Dinner from the Garden

I went out into the garden yesterday afternoon and harvested dinner.

It is so exciting to be able to say that!

I picked two beets with masses of greens, a rutabaga with huge leaves, 2 mikado turnips with delicate leaves, and some leaves of chard, curly mustard and kale. These all grew on a layer of straw so I barely had to water them at all yet they were vibrant and healthy.

I rummaged through our potato bags for some potatoes. And on the way back up the steps I picked a few self-seeded nasturtium flowers to add color to the plate.

I steamed the roots and sautéed the greens, and we sat down to a simple dinner that was simple yet truly exceptional in its flavor. The beets were sweet and fresh, the turnips were spicy and juicy, and the greens were soft and tender with a little heat from the mustard greens and a couple of dried chiles from the ristra I made last fall with our harvest of peppers.

It was the first time we'd eaten a meal completely from our garden (with the exception of the olive oil, salt and pepper, and an onion), and we marveled as we ate it.

I'm still extremely glad I have the farmers at the Hollywood Farmers Market to grow most of our food for us, but it was a satisfying experiment to eat hyper-local produce, all of which had been picked a mere couple of hours before we ate it.

I stacked layers of alfalfa then straw. I put a thin layer of mud
on top before planting my seedlings.

Turnips and curly mustard thrive. The cage is to prevent birds
from eating the seedlings and critters from digging them up.