Abundant diversity

...or diverse abundance.

It is the first day this summer when I have picked a proper diversity of food from the garden and brought it into the kitchen to use in a variety of dishes.

Celery stalks at the back, and a sweetcorn (slightly cheating there; it was out of the freezer). Then left to right - peas, Hawkesbury Wonder beans, courgettes, kohl rabi, carrots, runner beans, and an onion (the final one from the storage nets).

From this little lot I made a big pot of veggie risotto (much of which will go into the freezer in Mima-sized portions), a bowl of coleslaw (using grated kohl rabi instead of a cabbage) and a dish of braised peas and broccoli sprouts (which are just out of shot) to accompany some risotto for supper.

Who needs shops? Or cafes. Or restaurants. The food here surpasses almost anything I can buy anywhere...

If I had a magic wand I would give everybody on the planet the ability (knowledge, skills, water, small area of land, climate, time, inclination) to grow their own fruit and veg. 

The raspberry parcels have arrived at their destinations. It isn't an experiment I shall repeat because they both arrived with contents which looked like the boxes might have been used for football practice en route, not to mention possibly left out in the sun on the only day of summer we've had in weeks. The raspberries are edible, but not the delicacy which I was hoping to share. Mush is probably the best word to describe them.

One lot was made into a very messy Eton Mess (with meringues and whipped cream). The other, a crumble. 

The recipients have been sweetly gracious about receiving something which one of them described as a possible dismembered body (leaking raspberry 'blood') through the post!