The Road Home

The Road Home
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Monday, January 12, 2015

Foraging in the Garden for Vegetable Soup

Back in late December I had some left over ham and broth that needed to be used up in some kind of meal. Surprisingly to me, we still have a few things growing in the garden and herb bed, so I went foraging to see what I could come up with.

Our fall/winter garden has surprised me with the bounty it still yields. It's not a lot, mind you, but it is a bit of a harvest on these cold, cloudy, winter days. And it's a first for us. So here is my foraging tour.

First, I stopped off at the turnip bed. I didn't think it would continue providing any greens let alone turnips through the winter, but it has. I even covered some of the them up with frost cloth for the last week or so of temperatures down to 13* and they are still producing.

November 23rd
December 21st


January 2nd
January 12th without frost cloth


I was really surprised at the difference the frost cloth made.


The carrots aren't growing much, but I sure get a kick out of going out a picking a few for a meal here and there. I decided to sneak some greens into this meal and tell Frank afterwards. So I picked a few leaves from the turnips, kale and mustard.

Kale, December 21st
Mustard, December 21st

After I gathered up this garden produce, and dug around in the refrigerator, I decided this would make a good vegetable soup. Sounded yummy for a cold winter day.

Ham broth & ham with veges from the store.

The results of my foraging trip.

Some of the squash we canned.

Yum!

The funny thing about sneaking greens into the soup was this. As we sat down to eat Frank told me this would be a good meal to add some greens to. I laughed and told him he was right, and that I already did. It was a really good soup.

We didn't really plan on having a winter garden. It's the first time we've ever tried one and it's worked surprisingly well. We're not only enjoying the greens, so are the chickens, and we like the turnips, too. The carrots are just a great bonus. Frank has always liked turnip greens, but he used to only get them at the church potlucks. Now, I've learned to cook them as well. Do you have anything you are harvesting from your garden? Now is a good time to start planning for your spring garden. The seed catalogs are here and more arrive every week.

I'm grateful to have some slow, peaceful days of winter. The pace is slower, there is more time to read, and ponder, and plan for spring when the pace will be faster with more things to get done for the coming growing/preserving season. It seems rightly so. A season of work and harvest followed by a season of rest and rejuvenation. But, you know what? I'm starting to itch for spring already. I'm ready for baby goats, milking, cheese making, planting seedlings and digging in the dirt. Ah, spring. It's just around the corner. Can you smell it in the air? Soon new life will be bursting forth across the earth with it's promise of good things to come. Even in the midst of the trials and darkness across our globe in these dreary days of winter, there is always hope.

Until next time - Fern
 

13 comments:

  1. Yes I am looking at all the seed catalogs and longing to get started for the spring. I got a Pot Maker and made some pots to start my tomatoes and peppers. Put up a greenhouse and I am really looking forward to start our gardening. Jim and Donna in Texas

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    1. Good for you two! I haven't gotten my Pot Maker out yet, but now you have me thinking about it. Since you're in Texas, you'll get to start sooner than we will. Thank you for sharing.

      Fern

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  2. I hope to plant a fall/winter garden this year as well. It will also be a first for us. I can squash that way too, and it is so yummy! We just used our last jar, so I can't wait for more. It's wonderful that you are still getting so much good food out of your garden, and those turnips are lovely! Your soup looks delicious and I'm done rambling now :)

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    1. I am just using up the canned squash from 2013, Goodwife. Then I will start on the 2014 batch. We are very surprised there are still a few things out there to pick. Happy, but surprised. Thank you for sharing and good luck with your garden this year.

      Fern

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  3. Hi Frank and Fern. First let me say how much I enjoy your blog. I check by almost daily. And, Fern, I had to chuckle when you commented about adding greens into the stew. Last summer I was learning how to do succession gardening better in my garden. Some times, I had too much and the amount of produce was more then I could get through. So, I tried an experiment of dehydrating my 'extra' kale and chard. When the greens were nice and dehydrated, I crunched them into a glass jar for storage. I've been using these dehydrated greens in the soups and stews that I've been making lately. Just thought I'd give you an idea of how to get more greens next winter. It just took a little experimentation. I think I will continue to overplant my greens when I put my garden in this next year and continue to dehydrate the excess. Cheers! SJ in Vancouver BC Canada

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    1. Dehydrating the extra to use in the winter is a great idea, SJ. I have barely started learning to dehydrate things. So far my biggest endeavor there has been peppers, but I rarely use them. I froze some peppers last summer and that's what I'm using up now. I'm glad you stop by regularly. Thank you for sharing your techniques with us.

      Fern

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  4. I am enjoying looking through all my seed catalogs! I had my first success starting seeds since I switched to starting them in coconut coir - they stay consistently moist. I harvested a bunch of jalapeƱos from my plants before they succumbed to the cold. I am harvesting lettuces daily and almost have radishes and baby kale, collards, and mustard greens. My sugar snap peas are growing as well as cabbages. I have started more lettuces, tomatoes, peppers, peas, artichokes, and lemon grass. I still need to start more radishes, eggplant, collards, kale, mustard greens, and swiss chard. I love going out and spending time in the garden every day. I have saffron crocus growing and hope I am able to get them to bloom and harvest!

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    1. You have tons of things growing, Oregoncactus! We still have to get through about 2 1/2 more months of cold before I can really start planting again. I will start some seedlings indoors, but I probably won't put the first plants in the garden until around March 1st, and most people think that is pushing it. Today it was 40* with a cold north wind. Just reading the list of things you have growing makes me hungry. Thank you very much for sharing.

      Fern

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  5. Sigh.....June 6 is our planting day (or when the locust trees bloom). Terrible, isn't it? I envy you your garden still producing good things to eat. Never had turnip greens....never grew them. My mom would not have them in the house so I never grew up with them and it never occurs to me to buy any. She always said it is all they got to eat during WWI when she was a child. Very bad memories for her. I will plant some this year. I love living in remote high desert, except for the difficulty growing veggies.

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    1. June 6th is terrible, Tewshooz! Can you plant some cold weather crops before then? Cabbage, broccoli, potatoes, turnips, carrots, spinach, etc. We've never lived in a high desert region, so I don't know your growing challenges. Thank you for sharing.

      Fern

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  6. Sort of not fair to comment on my 'winter' garden but not much grows here in SW FL during late June thru early Sept - way too hot. So I'm growing and harvesting lettuces, radishes, lots of asian greens, swiss chard, Meyer lemons, calamondins, a few oranges & grapefruits. Oranges & grapefruits will do better next year and in succeeding years. We anticipate limes and starfruit next year too, only had one of each this year.
    Have cabbage & carrots growing & will be ready in about 6 weeks. The 3 tomatoes, 2 peppers and a single eggplant are blooming and promising results in about 4 weeks too. And, my loquat tree is starting to form fruit - should produce 40-50 lbs this year and I'll freeze about half of that.
    Except for the fruit trees, all gardening is done in containers, mainly Earth Boxes, due to the nematodes that destroy most crops. I do lots of succession plantings and because the containers grow prolific crops we have extra to freeze to use during the summer months.
    Love reading the seed catalogs and regret I cannot plant more, but space limits me.

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    1. Okay, Bellen, you're right, it's not fair! And I had never heard of calamondins, so thank you for giving me something to look up and learn. We'll see if we can make you miss all this wonderful produce in the summer when we are harvesting ours. Thank you for sharing!

      Fern

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  7. That looks like some good soup!! I've never had a winter garden but I'm not above trying one this coming year. lol

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