On Sunday we visited Lee Turkey Farm in East Windsor, New Jersey. Across from the farm is a stream, and some lovely wildflowers were growing. The yellow wildflower above seemed to attract bees.
This droopy pale orange flower added a wispy look to the scene.
These green, round leaves were growing in the stream, but I didn’t see any lilies.
This white flower seems to be a kind of honeysuckle.
Would this little daisy-like flower be a fairy aster?
For more Nature Notes:
This chickpea soup can warm your soul, whether it’s summer and served cold or fall and served warm. I got the recipe from the Macrobiotic Recipes page on Facebook. The original author is Montse Bradford, and I added amounts and tweaked the recipe a bit.
INGREDIENTS
- chickpeas – 8 oz.
- kombu (or a little bit of any kind of seaweed)
- 1 large carrot
- 1 onion
- 1 stalk celery
- garlic – 1 clove
- 1 tsp. olive oil
- 1 tsp. miso
Garnish (optional): cucumber, bread croutons, parsley, spring onions.
How to Make the Chickpea Soup
Soak chickpeas overnight with plenty of cold water. Discard soaking water. Place chickpeas in a pressure cooker or a crock pot with the kombu and water completely covering the beans. Bring to a boil, discard any loose skins or foam that arises to the surface. Cook until till soft.
Saute separately some finely diced onion and minced garlic with some olive oil for 10 minutes. Add diced carrots and celery to the onion. Let it cook for 5 minutes, then add it to the chickpeas. Simmer for 15 minutes. Put the soup in the food processor (or use a stick blender) and blend for a short time, so it’s a bit chunky. Season to taste with some miso. Make sure to add the miso when it’s still warm – the miso will blend better with the soup. You can serve this chickpea soup cold or warm.
I garnished my soup with scallions.
Niagara Falls at sunrise: it is the last round of Summer Stock Sunday for the season, so I’m adding one of my favorite photos of the summer. This shows the Horseshoe Falls, photo taken from the Canadian side. You can see more water photos of Niagara Falls and some nature photos, too.
We are going apple picking later today – maybe I’ll get some nice photos to share from our trip.
What was your favorite part of this summer?
I finally got to see a heron while visiting my in-laws who live near the Jersey Shore. Wouldn’t you know it, I only had my little phone camera with me. My daughter called the heron a “gray flamingo.”
In more mundane news, the parsley seeds I planted in August have germinated. No sign of the kale seeds germinating. I plan to plant whatever I get in my little front yard so I have greenery in the late fall and possibly through winter (not counting when there is snow on top, but the kale has survives through the snow).
Update: I went outside to check on my few germinated seedlings, and an animal had eaten them. Or maybe they died of “damping off” – too much wet. Sigh. I moved them to our front yard, where we’ve had fewer animal problems, and the sun hits the area.
For more Nature Notes:
Water is the first of my three macros for this week. This is a detail of the waters of the American Falls of Niagara Falls.
Detail of Highland Park Farmer’s Market flowers.
The tail end of the shofar, the ram’s horn, that is sounded every day in the Jewish month of Elul. One does not blow into this larger end of the shofar but into the other, smaller end. It is not easy to do, but if I purse my lips together in a certain way, I can get the right sound.
For more macros, see:
