Paleo Harvest Workout

Who needs kettle bells when there is a harvestof 25 l. or more winter squash to move to the storage cellar? This 22 lb Blue Hubbard will be transformed into pies for Thanksgiving in two weeks, until then, I need to relocate all of them to the store room before our heirloom breed Narragansett turkey's get them. But don't worry, those turkey's won't be around for long. 

November can bring daytime temperatures that dip into the 20's, but today, I worked up an appetite by raking for 3 hours, thatching the lawn, harvesting winter squash and shredding about ten wheel barrow loads of leaves - transforming the lawn litter into a finely chopped mulch which was then spread deeply around the perennial border and the ephemeral beds where woodland plants from Asia and North America grow. These plants, such as hellebores, wood anemones, Anemonopsis,  bloodroot and Uvularia or wild oats. The shredded leaf mulch will provide protection from both deep winter freezes, and more importantly, early spring thaws, as the goal here is to keep the ground frozen until the air temperature is constant enough to avoid the thaw-freeze-thaw pattern which can happen in our unpredictable New England spring, which can wreck havoc with tender woodland plant roots, and perennials. This thaw and refreeze kills more perennials and plants than below zero temperatures can.

Mulch made from shredded leaves and pine needles is spread around a rare Speirantha convallarioides, a newly introduced Chinese relative of the common Lily-of-the-Valley. It has tiny, fragrant white flowers in the spring that look more like branchy grape hyacinths than they do that of Lily-of-the-Valley.

Mid Summer Chili and Lime Soup with Fresh Sweet Corn

One of our favorite soups in the Engine 2 Diet book is this Chili and Lime soup. I alter it during the summer months, amping it up with lots of fresh veggies from the garden. Some guys hate soup in the summer, but we love it. It's light, fresh and you never feel stuffed. Of course, this is vegan, a real whole food vegetable based soup, and relatively fat free ( except for the avacado). When the summer vegetables are prime, in late July and August, we find this uses everything up in the garden. I enhance the original recipe in the book with more green chili's, tomatillo, Kousa ( summer squash from Armenia) and I add cumin. I also don't add the corn in rings, as the original recipe calls for opting for slicing the corn off of the cob, but I add the cobs to the stock, to add the corn flavor while the potatoes are cooking. Here is my take on the Engine 2 Diet Chili and Lime Soup.

FRESH SWEET CORN JUST PICKED IN THE GARDEN, IS BARELY 3 MINUTES OLD, BEFORE IT IS ADDED TO THE SOUP. WE SAVE SOME FOR MY AWESOME CORN AND AVACADO SAUCE FOR MY TAKE ON THE ENGINE 2 ENCHILADAS, WHICH WE'LL HAVE TOMORROW.

FRESH POBLANO CHILI'S ARE ROASTED UNTIL BLACK, OVER A GAS FLAME. THE SKIN CAN THEN BE REMOVED UNDER RUNNING WATER, AS ARE THE SEEDS. SOME BLACK BITS WILL ADD FLAVOR TO THE SOUP, SO IT'S OK TO LEAVE SOME ON.

MEXICAN HERBS LIKE CILANTRO IS STRONGER IN THE SUMMER, ESPECIALLY WHEN IT GOES TO BLOOM, STILL, MANY MEXICAN COOKS PREFER IT THIS WAY. I ADD LOTS OF CILANTRO TO THIS SOUP AT THE VERY END.

SWEET CORN COBS, ARE ADDED TO THE BROTH AS THE POTATOES COOK. MANY CORN CHOWDER RECIPES USE CORN COBS FOR FLAVOR, AND I FIND THAT WHEN I USE FRESH SWEET CORN THIS WAY, THE CORN FLAVOR IS MORE INTENSE. THE COBS ARE REMOVED ONCE THE POTATOES ARE DONE. THE BLACK BITS ARE THE PIECES OF CHARRED GREEN CHILI'S.

SWEET CORN KERNALS, CUT OFF OF THE CORN COBS, AWAIT THE SOUP POT- I ADD THEM AT THE VERY END.

FRESH GARLIC, THIS HEIRLOOM RUSSIAN PURPLE VARIETY, JUST HARVESTED LAST WEEK,  WILL ADD AMAZING GARLIC FLAVOR. THIS ONE IS SO HOT, AND EVEN THOUGH IT IS NOT CURED YET, IT STILL CAN BE USED. IT'S ALMOST AS HOT AS HORSERADISH!