I Just Had Something Delicious

I'm feeling much better today. Since I shrunk my stomach not eating for over a day I'm trying an experiment to see if I can somehow train myself to eat less food. I know I eat too much, food is just too darn delicious.

Last weekend - has it really been a whole week? Anyway, last weekend I decided it was time to get the spinach out of the bed it was in, it is getting warm in the daytime and it was probably ready to bolt any second. I also harvested about a dozen baby beets and some Swiss Chard because it was crowding the cucumbers. The cucumbers were hardly growing due to not getting any sunlight and I think I wasn't getting enough water to them either. You know now that I think about it, I think I might have done that work in the garden on Friday. Well, no matter. I washed up the beets and spinach and put it into grocery bags and popped them into the fridge. Where they have sat all week long, waiting to be eaten. I'm making them for dinner tonight, to go with the chicken breasts I've thawed out.

I've made this twice in the last couple of days, this delicious little lunch idea I came up with. I made 2 cups of rice on Thursday so I would have some to go with my broth [broth - bone broth - bone broth helps tooth remineralization - oh no - dentist appointment this week - anxiety - stress - will the dentist get mad at me if I tell him to leave my tooth alone - should I cancel my appointment - again - should I just go and see what he says - calm down - stop worrying - he's a nice guy - but he might get mad - where was I] when my stomach was not feeling right.

Here's what I made:

Beet Greens and Brown Rice

1 T. butter
12 beet green leaves
2-3 Tablespoons water
1/2 cup cooked rice
Salt, pepper to taste

Cut off the beet if there is one attached to your beet green leaves. (Save for a later meal). Put the tablespoon butter in a cast iron skillet and start heating it up. Chop the stems of the beet greens into inch long pieces and put them into the melted butter. Saute for 2-3 minutes. Add 2-3 tablespoons water. Cut the rest of the greens into larger pieces, about 2 inches wide. When the stems looked a darker red then their original bright fuschia red (another minute or so) put in the rest of the beet greens. Put a tight fitting lid on the skillet and let cook 2-3 minutes. Remove lid, stir, add in one-half cup of cooked brown short grain rice. Stir to heat the rice. Salt and pepper to taste. Beet greens are naturally salty so taste before adding salt.

This was really delicious.

I didn't think I'd feel up to gardening this weekend since being sick, but I seem to have bounced back pretty good. I actually got some work accomplished in the garden this weekend. I pulled weeds that had cropped up in several areas, including some that were fairly big and already gone to seed. The chickens really appreciated those. Some of these were in the gopher's garden bed and I'd been leaving them there for him to eat so he would hopefully leave MY vegetables alone. Some were growing in between the chicken wire of the pallet bed so I had to cut through the wire to get the weeds out. I pulled out a broccoli that was flowering. No sense in trying to save its seeds as it was a hybrid variety (the babies of hybrid's seeds don't grow up to be like the plant you had but often like one parent or the other of the hybrid seed - as me if you want to know more). I found some straw-like hay nearby the goat pen that was totally perfect for using as mulch in the beds. It is getting warmer and I want the soil to have a good covering so the ground stays moist longer. I utilized the straw for the eggplant bed, the tomato bed, and one of the green bean beds. I used this straw-like material in the potato cage also. Let's see. I got the zinnia bed dug out, underlayed with chicken wire, got the bricks around the bed and the seeds planted. I also planted marigolds in the zinnia bed. Eight sunflowers have germinated and are getting their first true leaves. The squash I transplanted a week ago is still alive. The basil is still alive, but not doing too well. I hope it will be able to snap out of it.

I think that's all. I am planning to go out there later this afternoon and harvest some to share with my coworkers. I need to pick Swiss Chard, beets, and kale. It occurred to me that the beets take much less time to mature when the weather is warmer. Even though it is okay to plant them in September through the winter, they grow so slowly. It usually takes them 5 months to produce the root. Also, this is one of the only times I've planted beets in late winter/early spring. So it is interesting to see how well they are doing. Now I just have to be careful about getting them harvested before they bolt. And also I am doing some overhead watering and I have had to deal with blue mold in the past with beets. The overhead watering apparently encourages the blue mold because of the leaves getting wet. It's really bad to water overhead later in the day. Early in the morning is safer, but there is still that danger. Once they have blue mold, the beet leaves taste horrible. You can still eat the beets and they taste fine, but the leaves taste awful if they have blue mold.

Here's the new zinnia/marigold bed. I can't wait to see the colorful flowers blooming here!


Until next time.