Planning a Vegetable Garden...

So as our spring-like winter drags on I keeping finding myself day dreaming about real spring in the vegetable garden...okay so I've mentioned this before. February is here, did you know it's already time to get started?

Here are a few resources I have found helpful in my planning,

Southern Exposure Seed Exchange is a RFC regular feature, something just feels right about sourcing seeds locally, just seems like they'd be happier near home right?

Four Season Harvest by Eliot Coleman is my go to year round gardening book, he knows all!

Recently discovered Sprout Robot, its a great way to stay on task with email reminders about what to plant when. Ahem.... Richmond gardeners start your broccoli seeds!

The Vegetable Gardener's Bible is also a staple around here.

Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens offers seed starting and organic gardening classes among others.

I also suspect some of the other members of the RFC may have some things to add to this list and we'd love to learn about your favorite gardening inspiration.

Eat More Kale

We're eating a lot of kale around here... thought I'd share my favorite way to eat my greens right now. This version is adapted from a Food52 recipe. (if you don't know about Food 52 it's a great resource, check it out)

(and the image above is from a book by a favorite artist, Collect Raindrops by Nikki McClure)

I could have titled this piece "Massage your Kale" because that's what makes this work, Erin showed us this technique a while back in a post here, but it totally bears repeating and if you haven't try it yet, do it!

Anyway, it's super easy, I think about it as a three ingredient salad. Basically kale, or whatever other greens you have lying around (or if you are a little low on greens go forage for some dandelion to add to the mix.) Add a cubed and roasted orange (or yellow) vegetable like squash or sweet potato- I used butternut squash. Then add the nuts of your choice. I had walnuts for this but pecans, almonds or whatever you've got will work.

Ingredients:

1 large bunch of kale (or other greens)

1 Butternut squash (or sweet potato)

1 Cup of nuts

Olive oil

Balsamic vinegar (or any other vinegar)

One small shallot (or half of a large one, you could also use red onion)

One egg white

Pinch of sugar

Pinch of salt

Salt and pepper to taste

1. Peel, cube and then roast squash, 15-20 min

2. Toss nuts in one egg white, with a pinch cayenne (or other seasoning of choice) a pinch of sugar and a pinch of salt. (You could also skip the egg step but it gives the nuts a nice crunchy coating.)

3. Roast nuts for about 6-8min checking every couple minutes after that. (I always burn the nuts/)

4. Wash and chop one large bunch of kale into shreds or bite size pieces.

5. Add 2TBS balsamic vinegar (or any other kind) into kale with about half of a finely chopped shallot. Massage the kale and shallot mixture with your hands a bit until it gets well coated and starts to wilt.

6. Toss in squash and nuts with about 2 tbpn olive oil and salt and pepper to taste.

This was so delicious I only remembered to take a pic after we'd devoured most of it!

Now go- eat more kale!

Winter Garden 2011- 2012

The median garden is in full swing with late fall/ early winter veggies.

Turkish garlic planted in mid- October

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Red Swiss Chard, volunteer carrots and Red Russian Kale

Red Russian Kale with a ground cover of Cilantro

On Herbs and Winter

For my work I have to, or I should say 'get to', research medicinal plants. There are so many herbs that are not only wonderful for flavoring our foods, but hold important healing benefits. Herbs season meats, soups, salads, and sandwiches. They are so important to grain and potato dishes. They are the basis of many sauces, and countless beneficial teas. This just hints at their culinary value.
Herbs are invaluable to making other important foods delicious enough to entice us time and again. This value may be surpassed by their tremendous nutritional and medicinal benefits. This week I attended the VNLA Short Course. This annual symposium is always full of great information, but this year it seemed particularly rewarding. One great talk was from Nicole Schermerhorn of A Thyme to Plant herb farm. She really got us thinking about the importance of herbs in the winter diet. Until the recent advent of the twelve month, continuously stocked, virtually seasonless, grocery store produce section, winter hardy herbs provided important nutrients for a more limited diet.
Nicole discussed approximately 15 different herbs, and hit the highlights of their culinary, medicinal, and nutritional value. Parsley was one of the heavy hitters. Known as a breath freshener, Nicole also pointed out it is high in vitamins A and C. According to Nicole's research "one cup of minced fresh parsley contains more beta-carotene than a large carrot, almost twice as much vitamin C as an orange, more calcium than a cup of milk, and 3 times as much iron as one (3oz) serving of liver. A quarter cup covers on third of the DV for vitamin C and 100% the DV for vitamin K..." This seems so amazing, but the more I read about medicinal plants the more I'm am struck by the nutritional and healing powers of winter crops. Take the brassicas for instance, the kale, collards, and cabbages that are still available through my winter CSA. Cabbages have so many amazing benefits. If you'd like to take a quick look at them Ms Martha Stewart just included a beautiful piece on them in her January issue. Click here to check it out.
As for the parsley, I grow it year round, and Nicole described her parsley poking up through the snow this past week. Although it is winter hardy, it is also a biennial so you do have to plant it every year. In additional to all their direct benefits to us so many of the herbs are also an important farmscaping plants drawing beneficial insects and helping to repel those unwanted ones.
If your spending these snowy days planning your garden and you haven't already made a place for lots of herbs I encourage you to make room for them. On top of all of their benefits they also tend to be so easy to grow and tend. If you don't have a garden keep some in pots in a sunny spot by the door, or add them to your shopping bag next time your at market.

For tons more information on herbs visit the Thyme to Plant website at Lavender Fields (its the same spot). Best of all take a trip out to the farm. It is near Richmond, just off of Woodman Rd. It is beautiful and has so many great enticements... lavender ice cream, blue ribbon honey from the hives kept on the farm, all organically grown herbs and expert advice.

Whitehouse Kitchen Garden and An Explanation for Sweet Winter Veggies

A few weeks ago, the RFC did a cooking segment for channel six featuring foods that require a frost to taste their best. After spending some time researching the cause of the excess sugars found in winter brassicas and cold season apples we were a bit hard pressed to explain it easily to others. This quick story about the White House kitchen garden has a sidebar that does a very tidy job of explaining why spinach and kale taste sweeter when the temperature goes down.