A Season of Making

The courgette storm has started...

It started as a trickle.  A few fruits here at there. I was picking them early and small because I was so excited. On pizza and in pasta, we hardly noticed their arrival in the day to day of the kitchen. 

And then there were a few more...not quite to the point that meals needed to be planned around them, but they started to linger on the counter.  I'd make dinner that included courgettes and then go to tidy and find a few extra hidden behind a pot or tucked into a basket. 

And then I went out and discovered that 3 plants that I thought were pumpkins were actually courgettes. And then 2 popped up in the compost bin. And just like that we were swimming in courgettes.

I have a love hate relationship with this time of year. On one hand, it is the fruition of almost a year of work. From the time we start clearing the veg beds in autumn, we begin the work of prepping for this moment. I have never felt richer than when I haul in baskets of food from the garden.

But following that gratitude is the overwhelm. There is so much to use and try to preserve for colder months.  My back starts to hurt from the hours I spend bending over the counter. I give away armfuls (one of the great joys of my life) and there is still more piling up on the counters, spilling over into the dining room, taking over all my baskets. 

Its that moment of almost overwhelming abundance that is the focus for the first edition of new Quarterly we are working on. The push and pull of having so much, the desire to save it for later in the year and the joy that is sharing it with others. I keep adding recipes and essays as more of the garden moves into the kitchen. We open preorders on Monday, so I have to stop messing with it soon!

I honestly can't wait for you to see it.

Ok, I am off to feed this little nugget (our newest edition, Kenny Rogers)....and make some feta to go with all those courgettes.