You'd be smiling, too, if you were to eat us!
This is the type of deadly vegetable that gardens produce! If you have seen anything like this, call 1-877-Stop-Deadly-Oak-Park-Vegetables ASAP!
Get this – a woman who put a garden in her yard has run afoul of the law! Cities often lag well behind positive practices for a variety of reasons. But Oak Park is impressively clueless, and probably qualifies for some kind of award.
As I understand it, the whole thing stemmed from a neighbor’s complaint. Of course, in many neighborhoods, the slightest show of individuality is problematic. That’s the type of suburban neighborhood where I grew up as a kid – vast stretches of boredom and silence. Oh well, at least it was basically safe. Individuality upsets people, and lawns take on near-religious status among many, so this isn’t really surprising. And of course, there’s the concept of upholding the letter of the law with no exceptions for any reason. Whatever is the case here, the Oak Park government has decided to prosecute her, and bravely, the lady growing the garden is going to court instead of knuckling under. (more…)
My doc’s got me on a paleo diet for 30 days as part of a process to figure out what foods I might be allergic to. I’d be totally depressed, not eating any dairy, any grains, any legumes, if it weren’t for the joys of the garden. How can you feel deprived when this is what greets you in the morning? (more…)
When you marry cooking to gardening, something very exciting happens to the cooking. You get handed a very specific set of ingredients, always varying with the season, never to return until a whole year later. So your thought in the moment of standing in the garden is, “How can I get the most and the best out of whatever this garden is offering me today?” Because tomorrow is another day and anything can happen between today and tomorrow. Rabbits eat, blights come, hail falls. Talk about keeping you in the present moment! (more…)
Just a few pictures of what’s left from last year, what’s coming out of the garden right now – that’s the ides of March, folks – and what we can look forward to. I love this time of year! Is it spring? Is it winter? (more…)
It’s March, which means it’s that magical time when we can start harvesting one of my favorite vegetables: parsnips. They’re sweet now, having been through the winter, and so aromatic. But mostly they’re a vegetable fresh from the garden, something we haven’t seen for a few months. (more…)
My dad is an excellent gardener – of flowers. To my knowledge, he has never grown a single thing that one can actually eat, but I learned a heap about plants while taking care of those childhood flower gardens. Dad’s a designer, of interior spaces and exterior gardens. He’s also a product of a 200-year-old lawn culture. So he couldn’t help himself when, in an otherwise sweet and charming email, he reacted thus to my statement that I was thinking of putting buckwheat in the front lawn: (more…)
A lot of snow fell over the past four days – like about 43 inches of it. No big deal for Syracuse. I like the nice thick blanket that now covers my garden, so full of food still. (more…)
When I first knew Dave about a dozen years ago, he didn’t know the difference between a tulip and a daffodil. Now he spends so much time in the garden, weeding and differentiating between leaves that used to look all the same to him, I call him Farmer Dave. Last winter he chose the Poona Kheera, a cucumber from India, as “his” plant for the garden and today he harvested the first two of what looks to be a bountiful crop. (more…)
One of the first vegetables any child plants, and one of the first to mature in the garden, is the lovely radish. So round, so brightly colored red on the outside and so intensely white on the inside. What’s not to like? The taste! I hate radishes. Always have. (more…)
And basil! These are in abundance right now. Salad.
Greens (from the market)
Lots of basil leaves
Sliced fresh strawberries
Sliced jicama (or other crunchy veggie)
Crumbled gorgonzola
Chopped honey glazed cashews (or other nut)
Extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar
Sea salt, fresh ground black pepper
Yum!
We’ve been gone for the past twelve days. The day before we left, we stuck seeds and a few little plants in the ground. Our dear neighbor watered faithfully while we were gone. The weather was warm. And Oh – My - God! Look what happened! (more…)
Wouldn’t you know, the day we’ve been waiting for… when the first strawberry in the big patch we made last year is finally ripe enough to eat, and we’re in New York City! My neighbor kindly sent us a picture of the new baby berry: (more…)
Dear neighbor,
I must confess, it was I who stole your leaves. Shirley, I came after dusk with a rake and blanket, and a wheelbarrow, the tools of the trade. I checked to see if you were around, but no, you left me to my silent task.
Just as was taking one of the last loads, Mike peered down the street from his front yard and thought to himself, “Hmm! That looks like Lonnie… and she’s stealing Shirley’s leaves!” He came by to assure me that he’d already called the cops. But I guess they had more important things to do. Mike stayed, still in his sock feet, to entertain me with stories of some recent food marvel he’s created, while I kept stealing leaves right underneath his nose.
Sue, Dave and I stole your leaves today. The city crews were out rounding up all the leaves from the sides of the streets. They gathered them in huge piles using large, carbon-spewing earth-moving equipment. I wonder how many of my tax dollars went to pay people to collect leaves that could have been mowed into lawns as mulch.
My garden progress:
