First harvest & recipe
At my Reed Community Garden...
Germination
Biked down to Reed on a chilly day and spent about three hours digging weeds, turning the soil, cutting the grass, etc.. The most exciting thing is that ALL of my seeds are sprouting, specifically the arugula, turnips, pak choi, bok choy, and snow peas are all just barely getting out of the ground. Awesome! But I also killed a millon little starter slugs; so I'm worried about how much will survive. I can tell it's gonna be a bloodbath.
Progress
Also, both of the rhubarbs that I planted last fall have several leaves each. There are more raspberry canes poking out of the ground. Plus the wild calendulas are in full bloom already, and two volunteer daisy plants are doing very well and seem to have buds.
Harvest
Amazing though it may seem, I've already started harvesting food from my garden. The kales I planted last fall and that survived the winter have grown like crazy since the rain began. From just three plants, I was able to gather enough large outter leaves to fill a canvas shopping bag and make more greens than two healthy eatin' boys could consume. If you want to know how to cook greens, here you go:
Greens my way
Gather more greens than you think you could possibly need. A very big bag full will cook down to a small pan of food. Wash them, remove any large stems or veins, then roughly chop the leaves. Boil a big pot of water & throw in the greens. Simmer for a few minutes until just cooked, but not too soft, then pour out the water & let the greens drain in a collander during the next step. (By the way, this seperate boiling stage gets rid of a lot of the bitterness found in some greens, as well as allows each different element of the dish to be cooked correctly.)
In a large frying pan or wok using lots and lots of olive oil, sautee a bunch of roughly chopped onion gently until at least translucent, but preferably browned. Add some garlic or bell peppers then if desired, and cook a minute or two more.
On medium-high heat, add the greens to the wonderfully oily onion mixture. At this point, you can add and any number of flavorings, such as balsamic or cider vinegar, Worchestershire sauce, a dribble of Hickory smoke extract, Sriracha "Cock" sauce, maybe some Sesame oil. Whatever. But a hot-sour-savory combination would be best. Sautee the greens with the onions & new additions long enough to combine and to cook down the liquid.
Remove from the heat. Salt as desired (that is to say, a lot). And allow to cool for a few minutes before serving.
Germination
Biked down to Reed on a chilly day and spent about three hours digging weeds, turning the soil, cutting the grass, etc.. The most exciting thing is that ALL of my seeds are sprouting, specifically the arugula, turnips, pak choi, bok choy, and snow peas are all just barely getting out of the ground. Awesome! But I also killed a millon little starter slugs; so I'm worried about how much will survive. I can tell it's gonna be a bloodbath.
Progress
Also, both of the rhubarbs that I planted last fall have several leaves each. There are more raspberry canes poking out of the ground. Plus the wild calendulas are in full bloom already, and two volunteer daisy plants are doing very well and seem to have buds.
Harvest
Amazing though it may seem, I've already started harvesting food from my garden. The kales I planted last fall and that survived the winter have grown like crazy since the rain began. From just three plants, I was able to gather enough large outter leaves to fill a canvas shopping bag and make more greens than two healthy eatin' boys could consume. If you want to know how to cook greens, here you go:
Greens my way
Gather more greens than you think you could possibly need. A very big bag full will cook down to a small pan of food. Wash them, remove any large stems or veins, then roughly chop the leaves. Boil a big pot of water & throw in the greens. Simmer for a few minutes until just cooked, but not too soft, then pour out the water & let the greens drain in a collander during the next step. (By the way, this seperate boiling stage gets rid of a lot of the bitterness found in some greens, as well as allows each different element of the dish to be cooked correctly.)
In a large frying pan or wok using lots and lots of olive oil, sautee a bunch of roughly chopped onion gently until at least translucent, but preferably browned. Add some garlic or bell peppers then if desired, and cook a minute or two more.
On medium-high heat, add the greens to the wonderfully oily onion mixture. At this point, you can add and any number of flavorings, such as balsamic or cider vinegar, Worchestershire sauce, a dribble of Hickory smoke extract, Sriracha "Cock" sauce, maybe some Sesame oil. Whatever. But a hot-sour-savory combination would be best. Sautee the greens with the onions & new additions long enough to combine and to cook down the liquid.
Remove from the heat. Salt as desired (that is to say, a lot). And allow to cool for a few minutes before serving.
posted by "Farmer" John at 11:31 PM
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