“Why did you take down the snap peas?”
I’ve lost count of how many people have asked. The peas, clinging to their trellis, made a lovely wall of green for passersby to admire. But, as I explain, they weren’t making any more peas. No more flowers, no more peas. They were done. I’ve learned from fellow food [...]
Entries Tagged as 'spring'
Sliding from Spring Into Summer
June 10th, 2010 · 1 Comment · garden
Urban Potato Harvest
June 9th, 2010 · 1 Comment · garden
I got a free compost delivery this spring that was so much more than I really needed I built a hill for potatoes for the first time ever. It’s about 15 feet long, planted with spuds from the grocery store that were sprouting in our pantry.
Well, now you can see the result. These are still [...]
May Day in June
June 4th, 2010 · No Comments · kids, school food
When was the last time you saw kids celebrating spring around a May pole? Not in this part of the country, not that I can remember. But that was part of the celebrations at my daughter’s elementary school yesterday here in the District of Columbia. It was supposed to have happened last month, but was [...]
Tags: celebrations·spring
Say Hello to Mr. Pimms
May 30th, 2010 · 4 Comments · Recipes, entertaining
Our friend Desson is visiting from his job in London, inspring us to break out the Pimm’s. What! You’ve never heard of Pimm’s?
Depending on who you want to believe, Pimm’s was invented by the proprietor of an oyster house in London’s financial district in either 1832 or 1840. Named James Pimms, he fashioned a tonic from [...]
Daughter in the Garden
May 24th, 2010 · 2 Comments · garden
Daughter is 10 now, an age when kids typically begin to approach things with a more mature attitude. For a while, I thought she would never be interested in working in the garden, but now she gladly agrees to help with the spring chores.
Here she is planting sunflower seeds. She came up with her own [...]
Tags: planting·spring·sunflowers
Baby Potatoes
May 23rd, 2010 · No Comments · garden
It pained me to do it, but several bushy, volunteer potato plants had to be dug out of the ground to make way for planting beans. This was the result, an early harvest of beautiful baby potatoes. They were so pretty, it seemed a shame to eat them, but eat them we did. We took [...]
Kids Make Spring Couscous Salad
May 21st, 2010 · No Comments · kids
One of the challenges of working with large groups of children in the kitchen is keeping their attention. Once you lose it, it can be difficult getting it back. If we can keep the kids working with their hands, they stay focused. This couscous salad is one of those dishes that requires lots of handiwork [...]
Tags: food appreciation·North African·salad·spring·vegetables
Gardening Sitting Down
April 28th, 2010 · No Comments · garden
I do most of the food gardening around our house, but my wife is really the expert, so I love it when she gets inspired to work in the garden. Lately she’s been cleaning up around the perimeter and planting flower seeds. Then she attacked the herb bed. I might have spent 15 minutes on [...]
Chives in Bloom
April 27th, 2010 · 1 Comment · garden
The joys of gardening are so simple: fresh compost, a ripe tomato, freshly picked salad, a happy earthworm, a flower in bloom. Every season brings something different to the garden tableau, something to lift our hearts and let us know what time of year we are in. Right now we know exactly what time it [...]
Spring Garden Beds
April 25th, 2010 · 3 Comments · garden
Here’s an aerial view of our front-yard kitchen garden here in the District of Columbia, about a mile from the White House. Can you tell it’s still spring? In the view looking north, you can see the garlic we planted last fall next to the red mustard greens also from last fall that we are [...]
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.
