Handful of Salad To-Go

I was really hungry on my way out the door and so I collected a salad to to! I picked some kale, chard, lambs quarters, romaine lettuce, arugula, kept them in a bunch like a bouquet, and biked where I needed to go, snacking as I went–delicious and so fresh!

Friend Visits and Seed-Saving

 My friend Catherine came over today to visit and we pitted cherries and seed-saved while chatting.  I feel so connected to human history–working away while chatting and singing...  Ah folk life...  While we didn't sing, I'm sure that if some of my singing friends were around, we would!  Haha

 Arugula seeds in their pod–so cool!!

The seeds I have saved so far (from left to right) arugula, radish, mystery... (kale?), mystery 2 (arugula?). I know I was drying arugula and kale but am unsure which is which!  Labelling while drying is helpful! Your brain won't always remember...

Saving Seed

 I've hung up some kale and arugula gone to seed in my kitchen to save the seed. I've read that you need to allow it to "cure" wherein the seeds become dry enough to store.  You can see the difference between the arugula on the right which was hung today and the kale on the left (and below) which was hung a week or two ago (I forget how long ago now...) In any case, once everything is dry, I'm going to take them out of their pods and store them for later in the season or for upcoming years!  It's incredibly exciting and empowering! I'm starting to understand how violating not allowing farmers to keep seeds is, even from just doing it a little bit. It's a cost, it's a livelihood, it's native, or at least can be slowly acclimatized to your location.  So many important things.

First Garden Filled Hearty Salad!

My first pickins!

From left to right top row: bok choy, kale, mustard, chard, radish, arugula.

From left to right bottom row: lovage, chive flowers, arugula flowers.

I made a delicious rice pasta salad after I baked some organic chicken with dijon mustard and fresh cracked black pepper, roasted a red pepper, a yellow pepper, and 2 asian eggplant, and diced them all up. The herbs and greens I cut up nice and fine and yum! Fresh, hearty garden salad!

More of the Last Frost Planting

I did a whack more of my planting and have almost finished up my home plot!  I added carrots, some more bush beans, and parsley. I also prepped the soil for planting tomatoes and peppers tomorrow (tilled the soil a bit, pulling out any leftover tree roots) and hammered in a bunch of stakes. It's been cold the last few days so I've been waiting to plant out my tomatoes and peppers.  I don't want them to die in an overnight frost....  Soon they will have a new home!

Barter Gardening

I planted a chunk of seeds and seedlings in my friend's garden that i'm planting as a barter for drum lessons.  It was a beautiful day! I'm always amazed at how time flies when I'm gardening–I tend to forget to eat...

We made a bed of beans, tomatoes, peppers and spinach, and a second bed of bok choy, beets, and arugula.  Yum!