One of the simple joys here is walking out to the garden to see what's ready to have for dinner. From garden to plate, it can be a new adventure every night as you savor what you grow with our own hands. Maybe it's a few tomatoes, an onion, a baby butternut squash, or a couple sweet potatoes. I bring the vegetables inside, wash and slice them up, and roast them with olive oil and a generous sprinkle of sea salt at 350°F for about 30 to 45 minutes, that's it. So simple, so wholesome and nourishing. I do not claim to be a good cook, but you can't go wrong with that. No tedious recipe or additional ingredients required, just real food. Over time, we have come to appreciate the simple things in life, including a plate of freshly picked vegetables roasted until tender. A delicious salad can be made quickly with baby greens, sliced tomatoes, even squash flowers, paired with a splash of olive oil and vinegar. No shelf-stable dressing with 40 ingredients, just real food. One of our favorite salads is a slice of fresh mozzarella from the grocery deli, topped with a slice of Brandywine tomato and a freshly-picked basil leaf, sprinkled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar and a pinch of sea salt. It's called Caprese salad, and has become a favorite summer treat. Or how about a garden tomato or bell pepper, hollowed out and stuffed with sautéed grass-fed beef and diced onions, topped with parmesan cheese and then roasted in the oven for 30 minutes. Mmm, nothin' better. Just. Real. Food.

This is called bread scoring, and it is a fun way to make beautiful Artisan bread. With a good sourdough bread recipe, some baking twine, and a pair of kitchen sheers you can experiment with beautiful designs. We use King Arthur flour for baking homemade bread, and they have a great tutorial on bread scoring...

https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/blog/2017/10/20/bread-scoring-techniques

Just real food

Here is the ingredient label from the back of a popular refrigerated pie crust. When you see a list this long, it is hard not to wonder why we would choose this, when a flaky, buttery crust can be made with four pure simple ingredients - organic flour, salt, sugar, and butter; and just about ten minutes of your time. Homemade pie crust sounds intimidating, but it is surprisingly easy, and the result is so delicious you may wonder why you ever bought it ready-made.

We have also invested in a freeze-dryer, and one of my favorite winter treats is freeze-dried cherry tomatoes. They are crisp, salty, and bursting with flavor, a satisfying alternative when I am craving a salty snack. Similarly you could use a food dehydrator, which aren't terribly expensive. With a few simple tools such as large canning pot and rack, you can take baby steps toward preserving more of your harvest, or what you buy at the Farmer's Market. For me, it is not about mastering everything at once; it is about learning slowly, enjoying the work, and saving a little summer for later.

At first, the process felt intimidating, but a few dear friends who have been preserving food for years agreed to teach me. I have also learned from books and videos which are abundant now on YouTube and other sites. Little by little, I am becoming more at home with the process and that growing confidence keeps me motivated forge ahead. Preservation does not have to be complicated. Begin with a small batch, like a basket of cucumbers or tomatoes, and make perhaps six jars at a time - pickles, pickled jalapeños, pickle relish, tomato sauce, or blackberry jam. In the fall, when baskets of apples are available at a local orchard, I enjoy making applesauce, canned apples, and apple butter that we can enjoy all winter long.

We are continuing to explore the old-fashioned art of preserving what we grow through canning, freezing, and freeze-drying. There is something comforting about preparing food in its season and saving a little of that harvest for later. Canning was new to me; it was not a practice I ever even considered before. But in earlier generations, food preservation was a familiar part of everyday life and a skill commonly passed from one generation to the next. Somewhere along the way, much of that knowledge faded, but thankfully, interest in these traditional practices is returning in popularity.