watermelon salad and pickled rinds

i’m feeling pretty lucky. i’ve been learning from my garden and from farmers who live around me. i’ve been visiting farms all over central florida. i am taking classes that enhance these experiences. many friends i have met recently have a passion for growing and foraging food, too, as well as the desire to source our food locally.

this life found me when i needed it the most. i find so much inspiration in ingredients and the more i learn, the more passionate i become. i find my creative side being nourished because my mistakes make me find new ways of cooking and eating. the abundance of the food around me makes me feel like i have everything i need.

i recently harvested my watermelons because the vine began dying back. to my dismay, most of them are unripe. i think i went wrong in my watering habits. i wasn’t watering the bed because we were in a very rainy period here, but i suppose it wasn’t enough for my poor vines. i was afraid to overwater because i heard of melons splitting open if they got a heavy rain so i held back. i think i accidently allowed them to die… so i browsed ways i could still use these melons without putting the food and of course my hard work and attention to waste.

i found a watermelon salad recipe on mixed kreations and took that as inspiration. i cut up my watermelons, took out the seeds, chopped them up, and seasoned them with salt, sugar, honey, tajin, and lime juice. i’m letting it sit in the fridge overnight and i will bring it to my friends birthday potluck tomorrow.

here is the ‘recipe’:

i also saved the rinds. a friend of mine recently told me that they’ve pickled their watermelon rinds in the past. i was intrigued! i added salt onto the rinds and allowed them to sit for an hour and drained the excess water that was drawn out to help with potential bitterness. i boiled some water, white vinegar, rice cooking vinegar, salt, and sugar and put it in a sterilized jar with the strips of watermelon rind, onion, serrano pepper, peppercorns, and garlic. i’m looking forward to trying it out tomorrow as well.

i had some bananas from everoak farm and so i decided to make some banana bread. i roughly followed this recipe from pickled plum. i used more than two bananas because these bananas are smaller than the ones you find in the grocery store. i tried a slice and it was delicious. i wasn’t sure about the olive oil but it actually added a nice flavor to the bread!

i feel fulfilled and satisfied knowing that i am sourcing a lot of my produce locally - if not in my own backyard! but even better, i love sharing food with friends. there’s nothing better than sharing the bounty with the people you care about. i am wholeheartedly a believer in inviting your friends over to your un-clean house. the more authentic we are with the people around us, the more connected they feel to us. we don’t have to show up spotless and ironed every time. it’s not realistic. but what is realistic is being yourself and sharing what you have to offer in those moments. in this moment from a few weeks ago, i had my seminole pumpkin and a green papaya salad to offer.

i held onto my precious pumpkin for a few weeks until i felt ready to cook her up for my friends. i cut it open and was welcomed with this beautiful deep orange color. i was so proud of myself- my first pumpkin, and it was going to feed 6 of us.

i carved her out and saved the seeds- it took a lot of washing but they’re dry and no signs of molding. i look forward to seeing if they germinate next year.

i roasted the pumpkin for 45 minutes in the oven and cooked some quinoa and beans in the meantime. i sprinkled in some homemade seasoning - a mix of garlic chive powder(grown by me), green onion powder (also me), and oregano (open hands farm), and salt. i stuffed the pumpkin and cooked it for another 20 minutes. it was so delicious - and i am not usually a bug fan of pumpkin. but i think the fact that i grew it and was enjoying it with others made it taste even better.

the green papaya salad consisted of shredded papaya, soy sauce, chili oil, sesame oil, white wine vinegar (any acid would work, like citrus juice, or other vinegar), vegan ‘fish’ sauce, salt, sugar, and some onion powder. my friends really enjoyed it! i personally thought something was missing,,, maybe a crunchy element, like peanuts or sesame seeds or something similar.

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anyway i hope you enjoyed this peak into my food journey over the last month or so! i want to dive into my food explorations more often here, especially the ways that i use the produce i grow myself.

eat well, see your friends, and have a great day.

<3mia, the working class farmer