First Harvest

The "newest" trend in shopping and eating is to "buy local". Call it the "100-Mile Diet", "Sustainable Table", "Food Routes" or whatever you want, I have a news flash. Until very recently, this is how things were done. Buying locally was all the rage when you could only get things that were grown / made locally. I'm no history buff, but I imagine that sometime around the Industrial Revolution, things started to change (rather quickly when you look at time lines) and now you can get things from all over the world in record time. In theory, this is not a bad thing, but unfortunately in a time when your environmental footprint has more impact than ever before, it isn't a good thing either.
I have always loved going to the local Farmer's Market, for several reasons: everything is fresh, usually better priced, often you get to talk to the producer and I love the atmosphere. I much prefer going from stand to stand with the scent of fresh produce in the air. No canned music, calls for cleanups on aisle 7 and the constant beep beep beep of UPC scanners is replaced by chirping birds.

This year I decided to try my thumb at a little gardening. In the past, I have failed miserably at gardening. I forget to water, don't harvest before things go to seed so it usually turns into a disaster. This year though, I have been diligent with the watering can and plant food and I scrutinize my plants for anything that looks out-of-place. And so far, there have been a few "harvests" which have really been the odd clipping of herbs, but even that has been great. I've made pesto, tabbouleh salad and have had fresh herbs on pasta, salads and in omlettes.

But today marked the beginning of a great future in my "garden" (which is really several pots containing mostly herbs, flowers and a tomato) - the first harvesting of tomatoes. Time in transit for these three babies: about 90 seconds from plant to mouth. Doesn't get much fresher than that.