Buried Treasure

November is certainly one of the more grey and dismal months, but it has always been a favorite of mine. This probably has something to do with the fact that I was a November baby (: A little birthday goodness always cheers a girl up. Today I was treated to lunch with my parents and my sister. It was kind of strange to be together as a foursome - no husbands, no kids. I can't even remember the last time the four of us did something together like this. It made me feel like a kid again, out on a family outing. It's always great to find yourself in those moments where you feel like you are 7 , instead of 37!!


The sun has been shining most of the week, so we've taken our after school play and work outdoors whenever possible. The clocks go back this weekend of course, cutting those precious late afternoon hours even further. My garden is still very much a work in progress. Last spring I vowed that I would make great efforts in the fall to enrich the soil. I've carted in loads of cow manure, seaweed and fall leaves. I'm hoping I'll see a bit of payback on my efforts next summer. I can't say my new garden bed was a huge success this year ): It was feeling like a bit of a bust, until this week, when the boys and I got busy harvesting our very last crop of the season.

We dug for "buried treasure" and ended with a pretty hefty quantity of jerusalem artichokes (also known as sun chokes). This tuber is fairly new to our diet. I was introduced to it a couple of years ago through our CSA. I'm looking forward to trying out some new recipes. So far, we've been enjoying them raw - sliced in sticks with dip. The boys really enjoyed searching for them in the earth and were eager to have them included in their school lunch boxes. I'm betting there were some strange looks from classmates this week!

Anyone have suggestions for my artichokes?