Day 26 - SlugFest

This evening, there was a real slugfest in the kitchen sink, as what seemed like thousands of baby slugs crawled out of the lettuce heads and into all corners of the kitchen. So, this is why I am writing today's post on tomorrow.
I got to the garden plenty early this morning, just in case the rain got here a bit earlier than predicted. I picked several large Detroggia beets for a Sunday potluck.
Home by 9:30, I didn't really know what to do with all that time. Egged on by Detroggia beet success, I planted three more bins of beets out on the patio. They weren't Detroggia, I decided to plant more Bull's Blood. This variety just goes so slowly in the winter, so this is their time, I am hoping. I also tried some more Dino kale, although the seeds are pretty old. Everything is safely under glass window panes before the rain and the new cold.
For a late breakfast, I had the usual potato dish, with ginger and mint tea from partner Otto. After I popped it out of the microwave, a trading partner called, and we gabbed for awhile (cause I never hang up on a trading partner!!) and 20 minutes later the potatoes were still hot.
For lunch, I enjoyed a bowl of the vegetable soup, an orange, potatoes with sauerkraut, parsley and mustard seed, apple slices, peas, Detroggia beets and lettuce.
For an afternoon snack, I had some yogurt from partner Alex, and went off to do some shopping. I had some coffee and a piece of sandwich wrap at Trader Joe's and some coffee, mac and cheese, and some potato thing at Fresh and Easy. I splurged on a package of Italian sausage, for $2.46!
For dinner, I enjoyed the Italian sausage with more soup, apples from partner Colin, raisins, almonds from partner Igor, and cake from partner Arlene.
I am still full from dinner, and I am enjoying a cup of ginger and mint tea from partner Otto.
I have 2.65 left in the food bank, and only two more days to go!

Day 16 - No Carrots

I went looking for my container of carrots from trader Gaston and found that someone else had eaten all of them. Dang! I really wanted something different today.
I was too busy to shop today. I spent over three hours in the garden, tearing down some old fencing and putting up new metal mesh fencing. I worked until the staples ran out in the staple gun, about a third of the way through the project.
I picked a ton of greens to take with me on a trip, and spent much time washing, trimming and pulling off slugs. The fridge is bursting with vegetables.
For breakfast I had the last of the coffee from partner Irene, and a protein shake from partner Igor.
For lunch, I ate MORE french toast with honey, lettuce and potato salad.
For an afternoon snack I ate a tangerine from partner Earl. After working in the garden, I sat down with a large container of tea from partner Otto and lime from partner Colin.
For dinner I made stuffing with bread from partner Arlene, turkey from partner Cindy, leeks, celery, sage, salt, thyme from partner Philippe, and black pepper from partner Ophelia.
For an evening snack I had a cup of the squash soup, garden pumpkin seeds, lettuce, corn salad, and a taste of sauerkraut. I decided to put some dried shiso leaves into the crock, to see if they would lend more color to the batch. By the end of the day, much color had been added, and I fished the shiso leaves out and ate them. They tasted wonderful, but they could have been left in longer. (They were a bit too chewy.) I lined the crock with a new layer of shiso leaves and put the kraut to sleep for the evening. Shiso leaves have a cinnamon-like taste, and the only cinnamon flavor I have enjoyed since the start of this February challenge

Day 15 - Too busy to Cook

I have been on the run since the weather turned for the better and I realized that I had better get the garden prepared if I wanted any summer food at all. Can't live on dehydrated parsley and leeks forever.
For breakfast I had coffee from partner Irene, toast from partner Arlene, almond milk from partner Igor and garden greens with some butter.
In the morning, I snacked on snow peas and broccoli at the garden.
For lunch, I had a protein shake from partner Igor.
For a snack, I ate raisins, cookies, orange juice and cheese crackers, all from partner Nate.
For dinner, I finished the second batch of vegetable soup with turkey from partner Cindy, toast from partner Arlene, butter, broccoli, lettuce, beets and corn salad.
For an evening snack, I had a few almonds from partner Igor and some lime juice with limes from partner Colin.
I made a batch of squash soup with almonds from partner Igor, celery, leeks, vegetable broth, salt, coriander and black pepper from partner Ophelia. This will be for Monday.
Trading partner Ophelia has also been decluttering yard and garden supplies and the trades will really help to keep my garden expenses low for the coming year and beyond.

Day 10 - Still on the Road

I am still getting caught up in all areas of my life after returning from the road trip.
In the early part of Day 10, I was busy with everything else, and mostly ate leftovers from my cooler.
For breakfast, I ate the rest of the wheat berry salad with my lettuce. I had some coffee and red berries from partner Irene, and a piece of salmon from partner Jose.
For lunch, I had small cup of bean soup made with with ham from Shary, carrot from partner Colin, and dry beans, celery, leek, garlic, habanero pepper and parsley from my own gardens, and some salt. I also had fresh lettuce, parsley and snow peas, and some hummus from partner Katia.
I had an afternoon snack with partner Katia, who gave me a wonderful navel orange. I also munched on a few crackers from partner Irene and a handful of my home-made granola.
At dinner, I enjoyed some wonderfully crunchy carrot raisin salad and sandwiches from partner Lee. The sandwiches were made with roast beef, turkey, bacon and tomatoes. I also enjoyed lasagna, steamed broccoli, herbed cheese rolls and ice cream with caramel sauce, all from partner Maria. Maria also sent me off with a large mug of decaf coffee.
I didn't buy any food, so I have $1.74 left after day 10.

Day 7 - Superbowl

I did not spend any time cooking today, since I did so much prep work yesterday.
Breakfast was an egg fried in a little butter with cooked beet greens, lime and orange juice from partner Danielle, and some tea from partner Otto.
I took a huge plastic container of salad greens to the Quaker potluck, to be mixed with salad toppings brought by another diner. She usually brings a huge wooden bowl for the salad, but this time she brought two so the salad would be easier to serve. The salad included fresh avocado, garbanzo beans, red pepper, tomato, cheese and vinagrette dressing on the side. I brought the large pot of vegan vegetable soup. We also enjoyed moussaka, lime bars, corn chips, veggie chips, hummus, rice salad and lemonade.
Dinner was light, just some leftover vegetable soup with additional turkey from partner Cindy, steamed peas, broccoli and rice with a dab of butter, and pomegranate seeds from partner Alex.
I had an evening snack of roasted garden squash seeds, dried apple slices from partner Colin, and an almond cookie from partner Lisa.
And the Super Bowl TV commercial winner is: Audi!!!! I just loved and was scared by the green police, especially the helicopter bust of the guy throwing away those orange peels.
I did not purchase any food on Day 7, so I will have $1.69 available for day 8.

Day 6 - Harvard Beets

I "bought" California butter with my extra money today, and now I have 3 cents left. Actually, I bought it the last time I was in the valley, but didn't use it until today. I didn't really need to buy this early, since we drove right past the store on our way into town.
I got to the community garden early today, despite all the rain. I harvested a ton of vegetables and spent over 2 hours in the kitchen, cleaning, prepping, and then making a vegan soup for tomorrow's Quaker potluck. Well, I hope it's vegan. The rain brought out the critters and I found many baby slugs taking refuge in the inner celery leaves.
For breakfast, I munched on snow peas and lettuce.
For a late lunch, I enjoyed a plate of steamed snow peas, broccoli and asparagus from partner Don, topped with a bit of butter. I had a cup of the squash soup, and finished off with a mug of Peet's tea from partner Emily.
The soup for tomorrow's potluck is made from butternut squash, frozen cocozelle summer squash, potatoes, leeks, celery, carrots from partner Gaston, turnips from partner Colin, kale, chard, fennel, dehydrated habanero pepper, marjoram from partner Franklin, rosemary from partner Gert and mixed dehydrated vegetables from partner Harvey.
Over the past couple of years, I have attempted to get seeds from beet plants, with varying success. In 2009, I finally had two types of beets blooming in the backyard at the same time: Chioggia and Detroit dark red. I hand-pollinated and came up with Detroggia, I guess, Chioggia being the mom. The germination was pretty good, but unfortunately, they aren't as nice as either star parent. Despite the parentage, these beets aren't getting into Harvard. They have the conical shape of the Chioggia instead of the nice round shape of the Detroit dark red. They have the more pale red color of the Chioggia without the interesting stripes. I haven't tasted them yet, but harvested several for myself and my trading partners to trial. The greens are of high quality, matching the red of rhubarb chard.
We went out to buffet dinner with friends. I ate everything except the lettuces and celery. It was a treat to have some raisins. I had a bit of difficulty with the vegetables. They just don't taste as nutritious as my home-grown vegetables.

Day 4 - BLT

During the lunch hour, I ran a few errands and then planned to stop by the farmer's market, but it was so cold and dreary I decided to stop by Trader Joe's instead. I headed straight for the free food kiosk, where they were handing out this really decadent bacon dip on melba toast. I also had a small cup of coffee, but only because I tilted the coffee urn for myself and about 10 others so we could all enjoy the last drop.
I did my shopping and came back around, and a new store clerk was handing the bacon and toast snacks, so I had another one. Then she called out,
"Anyone want some bacon?"
As I was going to mention that the bacon was really good, I then realized that she was done with this dish. She actually wanted to hand out the leftover bacon, huge salty strips of BACON! Way too much salt, but really good.
I bought a banana for 19 cents and raced home so I could have the lettuce part of the BLT (that's bacon, lettuce and toast). I made a large salad with garden greens, a small beet, the rest of the wheat berry salad, sprinkled with a handful of pomegranate seeds. It looked like something that would be on the cover of Martha Stewart magazine only she would have put some pancetta on top, but that would have been a bit over the top, eating that with all the extra bacon already in my stomach.
I sat down next to my cats, who left me alone with my salad since it wasn't covered with pancetta, and thought that it sure is a nice time of the year when I can enjoy such high quality lettuce.
The bad news about the banana is that it is very green and I won't be able to enjoy it for a couple of days. I had a tangerine from partner Earl instead.
Tomorrow I will have a balance of $1.97

Day 1 - Lunch

I stopped by the garden and many of my friends/trading partners were there. Since it is getting warmer, the gardens are overrun with winter greens. It is time to rip some older plants out and get ready for spring planting.
After spending waaay too much time gabbing and piddling around with compost, I harvested a large container of veggies for the rest of today and early tomorrow. So here's lunch:
Juice made from a blood orange from partner Danielle and a tangerine from partner Earl
Arugala from partner Fiona
Lettuce from the garden and partner Gaston.
Radishes, mache and snow peas from the garden
Broccoli from partner Hermine
Salad dressing from Alex
1/2 packet meal replacement shake from partner Igor
The lettuce was nice and crispy, and a blend of several varieties. I grew the Freckles and Red Romaine and Gaston grew the Bronze Mignonette and Four Seasons from some seed that I had grown out myself two years ago.

Day 1 - Breakfast

I realize that if I want a fair account of the first day, I had better start now. It does take some time to write down all I eat. So here's breakfast:
Radishes and buttercrunch lettuce from the garden.
Olive oil and local lime dressing from trading partner Alex.
Dried apple slices from trading partner Bonnie.
Dried apple slices from partner Colin. (Colin's apples are much sweeter so I mix the two.) Both varieties were drenched in lemon juice from Danielle before dehydration.
Yes, the radishes really were the French Breakfast variety. Despite the name, I had never eaten them for breakfast before. I picked them yesterday but forgot to bring them inside. I usually don't eat this type of breakfast, especially in the winter, but the radishes called out to me, for some reason.

Raw January Morning

I know it has been a bit too cold for me to seriously consider a raw food diet, but Randy's raw beet salad sounded really good. I hadn't been out to the garden since the rains began, and was running low on fresh local veggies, but I knew I still had some beets. I made a few modifications to the recipe. I added local tangerine juice instead of orange juice. Since my beets were a bit overgrown and a little tough, and they had at some point in their rooty lives experienced a bit of pretesting by various rodents, I decided to peel them first.
I placed the marinated beets on a bed of salad greens I gathered on Sunday afternoon during the first rain shower.
The salad was tasty, but I was unprepared for the amount of time it would take to chew the beets. They had almost a beef jerky quality, and despite being cold, the salad was pretty satisfying.

Winter Squash at the Community Garden

It was a real treat to get to the community garden after several days off for the holidays. I don't usually notice how much it grows when I visit every day. Since I am entertaining guests this week, I need lots of fresh veggies for soup and salads. Here's what is in the harvest basket this week:
I am still harvesting a bit of zucchini and baby butternut squash! They are tiny but very appreciated. The beans have been growing and flowering and I was able to harvest several servings. I harvested over a cup of small broccoli flowerettes, and a couple of small fennel bulbs. I left the leeks alone. Before Thanksgiving, I harvested gobs of leeks, only to leave them at home when packing our car for the trip, so I have plenty. I did snag a few scallions. I also brought home plenty of kale and chard, two greens that were greatly missed during our time away. I also harvested plenty of celery for the bean pot.
We made a large salad with freckles romaine lettuce and baby purple mustard. This practice will probably continue almost daily until late spring.
And the new events at the garden? The cabbage is bursting out of its cage, so I set them free. My transplanted lettuce has been eaten down to stubs inside its cage. Slugs? Not sure, but I am sure something is happy and well-fed. The garlic is up, and the newer broccoli plants are ready to start flowering.

Salad competition - Locavore potluck redo

Kris posted his salad, but now we need a salad-off. Since I don't have a camera, I'll have to describe what I got to eat this week. I started with spinach from R, freshly plucked from his garden, crispy-tender and very curly. I added my own freckles romaine baby lettuce, and plenty of lettuce that B gave to me. (She was in Ojai this Sunday and went a little hog-wild at the farmer's market.) The varieties look like cos romaine, red oak, lolla rossa and buttercrunch. She also gave me some tender new asparagus, so I steamed it along with the haricot vert string beans and baby broccoli from my garden. I chopped a huge orange sweet tequila sunrise pepper and a small but deadly orange habanero and added it to the mix. The radishes came from M's garden. They were large and pink, with pink markings on the inside. I also slivered my own celery stalks, scallions and baby fennel.
I did have a dressing, made with local olive oil, sea salt, lime juice from La Casa, Italian and lemon basil from my patio, and R's dried marjoram. I topped the salad with sweet pomegranate seeds that P gave to me.

Fall is here!

Not according to the weather, only according to what is being planted and harvested in the garden. The tomatoes are finishing up and I am tearing them out to get the soil ready for fall. I have already planted broccoli, onion, parsley, chard and cauliflower seedlings, and direct-planted bush beans, spinach, daikon radish, and several kinds of kale. I am harvesting many leek seeds, the late amaranth, and the last of the dry beans.
I also direct-seeded lettuce seedlings today. This is the earliest I have attempted lettuce. I just got tired of cleaning and winnowing some seed, so I just decided to toss it into some shady nooks and see what happens. Every year I push the seasons just a little but, but this is the first time I have planted the coolest crops when it is near 100 degrees outside.
I also tried to clean out more of the overgrown chard, and I scattered the seedlings all about. I don't even bother to plant that much chard anymore, unless I need a specific color. This fall, I am looking forward to a variety of gold and red volunteers.