As I write these lines, we are experiencing the first heatwave of the season.
I will refrain from being unduly alarmist; we will likely see two or three of them over the course of the summer, and typically—if the past is any indication of the future—they should not last long.
I will not do a tour of the fields with you this time. Instead, I would rather evoke Virgil, that poet of Antiquity who, in his Georgics (Pastoral Evasion amid Civil War (sic!)), was probably the first to address the major issues of agriculture and modern ecology.
He did so while Rome was facing one of the worst political crises of the last century BC, composing his collection of lyrical and didactic poems as a call to return to the land, to value agricultural labour, to foster greater harmony with the animal world, and to seek a true symbiosis between humans and nature.
Virgil, herald of the modern world
and the Middle Ages!
It was he, after all, whom Dante chose as the protagonist who would explore the underworld of our existence. If I am moved by what he says, it is not so much for the accuracy of his agricultural observations—which were very much a function of the scientific knowledge of his time—but more given his visionary appeal to his fellow citizens. Reading him today is almost a political act…
Your third weekly basket is still fairly leafy but is becoming more varied:
assorted lettuces, assorted kales, garlic scapes, pak choi, turnips or beets, snow peas, strawberries, and more.
PS: see the Recipes section of our website where we offer a few general references, in addition to the links to the week’s vegetables above.
Meanwhile, happy St-Jean and we look forward to seeing you all.