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New "local food" converts looking for creative ways to cook fresh collards, sweet potatoes, squash and other produce from gardens and farmers markets will get some help from the N.C. Cooperative Extension. The Extension Master Gardeners plan to publish a cookbook focusing on North Carolina fruit and vegetables this fall and sell it during the holidays.

Here's an e-mail message from Karen Neill, urban horticulturist for the extension office in Guilford County:

"It's time to hand those recipes over - we're looking for everything from Aunt’s eggplant parmesan recipe to Martha across the street's crunchy salad using red, yellow, and green peppers. I, myself, will be submitting a recipe given to my grandmother by Lois Burpee of the Burpee Seed Company. They were neighbors in Pennsylvania where a lot of winter squash was grown, so my recipe will be for candied butternut squash....

Remember these recipes don’t have to be complicated. What I have found in talking to folks is they are looking for different ways to utilize that which they are producing in their garden or buying fresh produce at local farmers markets. We’re looking for recipes for peaches and sweet potatoes from the sandhills, to the squash, tomatoes, and cucumbers from the piedmont. Send us what you have; I know all of us could benefit from adding more fruits and veggies to our diets."

(Personal note: Here's hoping the Master Gardeners do some taste tests to weed out the duds!) Neill asks that you e-mail recipes as a Microsoft Word attachment to Sue West (suziQwest@aol.com) or Jane Ralston (jralston1@triad.rr.com) by Aug. 31.