One of my favorite things this spring (I guess the season has finally caught up with the temperature here though - Happy Summer!) has been eating from our own garden. Last year was our first experimenting with growing food - We started “small” with tomatoes, squash & cucumbers, peppers and herbs, and we learned an awful lot - The tomatoes loved being in their buckets and the squash needed a lot of room. The peppers didn’t like their location on the other side of the bed and needed more sun.

Last year’s garden midsummer

So this year we expanded, trying to grow more of the things that we eat on a regular basis, growing most of the plants from seeds. We’ve added Beans & Peas, Eggplants, Lettuces and Greens, Beets, Carrots and Leeks; we moved the peppers and they’re much happier in their new location and we’re learning about how many seeds to plant, when to plant them, and that the packages aren’t lying about the amount of space that the plants will need. Ironically, these tomatoes are NOT happy in the buckets (not sure if that’s their late start or the variety) and the happiest ones that we have are growing straight out of the compost bin in the corner - so who are we to mess with that? We’ve been able to share seedlings with friends and neighbors and are generally having a blast with this big experiment.

This year, bigger, crazier, and lots more to learn! Go to Flickr for the gory details!

We’re not vegetarians, but we cook like we are - aside from some occasional fish, we haven’t cooked meat at home in ages and tend to eat it only when we’re out. Tad has jumped on board completely this year and has joined me in the kitchen - now we cook together and are really enjoying it - he’s even talking about trying bread-making once things slow down a bit. Last weekend, while I apparently leisurely stripped and chopped the greens, he made the grits and prepped the fish (go Tad!!):

From Moosewood’s Simple Suppers - Kale from our garden (love the impossible-to-capture silvery-blue-green color), NC Catfish, and organic grits with Cabot cheddar - delivered by Dad on his last visit. We’re working our way through this cookbook and everything we’ve made so far has been great. Another favorite with the garden greens has been Scrambled Tofu with raspberry-chipotle sauce and green rice. Yumm!

Last night, Beet Risotto with Goat Cheese & Walnuts (from Cooking Light):

This called for Chard too - which we had to supplement along with a couple extra beets - we planted Rainbow Chard, but it’s not doing very much - I think it would be happier in the big bed with the Kale and Collards. We’ve planted some more there and we’ll see how it does.

ETA: I forgot to tell the story about the beets! Last year, our CSA sent us home with beets for several weeks in a row. I hadn’t had them since I was a child and we had them in the family garden. I didn’t like them back then (to put it mildly) and had no idea what to do with them, so I started hunting down what to do with all those beets - I’m proud to say we used them all (almost). This recipe is one of my favorites and why we decided to grow them this year!

Up next, Eggplants and Anaheim Peppers - Anyone have a good recipe for Chiles Rellenos?
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