I (v)improvised the above soup, this afternoon, after a nice back and forth in voice messages with 
I also shared a story with her about how I acquired one of the main ingredients of this soup, cabbage, in a somewhat miraculous way
(although I would probably call it the result of focus/repeated thinking and thus making it happen, over time ;<) )
I will share that story with you in a bit.
In the next picture, you see clover leaves and its flower. It was plucked straight from my garden, about 2 meters away from my kitchen door. I added it to the soup, before serving it, to top it off and make the dish look more beautiful. It's edible in its entirety.
Today is the third day in a row, with rain clouds and - at times - the sensation that we might have some thunder and lightning, without any of that actually happening.
The weather gods are fooling us, once again.
Nevertheless, nature is happy, especially the birds, butterflies and other insects but also all the green stuff.
Talking about green stuff...
While cutting the somewhat miraculously acquired cabbage, I couldn't help but notice how much the veins of its outer leaves looked like human veins. Especially the thick veins in my hands. This proves, once again, that we are connected with all the nature around us and vice versa.
And here's a picture of me holding an enormous cabbage, the one that - by now - you can't wait to hear the story about.
No, it did not include any goat ( for those who know the story about the goat and the cabbage).
Although I did see a goat ( or two ) on my way into town. They occasionally function as natural lawnmowers, near a huge abandoned mansion on a hill. The place and land are actually for sale for a couple of 100 thousand euros.
Anyone interested? Hit me up for more info ;<)
Now let's go back to the cabbage story, before you have no nails left and start chewing on your fingers...
Lately, I have been repeating - both in spoken words and in thoughts - that I don't necessarily feel good about buying vegetables and fruit from a store, for many reasons.
One of the reasons there being so much home grown food around ( I live in the countryside ).
Then, a couple of things happened, in the past days:
First of all, a friend informed me about a Portuguese organic farmer who sends out a week(end)ly email with the produce that he sells ( both fresh and dried ) and delivers his wares in my village, among other places, weekly.
Second of all, I have gotten more and more into foraging, these days and there's edible plants and flowers growing in my own garden, as well as in the fields on the other side of the road ( that are part of the land of the owner of the house that I am currently renting ).
Thirdly, I am about to start growing my own veggies and my sister has some baby plants that are ready to receive my love and attention. She also has some compost for me to grow them in.
I will start with this in a couple of days. Can('t) wait!
Let's add to that, that awesome people like 
And then, drum roll...
This morning,
after returning from the village, with a backpack filled with groceries, including some store bought vegetables that I had mixed feelings/a guilty conscience over, I started chatting with an older neighbor, a woman who I have greeted and have been greeted by for a month or four now, without the two of us ever having talked more than a minute or so.
Today she was watering her plants and fruit trees and we got to talk about gardening, foraging and growing our own vegetables.
One thing led to another...
she then showed me her humongous cabbages*
I know what you're thinking there and no, that's not what I meant
They were actual cabbages
and she had too many of them.
Here you can see one of them on my garden table. The outer leaves and the sheer size of them are shown in my previous pictures, earlier in this post.
The leaves were so big, in fact, that I used a bunch of those as the main ingredient in today's soup. I cut out the thick nerves though.
Most people would throw these leaves away. In fact, even the woman that gave me to them, recommended to throw the tougher outer leaves on the compost pile ( and only eat the heart of the cabbage, the part that is sold in a store ).
The beautiful orange flowers came from her garden too. It is called calendula. To learn more about this healing flower, that is also edible, I suggest you follow the great
The peas shown in the above image also came from this neigbor's garden. I only got a handful of them but the beautiful thing is that my neighbor offered me to come back for more cabbage and help myself to peas and even artichokes, one of these days, whenever I pass by.
She even gave me permission to enter her garden when she is not around and get myself some free food.
All of it is organic. She does not use herbicides and pesticides. Her garden grows on sun, water, organic compost and love and attention, so I'm sure that love will seep through into the taste of her produce.
All of this writing has made me hungry. It's also past dinner time.
I hope it inspired you in any way.
Towards increased health and vitality!āØš
On a side note: the green beans and cabbage above are still waiting to be used. They will have to take a backseat though, as I prefer the fresher, non store bought greens.
Now let me end this with another green ( and blue ) picture showing today's view from my garden.
