The peas are sweet, the peppers tangy, the onions pungent, and the chard... well, it's chard. While it might not sound delicious or gourmet or any other word that gourmands or other food snobs have come to use, it is true, it is ours. We grew these foods with our bare hands, hard work, and lots of love... and maybe a few curses along the way. The tiller proved an invaluable asset, the hoe laid waste to many weeds, and my new straw hat became my best friend. Colorado Potato Beetles, aphids, ants, and wind have been our biggest enemies. Yet, we still have this dainty, delicious salad. My three-year-old can roam in the garden and pick whatever he likes without me having to shout at him to "STOP!" because of chemicals on the plants. It makes my heart swell... along with my eyes on some occasions, to see him covered in dirt, eating peas he just plucked off the vines making "Mmmm" sounds. I'm livin' the dream, ya'll.
Edit: Just to list what we've harvested so far. Everything is in pounds, except for mushrooms, which are in grams, and cucumbers and garlic, which are counted as quantity each.
Bright lights chard: .25
Strawberries: 1.74
Banana peppers: .22
Jalapenos: .34
Snow peas: .35
Cucumbers: 6 each
Garlic: 17 heads
Onions: 1.1 (even after the failure, I am happy.)
Potatoes: 2.4 mixed red and white
Chanterelle Mushrooms: 50g (weighs about 6.5 nickels... not really enough to warrant using pounds on the scale. When I get enough, I will. Can't wait!)
Wow mushrooms, I want to grow mushrooms.
ReplyDeleteCan you have chickens? They would provide eggs and eat bugs. I want to get some, but I have to be sneaky since we live in the historical district
We'd like to have chickens and we plan to have them at some point. We are concerned with the added work/noise of the the chickens. We are baby-stepping towards being fresh-food-hippies. Chickens are on the horizon, we're just not sure when.
ReplyDeleteThe mushrooms are wild. They just happen to grow in our yard. A colleague of mine, a mycologist, said that this variety is very difficult if not impossible to cultivate. We're just lucky.