The other chickens wanted it. The chase was on.

But Agnes was fast and clever. She hid by the stonewall, and gobbled it up.

The other girls wish that they could find a tasty frog, too. But all they find are toads. Yuck!

I might have made my last batch of Summer Vegetable Tomato Sauce. This time, I put in about as many summer squash as tomatoes. I’ve added onion,  garlic and basil, too. I was too hot and lazy to peel anything – not even the garlic – and I didn’t bother to pick the leaves off of the basil stems. I did cut the vegetables into large chunks. After roasting, I ran it through the food mill, which took care of the tough bits, seeds and skins.

It needed some salt and a teaspoon of sugar.

Here it is ready for the freezer.

It will be a welcome sight this winter.

Very little preparation is required. Wash and remove the stems. If you have a few extra plum tomatoes, quarter them. You can chop and onion, or peel a few cloves of garlic. Or not. Put all onto a baking sheet. This is my favorite heavy pan. It’s dark patina is from years of use with olive oil.

Pour on a glug of good olive oil –  enough to coat the bottom of the pan and make the vegetables glisten. Sprinkle on a teaspoon or two of balsamic vinegar. Dust on sea salt – don’t use cheap table salt. The salt flavor matters. Kosher salt will do. I have Sicilian Sea Salt that I brought back from Rome that I used for this. Delicious. My stash is almost gone. You can buy good salt at many markets and gourmet grocers. I’d like to go back to Rome, though to get mine!

Shake the pan so that the vegetables are evenly coated with the oil, vinegar and salt. Put it into a 300 degree F. oven. Bake for an hour, or longer. The tomatoes will burst and shrink and their flavors will concentrate.

You could put it through a food mill to get rid of the seeds and skins and have a concentrated tomato sauce. Or, use as is. Toss with cheese tortellini. I used it to top grilled swordfish steaks. Easy. Pure summer.

I subscribe to a poultry industry newsletter, which claims that the salmonella at the factory farm came from poor-quality animal-based feed (one reason “vegetarian fed” eggs are a step better than the cheapest eggs at the market.) The same newsletter had an item that claimed that the salmonella outbreak could have been prevented if the hens had been vaccinated, which is yet another example of how factory farming would like to rely on drugs and not good husbandry. Even federal health inspectors admit that one possible reason that the eggs were bad is that the housing was unsanitary (to put it mildly – the hens lived in rodent infested, manure-packed chicken houses.)

At a time when communities are trying to change regulations to allow for the urban and village hennery, it’s very important that the distinction between what we do and what the factory farms do is made clear. Eggs themselves are not bad for you, in fact they’re one of the healthiest foods out there. Fresh eggs from healthy, well-fed hens are nutrient-rich and a very low risk for spreading disease. The general public needs to see that in order to have a healthful egg supply, that it makes sense to encourage the small producer. The consumer shouldn’t fear all eggs! Nor should they fear living near chickens.

As keepers of backyard flocks, it matters how we care for our hens. It’s essential that we keep our coops clean, rodent-free, and manage the manure so that it composts without undue odors. If we give away or sell eggs, they should be clean, fresh, and kept refrigerated. We are the counterpoint to the horrors of the factory farm. Imagine that a news team is about to step into your yard and film your flock. It should be immediately obvious to the viewer who knows nothing about chickens that yours are a source of good food. What we do matters.

Betsy knows it is not a good idea to bother a sleeping bunny. But, she sure would like to scratch in that dirt.

Here she is at work. She’s kicked up a lot of dirt. The chickens appreciate her efforts. They follow after her to see if she uncovers any delicious bugs.

Doesn’t Candy look satisfied?

The scenery was spectacular.

There’s not many places on earth that you can stand on an ice cap.

Have you guessed yet? Here’s a hint: that snow looks dirty from volcanic ash.

At lower elevations there are bubbling mud pots, geysers and hot springs.

If you haven’t figured out where I went on vacation yet, this next picture will give the location away. The sheep have four horns!

And the horses are as cute as can be. I’d like to bring her home, but I think she’d miss the open fields and the clean, blowing winds of Iceland.

The first thing to do is to turn the crockpot on high and pour in some good olive oil. Chop up some onion and toss it in. Let it cook while you’re dealing with the other vegetables. It doesn’t actually saute, but left in long enough (and in a newer pot that has a “high” setting,) you’ll get some browning and depth of flavor.

You can make a classic tomato sauce, with just the onions and tomatoes, but at this point in the summer, I want to use up some squash and maybe a carrot or two. Hopefully, a bell pepper will be ripe. Dice these vegetables as uniformly as you can. Stir them into the onions and keep cooking. Don’t add any liquid, but you can pour in a bit more olive oil if needed.

As much as I love homemade tomato sauce, I hate the task of peeling the tomatoes by blanching in boiling water. There’s all of that steam, and the ice baths to cool things, and the overall mess and heat of it. This year, I’ve discovered the soft vegetable peeler. I got it for the peaches, and it works beautifully on tomatoes!

It’s got a serrated blade and peels quickly and without waste. I am in love.

Coarsely chop the tomatoes. Set aside in a bowl. Go out to the garden and pick herbs. I have sage, oregano, basil and rosemary growing, which is a lovely combination for a sauce. I wish that I had parsley, but my seedlings wilted and disappeared this summer. One of the reasons that people don’t bother with fresh herbs is the hassle of stripping the leaves from the tough stems and mincing. Well, in slow cooker, easy-peasey tomato sauce you don’t have to! Simply wash well and tie up with a string.

Here are the tomatoes (note that I’ve added unpeeled cherry tomatoes) and the herbs and a …. tea ball! I’ve put unpeeled garlic cloves into the tea ball. No mincing, no prep! Since the sauce simmers in the pot for hours, I’ll get plenty of garlic flavor with NO WORK.

Put everything in the slow cooker. Add a generous amount of good sea salt. Put the lid on, Reduce the temperature to low and leave it be for five or so hours.

When it’s finished, I freeze in plastic containers.The next day, I pop them out, and repackage in my very favorite summer tool, the FoodSaver vacuum packer.

Here I have a summer vegetable sauce, which this winter will find it’s way into a lasagna, or maybe pureed into a soup.

I’ve used the FoodSaver to preserve blanched greens, diced vegetables of all sorts, and minced scallions. During the height of berry season, I freeze the berries on a baking sheet, and then repackage in the FoodSaver – voila! – individually frozen berries, perfect for anything from desserts to smoothies to snacking. Because the FoodSaver sucks out oxygen, there is no freezer burn. Everything tastes perfectly fresh when used later in the year.

All I need now is a second freezer.

I’m going to be away from my computer and phone for about a week –  I’ll catch up with you next weekend!