Eating Myway To Myself

I thought I hated gardening. I would help people in their gardens and I couldn't see what they loved about tilling the soil. Then I had a garden that I could call my own. I guess it is kind of like having your own children, your own pets and your own creations. You have a different connection to them, they become a part of who you are. 

Until we moved to Bamfield and then COVID hit the world, I never had enough time to play in the kitchen or in the dirt. Instead I made meals to sustain me through the day, I ensured I was well sustained...lol... 

Our new caretakers job affords us a kitchen that is well set up to cook in, stocked cupboards, and a garden that supplies ingredients. All these luxuries were never a surplus in my previous life, let alone time I could devote to tending a garden. I find myself feeling completely abundant not because I have a huge surplus in my bank account but instead I have time to do things I only dreamt of in my previous lives.

I know a lot has to do with the COVID experience as I don't have the option to do my normal activities.  Instead I have been playing in the garden, the kitchen and combing through cook books for new recipes to try.   Life has taken on a slower pace and you know what? I like it.

Having the time to bake bread, make preserves and find the perfect recipe to cook, with the ingredients we have on hand, are all things I would have put on my vision boards in years past. This winter I ordered seeds to plant in the raised beds that Kevin built. My days have been spent waiting for Kevin to come home with a harvest from the sea; opening the door to the chicken coop to find a still warm fresh egg; and waiting for the zucchinis to get big enough for me to harvest. I want to make blueberry jam but the berries go from the bush straight to my mouth.

 This is my new normal and there is so much about this new normal that I love. 

Tonight for dinner I had fresh home made sour dough bread to accompany my pasta with a tomato, zucchini, basil sauce; ingredients from our garden. In the background is chocolate zucchini loaf for desert (a recipe I will definitely share with you in the future). 

Nourishing myself in the mornings with a green smoothie with kale, swish chard, parsley and mint I harvested minutes earlier is how I start my day. 

This is a life I could have only dreamt of but with every bite I take of my new life I find myself loving it more and more. I have no idea where life is going but I am enjoying the life we have with each morsel that fills our stomachs.

How has your life changed for the better during COVID?