Garden Update!

I am so grateful for the rain, I have not had to water my garden for two months! I spent hours everyday in the summer making sure everything was hydrated, now I mostly weed and plan my next planting and harvest. I can't grow as much with the days so short, the sun only visits our little spot in the woods for about an hour before in dips back down beneath the canopy. Even so I am still able to eat a little everyday from the garden, something that grounds me and brings me great joy. To work with the earth in collaboration to feed and continue my existence on her soil. Which brings me to my current garden champion, the Broccoli!

This broccoli lives up to its name! It has been pumping out broccoli like there is no tomorrow, making up for the fact that a large portion of the garden is in it's winter slumber. I love to eat broccoli so I am so very grateful to have a high yielding plant in this dark season. I have six more coming up right behind it so it is the hero that will provide food through the entire winter.

Another thing I love about this plant is how strong and sturdy it is. The cauliflower and the Brussel sprouts fall over every time there is a hard rain or wind. Not the broccoli, not matter what it stands firm and tall. Broccoli could be our totem of endurance these winter months.

Before I grew broccoli I though it would only produce one head per plant. It doesn't work that way. You can clip the little individual florets and all the ones around it will keep growing. Little tiny broccoli heads are forming at the base and come up to replace what you harvest in weeks.

I made a broccoli soup from he garden last night. I love soups, coffee and tea. So when it is cold out I enjoy cooking soups, they make the house smell wonderful and get cozy and warm.

1.)To make the soup you sauté onions with some salt and cayenne pepper. Add potatoes (another good winter garden produce.) Then add broth, cook until tender.

2.)Then take the broccoli and split it in half, put half in the soup and roast half in the oven with a little avocado oil and salt.

3.)When the broccoli is tender, add lemon zest and juice from one half a lemon. And then roasted broccoli. Cook for 5 min.

4.)You can eat it chunky or do what I did and just put it in a blender or food processer and pulse until everything is fine making a wonderful texture.

Eating Garden Good!!!!

Something else to report is the potatoes in the wild bed of chaos are attracting all the bugs. They are the only leaves heavily eaten, it doesn't seem to be affecting the plant overall. With them distracting the bugs, my other plants are left to thrive. I planted the dill inside the bed to keep the bugs away, but this works better. If you intentional plant your beds to create balance then observe, its amazing how much our plants can teach you.

My peppers are still hanging in there, with it getting colder I need to get them inside a greenhouse or cover them at night.

My strawberries are getting ready to fruit.

To end my update here are a few garden glam shots.

My variegated sage.

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Big Love.

Ren