I have been too busy in the business of being busy. It is driving me to despair and I have put a line in the sand and said ‘Enough is Enough!’ I will find time to garden if it kills me. So in order to shake off this garden funk I am instigating the ‘Something from the Garden with every meal’ program and it will be strictly adhered to. This is even more important at this time of year as the garden has a surprising amount of produce to be harvested in order to clear the beds for the new season. Added to that is the extraordinary amount of produce in the freezers and in jars in the pantry.
Yes that was freezers plural. I like to spread my harvest about to reduce the risk since we had a devastating defrost a few autumns ago that is still too painful to talk about it.
Having said that, in an attempt to be self-sufficient in veggies, it is good to look at what is left and what was used up months ago in order to plan for a more sensible outcome this season. It is immediately clear we need less fiery chillies. But it is so cool to have them. Yet the freezer is still inundated with bags and bags of the stuff. I may need to make chilli sauce as Christmas gifts this year. If you know me and are likely to be a recipient of a Christmas gift, then please pretend you didn’t see this and acted surprised on the big day.
The space taken up by less chillies can be taken up with more peppers as we haven’t had enough of these. They go into almost everything we cook and it just makes sense to grow more.
If it wasn’t bad enough to have to eat all the out growing crops but the incoming ones are making their presence felt. It appears to be shaping up to be a good season for asparagus and artichoke, and they have the capacity to make me feel guilty by not including them in the next meal.
But at the end of the day this is what it is all about, growing food to eat. So this season will be a sensible one, created out of rational decisions and careful planning. Except maybe for the caigua and the marshmallow. And I have to try epozote, I’ve heard so much about it.
So in an effort to remain steadfastly connected to the garden in spite of the busyness the ‘Something from the Garden with every meal’ program will be held to public account with an up loading of the delicious, the creative and the umm…Hubby the Un-Gardener is cooking – it’ll be ummm….nice. So if you haven’t been there before check out the Sarah the Gardener Facebook page. It may even have a recipe or two. I may even tweet it…
Look for the hashtag #somethingfromthegardenineverymeal at sarahthegarden.
Come again soon – I’ve got my gardening groove on.
Sarah the Gardener : o )
Awesome update Sarah that is a good thing to try and make a meal with some thing from the garden must cut some of my cut and come again lettuce have a blessed day
Hi Linda. I need to get some lettuce in to the garden. I’ve been meaning to for weeks!
Cheers Sarah : o )
Thank goodness for the freezers! But wow that’s a lot of food for you to get through. A good problem to have.
Hi Virginia. It is great to be able to prepare meals from things you already have. Every time I end up in the produce aisle at the store I get a little shock at the cost of things.
Cheers S
arah : o )
There can be sticker shock!
What are Swedes? Everything looks great. 🙂
I had to look this up on the great big internet, because while I know what swedes are I had no idea what else they could be. It turns out they are rutabaga, which was an aha moment for me as I had always wondered what they actually were.
Cheers Sarah : o )
Gorgeous photos Sarah .. you are always so busy! I have never grown swede. Are they a long crop like parsnip? And what about your asparagus? Yum!
Hi Julie. I’ve never grown swede before either. They are more round like a turnip. The asparagus is going great guns. It is so nice to be able to eat as much as we want, although I imagine this wearing thin in a month or two!
Cheers Sarah : o )
Love swede in soups .. Ah the glut of asparagus sounds like zucchini 😃
Hi I set myself a challenge to enjoy something from my UK garden every day for a year, back in May 2015 and I’m still going.(https://wordpress.com/stats/day/somethingfromthegarden.wordpress.com). In my case it doesn’t have to be something to eat and not in every meal! I also have a husband who doesn’t garden (much) but he is a great cook.It’s winter here now and there is not much fresh produce in the garden – and we don’t grow the same variety of crops you have but I was wondering how you are doing with your challenge?
Hi Jenny. We’ve still been eating something from the garden in every meal and so far so good – even if it is a splash of chilli sauce on a takeaway meal. Most of the Christmas menu was from the garden too which was fabulous. It is getting easier as we approach the height of summer – I can’t wait until there are more tomatoes than we know what to do with!
All the best with your gardening journey.
Cheers Sarah : o )