My favorite farmers market...

...is my backyard.  From left to clockwise: kohlrabi coming in slowly now just a few at a time, spinach, baby potatoes from one yellowed plant, one garlic bulb from a late mistake transplant that already died back, one small red onion bulb that kept getting broken off, and one green onion that couldn't survive the rabbits.

Basically all blunders and random vegetables.  Fried up in an egg scramble you'd never know it.

Pre-storm harvest

They warned of a perfect storm. The front...the humidity...the sheer. Winds..rain...baseball sized hail. So we figured we should harvest anything that was ready in the garden. Right now that basically means various leafy greens. This included the last of the bok choy and a final large strawberry harvest. And another huge bunch of mustard greens there on the right.

These are the various lettuces with the spinach in the middle.

These strawberries made another tasty (but ugly and runny) pie.

Oh ya...no storm. Just a little rain. All for naught.

Eat your green vegetables

That's kale on the left, spinach on the top right, and baby bok choy on the bottom right.

Spicy sausage, a bit of garlic and onion, and chicken broth I made from a the remainder of a chicken came together to make a great soup. The kale went in first to cook a bit longer, then the bok choy and the spinach last. My first time cooking kale....and first home cooked bok choy. The bok choy is GREAT as it absorbs the salt and flavor from the broth. I picked the rest of the bok choy and added it to the soup the next day.

Note on the bok choy: I don't know why ours did not form a true head. It grew super fast and started going to seed quickly. Mostly I just picked the bottom leaves off the stem.

Spinach and sharing

Spinach

The first spinach was picked today. Really it's just thinnings, but they are about as big as mature spinach. I am not very impressed. The lettuce seems easier to grow. Perhaps spinach is something that should be left to the local growers and just be purchased at the farmer's market each (and every) single time I go.

All this garden-fresh produce is educating me on the water demands of our food. The lettuce, spinach, and greens all require extensive washing to get out all dirt and grit. Think of those lettuce and spinach bags at the grocery store. Triple washed....in California. The water used to wash your spinach might have been transported by canals and pumps for 300 or 400 miles. Then that water usage is basically exported to Arkansas. By not buying spinach locally, you are letting big agribusiness take very subsidized water resources out of a state facing consumer restrictions. Some Wiki reading on "hidden" or "virtual" water.

Sharing

The first batch was for Gail (sp?), one of Kyle's colleagues. The second bunch is for my food systems doctoral friend Angie. A third bag (unseen) of prepped radishes goes to my friend Laura.

PS. I was wrong about the rain....it was 7 inches in just a two day weekend. Four day total is 8 inches....with more falling today. We have plenty of water hear....why should we export our water from California?