I've yanked a few things out of the garden, and gone to Watson's, to purchase a few starts for the fall garden.Two clerks greeted me there, remembering what I'd purchased last year (heck, I can't even remember what I purchased last month!) They said I inspired them to grow brown fennel, and that it is doing beautifully. ( I didn't mention that mine self-seeded, and now I've got fennel among my carrots, chard, corn, and potatoes.)
They said their lettuce has bolted with the cold weather, and they need to pull it out - not me! I make lettuce soup, and whether it is breakfast, lunch or dinner, lettuce soup is the first course.
They'd never heard of using lettuce for soup, and asked how I made it. Well, last year's soup was refreshing and calm - I hadn't acquired the east-Indian palette. This year it'll blow yer socks off! I use a rasam broth, and bitter veggies, so perfect for hot weather. A few tomatoes and some molasses powder softens the strong flavors.
Once the soup base is made, fresh lettuce is added for each meal, finely chopped in the food-processor and then boiled for a minute or so. I made naan for the soup, added small potatoes, and served the meal with a side dish of yogurt. 
This is our stunted corn - it did very poorly.
We dug potatoes and turnips this week; all the Yukon Gold potatoes were scabby. No problem with aesthetics, though. 
I just dusted them with a spice blend and added them to Chicken Biryani. 
Zucchini with pumpkin seeds, served with veggie wraps. Franklin Park held a garden meeting Wednesday night - some of the Metro Parks staff were there to hear suggestions. I didn't attend, didn't want to hear all the problems - all I want is sunshine and temps above 70. One gardener filled me in on all the issues, and before we knew it we were talking for almost a half-hour! While I held my hose shut, while he held his tray of seedlings, he described his journey from junk food on the run to organic/home-grown. He now detoxes if he consumes a doughnut, which now happens rarely.
I told him about a book I've read, Dr. David Kessler's " The End to Overeating". Kessler describes the vascular damage done by cheap processed foods and saturated fats. This set my friend off on a whole new tangent - the pharmaceutical companies, and the horrific medications now necessary to remove 'pecker sludge' in the aging male population.
When I did my grocery shopping on Friday, that vulgar term described most of the food that a couple ahead of me purchased. Just fake food, contrived in attention-getting packages, with no nutritional value. They had a four page list, coupons - they obviously had gone to some work to plan their meals. I looked at all the packaged frozen meals, the soft drinks, the canned goods, cheap bread - and realized that they don't cook. No fresh fruits or vegetables, whole grains - nothing that requires chopping - or chewing.
I was mulling all this over when the woman behind me asked if I was planning to check out - I'd been so lost in thought that I'd forgotten to put my groceries on the conveyor belt!
