Rock Garden...

"I have a rock garden. Last week three of them died."

~~Richard Diran

"Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?"

~~Douglas Adams

"Garden: A thing of beauty and a job forever"

~~Anonymous

"Count the garden by the flowers, never by the leaves that fall. Count your life with smiles and not the tears that roll."

~~Anonymous

"Teachers who inspire know that teaching is like cultivating a garden, and those who would have nothing to do with thorns must never attempt to gather flowers."

~~Anonymous

"Criticizing another's garden doesn't keep the weeds out of your own"

~~Proverb

"As is the gardener, so is the garden"

~~Proverb

"To know someone here or there with whom you can feel there is understanding in spite of distances or thoughts expressed that can make life a garden."

~~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

"The men of experiment are like the ant; they only collect and use. But the bee . . . gathers its materials from the flowers of the garden and of the field, but transforms and digests it by a power of its own."

~~Leonardo da Vinci

All these things have you said of beauty.Yet in truth, you spoke not of her but of needs unsatisfied,And beauty is not a need but an ecstasy.It is not a mouth thirsting nor an empty hand stretched forth,But rather a heart enflamed and a soul enchanted.It is not the image you would see nor the song you would hear,But rather an image you see though you close your eyes and a song you hear though you shut your ears.It is not the sap within the furrowed bark, nor a wing attached to a claw,But rather a garden for ever in bloom and a flock of angels forever in flight.People of Orphalese, beauty is life when life unveils her holy face.But you are life and you are the veil.Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror.But you are eternity and you are the mirror."

~~Kahlil Gibran

Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy of Gardening Cookbook

Everything I do, I do on the principle of Russian borscht. You can throw everything into it beets, carrots, cabbage, onions, everything you want. What's important is the result, the taste of the borscht. ~~Yevgeny Yevtushenko, Russian poet

Beets, what do you do about a vegetable like BEETS? Answer, grab a copy of Janet Ballantyne’s “Joy of Gardening Cookbook” (10^th Anniversary Edition). Glad I stumbled across this book, it is excellent for turning vegetables into wholesome food that allows you to taste the essence of the vegetable. The recipes are reliable and not to complicated, if you want gourmet recipes, this ain't it. Then again there are some inventive and tasty little gems here.

There are no exotic vegetables covered in the book (e.g Jeruselum Artichoke, Artichoke, Rabi), which would be great for Asian or Latin American veggies that are in fashion now. However, there are basic recipes that are written and encourage you to use them with any veggie you can think of (i.e vegetable cream or essence soups). So if you have a Kolrabi, just adapt one of the basic, Greens, or Brassicaceae recipes. Also, peppered throughout the book are some gardening, harvest, and kitchen technique tips.

I have been collecting cook books for two decades, and this is a great book for anybody with a farm share, a big garden, or a yen to learn to make vegetables more palatable. You won't win Iron Chef with this book, but you will make veggies more interesting at the next potluck. Also, the recipes are adaptable so a green bean pate recipe can be changed to make a combination of flavors with blanched green beans & onion with a zesty sauce. If you have some skills, you can adapt the flavors of one combination and present the taste in a new form. Remember, the quality of the vegetables is key, thus garbage in, garbage out, fresh wholesome veggies in, fresh zesty flavor sensation out.

Finally, the recipes are mostly easy to execute. Janet Ballantyne is an educator, and knows how to present recipes in a fool proof fashion. Go ahead and get this book so you can enjoy your garden fresh veggies more.

More information:

Joy of Gardening Cookbook by Janet Ballantyne
Also, Desserts from the Garden this looks very interesting.