IAM PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE THAT SUMMER FEST, a cross-blog food event celebrating peak harvest season, will be back for a third year. The event–which relies on you, the readers, to round out each week’s theme by posting your own tips and recipes (or links to them)–will start next Wednesday, July 28, with Cukes and Zukes Week. The details:

THE 2010 SCHEDULE:

Each Wednesday for the rest of the summer and probably longer, a group of blogging friends including Todd and Diane at White on Rice Couple; Shauna Ahern the Gluten-Free Girl, and Food2 will swap our recipes and tips about the following harvest-fresh ingredients. You’ll love meeting this year’s participants (a full list with links will accompany my post Wednesday and every week). The schedule:

  • 7/28: cukesnzukes
  • 8/4: corn
  • 8/11: herbs, greens, and beans
  • 8/18: stone fruit
  • 8/25 tomatoes
  • more to come if we all want it — stay tuned!

We each post something and then link to one another, so that you can travel around the combined effort, gathering the goodies.

HOW YOU CAN JOIN IN SUMMER FEST:

Giving back makes the experience even better. Have a recipe or tip that fits any of our weekly themes? Starting with our posts of Wednesday, July 28, for five Wednesdays through 8/25 and possibly longer, you can contribute in various ways, big or small.

Contribute a whole post, or a comment—whatever you wish. It’s meant to be fun, viral, fluid. No pressure, just delicious. The possibilities:

Simply leave your tip or recipe or favorite links in the comments below a Summer Fest post on my blog any upcoming Wednesday, and then go visit my collaborators and do the same.

The cross-blog event idea works best when you leave your recipe or favorite links (whether to your own blog or someone else’s) at all the host blogs. That way, they are likely to be seen by the widest audience. Everyone benefits, and some pretty great dialog starts simmering.

Or think bigger: Publish entire posts of your own, if you wish, and grab the juicy Summer Fest 2010 tomato badge (illustrated by Matt of Mattbites).

EXAMPLES FROM THE 2009 EVENT:

Want to see this cross-blog concept in (past) action?

  • Tuesday, July 28: HERBS. Any and all; I did parsley, and readers added everything else.
  • Tuesday, August 4: FRUITS FROM TREES (also known as stone fruits, but we won’t scream if you toss in a berry or another fruit, promise). My entry was a peach clafoutis.
  • Tuesday, August 11: BEANS-AND-GREENS WEEK (either or both, your choice). My entry was here.

And in case I forget what week it is, won’t somebody remind me on Twitter? Thanks. We’ll be talking it up there, too, and on our Facebook pages.

That’s how a Summer Fest works (and the way that Food Fest 2008 worked, too, remember?). There are many more examples in my “edibles” archives, but you get the idea, right?

See you Wednesday–and spread the word (and start cooking!).