Veggie Love

Last week I went on a 3-day juice fast. I’d picked up some bad habits over the summer, including caffeine and, my real pitfall, sugar. It was time to reset and shrug off some of the sluggishness, and try to change direction now that the grocery stores are filled with bags of Halloween candy. AND…. I have a lot of kale.

The seasons seem skewed and so just as we had a very late spring, we’re enjoying a late summer. This is the first time since I’ve lived here that we haven’t had a frost, even a light frost, in September. Which means the tomatoes are holding on (especially the cherries) and the peppers continue to ripen. And though I’m still in preserving mode, hanging the peppers and storing the turnip harvest, I’m also still able to eat out of the garden really well. I pull a few leeks now and then, and have been pinching off Brussels sprouts, which I love.

But for three days I ate a morning meal of fruit juice (the large, heavy, nearly overripe watermelon from the garden, green apple, grapefruit juice, grapes, ginger, carrots), and then for lunch had a kale, greens, ginger and green apple blend, and later in the day a gazpacho made of cherry tomatoes, tomatillos, cucumber, parsley, lemon juice and red peppers. For dinner I sauteed up a large pan of Brussels sprouts in garlic and onion and added some beans. In the end, I extended this pattern to four days, then broke the fast in Long Prairie with a couple eggs and a pancake! Since then I’ve kept to supplementing my diet with a few of the smoothies, a few roasted vegetable dinners, and completed a week without sweets (no ice cream, cookies, candy or other recognizable sweets).

Although I did have to buy some things: cucumber, ginger, lemons, green apples, it was a good way to keep my attention focused on the garden. Because at this time of year, and especially after the big bout of canning, I’m a little weary of it all. But there is still good stuff out there– stuff that is best eaten now.

So here’s to this “season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,” as Keats called Autumn. And here’s to good, clean eating (with some chicken and pork chops and a little dark chocolate to keep things balanced).