285: one local summer :: week one

My opportunity for a fresh start at local summer eating has been dashed by my second bout of the flu.

So, for the sake of a week one post, I will refer you to the eagerness I had post-farmer's market this last Saturday (recipes included!) as well as this photoset I've put on Flickr to collect all my local eating (and growing and brewing and baking and cooking) for the challenge.

I'm nearly recovered, though I'm still clinging to the comfort of canned soups and Gatorade, which certainly would not qualify as local, even if any of the product might have been packaged in the cities.

With small exceptions, however, including those two berries you see above. They're our first strawberries off the wee plants we put in the soil a few weeks ago. They were flowering on our patio table, already green fruit weighing heavy as we planted and watered it. And they were sweet and tart all at once, and I know, as they are ever-bearing, the likelihood of wild growth is minimal as is the likelihood of their sticking around beyond three years. I also know one should nip those flowers in the first year to allow for bigger berries in future years, but the smaller ones are my favorites anyway. And our raspberry bush is already flowering and fuzzing, which is striking because last year our crop didn't really begin until September, if I remember correctly.

This weekend, we camp, and Saturday, it's to rain all day with temperatures in the fifties.

I leave you with this: carrots. They're not in season just yet, but I thought these ideas looked good.

Next week, I promise to make up for the neglect. And next year, the flu shot, I think.