Save the Food/Ocean/Planet.

The Dude of Food thinks this might be a better concept than capitalism. If all humans practiced wiser, we could see positive change. Create less waste. Re-use items. Plant edible foliage. Share. Protect the Ocean. Pollute less. Educate. Find out more at Save The Food.

https://savethefood.com/community

Think of the things that could be. Less food wasted. More people fed. More composting for better growth. Less waste dumped into the ocean. Not polluting our food & water sources. Do you pee in your pool or on your garden?

Think better built, longer lasting, reusable products. Litter free cities like Amsterdam. Public gardens growing herbs for local restaurants like in Santa Monica. Munich has great public gardens that house streams, trees, ducks, deer and serve beer. I mog di Minga!

Homegrown tomatoes in the urban garden make for fun and abundant summer gardening.

There’s much to be said about growing your own things to eat. A small strip of unused land behind our apartment has become our urban garden and that strip of land has brought large amounts of food and joy to our friends and neighbors.

“Using small parcels of urban land to compost, cultivate, care for and grow food to fortify our lives is a great way to unite people and nature in a wholesome and caring way. ” Peter Pearce co-owner https://guerillagardenersocal.wordpress.com

Peter goes on to say, “We prepared some dried earth to be growing ready by weeding, watering and naturally fertilizing with compost and have created a meeting area for people to chat, have a drink, a smoking section and a garden place to be at peace with nature all in one.” 

“The main thing we have grown so far are tomatoes that are doing really well, but we have also grown potatoes, Lebanese mint, artichokes, white onions and bell peppers. We are trying to get a couple citrus trees going but I think they are stupid GMO controlled seeds that are having troubles getting past budding. We have also started nearly a dozen avocado trees and have donated them all to the community. It’s good fun.”

“Our group has grown to include nearly 20 neighbors who all enjoy the space. We drink sangria and pitch in to keep the area maintained. Our group is expanding into a local landscape business where we help clear, care for and maintain other peoples landscapes now too.”

Read more at  https://guerillagardenersocal.wordpress.com

Homemade Tomato Soup is good.

tomatoe soup

Delicious winter favorite.

This is the kind of thing that I found really made me feel like a kitchen artist.

In the summertime some friends and I had some ambitious plans to make an urban garden and planted some tomato plants. Well we thought we had green thumbs as the plants yielded an abundant supply of lovely red ornaments. We had so much harvest that we began to put tomatoes into plastic bags and freeze them. Well when winter came I pulled the bags of tomatoes out of the freezer and let them thaw.

As they began to thaw from the outside the skin became easy to peel off and the frozen remnants went into a large cooking vessel. After the smoke cleared there was a delicious brew of home made tomato soup. This was the kind of thick and zesty home made tomato soup that warms your bones after a good winter surf and leaves you with that cozy feeling.

Serve with crackers.

Thank you faithful eaters and readers. Since it is that time of year when all of the urban gardens around town are exploding with tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, corn, broccoli, squash, etc. it is time to explore this fun and delicious recipe.

Using fresh grown produce is satisfying and makes the gardening experience come full circle. The flavors are robust and the freshness is unbeatable even by your local farmers market. Also the nutrition factor is at a premium when your food is vine ripened at home.

Another cool thing I learned about the tomato soup was freezing the tomatoes and then peeling them easily as they thawed. Great time saving trick.

I never really was a “treky” but as i sit in the kitchen with my beer in one hand and the spatchula in the other and tell stories of fighting off spiders and pulling weeds with 4 inch roots with just my left hand while the aroma of cooking goodness permeates the kitchen, I know the greatness Captain Kirk must have felt cruising his way through the galaxy.

Live long and prosper,

Dude out.