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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Now playing: Cloud Cult - When Water Comes to Life
via FoxyTunes

Green and White seem to be staples around here lately in life and knitting - I don’t mind one bit - Green is one of my favorite colors, and here’s one particularly brilliant hue!

One of our garden friends allowing me to approach for an extra close shot before taking exception to my intrusion.

Sorry buddy - the fence is yours!

White:

More Two-End Knitting exploration - The second installment is in the works and I’m having lots of fun - I love it’s use with the handpainted yarn, but here in the solid color it’s easier to see the resulting fabric and it’s qualities, especially in photos. I love this natural shade of white - the simple knitting and the color is very soothing.

Green & White:

We have pepper flowers and a few tomato flowers and squash/cucumber flowers and the beans have been blooming for two weeks, and finally, now, we have snow pea blossoms!! I was beginning to think they’d never show up. When we decided to try seeds this year we didn’t have any clue how well (or not!) they might do, especially as we started a little late in the game. But as it turns out, the garden is exploding! We had mesclun greens and spinach this week for salad and I believe that string beans and kale are on the menu this weekend.

What colors are you enjoying lately, or have been showing up in your daily life & knitting?

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Now playing: Rainer Maria - Make You Mine
via FoxyTunes

Sock!

Kirsten’s Belvedere. Sock #1 in progress, completed this evening.

And, sprouts!

Red Lettuce - also just beginning to poke their heads up in other areas and in pots indoors are Kale, Tarragon, Cucumbers and Zucchini, Leeks and Marjoram.

And S is for Saturday tomorrow - What a nice way to end the week!

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Now playing: The New Pornographers - Myriad Harbour
via FoxyTunes