Frozen Green

I took this photo this week while I was outside harvesting some salad greens in the morning. There's nothing quite like picking your evening's salad with numb fingers. But at least it was picturesque.

I found a great article on foraging for salad greens among the garden weeds, which expands upon one of my regular reader's suggestions regarding chickweed (thank you, Ericswan). In the article, Arthur Lee Jacobson, a Seattle-based horticulture author, insists that he never buys lettuce. It's no secret that wild plants contain more health-protective nutrients, but I also recently found out that during the Great Depression desperate people reverted to eating the leaves and roots of just such weeds. You may be surprised which weeds are edible, I know that I was.

Touching on this note, I also stumbled upon a great blog entry at Peak Oil Blues about the difference between being "green" and being, what is now described as "brown." Brown is essentially the extreme of being green, to the point of shunning consumerism.

With the economy the way it is, I invision more and more people becoming "brown" without necessarily doing it for environmental reasons and I could also see those who would-be "green" opting for "brown" or maybe they'd prefer to call themselves "frozen green?"

Harvest Mostly In

Last night was our first freeze of the season. I scrambled to take in everything I could that I had not already brought in. As dusk hit and daylight quickly receded, I was pulling bean pods half-blindly. I noticed myself relying more on my sense of touch and less on straining my eyes to discern bean pods from stalks and felted leaves. While I may not have picked every last pod, I did fill a 2 gallon bucket to over-brimming.

The best part of my evening was actually sitting and removing the yin yang beans from their pods. After so many days this week of absorbing current economic events, it was relaxing to sit by a warm fire and watch my harvest amount to a humble, yet substantial hill of beans.


About a week ago, before regular rains returned to our area, I brought in the Indian corn to dry. I can't really explain to you how magical it was to pull back the different hued husks and find jewel-toned kernels shining in unpredictable colors beneath. That was quite a memorable moment.

There are still apples to be brought in from the frosts and fall veggies to be transplanted into their winter beds. The garden season is nearing a close but it remains a race to the finish.

When you buy over $200 worth of seeds . . .

. . . you plant over $200 worth of seeds. And when your soil is rocky you do most of your digging with a pick axe. That's what I've been up to. Racing one bed at a time. Mind you, some of my beds are raised and filled with imported soil, just not all of them. This doesn't even bring into discussion all of the bareroot trees we had to get into the ground before summer drought season. So I'm entrenched in a garden battle.

I'd like to appologize to readers for the lack of continuity on this blog.

Ericswan had an interesting comment on my previous post about the health properties of a common garden weed -- chickweed. It is worth a read.

I'd also like to point readers over to The Easy Garden, which is a new forum for all things garden-related, aimed at helping new gardeners get themselves well-rooted. This is an off-shoot of The Backyard Chicken forum, which I highly recommend to anyone who raises poultry or is interested in learning about poultry husbandry.

I hope everyone's gardens are coming along! Let me know how yours is growing!

January Challenge -- Seeds of Change

As I mentioned in my previous post, I’m hoping to offer, every month, a suggestion of a small change we can all make to help conserve resources and green our corner of the planet. Often we will find that these same changes in our lives will help us conserve our own financial resources as well, which is an added bonus.

This month’s challenge was an obvious choice for me, as it was my own challenge to myself – ordering seeds to start this year’s garden. My husband also wants to join in the gardening in 2008. Like any new gardener, his aspirations are high. I have done my best to talk him down to starting small, with easy crops, so that he can get a few successes under his belt before he tackles more challenging crops. I also encouraged him to choose plants that will be successful in our short and often relatively cool growing season. Perhaps the most important lesson a gardener can learn is to grow those plants that suit one’s local conditions best. Otherwise gardening may become more of a disappointment than a delight.

Based upon my discussions with my own eager new gardener, I thought it would be helpful to outline a list of vegetable crops that most beginners, will have a good chance at growing well. For a brief outline on how to get a garden established, you may want to read the following article from the University of British Columbia. Even those of you living without a yard can join in the fun, as all of the suggestions below will also grow contentedly in containers. For a primer on container vegetable garden, you may want to read the following PDF from Iowa State University extension.

Need further incentive for this challenge? Salad greens and lettuce are extremely easy to grow and require only relatively shallow containers for those who don’t have garden space. As with all vegetables, green leafy vegetables are most nutritious when eaten shortly after harvesting. Yet how many of us are accustomed to purchasing our salad greens in those dreaded plastic containers that have flown in from California and then sat on the grocery shelves? Some of those same greens are fairly tolerant of extreme weather and can be grown early in the spring as well as well into late fall or early winter without added protection in some northern climates. With protection you may find yourself with fresh greens well into winter, even in harsher climes. Since salad crops grown in California are absorbing rocket fuel – which is disruptive to the human thyroid – you might also find your self-sown salads leave you feeling healthier and with a bit more energy. Bag the rocket fuel and grow your own rocket (more commonly known as arugula), which is a wonderful addition to any salad and has all the health benefits of the broccoli clan – technically it is a cruciferous vegetable and not a lettuce crop.

What many new gardeners are surprised to learn is that not all traditional vegetable crops grow well during the summer months. In fact, it seems that most of the easiest to grow crops thrive during the cooler months of spring and fall. The advantage of this is clear – your time and labor will be spread out fairly uniformly over the entire growing season. You will find yourself capable of growing a few crops in the spring, several different ones in the summer, and then be able to either repeat some spring crops in the fall or grow something completely different that will tide you over until winter encroaches. And speaking of winter, one gentleman has a fairly simple plan for extending his harvest well into the leaner months.

You will notice some of my links suggest using more conventional growing techniques. I recommend substituting organic methods.

Herbs are also easy to grow, especially mint, oregano, garlic, and Italian parsley. Some herbs will attract beneficial insects and all of them will save you a bundle at the grocery store.

Now for the cast of characters (this list is by no means exhaustive):

BEANS
When: warm season
Where: full sun; well-drained soil with plenty of organic matter*
How: in garden, or in a container at least 16” deep
Why: high in antioxidants, as well as a good source of iron, zinc, and protein for vegetarians and vegans

BROCCOLI
When: cool season crop (spring/fall)
Where: full sun; well-drained soil with plenty of organic matter*
How: in garden, or at least a 2 gallon (10” wide) container
Why: nutritional superstar, high in vitamins A, C, D, and also a good source of calcium

CARROTS
When: cool season crop (spring/fall)
Where: full sun; deep, loose, well-drained soil with plenty of nutrients
How: in garden, or at least a 2 gallon (10” wide) container
Why: antioxidants and carotenes

LETTUCE/GREENS
When: cool season crop (spring/fall)
Where: nearly any soil, but well-drained with plenty of organic matter* is best
How: in garden, or at least a 6” deep container
Why: good source of vitamins A, C, K; folate, manganese, chromium, and fiber

POTATOES
When: warm season
Where: full sun; light, loose, well-drained soil with organic matter* added during previous growing season
How: in garden, or in containers at least 16” deep
Why: high in potassium, high in vitamin B6 which is necessary for building the nervous system and may alleviate morning sickness in pregnant women

PUMPKINS
When: warm season
Where: soil with abundant nutrients and organic matter*
How: in garden, or in containers at least 16” deep
Why: good source of vitamin C, beta carotene and potassium

RADISHES
When: cool season (spring/fall)
Where: loose soil with plenty of organic matter*
How: in garden, or in at least a 2 gallon (10” wide) container
Why: moderately high in vitamin C and K, also has anti-bacterial and anti-microbial properties and is beneficial to cold and flu symptoms


* Organic matter is best added to the garden in the form of finished compost

Overzealous Zucchini Fruits

For a gardener, moving in the middle of the growing season is about the worst timing possible. Not only must one shun the bounty of green growing things in one’s favorite nursery haunts and try to look past those that taunt you at grocery stores, but further one is between garden plots in which to plant the plethora of seeds purchased way back in the dead of winter. To make matters more desperate, many avid gardeners must find the time and energy to transplant as many garden treasures as they can muster the strength and resolve for, in the midst of packing up everything else. Add to that watering the poor transplants daily, or twice daily, for months into the summer -- because summer is the worst imaginable time to be transplanting anything.

I was very fortunate. My brother has a vegetable garden into which I had recently invested several truck-loads of horse manure (reference “How Does Your Garden Grow” post back in February 07 archive), so he was more than willing to allow me an allotment in his growing patch. I managed to plant some of my seeds there on a drizzly day in May. The obligatory (and adored) pumpkins were planted, along with lettuce, beans, dill, carrots, and zucchini. I had already started tomatoes, basil, and eggplants in pots before we even envisioned ourselves moving, so besides eeking out a miserly existence in their neglected and pot-bound state, all of those crops survived and made the voyage. Oh yes, and the voyage was delightful . . . two full loads of plants in a 25’ long box-truck. Yeah, I was in denial that we had THAT many potted plants to move, but at least we only moved 8 miles away.

That day that I sowed my seeds in my brother’s garden, I had every intention of visiting them regularly and especially of harvesting the zucchini in a timely fashion. Nothing is more universally groaned at, by those in the know, than an over-sized zucchini fruit. Culinarily inclined gardeners probably all cloister them secretly into the heart of their steaming compost piles and forget about them. Those of you who grew up with a gardening parent, probably suffered through more than one preparation of monster zucchini. In fact, one of the stories my husband told me while we were first getting to know each other, and which stirred adoration in my heart, was a tale of his father’s run-away zucchini patch. See, his father was a minister with three kids to feed on a modest income. No food went to waste. Monster zucchinis were not harmlessly recycled back to the earth . . . they were painstakingly consumed. To the point that once my husband reached young adulthood, he decided he’d had enough jumbo zucchini goulash. One afternoon when he was home alone after school, he paid a visit to the zucchini patch with a bottle of ammonia in hand, and proceeded to pour liberally. Needless to say, his father was absolutely dumbfounded about what earth-scorching blight could possibly have struck his zucchini patch with such sudden and relentless wrath.

I resolved at an early age, that if ever I managed my own zucchini patch (and I never thought I would, by the way), that I would never unleash such a vegetative monster upon the dinner table. I was even convinced, as of this spring, that I would find the time to nip such behemoths in the bud, or rather when they were still of a servable size. But my dear brother recently brought me a bundle of my produce, since I haven’t made it out to his garden in months, complete with just such a specimen. What I haven’t mentioned, until this moment, is that our family finally found a way to enjoy, yes I said enjoy, these green giants.

It all happened when we were on summer vacation. My parents got it in their heads that we should drive cross-country, into the northern heart-lands of America. Among the proposed tourist destinations were places like Devil’s Tower, Yellowstone, and Mt. Rushmore. As we were just beginning to get a taste for all-day driving sprints, restaurant dinners, and spontaneous hotel choices, and while we were already growing road-weary, we found a site in Bonner’s Ferry Idaho featuring a string of detached cabins that had vacancies posted. It seems that we got a sniff of something sweet and chocolaty baking in an oven behind the clerk at the desk, so we enquired what it might be. That was the moment we acquired the recipe for Chocolate Zucchini Cake. It wasn’t very long before we realized the true beauty of the recipe – that it accommodated over-grown zucchini respectably.

When faced with my recent defeat against the notorious mammoth summer squash, I realized I only had one option, and I did not hesitate. Especially since I was recently suffering from an excruciating chocolate cake craving. Chocolate zucchini cake has got to be one of the easiest chocolate cakes you can throw together. The addition of clove is distinctive. This cake is exceedingly moist. In fact, I thawed some that had been in my freezer for probably several years (I know, I know, bad form for a foodie) and it did not suffer freezer burn at all. It was, in fact, divine! The chocolate chips sprinkled on top add melt-in-your-mouth interest, so that you won’t feel a whim to whip up any goopy frosting. The best part – you can make it in one bowl and bake it in one pan. Even better, for those cooking in half-baked (gadget deprived) kitchens, as I am at the moment, I easily managed to mix it up with just four commonly-used utensils: one large spoon, a set of teaspoons, a single half-cup measurer, and a grater. Life is good.

CHOCOLATE ZUCCHINI CAKE

In a large bowl, cream together:
½ cup softened butter
¼ cup oil
1 1/3 cup sugar

Then add:
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
½ cup buttermilk
2 cups unsifted flour
4 Tbsp cocoa
½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp cloves

Add:
2 cups grated raw zucchini – I grated my large zucchini straight over the bowl

Pour into a greased 9 x 12 pan, or into muffin tins.
Sprinkle with:
¼ cup chocolate chips – I usually use more, a couple of handfuls

Bake at 350° F for 40 to 45 minutes.

Best served at least one day after baking. Freezes well.