Like many of you, I’m learning to eat more in tune with the seasons.   It’s a real learning curve.  We’ve become so accustomed to heading to the grocery to find whatever we want, whenever we want it.  Of course, there has been a trade-off in terms of flavor and nutrition.    If we want to eat truly fresh,  locally grown, seasonal produce, we have to adjust our thinking to wanting what we find instead of finding what we want.

Right now is the time to find eggplant, okra, tomatoes, and southern peas, melons, peppers and summer greens.    The Red Russian Kale, pictured above, is coming back now with baby leaves that are tender and mild.  I’ve been using them to wrap my grain-free “sandwich” at lunch.    Many other summer plants, however,  are passing their prime and dying back to make way for fall choices.  As the heat breaks, the garden choices will change once again.   If you want to put tomato sauce or okra in the freezer, now is the time to act.  They’ll be gone before you know it.

We have another change to announce at Gopher Knoll.  We need to make time to take care of family – which means we will only be at Athen’s Farmer’s Market on First Monday weekends for a while.  We’ll pull out the stops to make those visits fun and productive.  And we hope you’ll continue to visit the market every week and support all the other local farmers and vendors who are working to bring you local choices.

The rest of the time, we hope you’ll visit Dana’s Health Foods in Athens to pick up your fresh veggies.    Speaking of Dana’s –  I’ll be taking a a few fresh leeks and the first edamame down on Friday morning.   We’ve had some beautiful pak choy, arugula, and both kinds of kale this week, as well.  You’ll find the last of our San Marzano sauce tomatoes and melons.   We’ll try to get together some bags of our gourmet summer mixed greens, too.   Remember the freshest morning picks will be there by noon, most of the time.

Enjoy your end-of-summer veggies!