All The Things That Grow

We miss our neighbor’s chickens, but their transfer to a new home meant that we could plant more things in our garden this year.  And we did.  In our wonky way.  Some things we planted never came up.  And some things we never planted produced beautifully.  So it goes!  We harvested figs on behalf of traveling neighbors and stirred them with lots of sugar on the stove to make jam.  We grew cabbages and, when they were ready, we tried our hand at Malfouf, a local cabbage dish that tastes best with lots of lemon and pepper.  I think that was our first and last time making it.  We have a new respect for the beautiful Arab mamas that spend the morning lovingly stuffing those cabbage leaves.  Amazing.  Still, being able to slip downstairs and pluck some tomatoes from their earthy aromatic vines or snip some kale or grab a pepper for a recipe felt like a gift this Summer, quirky as our garden may be.