It’s salad season!! Generally speaking, I don’t figure that gets too many people excited, which is too bad. And I don’t blame them really. Salads can be pretty dull, limp, and well, gross. We seem to be talented at buying greens of sketchy freshness [esp iceberg and romaine] from California in the winter [out of season here, btw], and adding … Read More
3 Crops for the Price of 1
I have a smallish yard. And I have a classic strip of soil between the house and the sidewalk that runs aside my house. It’s gotta be 2, maybe 3′ wide at best. Last year, I quite successfully grew a forest of tomato plants in that strip. This year, having done some homework on smarter gardening, I planted peas against … Read More
Green Re-emerging. Slowly. As am I.
Like many others, I’ve been busy with hands in dirt. We’ve had a very mild winter up here, and my spring projects are a lot further along than I anticipated. The shot above is some asparagus I’m trying in flats from seed to bolster my supply long-term. So far so good. I’ve felt the odd pang of guilt for not … Read More
Ketchup…from scratch
Having made lard, I’ve been mucking about [very successfully, I may add] with pastry dough. Which lead to tourtiere. Which lead to copious amounts of ketchup being used, which is how I roll with tourtiere. Heinz. I used it up, yep I did. Onto the grocery list it went. Then I considered a ketchup a friend of mine had given … Read More
Tasting Menu of My Garden
I’ve been waiting to post about this for a few days. Last Friday, my friend Yen was over for a visit and to eat. I was lacking inspiration for an ingredient to tackle, and eventually settled on the seemingly-good-idea of prepping nothing, and only using my garden as the source of inspiration to play with and put together a menu … Read More
Die Kale, Die.
Yesterday we were served a lovely kale dish by some friends, which made me reflect upon the copious leafy masses that were now shading my newly planted grapes. Grapes need sun. Shading them is unacceptable. The kale had to die. I have to be honest, I’m not sure why I waited this long to thin my chards and kales – … Read More
Glut of Green
I’ve been enjoying other people’s posts about their gardens, and figured some posting about my own is long overdue. A success in this crappy year of gardening: leafy greens. How crappy? Frost warning tonight crappy enough for ya? Anyway, I figured it was time I thinned some of my copious greens this evening, and just finished washing a dozen or … Read More
Cream of Lamb’s Quarter Soup
Another cream-of-veg-soup, I know. This time, however, featuring an edible native plant that is generally considered a weed to be destroyed – lamb’s quarter. It’s been growing everywhere in my new gardening beds, regardless of the drought. I’ve been using young leaves, and will use some of the stems shortly, along with some more mature leaves as the plants, um, … Read More
Cream of Green Soup
I’ve been flogging variations of this dish for a few months now – but today was the best it’s been. A recipe would be a bit ridiculous, really. Today it was asparagus, broccoli, and celery with a base of shallot and garlic. I normally dig the bright flavor from a shot of frozen peas. In a few weeks it will … Read More
Asparagus, Bacon, Poached Eggs & Toast
Asparagus is in season. Somewhere in the world, at least – certainly not in my garden that’s under 2-3 feet of snow still. But it’s half the normal price and it’s fresh, starting in Feb around here. I happen to hold asparagus at the top of my favorite-veg-list, and although I’ve been tempted to hold out for local asparagus season, … Read More