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Garden to Table

Here in the Finger Lakes, “farm to table” restaurants are very popular. It is such a great way to take advantage of our local farms which provide such beautiful produce.  We have vineyards, orchards, dairy farms, and so many great chefs who use all of these resources to turn out fresh, delicious dishes.

I like to think of Aubergine as a “garden to table” establishment.  With so many fresh ingredients available, some question why I even bother with a vegetable garden. But gardening has been my passion for many years and I just love the process. Weeding to me is a form of “moving meditation.”
I grow my vegetables and flowers from seed in my basement and just love that I can offer my guests homegrown berries on my homemade yogurt, fresh flowers, and omelets and frittatas made with fresh-picked veggies.

I wish Penn Yan would let me raise chickens!  But fortunately the local farmers provide the very freshest eggs. I buy my meats locally, and, although on my bucket list is making my own jams, for now the Mennonites supply me with scrumptious preserves. We also have fabulous local honey and maple syrup.

Although I have an ongoing battle with critters ( rabbits, woodchucks, deer, squirrels, chipmunks birds, have even seen a fox in my yard!) I still keep at it. I have to put netting over the strawberries, chicken wire over the Swiss Chard and beets and carrots, Remay cloth over the blueberries, peas and figs.  But, like the lady in the Geico commercial, “it’s personal!”  Every year I learn something.   To paraphrase Thomas Jefferson, “I am an old woman but a young gardener.”

Hopefully I will be able to install a fence in the future (new roof this Fall). Right now I am going to make zucchini fritters with a cucumber yogurt sauce!








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