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Category Archives: harvesting
Bounteous harvest
This long, lingering Indian Summer — or whatever the weather is doing with several weeks of hot, sunny days — is bringing in a huge crop of warm weather vegetables. Great, flavorful tomatoes. Great peppers of all shapes and colors. … Continue reading
Posted in eggplant, harvesting, sweet & hot peppers, tomato
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“Garlic is as good as ten mothers”
I harvested my garlic crop yesterday. Lots of beautiful heads now cure in my kitchen. I harvest the garlic when 4-5 of the leaves have browned but the paper that surrounds the head of cloves is still fully intact. This means … Continue reading
Posted in garlic, harvesting, superfoods
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Pesto
The basil is ready for eating, for making pestos. Just perfect.
Posted in basil, harvesting
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Fruits galore
I go away for a week and come back to a garden bursting with produce. Six cups plus of raspberries. Beets and carrots for roasting. Three colors of fillet green beans. A green pepper, the first tomatoes, the first eggplant, … Continue reading
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Spinach: Popeye and the prince
Beautiful, fresh spinach is ready for harvesting now in your kitchen gardens on Chicago’s South Side. Spinach picked and eaten — raw or cooked — has a delicacy unfound in store-bought varieties. Now is the time to pinch off the first broad, … Continue reading
Posted in harvesting, spinach, superfoods
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Microgreens with mega impact
Microgreens are ready for harvesting. These are the young seedlings of vegetables and herbs that are powerfully nutritious. When harvested while petite, right after germination, they have a tremendous concentration of phytochemicals, nutrients we need in a healthy diet. In fact, … Continue reading
Posted in harvesting, microgreens, superfoods
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What to grow to fill your plate
I spoke on What to Grow to Fill Your Plate at the Martin Luther King Jr. Social Justice program this past January at KAM Isaiah Israel Congregation’s Soil to Plate weekend of speakers and symposia. There were many impressive speakers and … Continue reading
Drying herbs
Frankly, I always pick my herbs and hang and dry them in bunches. Research indicates that this is not the best way to dry some herbs to preserve the most flavor. I wrote earlier about drying small-leaved herbs in bunches; … Continue reading
Posted in basil, cilantro, harvesting, herbs, mint, parsley, preserving, sage
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Herbs, part one
Small leaved herbs such as thyme, oregano/marjoram, rosemary and some sages can easily be gathered and dried in small bunches. Obviously, herbs can be harvested, used fresh or dried, anytime during the growing season. Since the weather is unseasonably cold, … Continue reading
Posted in harvesting, oregano & marjoram, rosemary, sage, thyme
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