Rosemary in the Morning

Today I discovered a new favorite way to start the day: mincing rosemary. No, I wasn't doing this on a whim, rising with a roaring urge to mince rosemary just for the heck of it: it was part of a new breakfast/brunch recipe (it was friggin' delicious, btw) I found to make use of some pearl barley and sweet potatoes that have been camping out in my cupboards for far too long. It wasn't so much the chopping part I relished in, but the invigorating tickle of the sharp, woody aroma released from the freshly torn rosemary leaves. With each deep inhalation of the peppery-pine fragrance, I felt myself perking up, enjoying an alertness that usually only comes after my first cup of coffee or tea and one that is hardly ever as focused and balanced as this rosemary-induced lucidity.

Moral of the story: mince more rosemary in the morning. What's your favorite herb to start the day with and/or incorporate into breakfast/brunch recipes? 

CSA Debriefing

I'd like to revisit the CSA and do a little debriefing on my experience with it. The season ended the last week of October, so I've had ample time to do some reflecting on my participation in the program. I know it's not directly related to herbs (I did get garlic in some shares though!), but it's all related: knowing where your food is coming from; how it's grown/produced; and being more connected to the land and those who work it to provide sustenance for others.

I'm going to do a little pro-con list to start things off. 

PRO:

-fresh, locally-grown, seasonal organic produce every week

-items are distributed loose in a reusable bag (This cuts down on the amount of packaging and subsequent garbage that is often a byproduct of buying produce at the store.)

-exposure to new items or items I might not normally buy

-veggie consumption taken to a new level

-feel more connected to the people that produce your food (a letter written by different farmers would be included in the share each week)

CON:

-sometimes it's hard to keep up with using everything in the week's share

-lack of freedom when planning meals (i.e. wanting what the week's share won't allow you to make)

As you can see, the Pros clearly outweigh the Cons. It really was a great experience. It felt good to be eating even more veggies than I normally do and making new recipes with them. I'm relatively new to cooking, and I feel like the CSA experience really helped me to master certain techniques as well as expand my repertoire.   This cultivated confidence coupled with the items in each week's share served as inspiration for leaving the comfort of recipes and conjuring up my own dishes. I was also very impressed with the amount, variety, and quality of produce that was in each share. I know some people have had CSA experiences where either the variety was lacking (green beans every week) or the quality of the produce wasn't the greatest. There was only once instance where I received an item that I had to chuck immediately (a rotten cantelope) and variety was never a problem, other than a few weeks where I felt inundated by potatoes (but they last forever anyway). And finally, learning a little more about the people that are growing my food was a delight. I didn't even take full advantage of this: the CSA puts on various events throughout the season at the farms where you can meet the farmers as well as other members of the CSA.

I'd like to speak more on the two Cons though because one isn't really a Con and the other is only a Con when you have a certain mindset. As for not being able to keep up, a lesson learned from this is to try to freeze more things before they go bad, either on their own or used in dishes that can be frozen. My mom recently hooked me up with some sweet freezing/canning glass jars, so I'll be prepared come next season! I've already used them for a lingering butternut squash with favorable results.

And on the lack of freedom in meal planning. I think this is an interesting response, and deserves some analysis. I found a sense of restriction arising more toward the end of the season when gourds of myriad sorts were aplenty (again, freezing will help with this too), and I was feeling pretty squashed out. Stepping back to observe this reaction, I realized that it was a.) steeped in ego and b.) a remnant of my grocery-store habituated food choices and practices. CSAs and eating locally/seasonally can be soul-challenging in this way: I never anticipated that I'd be doing some serious introspection as a result of signing up for one. Body AND mind nourishment!

So, am I going to sign up for next season? You betchya! I'm excited to see what the new season will bring in both food and creative/spiritual bounty.

Cease Sprouting

Had to abort the sprouting mission. Did this project backwards and I did some more reading after I had already started the project. Sounds like it's best to get seeds specifically for sprouting; they've been cleaned and are pathogen-free. I'm sure mine would have probably been fine, but didn't want to risk it. Now in search of sprouting seeds. Signing off. Over.

Sprouting Sprouts

I'm actually surprised with myself that I got this up and running pretty quickly. I know it doesn't seem like an involved project and it really isn't, but even the easiest tasks can seem daunting when obscured by the thick shadows of protracted darkness. The "hardest" part was cleaning out the durn peanut butter jar! Now that everything's set up all that's left to do is wait. Here's a mini photo-doc of the process:

1. Gather a clean glass jar, cheesecloth (unbleached), rubberband (or gumband for all the Yinzers out there), and a handful of seeds of your choice (I used quinoa to start. If this works, I'll try sprouting the leftover garlic chive seeds from my "real" growing project.).

2. Soak seeds in water overnight.

3. Drain seeds and transfer to jar. Cover with cheesecloth, securing with the rubberband.

4. Flip jar over and place on saucer dish to catch any excess moisture.

5. Place on windowsill with makeshift cornucopia.

P.S. For optimal results, it says to rinse the seeds a few times a day.

The Hibernation Situation

It's only been two weeks since daylight savings time ended. The cue to hibernate is obediently being heeded by my body, and I have to remind myself that I am not of the ursine family. From the lack of activity on the blog, it would seem as if I'd already gone into hibernation long before the days started getting shorter. But, I'm still awake, and this little bear wants to grow something!

I want to try another experiment that may not turn out the way I want it to; but that's the point of experimenting: you try things for the simple sake of trying something new, and whether or not you get a desired result is just the parsley garnish on top. ;) Having another go at the herbs is out of the question now that we are want of sunlight. Without adequate sunlight, the seeds won't sprout; and I'm not quite at the point of wanting to set up an indoor lighting arrangement. Waiting until next Spring to start trying to grow again seems awfully far away. Isn't there something I can do in the meantime?

The answer is YES. Quite fortuitously I stumbled upon this perfect winter indoor growing project. They aren't herbs, but that's okay: it's something fresh, alive, and green to help add some color to the monotonous grey that always settles in around this time of year. I just hope it works! I'd love to have a variety of fresh sprouts on hand to throw in salads, sandwiches, and other dishes. Not only will they be delicious, but I think it will help me fend off that hibernation-induced urge to adopt an habitual consumption of comfort foods (i.e. eating mac and cheese every other night!).

I always have lentils and quinoa lying around the pantry so I think I'll start the sprouting experiment with them; convenience and curiosity about the taste of their sprouts make them an excellent and irresistible starting point. Verily I look forward to expanding my sprout repertoire beyond the usual alfalfa, mung, pea, and broccoli. ;) I'll be sure to let you know how it turns out!

Amazing how I feel the desire to hibernate abating already...                                     

OregaNOooo!

Behold the tragic sight of diseased oregano:

So very sad! This little guy didn't last long at all. It is possible that since it was originally an outdoor plant and had more of a living soil as its substrate that it picked up the disease before it was passed on to me, but not likely. A quick search on diseases of oregano plants revealed that the most common diseases are fungal, resulting from improperly drained soil and just general moist conditions. For those of you on the East coast of the U.S., you can attest that the past couple of weeks have been disgustingly humid. And even though we have a small window AC unit that does substantially combat some of the funkiness, it is really no match for air heavily gravid with the clam (aka humidity). 

And so I find myself back at the drawing board once again, an eerie parallel to where I feel I am at in the progression of my life. Is this project a consciously-aware entity that is purposefully mimicking my life? Ah! However (un)likely that is, it does give rise to some serious introspection, of which I'll reserve for the blog I keep in my brain. ;)

Of immediate relevance: What to do next with this project? I think moving it outdoors would be best, but timing doesn't look like it will be right for that this year. With an upcoming trip that will have me gone most of August, if I were to start some seedlings indoors when I got back, they wouldn't even sprout until early September, and then... well, you can see where this is going: running out of summer! Hence, this may conclude any active attempts to cultivate my own plants until the Spring. I'll keep adopting plants from my chiropractor (since she has a surplus anyway) to use up quickly in cooking, but as far as growing my own, it looks like that seed has blown away (ship has sailed?... I tried...). 

Yes, indeed I did try.

CSA Sunday: Photo Appendix

You've been licked by Dragon Tongue beans!

And that's only half the beans and half the potatoes