Early November Harvest

It was a gorgeous day today. I couldn't resist taking a photo of the valley view from above the garden. You can't really see it in the photo, but at the lowest point on the horizon, ten miles away, is the Pacific Ocean. Just an itsy, bitsy, little sliver of an ocean view.

We had rain (at last!) this past weekend, just enough to clean things off and get the soil a little damp. It's the first significant amount of rain that we've had since last March, or was that February... it's been a long time.

Another Basket of Tomtoes

I picked another basket of late season tomatoes. We enjoyed a delicous tomato, mozzarella and basil salad last night - in November - hard to believe. We weren't eating tomatoes from the garden at this time last year. A number of the ones I picked today were cracked from the rain we had - gonna have to use them ASAP.

Cavolo Nero, Rugosa Friulana Squash, & Basil

I'm making soup for dinner tonight. The vegetables shown above, along with other ingredients on hand are going into it.

Vegetable Soup with Cranberry Beans and Italian Sausage

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 cup chopped onion

1 leek, sliced thin

3 cloves garlic, minced

8 large leaves Cavolo Nero, stems removed, coarsely chopped

8 ounces chard stems, sliced thin

8 ounces summer squash, diced

3 cups poultry broth

3 cups water

10 ounces fully cooked spicy Italian Sausage (Framani), sliced thin

1 pound tomatoes, peeled and diced

2 cups cooked cranberry beans with their cooking liquid

chopped basil

salt to taste

Heat the olive oil in a large pot. Add the onion, leek, and garlic and sweat them a few minutes to soften. Add the rest of the ingredients and bring almost to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer until the vegetables are tender. Taste for salt. Add chopped basil just before serving.

Makes a big pot!