Excuse me if I sound out of breath but these last two weeks I have been transitioning from a summer food garden to a fall and winter food garden in what used to be our front lawn here in the District of Columbia, about a mile from the White House.
The seedlings that were planted with [...]
Entries Tagged as 'summer'
Separation Anxiety In The Garden
September 15th, 2009 · 5 Comments · garden
Better Burger, No Bun
September 5th, 2009 · 6 Comments · Recipes, Wellness
If you are at all sensitive to carbohydrates, there’s no reason to spoil your Labor Day hamburger by smothering it in a bun. Nothing could be finer than a burger constructed of grass-fed beef from our local dairy, topped with grilled onion and a thick slice of Mortgage Lifter tomato from the garden. All we [...]
Teacher Is In
August 17th, 2009 · 3 Comments · garden, urban agriculture
How do you know when a carrot is ready to harvest? When should you pick your cucumbers?
Those were among the questions I fielded on Saturday from a group of new gardeners who started plots this year with something called the Neighborhood Farm Initiative. It’s the brainchild of two passionate and engaged gardeners–Bea Trickett and Joshua [...]
Tags: harvesting·summer·teaching·vegetables
Home Again
August 13th, 2009 · 1 Comment · garden
I miss my morning walks in Maine.
Two miles each way along back roads out of South Freeport. The roadsides were thick with wild flowers: Queen Anne’s lace, goldenrod, purple loosestrife, buttercups, black-eyed Susan’s. Gold finches flitted in the dense branches of an apple tree. Amidst the low din of bird sounds, the mechanical trill of [...]
Tomatoes!
July 18th, 2009 · 10 Comments · garden
Were you one of those kids who used to sit in the garden on a hot summer day with a salt shaker, gorging on ripe tomatoes? I was. So I guess I am just rediscovering my youth, growing 12 tomato plants in our front-yard kitchen garden here in the District of Columbia, about a mile [...]
Garden Album
July 13th, 2009 · 7 Comments · garden
Our kitchen garden here in the District of Columbia, about a mile from the White House, is approaching its full summer glory. We do not have a back yard. The garden borders the sidewalk on a busy residential thoroughfare. People love to stop and lean on the iron fence to take it in and sometimes [...]
Tags: flowers·summer·vegetables
Squash Carpaccio
July 8th, 2009 · No Comments · Recipes, garden
My wife is not a big zucchini fan, but on occasion I am able to entice her with our favorite Italian summer squashed sliced thinly and served raw with a seasonal dressing of goat cheese, olive oil and fresh herbs, such as oregano or mint or basil. Or maybe all three. Don’t feel constrained. This [...]
Tags: goat cheese·herbs·salad·squash·summer
Daughter’s Favorite Cajun Pickles
July 7th, 2009 · No Comments · Recipes, garden
We just picked another load of cucumbers and I knew exactly what I was going to do with them. There are so many ways to pickle cucumbers, but we have our favorites. Besides the classic deli-style dills, we like this spicy “Cajun” version that’s packed with hot red peppers, red onion, oregano, chili powder and a bevy [...]
Green Beans!
June 25th, 2009 · No Comments · garden
This morning I picked a big bowl full of green beans, the first to mature this season. Planted May 21, these are a Blue Lake bush variety that looks awfully similar to the Italian green beans we like so much. They are flat-ish and full of meaty flavor. Just picked off the plant, they are [...]
Tags: green beans·steaming·summer
Black Bean & Corn Salsa with Golden Cherry Tomatoes
September 10th, 2008 · 1 Comment · Uncategorized
We don’t normally advocate food out of a can, especially at the peak of produce season. But beans are one thing that emerge from a tin perfectly edible, and I have no problem recommending canned black beans for this quick garden salsa. (Then again, if you want to cook your own black beans, by [...]
We are engaging the concerns of a hungry planet--slowly--right here in our kitchen garden in the District of Columbia, one mile from the White House.
