Writer and psychologist Susan Winston, no fan of kale, wonders where it came from and how it has managed to have taken control over our culinary adventures.
Feb. 2 marked the return to 10 hours of daylight; as a result, Johnson’s seed house is currently brimming with all varieties of microgreens that are lush, healthy and being consumed at a rapid clip at the myriad local restaurants for which she is the supplier.
Onions and potatoes, tomatoes and basil, cucumbers and kale, snap beans and zucchini fill dinner plates and overflow salad plates as the growing season peaks.
Plants painted with prickly frost crystals sparkled, lit by morning’s first sunbeams. Every sparkle flashed rainbow colors. Each uniquely rimed leaf invited a close-up look.
Many vegetables become sweeter with cooler temperatures. So do some gardeners, like our author, in hopes that someone will keep him warm during the winter.
Beginning with an aspect of the backstory of seed development seems fitting as the old year turns to the new and all of us have already or will soon choose seeds for our gardens and farms.
Stored in a cool, dark location, green tomatoes ripen slowly and develop good flavor. Check often. I’ve enjoyed juicy Brandywines into early December.
We are fundamentally light farmers. Harvest as much sunlight energy as possible by having as much green leaf as possible — therefore as much of the year as possible.
There are vast nutritional differences among the varieties of a given fruit or vegetable. …..To this day, the nutritional content of our man-made varieties has been an afterthought.
-- Jo Robinson, Eating on the Wild Side
