Soft Serve and Post Haste Garden Post

World's Best Softserve (Sugar Free, Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Soy Free, Nut Free)

Adapted from an idea at ChocolateCoveredKatie
6 frozen very ripe bananas
1/2 fair trade unsweetened cocoa
1/4 c french vanilla so delicious coconut creamer
1/2 c lowfat soy or rice milk
pinch of guar gum (optional) but keeps it soft.

Blend in blender. Pour into bowl and freeze. Use more milk if it needs to be thinned. Eat within two -four hours. Good with blackberry syrup, pomegranate syrup or brandy. Read on for an account of gardening so far this summer.
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Eden Farms, CU, Pittsburgh, the old well as compost pile

If 'post haste' should be the norm for deadlines, I failed this summer.

The colors of the M&Ms but in nature! Spot the Blue!

Do you remember when you bought grocery produce that had to be checked for pests and ripeness? I recall turning bags of apples for the least worm eaten. When was the last time you found a worm hole in a bag of grocery store apples? Does that worry you a bit? What are they spraying that not one apple has a worm in it?

A couple of summers ago I learned about ripening rooms for Kroger. These are for bananas. Want to learn more about them? Click here. I got to thinking about the produce at the store and why, when I buy out of season, I get so many stomach issues. Why when the powdering grey of pesticide is thick, do I double over in pain? Why when I garden even hybrid plant starts do I still harvest decent tasting fruits and veggies? Is is more than heirloom, though I am stuck to beauty, variety and flavor of my Cherokee Purples, Lemon Zebras, Lemon Drop, Chocolate drop, Amish Pasters, Mortgage Lifters, Canary Melons, and other heirlooms? Is it what they spray? How they fertilize? And finally, that they pick and deliver vegetables and fruits before nature's cycle approves harvest. Those skins are as edible as newsprint, or plastic wrap.

I love eating from the garden this time of year. We have had a bounty, thanks to obscene water bills. We shared with our neighbors. While I traveled from the week of July to the third week of August, folks helped to water. My kids covered the cycle. I was able to tour Chatham University's Eden farm and learn about their co-planting garden experiments. Next year, I repeat the cukes but mix with something else. They didn't compliment with the squash. I think a pretty tobacco plant may be in order. Those repel squash bugs, I hear. I may throw in some other heavily scented herbs, lemon verbena, or more basil. We can never have two much pesto in our house. My daughter froze 24 ice blocks of it today. We'll make more in a week or so. Each 2oz block will make us a pasta dish.

One of my honeydew babies!

I was happy to harvest three honeydews from the 75 cent plant I rescued. I harvest too early. My mother used to make me knock the watermelons, which I saw an Indian man doing at the international grocery Saraga last Friday.  I had to sniff the ends of cantalopes for the pungent musk. I hated cantalopes and the ripe smell made me gag. It turns out, we picked the honeydews a bit soon. While I traveled, I asked my daughter to peel and deseed one of them, then freeze it.-- I can smoothy those up. Frozen melon and frozen banana make some great, low sugar 'soft serves.' See my chocolate soft serve recipe below-- Needless to say, progeny of a certain age are almost incapable of following more than 60% of directions, even simplified into three steps.

So I defrosted half an unpeeled honeydew and tried to cut its unripe flesh from the skin. It took this vegetarian momma back to days when I had to butcher and carve chicken flesh. It squiggled under my skin and my knife almost slipped and nicked me.  It was a bit hard to eat.

Ripeness matters.

Even in Pittsburgh the heat oppressed cats.

My mom  used to have me pick the bananas that would turn in a day or so. The sugars were less starchy. We two days of banana eating and the remainders became bread. Mom did buy those often, since bananas were expensive compared to Michigan peaches and Hoosier apples. Nowadays, it's almost impossible to find local varieties. Local means it came within 6 to 10 hours from here, instead of say, Guatemala. When we were down there, we saw vast plantations adapted with North American fruits and veggies that would be harvest just a tad early and rushed north for your local chain store. The less perfect specimens were sold at local auctions. My husband pointed out that the eating at the Hogar Rafael Ayau is much healthier and easier on his stomach than American food.  Perhaps it's because the produce is fresh. Perhaps it's because it's not laced with preservatives when it is prepared. Either way, he got sick with the first meal back in the USA.  Ah, America.

Two weeks ago, Layla replanted beans, which is a first for our home garden. Liam did some peas. I hope to get this rotation habit improved next year. Travel kills several good rhythms in me: fasting, self-control, prayer and gardening.

Recipe: