Archive For The “Vegetables” Category
One of the most fun and most rewarding projects I did last year was initiating a community garden. Every year we organize a neighborhood plant swap and plant sale, which is great, but I thought it would be nice to have something more permanent. A small vegetable garden that would show people from the [...]
On our new allotment, there are no nettles. I am sure I w ill be grateful for that in the long run, but right now, after the long winter largely devoid of fresh greens, nettles are my favorite vegetable. Luckily our neighbour’s allotment grows lots of nettles, in fact, there’s nothing but nettles. In the [...]
On Saturday I sowed the first seeds directly in the ground – finally!- and spinach was the very first vegetable I sowed. So no, this quiche was not homegrown, but hopefully will be in about six weeks. Because I am definitely making it again. This is not your good old spinach quiche (though I definitely [...]
I teach Norwegian. Most of my students learn Norwegian because they want to move to Norway. Away from the overpopulated and completely man-landscaped Netherlands into Europe’s last wilderness. They ask me why I don’t move there, too, since I already speak the language. I give various, evasive answers. But one of the truest reasons is [...]
Thanks to my father, I have knife skills. Thanks to him, I also know how to sharpen a kitchen knife. He’s always kept his kitchen knives perfectly sharp and I still remember the first time I encountered a blunt knife – it was in home economy class. And I did not understand what was wrong [...]
My sister has a horse and a pony. I don’t envy her the horse-riding (she hardly ever has time for that anyway). I envy her all that manure. The manure that she composted, then spread out a little, and planted winter squashes in. And they grew like crazy and produced countless fruits. Squashes and pumpkins [...]
Cheers to New Year’s resolutions! Cheers to cabbage salad EVERY SINGLE DAY! Or was this not one of your resolutions? Well, to tell the truth, it wasn’t mine either. But after all the Christmas cookies, something green and crunchy is a nice change. Plus at this time of the year, we can all use a [...]
I have trouble growing parsnips. Well, not so much growing them, because they’re one of the vegetables that mostly grow themselves. The problem is, I often forget to sow them. I think it has to do with the fact that in parsnips the moment of sowing and the moment of harvesting are about as much [...]
Oh, the challenges of parenthood! First you have to learn how to function with a fraction of the sleep you thought you needed. Then, after you think you have recovered, it starts all over again, because your daughter is twelve and simply has to go to the midnight première of Breaking Dawn part 2 (“mom, [...]
There are many ways to preserve the home grown bounty for the winter. I don’t like canning vegetables as I find that just reduces fresh vegetables into a less desirable version of themselves. Making jellies, chutney‘s and jams on the other hand, means turning them into something, maybe not better, but different and with new [...]
