Cucumber Nostalgia - Missoula, Montana

Happy childhood memory AND a healthy snack!

Struggling a bit to scoop decent bites out of this lovely from-a-friend's-garden cuke, I gained a whole new appreciation for how smart my mother was in managing the seven of us. 

Give a stubborn 5-year-old a spoon and half a cucumber and they'll probably stay occupied for a good hour, plus wind up full of self-satisfaction for having done this amazing feat of foraging all on their own!

Heirloom Tomatoes- Missoula, Montana

I'm seeing red today - and yellow and interspersed swathes of green: all the best colours of heirloom tomatoes from the Missoula Farmers Market. 
I'm feeling healthier just looking at them!

Better Than Bacon - Missoula, Montana

"Life expectancy would grow by leaps and bounds if green vegetables smelled as good as bacon."

- Doug Larson 

Celery And Snoring - Missoula, Montana

"Your mother complains about my snoring,
Father said, but she forgets to mention
the times I was awakened in the middle
of the night by the sound celery makes
when you bite into it. At first I thought it was a tree falling
on the house...
but when I saw her munching on celery
I knew I was safe...
My snoring is a form of self-defense—
it drowns out the other noises."

- from “The Sound of a Tree Falling” by Hal Sirowitz from Father Said.

Treat yourself to the entire poem as read by Garrison Keillor by clicking here and then jumping ahead in the audio track to 3:18.

Beautiful Red Onions - Farmers Market, Missoula, Montana

"Red onions are especially divine. I hold a slice up to the sunlight pouring in through the kitchen window, and it glows like a fine piece of antique glass. Cool watery-white with layers delicately edged with imperial purple...strong, humble, peaceful...with that fiery nub of spring green in the center..." - Mary Hayes Grieco, 'The Kitchen Mystic'