Jump to the Recipe The turnip, along with her cousin the rutabaga, is an underappreciated root vegetable in the cabbage family. Winter turnips (the most common cultivar is Purple Top White Globe) can have a sharp, almost radishy flavor, but this mellows out and sweetens when you cook them. In this recipe, turnips and apples…
Winter
Curried Sugar Hubbard Squash Soup
Jump to the Recipe When you’ve got a Sugar Hubbard Squash that needs to get used, you’ve got a lot of squash. Sugar Hubbard is a cross of Blue Hubbard and Sweet Meat, and it’s just fantastic. It roasts well and has a smooth, creamy texture when pureed. Last time I grew Sugar Hubbard I…
My Seed Order for 2018
I think we need to add a new term to the general lexicon. Stress-induced Seed Acquisition Syndrome. SSAS. We can pronounce it like sass. SSAS is closely related to other Homestead acquisition and purchasing disorders, such as: Chicken Math Delusion Syndrome (CMDS) – the belief that your 4 x 8 foot chicken coop can totally…
February Gardening Chores For The Pacific Northwest
Ladies and gentlemen, it’s February. You know what that means? It’s time to get going. I can feel it, and I’ll bet you can too – that little twitch in your hand that says, “alright, baby, let’s start some tomatoes!” February typically marks the beginning of the big seed starting effort around here. Not just…
How To Grow Onions: The 4 Things You Need To Know For Success
Onions can be weird. Here are four things you need to know to grow them successfully. First, they are oddly finicky about daylight length. Second, they can be grown as a fresh eating vegetable or a storage vegetable. Third, there are enough onion varieties to bog down even the most decisive garden planner. Last – but certainly not least in the confusion department – you can grow them from seed, set, or from plant starts.
Vietnamese Stir-fried Kohlrabi and Prawns
The Vietnamese dipping sauce nuoc cham gives this simple stir-fry of kohlrabi and prawns lots of flavor. A light, delicious meal for your mid-winter produce.
2018 Word List Brainstorming Session
So, 2017 was kinda a weird year, huh? I realized just at the end of December that I’ve been carrying some anger in me. Like, unexpected, wow I-really-didn’t-know-I-was-that-on-edge anger. Some of you made 2017 the year of embracing your anger. Without judgement, as soon as I could name this feeling of being vaguely on edge…
January Gardening Chores For The Pacific Northwest
January means one thing when you are a gardener: a mailbox stuffed to bursting with seed catalogs. With a stack of seed catalogs and well-thumbed gardening books by our side, and ground that’s still too cold and wet to work, the name of the January game is mostly planning, not planting.
December Gardening Chores For The Pacific Northwest
Well, it’s December, and let’s be honest: most of us are pretty busy with the indoor bustle of the holiday season and are happy the garden is in a self-tending way. So far, November and December have been relatively mild, and I’ve still got tender herbs like lemon verbena growing well in sheltered locations. Harvesting…
Miso Sesame Kale Salad Kraut
This is one of many similar fermentation experiments I make that I think of as “Salad Kraut.” The idea here is a moderately fermented condiment that you can enjoy as a ready-to-go vegetable side dish. It’s somewhere between a salad and a sauerkraut…so, Salad Kraut. This particular variation was so good I had to share. Miso,…
Roasted Carrots with Feta and Parsley
This is a simple side dish that turns even bulk, supermarket carrots into something special. The combination of the sweet roasted carrots and the salty feta works really well together, and the parsley and lemon keep everything fresh and bright tasting. This dish couldn’t be simpler – toss carrots in olive oil and season with…
Easy Cabbage and Pasta with Creamy Mustard Sauce
The dish came about as so many do. I was searching for inspiration in the fridge and found only cold, leftover cooked pasta and a head of green cabbage. Cabbage and noodles can seem ho-hum, but more than one civilization has applied culinary alchemy to them and made greatness happen. I won’t claim this dish…