Summertime salad bounty!

Today was my day to make lunch; I harvested purple and dino kale, garlic, fennel, green onions, a head of lettuce, two of our first cucumbers and squash flowers for a delectable salad. I also picked strawberries and raspberries to combine with the peaches, which we traded for at market, to make a fruit salad for desert.

Kale salad tip: kale salad is best made when the weather is cold, for the kale will be sweeter. Kale is too tough to break down readily in our stomachs without some type of preparation; so for salads you make what is called a 'massaged kale salad'. You rip the kale into bite sized pieces and then pour vinegar or lemon juice, or both, onto the kale (I prefer to use a mixture of vinegars, when available, and I think rice vinegar works especially well with kale). Then massage this into the kale with clean hands. The acidic liquid breaks down the kale, cooking it chemically to a certain extent; thus making the kale easier to chew and digest.