Yesterday, it was as hot as it gets in central Maine. The temperature was over 90 degrees in the shade, which meant that it must have been nearly 100 in the sun. The relative humidity? Pretty much the same. I sweat as I watered the gardens and hung the laundry; I sweat as I ate lunch on the patio. The orange cat lolled beneath my chair, and the dog made a place for himself in the cool shade of the ferns by the house. The black cat joined her brother under my chair, and we all seemed to be in a suspended state, with the heat and the humidity stretching time so that the one afternoon seemed like days rather than hours.

Despite the heat, despite the humidity, I love summer, even the sweat and the stretched time, and the older I get, the more this is the case. Time was when winter’s cold did not faze me. I would stay outside until my face was red with cold, and it did not bother me a bit. Those days are gone, and in deep winter, I now have to steel myself to go for a walk.

Yesterday was also the day that Farmer Kev dropped off our CSA share. The wooden box overflowed with greens, greens, and more greens, and as I surveyed them, I felt a moment of panic. What would I do with all those greens—the spinach, the lettuce, the Swiss chard, and the beet greens with the baby beets? Fortunately, that very morning, I had come across Mark Bittman’s “101 Simple Salads for the Season.” I had even printed it, and I read it while I had lunch.

So I told myself, “Don’t panic. If Mark Bittman can come up with 101 simple salad suggestions, then you can find a way to use those greens. Let Bittman be your guide.”

Once the panic went away, the ideas started coming. There were the usual side salads Clif and I have each night with dinner. That’s the low-hanging fruit, so to speak, and while it does make a dent in the greens, a side salad each night doesn’t even begin to use them all.

Well, our friends Paul and Judy are coming over for dinner on Saturday. Why not make a version of Bittman’s salade niçoise? His calls for green beans, which I don’t have. Instead I’ll use blanched sugar snap peas, which were also included in my CSA delivery. After all, as Bittman noted in his salade niçoise entry: “None of these [ingredients] is crucial; you get the idea.” I do, indeed, and along with sugar snaps I’ll include cooked potatoes, at room temperature; tomatoes; olives, capers, and hard cooked eggs. And they will all be on a thick bed of—you guessed it—greens. I plan to dress it with a simple vinaigrette.

Also for that dinner on Saturday, a pasta and spinach salad with a bit of basil, olive oil, and feta. I made it for our Fourth of July picnic, and it was so tasty, I don’t mind having it again so soon. That salad uses two cups of chopped spinach, which will make a real dent in my spinach bag. I found the recipe in the Portland Press Herald, and this salad is fast on its way to becoming a family favorite. (Note: I substituted little pasta for the orzo in the recipe.)

Then I thought, what about today’s lunch? Why not roast those baby beets and have them in a wrap along with a bit of goat cheese, chopped olives, lots of greens, and a little dressing? That’s just what I’ll do, and I can’t wait for lunch.

So take that, greens! You do not intimidate me anymore.

Addendum—July 7, 2011: I just got an email farm share update from Farmer Kev, and he promised that next week there will be new potatoes. Woo-hoo! I won’t be panicking about how to use those little beauties. Boiled until soft—you don’t even have to peel them—add a bit of butter, and that’s it! I certainly am looking forward to next Wednesday.