Still Eating From My Garden

This weekend was full of good eating from the garden. Since it's almost the end of November, I can hardly believe it. Mind you, if I had a larger garden and more storage, it would not be all that unusual to still be eating root vegetables, winter squashes, and maybe even some cabbages if special care had been taken in their storage, even this far up in Vermont. But for me, with my tiny little patch and the lazy methods of storage I employ, it is quite something.

Friday evening I made a spicy bean and kale soup. I didn't use a recipe, but just followed my instincts, using the ingredients I had on hand. I used the wonderful Dolloff beans that I grew and dried. These were my first-ever attempt at growing a dried bean, and not only that, the seeds were a gift from a fellow Northern Vermont (but on the other side of the mountain) gardener. I loved these beans and am very excited to grow more next year from the beans I saved for seed.  I only ended up with enough this year for one pot of soup, because it was my first experiment with them and I didn't give them a whole lot of space in the garden. Next year I will devote three bean towers' worth of space to them.  In the wonderful soup pot were onions and garlic and kale and canned tomatoes, all from my garden. I spiced it up with some Liquid Smoke and cayenne pepper, and because I was a bit too heavy-handed on the cayenne, I added a small splash of sherry and a small splash of half-and-half cream right at the end to cool the cayenne down a bit. 

It was delicious and different, and as I'm writing this I wish I had more, but it's all gone. And I forgot to photograph it for the blog.  

Then, because my kale is still growing and I know I will kick myself later if I don't use it while it's here, for lunch on Saturday I made a kind of kale pesto. I chopped and steamed two dino leaves (as Manise calls them) of Lacinato kale, then I put it in a blender with some walnut oil, pecorino cheese, pine nuts, and garlic, and poured the pesto over an omelet and sprinkled it with a little more cheese.  

At the risk of sounding repetitive, I'll say it was......

.....delicious.

And different.

And holy cow.  

At the risk of sounding repetitive again, I wish I had some more!

And I forgot to photograph it. 

I was too busy devouring it.

Then Saturday evening I made chicken stew.  In the stew pot were onions, garlic, parsley, and carrots -- all from the garden -- and the one bag of peas I froze from the garden this year. I added mushrooms, celery, sherry, frozen corn and some herbs, and let the whole thing simmer for a long afternoon while I did my studying and knitting. I treated myself to some miniature parsley dumplings on the top of the stew. 

Delicious.

And yes..... different.  And we feasted on that for two days. 

And we saw that It Was Good.

All the better because so much of it came from our own backyard. 

The inventory of riches from this year's garden is dwindling. There are a few carrots left -- enough for another stew or another two meals of buttered or roasted carrots, or the addition of grated carrots to several salads.  There is a gallon-size bag of beets. There are four bulbs of garlic. There is a basketful of yellow and red onions. There are about nine pints of canned tomatoes, and a quart of frozen zucchini and two quarts of frozen green beans. There are two jars of pickled beets, and about six small jars of rose petal jam, and one quart of frozen asparagus, and two big buttercup squashes. The kale is still growing, as is the parsley. The broccoli is, too, but it's producing hardly any florets -- still, a handful once in a while is better than nothing. And the Swiss chard is still limping along, as well. 

I'm thankful for what is there, and I treat it with great reverence. But if we had to survive on this, it wouldn't take us very far.  I wish there were some parsnips with those carrots and beets in the crisper bin. Next year I will plant parsnips. Please remind me.

I forgot to photograph all the bounty of the weekend's table, so I'll give you a sneak preview of something I'm knitting.  

Heh.  I took about 20 photos under the Ott Lite, but this is the only one that accurately reflects the colors. So there you have it. Quite the sneak preview, eh?
 

Comments

[Cari]

I love your garden posts.

[toni in florida]

Now I'm hungry. At 1:18 a.m. And I didn't have a garden this year, so no goodies put aside. Sigh!

[Eddy]

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[sandy]

OH! Such wonder and magnificence! A garden post at the end of November~ Imagine? Truly a reason to be thankful. And I bet your taste buds are super thankful after that wonderful weekend of good eats. (You are just getting them ready for the big day!)

[Manise]

Yup the lacinato I call Dino Kale- I think Deborah Madison in her "Local Flavors" cookbook referred to it as such. I grew it last year, but it attracted hoards of caterpillars- not the cabbage variety but another disgusting one- that spread to adjacent plants. Next time I'll have to employ the use of Bt as a preventative.

I still have a cabbage, giant green mustard, swiss chard (though tiny and sparse), chives and tons of parsley in my wee garden.The frosts have not really bitten them and they continue to grow. My only acorn squash patiently awaits inside decoratively on a plate.

[Manise]

I see the spammer is back/ sigh

[gayle]

Veg we grow ourselves always tastes so much better, eh?

[CindyCindy]

November 21 and still fresh garden harvest? What a strange weird trip this year has been.

[Kym]

I have fresh rosebuds on a rose that already died back for the winter! Pretty. But totally messed up. This has been a weird year in the garden. . .

[Joansie]

Well, what a feast going on at your house!

That new knitting project looks interesting. Do I know about this? Bring it to out next pizza outing.

[naomi]

Mmm, parsnips. You should definitely plant parsnips next year.

I like that orange, too!

[Joannah]

A very interesting knitting tease. Also a very yummy post. It's 8:18 am, and I have such a yen for kale and bean soup!

[Jean]

I'm gonna have to try beans next year. Evidently, we have to start seeds in January here. Crazy.
Thanks for your "relevant" post. lol. I have one on my blog too. See how lucky we are?! Billions in donations and people think we have relevant posts! When will the good luck end?! lol.

[marianne]

Mmmmm. All the food sounds yummy and has me hungry! Seriously? just 4 bulbs of garlic left?
What a naughty tease you are, I am loving that orange colour with the heathery tweedy colours!
but... that's not your mom's sweater... :^)

[Carole]

That all sounds wonderful and my breakfast was a long time ago now so I'm hungry! I still have parsley growing. What do I do with it? Can I preserve it some how?

[Marcia]

If you had listened to poor old Marcia and planted fall lettuce back whenever we had that discussion, you'd still be getting lots of salad greens, too! Mine is still going strong! But, other than the lettuce, I got bupkus.

[Katherine]

Norma, you are seriously my comfort when it comes to North Country gardening. I just moved to way upstate NY, and I have some space (with sunlight! No trees in it!) for a garden. Many people here just chuckle when I say I'd like to grow some vegetables. But I think of you, and I believe -- maybe it'll be okay after I build some raised beds, and a deer fence, and a cold frame. It won't be easy.

Any suggestions on a good reference?

[Mary Fran]

Again, you're inspiring me. Almost hoping to get downsized, position eliminated, reduction in work force so I'll have time to devote to gardening. Of course, since I'm already back to a stay at home mom in my mind, I'll probably be unlucky and keep my job. Sigh.

[margene]

Nothing is growing in Utah as everything is frozen! The colors of your knitting are perfectly Norma.

[Marilla]

You are making me very hungry with this post. I was thinking this morning how warm it still is, and how at this time this year, we had already had several snow storms.

Is that Peace Fleece yarn in your photo? If it isn't, they make a yarn that is just about that color.

[Marilla]

Oops, I meant this time last year.

[Kathleen C]

I think of you when I drive my mom to her radiation treatment each day. There is a gentleman on the side of the road we take, selling bags of Kale from the back of his pick-up truck. The first day I didn't see the little signs announcing Kale. I just saw this man with bags on the tail of his pick-up.

The next day I saw the small Kale sign - and it's really just a broken piece of wood, maybe 6"x12", painted black, with the word "Kale" in red. You almost can't read it!

Each day, on the way to the center, he has 7 or more bags waiting for customers. About an hour later, we pass him and he's only got two or three. I believe he must have sold over 50 bags (large plastic grocery bags) full of Kale over the last two weeks.

Enjoy your garden! I enjoy reading about it! :)

[Lucia]

It all sounds incredibly yummy and good for you, two things I don't think of as sharing one dish. And yet.

[Seanna Lea]

My poor garden was tiny and unloved this year, but I'm hoping that I will have a better shot at it next year. I'll be here at the beginning of gardening season (not like I'm actually leaving) for tips and inspiration!

[Cookie]

Yummy!

Maybe if you set up the tripod in the kitchen we'd get to see all this great food before it's gone.

[Holly]

You may have already tried these, but I love me some kale chips! Just google it. Delish!

[Carrie K]

Kale pesto? Hmm, that's an inspired idea!

[elizabeth a airhart]

we have almost a year of recipies

perhaps better homes and garden
will pay a visit-- good night

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