When your garden is a tiny, experimental, late season starter garden there is really no rush to can, freeze and store veggies. Our harvest this year has been perfect for on-the-spot feeding.

Much of what we’ve feasted on has been eaten while it is still sun warm. Raw, wholesome, flavourful kale, lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, courgettes, and peppers. We roasted our beets, and zucchinis went into recipes but everything else was eaten straight off the vine or stalk. The only disappointment were our beans, which were woody and tasteless (a symptom, I think, of being housed for too long in tiny seed trays).

Munching on warm veggies was a long anticipated treat, but I’m so looking forward to curling up over the cold months with literature on preserving food. Next year the harvest will be voluminous and I want to be armed with resources rather than overwhelmed.

Can anyone recommend mandatory reading?

We’ve been busy bees down on the farm but we’ve also been taking time lately to reflect. Taking time to let thoughts meander and ideas settle. This has not come easily, however.
It took me an entire summer to honour the midday siesta. How can this be?! I live on a farm!

I also work from home, mainly in front of a computer. I have a beautiful view of three towering old maples from my desk, but I haven’t even touched the trunks of two of them.

I work as an outreach manager but I don’t reach out to many of the plants that are in my care. I study behaviour change but I’m stuck in some of my own patterns. I communicate the climate crisis but I still crave a vacation in southern France. Something is out of sync!

For the last two weekends we’ve taken long afternoon siestas to great effect. At first I felt a little guilty. I battled a powerful internal dialog of: “you should be doing something, Andrea. Think of all you want to help with now that you have time!” Once I got over it, slipped off my shoes, and eased into the grass there was no turning back.

It is so tremendously rejuvenating to set aside a block of time to have a date with yourself and just be. After a relaxing break I have renewed stores of energy, love and compassion. I water the garden and notice the blushing tomatoes. I pick flowers to fill my grandpa’s pottery jugs. I wander the garden with new eyes. I’m also more playful and creative.

So I’ve decided that the simple but profound siesta must become a part of my daily routine. If a midday break has the power to transform the way I see, feel and radiate, how much of a disservice am doing to myself and those around me if I let my day run-on without it?

Our five zucchini plants have been working overtime pumping out massive zucs. Up until last week I had been able to keep up with the supply by concocting yummy desserts. One a week for the past month to be precise. I’m not one to bake the same dessert four times in a row, however, I found a quick and finger licking recipe that proved itself to be a winner. It also saved many overgrown veggies from being tossed into the compost.

This chocolate zucchini cake recipe is incredibly delicious. It was created by Parisian cookbook author and food blogger Clotilde Dousilier, who tested many recipes before creating her own hybrid. For my first attempt this summer I tried my aunt’s healthy version. It tasted like a low calorie snacking cake. The next three cakes were Clotilde’s recipe, and they blew my aunt’s right out of contention. This fluffy, chocolately cake is a godsend for anyone stuck with zucs that grow with vigour and take up too much valuable refridgerator space. Not only is it a big winner on taste, it’s also a generous cake. So even with three sets of wandering fingers returning for top-ups, this cake is substantial enough to last a few days.

And the best part? You don’t have to suffer cake overload or tooth rot during the growing season (like I did). Instead, grate your zucchinis, divide them into 2 cup servings in freezer bags, and freeze for cakes throughout the winter and spring. I also recommend employing the services of a fit young man to grate overgrown clubs. Since mid August some of our runaway courgettes have grown into such unfathomable beasts that I can barely grip them with one of my small hands.

Chocolate & Zucchini Cake
Servings: 12-16

1 ½ (180 g) cups all purpose flour
½ cup (40 g) whole wheat flour
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
½ cup (110 g) butter, softened
1 cup (160 g) light brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp instant coffee granules
3 eggs, at room temperature
2 cups zucchini, unpeeled, grated (about 280 g, two medium)
1 cup (170 g) chocolate chips

Topping:
40 g light brown sugar
½ cup (70 g) hazelnuts, toasted and chopped

Preheat the oven to 180°C (360°F). Grease a 3 L springform cake pan, and flour it or sprinkle with cocoa powder.

Sift cocoa. Mix all the dry ingredients and set aside ½ cup. In a separate bowl cream the butter and sugar, then add eggs and vanilla to the wet mixture. Add the dry mix to the wet and combine. Add the reserved ½ cup of dry mix to the grated zucchini and chocolate chips to coat them, then add to the main mixture, creating a thick batter.

Pour into a spring form pan and smooth out surface with a spatula. Combine the topping ingredients in a small bowl, and sprinkle over cake. Bake for 40 – 50 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

NB: In one version of this recipe I used Rapunzel’s Organic Cocoa and the result was noticeably more chocolatey - well worth the splurge. I also omitted the coffee granules and hazelnuts, and the cake didn’t suffer from the loss.

Carrot Fest was an excellent excuse to get over to Everdale Farm & Environmental Learning Centre. BBQ, an abundance of carrots in big bowls on harvest tables, workshops, guided farm tours, self-guided exploration - who could ask for more on a sunny Saturday afternoon? In the spirit of the orange root vegetable, the staff placed laminated pages of the sweet kids book Carrot Soup by John Segal along a path through one of their gardens.

What a fabulous idea!

I remember when Everdale first crossed my radar three years ago. Roddy and I were living in Toronto and being exposed through our work to inspirational food security groups and the world of community gardens. I was bubbling over with enthusiasm for this newfound arm of my passion for engaged communities, sustainable agriculture, seed diversity and simply, food - thinking about food, preparing food, eating food. It’s safe to say that food has always been at or very near the forefront of my mind (and I am relieved and eternally grateful that I have a fast metabolism).

When I learned more about Everdale, the centre sat in my mind as a beacon of alternative living. From it’s web pages I learned about straw bale construction and farmer apprenticeship opportunities. I didn’t know it at the time, but Everdale was part of the inspiration for my volunteer experience at an organic farm the following summer. It was also one of the sparks in the creation of my mission to integrate community, deeper connection, and organic agriculture, which ultimately led to the development of Roddy’s and my shared dream to create an organic market garden.

I visited Everdale in person for the first time when I was back home in Ontario last September. My mom and dad were curious to get a tour of Home Alive - the farm’s green powered straw bale house - and I wanted to suss the place out. At the time, Roddy and I were toying with a grand plan of either WWOOFing our way down the west coast into South America together, or hanging onto one of our jobs (mine) and doing an intensive apprenticeship at Everdale (Roddy). Even in the rain Everdale was quite magical, but Roddy and I decided the apprenticeship and WWOOFing options weren’t right for either of us. We wanted to jump right into our own farm. A somewhat scarier option, but definately exhilarating!

Funny how things come full circle. Roddy and I never expected to return to Ontario, and now we are only a 15 minute drive from Everdale. We’re very lucky to have landed so near their experienced staff, some of whom oversee LandLINK - an initiative that connects beginning farmers with farmland owners and farming opportunities in Erin Township.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering,

I’m still clinging to the hot season. I spent much of the long weekend in sundresses and sandals, soaked up hot rays, and let the warm lake water engulf my skin during long swims with friends and family.

We’re still hanging laundry to dry, still swimming at Guelph Lake, still slapping on sunscreen, and still barbequing. Summer made us wait this year, and now we’re milking her for all she’s got left.

This summer has been an education for me. Among the highlights of my fledgling farmer lessons:

:: blowback - (this is not what you are thinking) a waft of stinky garbage blowing back into one’s face when they squash garbage to accommodate Wellington County’s pay-as-you-throw garbage collection system

:: 8PM dew threshold - the precise time of day when the dew and cooling air turns warm dry laundry hanging on the line into damp masses, rendering all energy saving efforts obsolete

:: overwhelming nausea - what one experiences in the middle of the night when a skunk sprays beneath their bedroom

:: farm auction - a rural social where farmers throw on their ball caps and wellies, catch up with their neighbours, mull around salable items munching burgers and chips, and go home with things they don’t need (or claim that they’ve been instructed to come home empty handed)

:: thinning and scape snipping - the necessary practice if one wants garlic to actually form into generous sized bulbs

:: siesta - a mid-afternoon break from the heat enjoyed by farmers and farm cats alike. Best taken under a favourite tree with the local pages, Monocle, The Walrus, and a tall glass of home-made iced green tea

:: chocolate zucchini cake - the sinfully salubrious answer to a zucchini bumper crop

:: canker sore - a signal to stop baking chocolate zucchini cake and start cooking healthy zucchini-based meals

:: 1 year - the time required to compost manure for one’s garden

:: confidence - necessary trait for achieving success, regardless of the task

:: Aberfoyle Antique Market - outdoor maze of antique vendors who spin dreams into reality

:: ubiquitous - crickets’ song. They go day in, day out in the country

:: “Wow guys! Do your parent’s know what you’re doing?!” - what a shocked realtor proclaims upon entering a demolition site overseen by amateurs

What were the highlights of your summer? Are you still soaking it up?

Top photo and frog hunting/gathering photos courtesy of Ewan Ross.

Sorry for the late announcement. I’ve been juggling an amputee kittie, overflowing harvest, meals in Toronto, home renos, hosting, and my day job.

The lucky winner (chosen using random.org) is Shona - congrats!

Thanks to all who played along, and as soon as I have a moment to hunt down a copy for myself I’ll report on my successes and failures in French Cuisine. Let me know how you get on too!