I spent the better part of the weekened paying back for all that good compost we laid on the vegetable beds in the spring. The cosmos were seven feet tall. The zinnia were so big they had simply collapsed and were splayed all over the ground. The “mammoth” variety sunflowers had grown into sequoias, towing over [...]
Entries Tagged as 'greens'
Germination in Record Time
August 31st, 2010 · 3 Comments · garden
Tags: compost·fall·germination·greens·planting
Quick Turnip Greens
June 3rd, 2010 · 2 Comments · Recipes, garden
It’s about this time of year I start wondering if we can actually manage to eat everything that’s growing in our garden. The turnip greens, for instance, planted from seed March 21, are about knee-high already and still tender. So last night as I contemplated frying some liver and onions, I thought some of those [...]
Tags: greens
Pickling Mustard Greens
May 29th, 2010 · 1 Comment · garden
Sometimes in the effort to put dinner on the table we find ourselves in a race with our vegetable plants, which sometimes would rather just make seeds, then die.
Such was the case with a patch of mustard greens I planted last fall. The mustard greens survived the winter–and four feet of snow–just fine. In the [...]
Get ‘Em Before They Bolt!
March 17th, 2010 · 1 Comment · garden
First thaw brings a minor miracle to the garden: the greens we planted last fall are bouncing back.
Mizuna, mustard, collards, tat soi. They are soaking up the sun and putting on new growth. But not for long. After their long winter nap, what these plants want to do is replicate. So they quickly elongate and [...]
Can’t Kill These Greens
February 27th, 2010 · 1 Comment · garden
Our lavender plant was completely flattened by two and a half feet of snow. The rosemary was splayed all over the ground as well. But the greens we planted last fall were unfazed and have bounced right back. Like these “Champion” collards, which received another dusting of snow last night.
I am always amazed how certain [...]
Snow Harvest
December 7th, 2009 · No Comments · garden
We had our first snow this week here in the District of Columbia, a couple of inches of heavy wet stuff. A quick inventory of the garden shows that while some of our greens got knocked back a bit, most of our cruciferous vegetables were hardly fazed. Yesterday, in fact, with the temperature hovering around [...]
Kids Make Yams And Okra
November 20th, 2009 · No Comments · Ethnic, kids
Get ready to adjust your idea of what constitutes a yam. In Africa, a yam definitely is not the tuber we so frequently confuse with a supermarket sweet potato. Where real yams are concerned, you need to think bigger. A true yam (from a perennial vine in the Dioscoreaceae family) can grow up to eight feet [...]
Tags: African·food appreciation·greens·okra·yams
Kids Make Ndole
October 30th, 2009 · No Comments · Ethnic, Recipes, kids
Fresh ginger? Dried fish flakes? Peanut butter?
These are not ingredients we normally think of together, but they all play an important role in a traditional stew from the West African nation of Cameroon called ndole.
Ndole is the local name for bitterleaf, a popular green. Lots of fresh greens, tomatoes, protein and healthful fats make this [...]
Tags: African·greens·peanuts·tofu·vegetarian
Kids Make West African Curried Rice With Greens
October 23rd, 2009 · 7 Comments · Ethnic, kids
It’s finally happened. Our food appreciation classes have left the Americas and entered completely uncharted territory for us: Africa.
The trip from Brazil did not take very long. If you look at the map, there’s only a couple inches of ocean separating the two continents. Heck, you could probably swim. But culturally this represents a gigantic [...]
Tags: African·curry·food appreciation·greens·rice
Ridiculously Good Breakfast
July 12th, 2009 · 5 Comments · breakfast, garden
Poached eggs with sauteed beet greens and Allan Benton prosciutto.
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Shopping: none
The most delicious part of the beet may be above ground. The leaves of the beet plant are one of the most delectable of all greens in the garden, but also one of the most fragile. Beet greens are highly perishable. You [...]
We are engaging the concerns of a hungry planet--slowly--right here in our kitchen garden in the District of Columbia, about a mile from the White House.
