Two Salad Saturday Night

Tomato Basil and Fresh Mozzarella Salad with Arugula and Goat Feta Salad

**where noted, these ingredients came from local sources....read more about them at Athens Locally Grown (athens.locallygrown.net)

Ingredients:
Two medium sized fresh tomatoes, sliced thinly (Italian Goliath variety from The Veggie Patch)
Handful of sweet Genovese basil, chopped (Veribest Farm)
Two cloves of garlic, chopped with the basil (Backyard Harvest)
4 oz of fresh mozzarella, sliced thinly (Atlanta Creamery)
Olive oil
Sea salt and pepper to taste

Handful of fresh baby arugula (my own urban homestead)
Ends of the tomatoes from above, chopped
2-3 T Goat feta cheese (Split Creek Creamery)
Olive oil
No more than a tsp of balsamic vinegar
Sea salt and pepper to taste

Arrange the sliced tomatoes in a circle and scatter the arugula around the edge. Top each with their respective toppings, drizzle the whole thing with olive oil. Sprinkle the arugula with a with the vinegar. Top it all off with pinches of sea salt and a grind of fresh black pepper.

Serve with fresh bread (Luna Bakery)

Enjoy!

Urban Homesteading

It's official. I'm an urban homesteader.

You wanna know how I know...? It wasn't the blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, figs and peach trees I've planted. Or the bean teepee with four different kinds of lima beans. Or the 30+ tomato plants in the raised beds. No. It's official because I invested in some chicken wire today.

I can't give you any specifics, because, as Joel Salatin knows and has written a book by that name, Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal when it comes to local food. All I can say is that there is some chicken wire going up in my backyard. Not saying what's gonna go inside it, but I think you're smart enough to put the pieces together.

As in most urban places, Athens outlaws "livestock" in the metro area. Chickens are included in the ban, but there are lots of folks looking to change that. I'm going to start convincing my neighbors of the wisdom of legalizing poultry as soon as I get a spare dozen of bribery material. I encourage you all to try this grass-fed approach to politics.

According to Rebecca and Iain, who will be house sitting for me when I travel abroad this summer, now is an especially good time to adopt some overgrown Easter presents. These two will be bringing their small flock with them when they move in, and so if any feathers are ruffled, I can pretend I didn't know. Yeah, right.

Wish us all luck!