Welcome Spring!

Oh, it's so good to be back! I have missed my blog, missed cooking, and missed chatting with all of you. I was just in Australia for 3 weeks, on the western coast, and had an absolutely amazing time. I spent a week at home near Chicago after my trip to hang with my brother and mom and only arrived back in Minneapolis a few days ago.

I have lived in the Midwest my whole life and so am fully aware that March can be a really dodgy month often springing some glorious sun-filled warmth on everyone and then viciously dumping snow the next moment. Frankly, I wasn't sad at all to have essentially "missed" March. This past winter was particularly snowy and for the last bit of February, I would trudge through the snow on my daily dog walk and pretend I was already in Australia, although the waist-high snow piled high on either side of the walkway made that daydream a bit of a stretch.

But I'm back now - and was beyond pleased to see green, growing plants scattered all over the yard. It was an unexpected surprise and unusual to say the least. It has been warm here, the snow is long gone, and things seem to have gotten a bit of a head start.

Winter after winter, when I watch the snow pile up and the ice freeze over everything, I become filled with pessimism at the thought of my garden's survival and am almost always convinced that come spring, I am going to have plant corpses to deal with. Not this year! In the photo montage above that I took this afternoon, I encountered tiny baby lilac blossoms, grape hyacinth, old reliable chives, enough thyme to feed all of you for life, a sprig of green on my red currant bush, some sage that overwintered in a pot(!), various perennials, and vigorous looking raspberry bushes that I planted only last year.

This week I am going to tackle some recipes I have been plotting in my head and eat my way through all my favorite spring ingredients like strawberries, asparagus, rhubarb, baby lettuces, etc.

Frost-Proof Produce

I thought it noteworthy that the bundle of herbs and vegetables photographed above were picked out of the garden today - after 3 unwelcome, albeit brief, October snowfalls, several hard frosts, and generally cooler temperatures than normal.

After the first weird, early October snow, I wrote about running out into the garden and rescuing my tomatillos. I wrongly assumed that besides my Brussels sprouts, everything else left in the garden would wilt and die an unfortunate snowy death. This was true for the tomatoes, of course, but my peppers did not fare any better, almost instantly becoming soggy and strangely translucent. I really blew it by not picking all the peppers sooner.

However, what has remained and even continued to grow has been bountiful. Pictured above is Lacinato Kale, Curly Parsley, Flat Leaf Parsley, Garden Sage, French Tarragon, English Lavender, Greek Oregano, Thyme and Rosemary. Not pictured are my adorable Brussels Sprouts which I have been routinely slicing off the large stalks and eating with pleasure.

Very soon I will dry the rosemary, sage, oregano and thyme in my food dehydrator which works like a charm because it seals in the green herbal color while maintaining the plant's strong flavor. As for the parsleys, those are best frozen as I personally don't think they provide much flavor as a dried herb. The kale is currently being blanched and frozen in 1 cup portions to eat throughout the winter.

The Late Summer Bounty

The end of summer is a bit of an alarming time for me as I steel myself for the coming winter months. If only fall could last longer, winter wouldn't be so difficult. I know that once the Brussels Sprouts are big enough to slice off their large, prehistoric looking stalks, the growing season is near its end.

Some of the more interesting vegetables in the garden certainly take their time growing. Our leeks for example morph from looking like chives then scallions then leeks over the summer months. The particular variety we grow, Blue Solaize Leeks, get a distinct deep blue at their ends as they mature.

One of my favorite late summer items are the Cranberry Beans. Vibrantly fuchsia, speckled, and abundant, these beans are easy to grow and are an unusual addition to soups or succotash. I have found that they freeze well once shelled. I keep them on hand, portioned out in individual bags.

Our tomatoes have been a sad disappointment this year, as I suspect it has been for a lot of people. Strange cool weather coupled with dry spells essentially stopped our tomatoes from ripening. Once the weather got back on track, another tomato hazard took over: our two labrador retrievers. These pests lie in wait, only pulling off a tomato when it has a hint of ripeness to it for they don't really want to eat the green ones either. Next year, we need to come up with a new plan of attack.

Pictured above: Lacinato Kale, Blue Solaize Leek, Ancho (Poblano) Pepper, Anaheim Pepper, Jimmy Nardello Pepper, Wenk's Yellow Hot Pepper, Purple Tomatillo, Green Zebra Tomato, Long Island Brussels Sprouts, Vermont Cranberry Beans.

The Mid-Summer Bounty

When I am able to walk into our garden and pull all of these vegetables out of it, I am reminded both how much I love summer and how our hard work pays off. I'm not sure there's anything as gratifying as starting these vegetables from seed, patiently watching them grow, partaking in daily weeding and watering, and then including something that we harvest in every meal.

Maintaining an organic vegetable garden is perhaps a bit more work and expense but knowing that the vegetables we grow were started from organic (often heirloom) seeds planted in an organic topsoil/compost mix, and sprayed with an organic pesticide when necessary heightens the whole experience for me.

I can't say enough about Seed Savers, where we order our seeds from every winter. Call me a gardening geek but when I am buried in February snow, there is something so day-brightening about receiving the spring catalog in the mail and selecting what we will grow.

Pictured above, clockwise from the top is Black Beauty Zucchini, Fin de Bagnol Green Beans, Green Arrow Peas, Wenk's Yellow Hot Pepper, Jaune et Verte Pattypan Squash, Boothby's Blonde Cucumber, Pencil Pod Golden Wax Bean, Borettana Yellow Onion, Red Florence Onion, Chiogga Beets, and Dragon Carrot with a sprig of Purple Dark Opal Basil.

Good Greens

Years ago when we first signed up to get our weekly box of vegetables from a CSA, I carried a lot of guilt with me when the deliveries started. I would peer in and feel slightly nervous at all the leafy greens. I'd make plans, find recipes, admire their sturdiness...and then throw them out at the end of the week when they were quite soggy and accusatory looking.

Perhaps out of a need for redemption, I planted greens I used to toss with the idea that I would learn to eat them, and I can say, having them in my own back yard has made a difference in my bad behavior.

First of all I am more endeared to them from a gardening standpoint because greens are easy to grow, which certainly explains the bounty of greens in most farm-share boxes. They thrive in most conditions and take well to blanching and freezing if there is just too much to eat.

Although varying greens have different cooking times, they all drastically shrink in size when cooked and therefore make a very healthy, easy addition to soups, pastas, or sauteed with any grains of your choosing.

I particularly like growing spinach because it's done early, upon which time I pull it out and either eat it or freeze it, and then replant a new row of seeds and repeat the process. Come late fall and winter, having some blanched garden greens in the freezer is a welcome sight.

To freeze greens, rinse them well, cutting off any tough stems. Place a large pot over high heat until boiling and add the greens. For tender greens, like spinach, blanch them for 2 minutes. For sturdier greens like, kale, blanch them for 3 minutes. Transfer the greens to a bowl of ice water, then to a colander to drain. Place them in plastic freezer bags making sure to squeeze the air out and freeze for up to 6 months.

Pictured above is Lacinato Kale, America Spinach, Chiogga Beet and a zucchini flower just because it's pretty.

Lettuce Mix

I know that tomatoes, peppers and herbs tend to be the garden favorites, and I can see why. The end of summer bounty is typically so plentiful, and herbs have endless uses. For me, the lettuces we grow are held in the highest regard. Not only are they ready early, but the ability to go out in the garden and pull off some leaves from this lettuce and that for an ultra-fresh salad is super satisfying.

Lettuces have other virtues as well. They can be reliably counted on to grow easily from seed, they don't need to take up much space at all, and if succession planting is practiced, the harvest can continue all summer long. I'm sure I'm not alone in spending top dollar for an organic lettuce mix at the store. Spending, say, $5 on lettuce is cringe-worthy when one considers that for the same amount, copious salads from the garden can be had for months on end.

The lettuces in our garden are cutting lettuces, rather than a head lettuce like iceberg. Although, they can be pulled out in a bunch if desired. When we have a bit more lettuce than we can eat, we often pull out a few varieties and gift them to friends and family.

I'm a total sucker for cool names, and I think that lettuces might give any other type of veggie a run for their money. Shown in the picture above is Pablo, Flame, Forellenschuss, Amish Deer Tongue and Australian Yellowleaf.

German Chamomile

The summer after we moved into our house, we got to work on the landscaping. I must have dug out and gave away 50 hostas and just as many daylilies which still crop up here and there to taunt me. We cleared out areas for a rose garden, a perennial garden, an herb garden and of course, a vegetable garden.

That first year we learned a lot and the mistakes we made were many. For one, we planted 12 tomato plants because we apparently were intent on solving the hunger crisis one tomato at a time. I let the weeds get the best of me in the perennial garden. And, we discovered that two Labrador puppies do not care that they are stepping on tender seedlings and sprouting seeds, hence the chicken wire fence that now goes up around the vegetable garden soon after planting.

The most exotic thing (in my mind anyway) we planted in our herb garden was German Chamomile. My knowledge of chamomile didn't extend much beyond tea, so to see it in its flowery form was intriguing. We planted five little chamomile seedlings and were charmed by their frilly foliage, dainty daisy flowers and lovely scent. To me, chamomile smells like how honey tastes.

The next summer, when I was clearing out the herb garden, I saw tiny sprouts that were unmistakably chamomile...but...more sprouts than we planted last year. The Chef did some reading up and discovered that chamomile is indeed a perennial and is sometimes used as a ground cover. Yes, that's right, a ground cover.

We now have German Chamomile growing not only in the herb garden, but in cracks in our sidewalk, near my roses, around the lilac bushes, and sprigs of it against our fence. It's a sweet reminder of our first year as gardeners.

If you happen to have chamomile or want to grow it, here are some ideas for using it up:

• Chamomile and Vanilla Bean Ile Flotante from Canelle et Vanille
  
• Meyer Lemon Curd and Chamomile Vanilla Mousse from Tartelette
  
• Fresh Peaches with Chamomile Ice Milk and Toasted Brioche from The New York Times

Spring Seedlings: Part Two

If you haven't read Part One, start here.

While our seedlings were growing in the sunroom, we worked to prepare the vegetable garden beds. An organic farmer friend told us about double digging which is a lot of work initially, but really makes the soil rich and ready for planting. This essentially means that The Chef turned all the soil over, added bags of organic top soil and organic compost to the mix, and worked it all into the existing soil while I stood around and drank a mojito. For detailed instructions on how to double dig a garden, click here.

Now, back to the seedlings. The seedlings won't take kindly to the shock of being coddled in an indoor environment with the fluorescent lamp glow bathing them daily, to being planted in soil with the sun/rain/wind beating down on them. They must be eased into this which is a process referred to as "hardening off". A week or two before planting the seedlings, bring them outside for an hour or so daily, adding more time each day so they can acclimate and strengthen.

In terms of plotting the garden, we make sure that we don't replant things in the same location every year, especially tomatoes, and situate the long season vegetables next to early crops like radishes.

This year, we have a lot going on in the garden including: 4 kinds of tomatoes, tomatillos, radishes, beets, carrots, cucumbers, 4 kinds of peppers, peas, leeks, 2 kinds of onions, brussels sprouts, broccoli (pictured above), squash, 3 kinds of beans, kale, cabbage, spinach, arugula and an array of lettuces and herbs. I also planted a separate fruit garden that contains two heirloom fruits - sunberries and ground cherries. Wish us luck!

Baby Forellenschuss

I was poking around the vegetable garden beds, getting them ready for planting and noticed, to my delight, baby lettuces that had apparently reseeded themselves from last year. In the three years that we have had our garden, this is the first time this has occurred. There are lots of little lettuces poking through the soil and I couldn't be happier about it.

The lettuce that is particularly near and dear to my heart is an Austrian Romaine called Forellenschuss. It is an heirloom variety that has become a favorite of ours for its mottled green and red leaves and sturdiness against the hot, midwest heat. We start it from seeds we got from Seed Savers, an organization I cannot recommend enough.

Out of all the things we grow in our garden, I have a strong fondness for lettuces. They are typically easy to grow, I love going out and clipping different varieties for a salad, and growing unusual varieties, like Forellenschuss, prove to be welcome gifts.

Spring Seedlings: Part One

One of the best antidotes to a cold, Minnesota winter is the process of germinating seeds for the summer garden. I start by designing a garden plan primarily based on what was a winner last year and what new items we want to try this year. It's amazing how invested I become in our garden...I still feel a pang in my heart when I think of our broccoli plants, tall, sturdy, minty green, that suddenly flowered before bearing anything at all.

We order our seeds from Seed Savers which is an incredible organization specializing in heirloom and organic seeds. The variety is fantastic, and choosing amongst the colorful catalog is both a difficult and delightful task. We not only order vegetable seeds from them, but also herbs, exotic annuals, sunflowers, and for the first time this year, fruit plant seeds.

After the seeds arrive, we convert our sunroom into our mini-growing lab...which from the street looks sort of suspicious and I often wonder what passersby think. I got this handy newspaper potmaker for the plants and while watching TV I sit and make pot after pot, writing on the side what seeds I will grow in it later. There is special seed starting soil that can be bought at Home Depot or the like which works great. Once the pots are made and filled with soil, 2-3 seeds are sprinkled in each one, lightly covered with soil, and placed on the radiators (or another warm, sunny location) until they start to germinate. Before we got the newspaper pot maker, we used a peat pot kit, like this one, which also works great.

At this point, we set up a table with a long rectangular flourescent light that suspends from the ceiling over it. The light should be quite close to the seedlings, just a few inches above them, otherwise they get "leggy" trying to reach for the light. Once they grow, we raise the light a bit.

I keep them lightly watered and try not to check on them every second of every day.

The First Sign of Spring

One week ago I was standing at the bus stop, the wind was howling right through me and I was wondering for the billionth time this Winter why I live in the Midwest. When the wind chill is -20 and the actual temperature is -5, there are no comforting answers to that question.

Oh, but fickle Minnesota went ahead and decided to have a 50 degree jump in temperature in just one week's time. Yesterday when I was out enjoying the unfamiliar warmth, something caught my eye...something GREEN. Hallelujah! At least the chives think it's warm enough to wake up and show themselves. And no, I will not consider the fact that a blizzard could still descend upon me at any moment. I simply refuse to believe it.

These chives were planted in our yard 3 years ago and have always flourished. My love for chives is strong, and I absolutely prefer them to scallions. I adore the green, subtle onion flavor, the slight crunch, and the myriad ways there are to use them.

In case you also have chive-love, here are some tasty-sounding recipes:

• Chive and Pine Nut Dip with Sourdough Toasts from Gourmet
• Skillet Cooked Potatoes and Cheese from Saveur
• Salmon Carpaccio with Lime and Chives from The New York Times
• Cheddar Chive Scones from Martha Stewart