goodbye tomatoes.

Just two weeks left on this little island by the name of Block. That’s 10 work days, one more weekend, and a 55 minute ferry ride to freedom..I mean, the mainland. I haven’t been off the island for almost six months now, and at this point I won’t really be able to tell if I’ve lost my mind or not until I actually leave.

Thursday was our last CSA pickup day, Friday our last full harvest day, and Saturday was the last farmer’s market. The field has been slowly losing green for the last couple of weeks, returning to what it was when we arrived, as one by one we lay each bed to rest for the season. Tilling the land, testing the soil to determine what it is lacking, and then sowing the cover crop to help supply the soil with what it needs as well as to prevent erosion over the winter. 

So we say goodbye to the cucumbers; they gave us a good run, and they even taught us how to pickle. And we say goodbye to the tomatoes; thanks for all the salsa and I’m sorry I never got around to making you into gazpacho. With all these goodbyes comes an even bigger GOOD RIDDANCE. It’s been tough. But it feels good to have it behind me. Goodbye high stress weeding, goodbye even higher stress harvesting, goodbye this-shouldn’t-be-high-stress-but-it-is flower bouquet making. Ah.

And now, two more weeks of putting-the-land-to-sleep activities, many of which may be unnecessarily stressful and uncomfortable, but all of which I know I can handle, and some of which I may even enjoy!  

Yesterday I spent a good chunk of the day nourishing my long-neglected crafty side. I made my grandpa a thank you card and somewhere along the way my inner Martha Stewart woke up from her slumber and many a card was made. It was such a relaxing delight. !

I also spent a good chunk of time “edible-izing” some pretty sad-looking brussels sprouts. They didn’t do so well this year, and didn’t make the farmer’s market cut. But John and I have hearts too big to judge a brussel by its outer layer, so we whittled down each cute little sprout, revealing the edible inner beauty.

 

and then we roasted them and ate them.

And while we’re talking yummy things I’ve eaten, I’d like to rewind to my birthday dinner because I never posted pictures..

 John took me to Eli’s, one of the fanciest restaurants on the island. They buy produce from us, and transform it into highly delicious plates of food. We shared the salmon and the scallops, both of which were artfully topped with a sprinkling of microgreens, an addition I only now fully appreciate (we spent a good 4 hours one morning this week snipping tray after tray of this fancy delicacy).

         

We also tried the fried green tomatoes with pickled shrimp

and their island-renowned chocolate bread pudding, which was long gone before I thought to take a photo.

Though it’s always a treat to eat out, we’ve made some winning meals ourselves, right here in this tiny wooden cabin with no running water, with nothing more than a two burner electric hot plate, toaster oven and a cutting board on a thigh-high fold-up plastic table.

Saturday night we had quinoa, swiss chard, radish, peppers burritos (interesting…but yum) and a big “let’s get regular” arugula and mizuna and radish salad.

And before we said goodbye to the cucumbers and the tomatoes, we ate things like this:

And now I sleep. Goodnight, tomatoes.