Using and renewing the garden

A beautiful day meant a great day for cleaning up the little kitchen garden and planting the garlic we'll enjoy next summer. I'm excited at the prospect of two distinct varieties, cloves I got last weekend from my friend Sharon at Trauma Farm. Since she also gave me some squash, I decided to build a supper that would put that autumn vegetable to good use.

When I sorted the cloves for planting, I set aside those that were flawed and used them to start a pot with olive oil and a pack of Italian sausages (from the freezer). I gradually added bits from the last of the garden -- assorted tiny tomatoes (red, yellow, even green), the last stunted eggplant and a few branches of the year's oregano that's drying in the pantry. Contents of this pot became the topping for Thursday's leftover pasta (which steamed up just fine). It was also good over top of the baked squash.

One of the heritage apples Trauma Farm made a nice addition to the salad. But the crowning touch was bread and the fabulous cheese I bought on Salt Spring, not one I'd easily find around here, farm-made sheep cheese.

Our supper was delicious, yet looking at this meal, it struck me that aside from the curly pasta, this is how our ancestors ate -- the lucky ones at least.