When it Rains Leeks it Pours

Incredibly easy to grow, delicious to eat and good for you, leeks are one of my favorite late spring foods.  However I'd never grown them before.  Last summer my husband handed me a small pot of what looked like chives.  They were in fact, hundreds of individual leeks just waiting to be teased apart and planted.  Pots of leek "starts" such as this can be found with the vegetable plants at Lowe's and Southern States.  Anytime from late summer through early spring, plant leek starts in full sun (they need a good about 8 hours per day) in loose, well drained soil with a good six inches between each tiny bulb and wait till the plants are about one inch in diameter. To be honest I planted mine in early spring of 2011, sort of forgot about them, and didn't harvest them until two weeks ago.  They were still great! 

So what to do with all these leeks?  My two favorite options are the Lemon and Leek Quiche from the Food52 cookbook, and a creamy potato and leek soup using Ina Garten's Roasted Potato and Leek Soup Recipe. A friend of mine, who is an amazing at home cook , (I'm talking nine layer cake on a Wednesday night just for fun) made a ridiculously good potato and leek soup last week using a combination of the above recipe and Garten's Zucchini Vichyssoise recipe.   He said he added one squash, to add a little sweetness, as well as rosemary because a potato and leek soup with rosemary is the house soup for one of his favorite restaurants.  Whatever you choose to make, remember that it's the white part which provides the best flavor.  The pale green portion is still fine to use, but the dark green foliage should be discarded.  Dirt will often fill the many layers of each leek, so rinse the leeks, chop or slice them and then rinse them again in a bowl of water.  Leeks are not only delicious, they are also a valuable health food.  Loaded with vitamins K, A, manganese, C, folate, and even iron.  Check out more on the health benefits of leeks and how to preserve them when cooking  here.  

RFC visits: Edible Landscaping

Last week, some of the family gardeners came into town and wanted to check out the Edible Landscaping nursery in Nelson County.  Edible landscaping is such an appealing idea in general that we were all excited to see which fruits we could introduce into our gardens at home.

Blackberries

Fat blueberries

Everyone was so helpful and so nice at the nursery, including owner Michael McConkey who walked us around, bursting into song every once in a while and joyfully exclaiming over fruiting plants as though he was just discovering them himself.  He even brought me this giant mulberry that was one of the sweetest I have ever tasted!

Michael and his giant (and super sweet) mulberry

Figs

Gorgeous pomegranate flowers

Swallowtail feasting

 We had such fun exploring the idea of introducing more food plants into our gardens.  My uncle Alan and aunt Paula wound up with several plants- including an asian pear tree and a goumi berry (which is a nitrogen fixer in addition to having tasty berries).  Alan had to sit with the shrub on his lap on the ride home, but it was a most lovely drive.

Uncle Alan and his Goumi berry

I didn't bring anything back because I had not done sufficient research on what to plant, but there is always mail order...  It is a fun day trip though, so head on out sometime, and bring some fruits home!

RFC Throwback: May

There are loads of spring recipes to share for the RFC throwback for May.  Markets and gardens are flush with fruits and veggies again.  In 2008, we shared recipes for mulberry upside- down cake and mulberry and almond ice cream.  'Take your pick--'tis the season! 

Upside down cake- not just for pineapple

Then there are the strawberries... Strawberry rose ice cream?  Strawberry tart? How about strawberry salsa?  All of those recipes are in this post from 2009.  Yummmm....

Strawberry mania!

To add to the mania, I want to share my favorite recipe for strawberry jam.  One night in May of 2010, Casey invited me to share in the making of the famous Freeman family strawberry jam.  I love it to this day- using the loose jam often as sauce for ice cream and in all kinds of baking.  

So many berries!

Jam!

What about all of the veggies that are filling our plates these days?  Shannon did this lovely post in 2011 on the versatile kohlrabi.  As a side, as chips or as a slaw, kohlrabi might become your new favorite springtime veggie!

Beautiful purple kohlrabi

Happy spring, y'all!

RVA Food Truck Court: Friday Night Delight

Last night my husband and I found ourselves with only $26 dollars left in our entertainment budget. We have big renovation plans for our home this year, and are saving our pennies. But, what can you do with $26 bucks? I'll tell you. Go to the RVA Food Truck Court.

The court is held at VA Historical Society on select evenings. Right now the schedule is as follows: Tuesday, May 15, Friday, May 18, Tuesday, May 22, Friday, May 25, Tuesday, May 29, and Friday, June 1 (weather permitting). You can get grub from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

We had the best time with our $26 bucks, and even had money left over to stop at Sweet 95.  The court was hoppin'. Full of people, pups, babies, and kidlings. The only down side is we didn't have space in our tummies to try everything. But don't you worry - we'll be back. Here are some of the highlights.

First, Sustenance. This truck focus on local, organic, and whole foods. The menu offers yummy sandwiches and other picnic friendly foods. Look at the local offerings!

Other RVA favorites were present, like CrossRoads Ice Cream & Coffee and  Pizza Tonight.

After several laps, Rob decided to have the Tofu Ban Mi from the Rooster Cart. He agreed I could have a bite, so I lapped the court again.

The sandwich was a hit, simply yummy and very generously sized. Having spent only $9 bucks for the sandwich and a drink, I went to find my grub and I settled on tacos. No surprise, tacos are one of my most favorite foods *ever*.  The tacos from Boka didn't disappoint.

We tried the Asian and Mexican tofu tacos. Yum!

 

With happy bellies, we packed up and headed home, but with a stop at Sweet 95.  Did you know that all their ice cream is locally sourced? It is - from Homestead Creamery.

So that was our evening. We spent less than $26 bucks and had a delightful time. I promise to share more thrifty finds as we continue to save for our home renovations. In the meantime, get to the court, you won't be sorry you did! Enjoy!

Foraging for Mulberries

Talking with some friends about foraging recently reminded me of this post, written a couple years back, but still holding true as our favorite annual urban foraging tradition...

The neighborhood climbing tree, a mulberry tree, or as I’ve started calling it “the giving tree” is one of our favorite places…

Early spring we start stalking our favorite neighborhood tree, waiting for that perfect moment of ripeness.

Mmmmmmm....

This year we weren't disappointed, our annual spring tradition of urban foraging yielded a plump and juicy harvest.

Fresh picked!

 So what to do with all that delicious fruit? Every year we land on the same idea, trying to recall our mulberry ice cream recipe (every year we make it up.) I was determined this time to find the right one. Possibly inspired by dueling recipes with Ned, I came up with what I consider to be perfection. And special perfection on my boy's chocolatey moist birthday cake.

Waiting patiently...

Here is what I came up with, an adaptation from David Lebovitz “The Perfect Scoop” recipe:

Mulberry Ice Cream:

2 quarts of mulberries (blended in a food processor then mashed through a sieve)

1/2 cup water

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup sour cream

1 cup heavy cream

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

squeeze of fresh lemon juice

After straining berries you will have a thick purple liquid, let it cool then mix together ingredients and chill before freezing in ice cream maker.

So do you have a secret foraging spot? And what do you do with all those delicious mulberries?

Coffee for the Snail's (and slug's) Pace

About eight years ago I was lucky enough to see organic gardener and author Anne Lovejoy speak at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden.  One of the things that stuck with me was her recommendation to use spent caffeinated coffee grounds to repel/kill slugs and sails.  Curious, (verging on skeptical) at first, I've used it for years in thick, perfectly closed rings around my leafy vegetables with great success.  The encircled plats stayed intact while those left without the grounds were eaten.  Multiply that by seven years, and you have a believer. Apparently the caffeine is a neurotoxin that probably exist in plants in the first place because it protects them from such attacks.
I've seen searching the blogosphere, but in looking for some evidence outside of Ms. Lovejoy's expertise and my own observations, I found two very affirming articles (see below).  Perhaps I have such good success because we use a strong, fresh roasted coffee and scoop our beans out into the grinder  in what could be called "heaps" for good measure. Regardless, give it a try. What have you got to loose?  Coffee grounds add organic matter, small amounts of slowly released nitrogen, and may slowly make your soil slightly more acidic. note... my totally unscientific observations have led me to believe that this really works, unless there is any way for the slug or snail to amble up the leaf without coming in contact with the coffee.  Note holes in some leaves above.
Science news
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/slug.html

Happy International Compost Week!

Whether you pile it, bury it or feed the worms with it, composting is easy and critical to the food system. Talking about waste is not pretty, but it is essential.  And trust me, when you see your veggie scraps and yard waste become nutrients for your garden, there is nothing more beautiful!
I am a big believer in composting as an easy way to help minimize trash and to keep your garden growing well.  I have seen all kinds of compost systems in my time- three- bin systems, piles housed in chicken wire, buried in holes and even worm bins inside apartment pantries!  I have two piles going right now- a giant one at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden where I work, and a tiny 'transfer station' one at home.  Both are super easy to maintain.
The three bin system at Lewis Ginter was initiated by the head chef at the Garden, Tony Arrington.  His dedication to saving food scraps and keeping them in his walk- in refrigerator is essential to the success of the whole operation.  Two or three times a week, either the youth volunteers or I head up to the kitchen to collect 6- 9 five gallon buckets of salad trimmings and coffee grounds.  We incorporate this project into our programs, and visiting families love to help 'feed the worms'!  We cover the food scraps with dried leaves or grass, and add a few handfuls of compost that is farther along to the new pile.  When one of those bins fills up, we let it 'rest', taking the compost out of the other bins and adding it to the garden, and then we start a new pile!  This is a 'cold composting' system- it is basically a giant worm bin that never goes above 120 degrees.  Sometimes squash seeds will sprout, but we don't mind.
My pile at home is the super lazy gal's answer to composting.  I have a bucket by the sink for food scraps, and every once in a while, I dump the bucket over the side of my deck.  The pile is hidden by a witch hazel shrub from the front.  With the small volume I create, even with the garden waste, lint, dog hair and contents of the vacuum bag, it never gets big enough to mess with.  Once a year I shovel the stuff from the bottom of the pile onto the garden, but it really just feeds the bed it is in- kind of like a keyhole garden!
So, cheers to you and your compost- whatever form it takes!