GARDEN
GARDEN TO TABLE
By S. MICHAL BENNETT Photography By JOEL RINER
H ere in the Northwest, al - most every gardener plants zucchini, and by the middle of summer, they are so tired of eat - ing it! But the popular squash just keeps propagating and growing bigger. Inevitably, when August ar - rives, you and your gardener friends are trying to find homes for jumbo courgettes. With a little garden plan - ning, though, you can not only keep up with your zucchini abundance, but you can also keep your palate interested and happy and enjoy the fruit of your labor all the way through winter. Garden to table gardening is a concept of growing all or a portion
of your own produce, while planning your garden around meals and recipes. It takes a little work and organization, and your garden may not produce – or may over produce – what you anticipate. But, if you want to try your hand at a little grocery self-sufficiency, save some money and establish more mindful eating habits, I invite you to put together a garden to table plan as you prep your beds. The goal is to flip the cycle of recipe-grocery list-shopping basket on its head. Your plan instead starts with what is fruiting in your garden right now. Find recipes that utilize those ingredients, and then fill in
the blanks with a shopping list. Your plan may be less “convenient” at first and will challenge your habits, but the more you choose to shop first in your garden, the more money you’ll save and the more creative and satisfying your meals will be. >> Stick with What You Eat What produce do you buy every week at the grocery store? What do you and your family actually enjoy eating? Can you grow these veggies in your hardiness zone? When flipping through seed catalogs, it’s easy to get starry-eyed with all the garden possibilities, but will you really eat all those things?
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