Updates from mellisa-hannum 
Summer squash — it really is the gift that keeps on giving. Our squash season has just begun, so at this point, I’m still looking forward to sauteed patty pans, zucchini in my pasta, and filling in the gap with crooknecks. That probably won’t be the case by the end of the summer.
Yet I can’t help but love this extreme giver of food. You can do so many, many things with summer squash. My grandma has been gifted with zucchinis that are too large to cook and has discovered that they pickle as easily as cucumbers. Then of course, there is the gloriousness that is zucchini bread. They’re a great addition to stir fries. They’re lovely as a side dish. They’re terrific stuffed, as casserole, and even as appetizers. How could I not love something that gives so much and asks for so little?
Zucchini Bread Recipe
Ingredients
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups grated fresh zucchini
2/3 cup butter, softened
2 teaspoons baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
3 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 cup chopped walnuts
Directions
Preheat oven to 350°F.
In a large bowl, mix together sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Add zucchini and butter. Sift flour, soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg together and gently spoon into mixture, a third at a time. Fold in walnuts.
Divide the batter equally between 2 buttered 5 by 9 inch loaf pans. Bake for 1 hour (check for doneness at 50 minutes) or until a wooden toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in pans for 10 minutes. Turn out onto wire racks to cool thoroughly.
Makes 2 loaves.
the satisfaction of biting into a ripe, sweet, flavor-packed tomato.
Thank goodness for the wonders of modern invention, like porch green houses. I wouldn’t even be able to harvest a handful of fruit this year if it wasn’t for that glorious creation. Isn’t it amazing the good that can come from a few metal pipes, shelves, and plastic? (My fresh herbs like it too.)
love, Komatsuna. This turnip relative is also called Japanese Mustard Spinach.
ew years later because of my health, that too was accepted. While I never came back to the place where I ate as much meat as I had before going veggie, I gotta say, a good grass-fed, grass-finished steak or hamburger is a lovely thing to experience.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
One of the things I thoroughly enjoy about the local produce season getting under way is the challenge of trying new things. Before Heaven and Earth Farm brought garlic scapes into the store last week, I had never heard of them, but typing the words into Google gave me a few ideas about how to cook up these bad boys. Specifically, this 
Replacing vitamins that are depleted during stress can help a lot too. Vitamins A, C, and E, the amazing antioxidants that they are, can be regained through foods high in these vitamins. Broccoli is a powerhouse, rich in all three. Spinach contains both A and E, red peppers A and C, and mangoes and kiwis C and E. Other tasty choices include sweet potatoes, carrots, kale, oatmeal, and apples for Vitamin A; kohlrabi and oranges for Vitamin C; and almonds, sunflower seeds, and tomatoes for Vitamin E. Focusing on foods that are good sources of magnesium are also beneficial – spinach, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, halibut, and black beans.