Gardening is a family tradition

I recently went to Kansas because my Mother, Grace, passed away. Her and her family were the inspiration for this blog. Her parents and uncle ran a truck garden in south central Kansas from 1920 to 1980, thereabouts. I don't know how many generations of our family have been farmers.
My Mom worked in her garden everyday, in spite of her illness and the extreme heat, with temperatures above 100 for an entire month this summer.

She would go out early in the morning and then water.

After her funeral, my brother and sisters and I went to the house and one by one, we all ended up out back in the garden, amazed at the watermelon and okra, which were now ready to pick and wondering why there weren't many weeds. It was a well-kept garden. She worked hard to take care of it and enjoyed the productivity and peace of mind from working in the garden. Her freezer had packages of her favorite vegetable - asparagus.

When I returned home to Michigan, I went to my own garden and although it doesn't measure up to my Mother's garden, it was a great place to start healing after losing her. God bless her.

Time to start fall garden

If you have any room left in your garden, now is a good time to plant again. You can plant peas, spinach, lettuce parsley, onions and leeks and cabbage. Also cilantro for making salsa in September. The seedlings will need some extra care; cover with shade cloth or plant them near taller plants. Be sure to water frequently.

Picking herbs is good for them

This is great weather for tomatoes, sunny and hot just how they like it. We should get a bumper crop of very red tomatoes, packed with flavor. But herbs are taking the heat. Watering is very important now. Picking herbs and greens helps prevent them from forming seeds. The best way to pick parsley, and many herbs and leafy vegetables, is to snip the whole leaf and stem from the stock. Sometimes you can twist them off, when you pick parsley and Swiss chard.
Basil's a little different. You should cut the stock or branch, just above leaves, well below the leaves you want to harvest. Picking in late morning is the best time of day, especially for greens and herbs.
Pick leaves often to prevent the plants from going to seed. Because once they go to seed, many of the plants lose their herbiness flavor.
For Rosemary and sage, cut 5 inch branches and hang to air dry or chop and freeze in herb ice cubes or clumps in a freezer bag.

When life gives you parsley, make Tabouleh

What do you do with all that fresh parsley?  Well you can garnish everybody's plates with it, including breakfast. I don't recommend it for cereal though. Or you can make tabouleh. Here's my garden fresh recipe for it. I had to buy the tomatoes and cucumbers.  At the bottom is a link to a hummus recipe, because they go together well.

Tabouleh
1/2 c bulgar, cover with boiling water for 30 minutes, then strain very well.
1 1/2 cup of chopped parsley, maybe more
1/2 cup diced green onion
1/2 cup diced cucumber
1 cup diced tomatoes
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil
salt and pepper
1 Tablespoon fresh mint, optional
Mix ingredients and serve or refrigerate.

Hummus
http://mideastfood.about.com/od/appetizerssnacks/r/hummusbitahini.htm

Thai basil eggplant recipe

Here's a good easy recipe, that is different and delicious. It's great with fresh eggplant and basil. I have fresh basil because I bought a plant. Unfortunately I had to buy the eggplant at  the grocery store. If there was a farmers' market nearby, I might have found eggplant there. There's a list of area farmers' markets on the upper right side of this blog.

Fried Thai basil eggplant

1 tablespoon oil

2 -3 garlic cloves, minced

1 big  or 2 small eggplant cut irregular

1 tablespoon sugar

1 bunch basil, washed and stems removed

2 chile peppers finely chopped or other hot peppers

2 tablespoons soy sauce

Cut eggplant into uniform irregular shapes. Heat oil in pan and cook garlic until lightly browned. Add eggplant, 1/2 cup water cover and simmer 5 minutes, until eggplant becomes translucent. Add more water as needed. Stir in sugar and fish or soy sauce. Turn off the heat and add the basil, stirring gently. Serve with rice.

Swiss chard heaven

What a strange spring it has been. Most of our garden is doing well, but the peas never came up, even after planting the second time. One word, moles. I picked our first batch of Swiss chard, young leaves. It was so tender and delicious, just heated with a bit of water and salt and pepper. Here's my favorite Swiss chard recipe.

Swiss Chard
olive oil
1/4 red onion, diced
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/8 tsp. dried crushed red pepper, to taste
1 bunch of Swiss chard, washed and chopped

2 Tablespoons water
salt and pepper, to taste

Saute the onion, garlic and red pepper. Then add the rest of the ingredients and heat on medium heat for 10 minutes. As a variation, add substitute 1 tablespoon of water for vinegar and add smoked turkey or ham pieces.

Asparagus aplenty

Last year, Ken planted peas in March and then planted a second batch in April so started picking them about this time. This year, after 2 plantings, nothing, nada. Something is eating the seeds, possibly moles. Anybody have any mole evacuation techniques?
We've been picking asparagus for 3 weeks. My favorite way to prepare it is to roll the spears in olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and grill it. Here's another tasty treat with asparagus:

Appetizer
Ham and Swiss, asparagus spirals. Pre-fry spears in olive oil, lay on a slice of ham and cheese, dollop with Dijon mustard and roll up with the asparagus in the middle. Slice into spirals 1-1/2 inches wide. Dip in seasoned bread crumbs, insert toothpick to hold each spiral together, and fry.