Last One Local Summer Meal

Well, this is the last week for the nationwide 110-blogger One Local Summer effort, and Jamie, the South's One Local Summer coordinator, suggested we go "all out." So, yesterday I not only got my CSA box from Charlotte at Riverview Farms but I also went to the farmers market, and harvested in my garden. I was all set for a Grand Feast.

Here's what I made:

* Multi-colored heirloom tomatoes (Riverview Farms and Garmon Family Farm) and grass-fed, pastured lamb (Gum Creek Farm) on a bed of stone-ground, organic corn grits (Riverview Farms) served with Genovese basil pesto (Riverview Farms) and, yes, of course, a side of spinach-like lamb's quarters! (recipient of the Most Valuable Player in My Garden Award for summer, 2007)

And, for dessert:

* Muscadine and scuppernong granita (Garmon Family Farm, with a recipe from Melissa at Blossom Hill Farm) with a drizzle of local, raw honey (Weeks Honey), garnished with a sprig of mint (my garden) and served in heirloom Depression-era glass dessert bowls that belonged to my husband's grandmother.

As I blended and baked and boiled and braised, I reflected on how it hasn't been an easy summer for the farmers here in Georgia, and I felt extraordinarily honored to celebrate what amounts to almost a miracle that they were able to grow and sell anything at all. As Corinna Garmon wrote in the farmers market newsletter this week:

This has been a very hard year on the farmers of North Georgia. First the extreme cold, then warm, then a hard freeze, and all this followed by 3 months with no rain. When the rain finally came it rained daily. When the rain stopped it really stopped and the 100+ degree-days came out of nowhere!

So what does that mean for Spruill Green Market? While we as farmers have persevered, the produce has not been as abundant this year. Several farmers will not be able to attend Market for the next couple of weeks because they basically have nothing to sell. Please come early for the best selection. We are all replanting and hoping the weather has turned and rains will continue to come for Fall crops.

I wish I could have taken a picture of how my house smelled last night. It was one of those dinners where I had to keep walking outside just to walk back in and smell it all over again. A gentle rain tapped, tapped, tapped. Candles glowed. Music wafted through the air. Andy the Flower Man's zinnias took center stage on the table. And all was well as we nourished our souls with gratitude for the hard and heartfelt labor of our farmer friends, with hopes for a banner fall.

Last One Local Summer Meal