy!

Thanks, Ann and Joe, for a little touch of paradise here in B'ham!

The Winter That Never Was

I've changed the background on my blog. Snowflakes no longer seem appropriate since the temperature in Bellingham has hovered around 50+ degrees for the past two months. My hellebores are in bloom and we've seen several flowering cherries around town that are in full bloom. The Indian Plum is out and Joe's Garden is tilling their fields. All systems are go for the onset of Spring.

Other than this dramatic change, not much new is happening at 3105. We get up, go to work, come home, eat dinner, go to bed and repeat this process. Some knitting and quilting has happened, but I'll blog about that later when I actually get around to taking pictures of it.

Meanwhile, Puxatawny Phil doesn't know beans...spring is here already.

A Tomato Summer

This summer has gone down in my record book as the winner for the one with the most sunny days and temperatures above 75.  It's what I call a "tomato summer"--a summer when the days and nights are warm enough to produce truly vine-ripened tomatoes bursting with the kind of flavor I remember from my childhood back East.  If you've never had a ripe tomato fresh off the vine in New Jersey, where all that heat and humidity produces heaven in a red, round vessel of bliss, it might be worth the airfare to give it a try!  I digress.  

Yesterday I visited Joe's Garden, our local organic farm which I wrote about here to pick up the week's worth of veggies for dinner.  

They were reasonably priced and at the peak of their flavor.  

Jessi and Josh have joined a co-operative farm where the put in "sweat equity" in exchange for unlimited fresh vegetables and fruit all summer long.  We stopped by there when I was visiting her last week

We picked some blackberries and  raspberries and then filled two shopping bags with tomatoes, lettuce, beans, potatoes, zucchini, rhubarb, kale, corn, carrots and herbs and then walked out...without paying anything!  Now that's my kind of shopping!

The Times They Are A'Changin'

Last week my school district sent over an "accounting" expert to brief our staff on the district's new "energy savings" policies. Gone are our coffee makers, small fridges, space heaters, etc., and we've made an arrangement with Joe's Garden down the hill to use all their old corn husks for TP! Just kidding...about the last part, but not the first!

With all this knowledge in mind, John and I arrived on Tuesday morning to find that the temperature in the library was a balmy 52 degrees! Apparently, they are also cutting back on heat. By then end of the day (3:30 pm) the temp had risen to a steamy 64 degrees. Shades of things to come.....