Recipe

Harris Teeter and Fresh Market food stores display exquisite produce. I shop at one or the other almost every week to buy vine-ripened tomatoes that are prettier and more tasty than ones I've grown at home through careful gardening. There is one produce, however, that does not measure up to home-grown and that is okra.

My wife and I discovered a recipe last year for this vegetable from West African origin. Fresh okra roasted on an outdoor grill with a little olive oil added is a delicacy. Here are key steps: harvest the fast growing pods when they reach a tender 3 inches (longer than 4 inches is stringy and hard to chew). Heat the grill and cook the fresh harvest a couple minutes on each side. Brush or spray olive oil as they cook. Enjoy this sidedish with beef, chicken, or fish.

Three pictures show my equipment pumping water into barrels in preparation to water this new crop. I siphoned groundwater from barrels into the furrows of the garden due to low rainfall amount this spring. See bottom picture of garden.

Have a good week!