A Summer Dinner, by Claire Criscuolo, RN

 
Summer in our beautiful state of Connecticut brings so many opportunities. You can grow organic vegetables right in your own backyard or in containers on a sunny porch, or you can buy your glorious seasonal treasures from our farmer's markets.  The important thing is that you enjoy the flavors of the season because nothing will ever taste fresher, or more delicious, or have greater nutritional value than eating freshly picked vegetables. You'll feel more alive, too because the fresher the food, the greater  the nutritional value.  It's as simple as that.

 

 I get my fresh local and organic vegetable "fix" each of the three ways. Frank and I have raised bed gardens at home, where this year we are growing zucchini, yellow squash, sweet corn, a few varieties of heirloom eggplants and tomatoes, and jalapeno and bell peppers. In container pots, we grow our perennial herbs, garlic chives,  mint, and oregano. We also have a small strawberry patch, and two fig trees that Frank keeps (really, he babies them) in large pots that we move to the shed for protection from the cold during the winter. Still, I cannot resist going to the farmer's markets at least a several times during the season. There I will find the vegetables and fruits that I don't grow, the eggs and cheeses that I don't produce, and, something just as gratifying for me,  I get to meet some of the farmers who grow the foods that sustain so many of us. There, I can say "Thank you for caring for the earth and for nourishing us and our neighbors."

 

I hope you'll eat  local and organic vegetables, they're so good for you.

 

For a complete list of farmer's markets in Connecticut, please visit:
www.ct.gov/doag or telephone: 860-713-2503