vegan zucchini lasagna

it's been a month or more since we've had rain, but the way the zucchinis have been giving, you wouldn't know it. we've been harvesting them for almost two weeks now, running through the rows daily to ensure we get them while they're small and sweet, not big and watery.

zukes for our CSA members

the other day I found a whopper hiding under some leaves, way too big for our members but good enough for us and especially useful for grilling. that same day, my mom emailed me this recipe. it would have been a perfect use of the rejected zucchini, but I'm short three very key ingredients: tomatoes, large quantities of basil, and a food processor. well, whatever. we went to Todd's, the shitty Hastings grocery store, to get the last block of tofu in the county, a couple of tomatoes, and an eggplant, then spent the evening making lunch while we waited for Brophy to arrive from Burlington.

I subbed the pesto for a tomato sauce I made using canned diced tomatoes and our own herbs, garlic, and onions, but followed everything else pretty exactly. if I were to make it again, I'd use more tofu than the recipe wants; there was barely enough for one layer. also I'd grill the vegetables and tofu using the lemon zest marinade; using plain oil to grill, and then the oil and lemon marinade to drizzle on top of that, makes for an extremely oily dish, even when you consider it's supposed to be served chilled, like a salad.

personally, I do not eat of the wheat, but I know others like a more substantial lunch after six hours of weeding, so I toasted up some garlic bread to have with the lasagna, which I finished off with a liberal sprinkling of nice salty nutritional yeast "parmesan". it seemed to go over pretty well, although it turns out our guest of honor has a citrus allergy. well damn. since he absconded with Chris to Algonquin for the weekend, I guess I'll just have to eat the leftovers myself.

avec du pain, and some of our broccoli seconds steamed with olive oil and fresh pepper

beets: they're what's for lunch

today and tomorrow the Chickabiddy crew - including farm mistress Sherry and her adorable handywoman Gisele - is building two new greenhouses from the ground up. in other news, beets are in season. and what else to feed all those hot and hungry workers? beets are hearty, versatile, and beautiful. last night, I headed out to the garden to see what I could find.

golden beets

I didn't have to change a thing about Isa Chandra's Chilled Golden Beet and Ginger Soup recipe for it to be simple, delicious, and vegan.

what a lot of people don't know about beets is that their greens are some of the nicest out there. I vastly prefer them to chard; they have an earthiness to them that's not found in other leafy greens.

while the beets were roasting, I steamed their greens in a bit of soy sauce, whipped up a quick peanut sauce, and juliened some of our own zucchini, scallions, and the last of the snow peas, then stuck it all in the fridge to chill overnight.

this morning before we got to our construction project, we spent a little while in the garden picking the very first tender, sweet green beans of the season.

haricots verts

way too beautiful to spoil with cooking, right? onto the veggie pile they went. next I scrambled a couple of farm eggs, then rolled it all up to make a perfect side for the chilled soup.

my cold rolls didn't look that pretty but they tasted great

lunchtime!

for dessert, more beets! very un-vegan Red Velvet cupcakes with cream cheese icing. I used this recipe but cut the sugar quantities in half, and no one seemed to mind.

eat me

tomorrow we're building all day after harvest in the morning. hello, eight o'clock bedtime! good night.

dawn in the poppy brake

Christopher among the nearly five hundred eggplants, peppers, and tomatoes we put in today

a list of the tomatoes we're growing this season, in no particular order.

• Bonney Best
• Garden Peach
• Green Zebra
• Black Trifele
• Viva Italia
• Sun Gold
• Orange Paste
• Black Plum
• Boxcar
• Oxheart
• Pink Brandywine
• Charlie Tom
• San Marzano
• Tigerella

Every morning, I find a polar bear of a dog lying at the entrance to my house. We were strangers once. He used to follow behind while his alpha, Josh, led Emily and I around the property, like a mafia heavy protecting his don from a respectful distance while he deals with dangerous rivals.

Now, Buddy guards my house. If he finds me sitting down to take a swig of water, he reassures me with a massive paw on my shoulder and an ear full of snout.

I consider this an official endorsement - we've become family in just two weeks. And I don't just mean that Buddy has extended the offer and I've joined his club. It's mutual. We both live and work here.

Buddy gallops from field to field, barking at enemies either imagined or visible to him only. He barks at seagulls flying a kilometer overheard, warning them away from landing in our turf. It's goofy, until you consider that our lone goose, Lucy, used to be one of a half dozen. That half dozen was attacked in the night by coyotes, and it was only Buddy's valiant charge that scared the coyotes away and saved Lucy's life. 

Buddy guards our door, and he doesn't take it lightly. We're family, for a time at least. I'm here, and Buddy is here, so we're in it together. We'll both hold our end of the bargain - eggs in his dish, no coyotes in my bedroom.

misty morning view out our window.