gardening

Tonight I went out into the back hall, our cold storage area, and filled a basket with potatoes from this past summer’s garden.
We revel in the pleasure of eating food we’ve grown as we pull things from the back hall or the freezer. We feel connected to the earth knowing we are eating all that loving labor (much of the labor done by my parents, I’ll freely admit). I wish everyone could feel that way.Read More →

Don’t tell my Dad (he reads my posts, hi, Dad!), because he loves digging the garden and surely has some kind of system, but I did a little digging today.

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before
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…and after!
The fluffy stuff on the right is the asparagus I’ve written about before. Next year we get to harvest and eat it!!

I hate how hipster I am about kale. My ego needs people to know not only did I grow up eating kale, but as an adult I’ve loved kale since my first daughter was tiny; about 10+ years. I got my (original) bumper sticker then, too.
The reason I love it is pretty simple, though the list is long, too:

  • absurdly dense nutritional value
  • can be grown year round – no kidding (sweeter when it’s cold)
  • *super* cheap
  • soooo easy to grow
  • amazing range of ways to cook and eat it
  • tastier and easier to cook, more versatile than collards and also more versatile than chard

For me, the bumper sticker means that if everyone ate more kale—especially if more people grew it for their friends, family, and neighbors—the world would be a better place. We’d be healthier; the planet would be healthier; and we’d all save money.
Eat more kale.
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