miner's lettuce and dandelion salad today

Out walking yesterday I spotted Miner's lettuce coming up gang busters all over the place. Picked, along with chickweed and new dandelion leaves, it makes a splendid salad with some olive oil and a squeeze of lemon. Nothing else like it!

walnut hat

I had to post this cute picture of a walnut shell I found perched on top of sprouting daffodil leaves. I'm assuming a squirrel had planted it there :-)

Early Spring rolls featuring mint sprigs and parsley

We are having an early Spring here on the Island. I noticed some spearmint sprigs sprouting, so decided to feature them in Early Spring rolls, with spicy peanut dipping sauce. The recipe is from Vegetarian Times Fast and Easy. Cut up whichever vegs. you have on hand like carrot curls,red pepper strips, cucumber, avacado, green mango, add some marinated Thai tofu strips, cilantro and mint sprigs, and sprinkles of chopped peanuts. Soak your rice paper rounds, dry carefully on a tea towel, place your ingredients on top and roll them up. They look nice if you put the herbs on the outside of the pile to show through the translucent rice paper. To make the dipping sauce: blend together 1/2 cup soft tofu, 1/4 cup peanut or almond butter, 3 Tbs. sweet white miso, 1 and 1/2 Tbs. tamari, 1 Tbs. grated fresh ginger, 1 clove garlic, chopped, then stir in 1 Tbs. lime juice and 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes. Serve with lime, cilantro and mint sprigs.

Harira

This is a vegetarian version of Harira, a lentil and chickpea Moroccan soup usually made to break the fast at Ramadan. I made this soup in order to use up some stewed, frozen tomatoes I'd made at the end of the Summer. The recipe is from "Bountiful Vegan: Soups and Stews for Every Time of the Year" by Nava Atlas: 2 T. olive oil 1 large onion, finely chopped 3 celery stalks, diced 2 cloves garlic, minced 3/4 cup dried brown lentils 1 tsp turmeric 1 tsp cumin 1 tsp freshly grated ginger 1/2 tsp cinnamon 6 cups of water or veg broth 2 cups tomatoes one 16 oz. can chickpeas rinsed and drained juice of 1/2 lemon(slice remainder for garnish) 1/4 cup chopped parsley or more to taste salt and pepper heat the oil and sautee the onions 5 minutes, then add celery and garlic to saute until the onions are golden. Add lentils, spices and water. Bring to a rapid simmer, then lower the heat to simmer gently until the lentils are just tender, about 30 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes and chickpeas. Adjust the consistency with more water if needed, and adjust the spices to taste. Simmer for 15 mins longer over very low heat. Stir in the lemon juice and parsley, season with salt and pepper. garnish with lemon slices. So put on your Berber dress and enjoy your soup!

Book Review: The Winter Harvest Handbook, Eliot Coleman

This is a wonderful book, full of great tips for growing vegetables year round in Northern places. I appreciate the fact that he uses minimally heated, movable greenhouses as well as larger, heated glass houses. Greenhouse construction, crop management, planting schedules, even marketing methods are covered in his comprehensive and down to earth book. There are chapters on insects and diseases, soil preparation, weed control, and deep organic farming methods for small farms. Highly recommended if you would like to try growing food year round. http://www.amazon.com/Winter-Harvest-Handbook-Production-Greenhouses/dp/1603580816 http://www.fourseasonfarm.com/ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaDEBFq5HWI

certified organic seed sources for Canada

http://www.certifiedorganic.bc.ca/rcbtoa/services/seeds-sources.html

dreaming the garden

Here's my seed order so far - can't wait to get digging!! from West Coast Seeds: Beets Red Ace Organic - Broccoli Natalino- Brussels Sprouts United- Carrots Dragon Organic- Carrots Scarlet Nantes Organic- Cucumber Marketmore- Leeks Tadorna- Lettuces: Brunia- Coastal Star- Parsnips Gladiator- Arugula- Mild Mesclun mix- Snow Pea Snow Green- Bush Bean Tricolour- Hot Pepper Thai Dragons- Radishes Rudi Organic- Radish Black Winter Spanish Round- Spinach Olympia- Tomato Black Crim- From Franchi: Broccoli Raab Quarantina- Endive Riccia Cuor d’Oro- Lettuce Mix Misticanza - 14 varieties!- White Turnip Bianca Lodigiana- From Annapolis Seeds: King Tut drying peas these grow to 5 feet- Stevenson’s Blue –eye Beans- Soybeans Black Jet- From Richter's Herbs: White Sage - Burdock - Gobo Dianthus - for edible flowers Echinacea - Horehound - Angelica - Bergamot - Poppy - for blue seeds- I also have calendula, basil, cilantro, Scarlet Runner beans and Early Girl tomato seeds. (which I saved this Summer as an experiment) I usually buy a zucchini or two as well. And sunflowers, of course! It should be an interesting planting year, now that I will have room for drying beans, peas, and quinoa. Deciding not to try growing wheat, squash, oats, or barley - maybe if I can do some more sheet mulching.

recipes with herbs and cress

I have finally got my computer up and running again having had a nasty virus (the computer, not me, thank goodness) - so here are a couple of recipes I tried using some fresh herbs from the garden. The weather has been very mild this Winter (so far, knock on wood) - temperatures around 9 during the day! we are still gathering lettuces, beets, kale and chard, all of which have sweetened up nicely from a frost. rye bread with purple kale cream cheese and cress from the garden. Here's the bread recipe I used: http://www.essortment.com/all/germanryebread_rtye.htm the bread went well with the candied salmon a friend had given us, and a good, cold German beer. stuffed mushrooms with parsley from the garden ~ these are your basic garlic butter baked mushrooms, with a little herbed cream cheese and parmesan on top. I really just wanted to make fresh bread crumbs with my new food processor! Happy New Year! may your 2010 be filled with many wonderful garden adventures!