Swiss Chard

 

Have you ever grown Swiss Chard?  It is a variety of beet that I grow.  You don't eat the root.  You eat the leaves.  They are very similar to spinach in flavor, and the nice thing is that they do not "bolt" when the weather warms up.  You can eat them all season and into the fall.  With some protection, they can even stand through the winter and you can eat them next year!  Of course, next year they will go to seed, but if you don't want that to happen, just keep cutting off the seed stalks. Like spinach, they have oxalates, so you don't want to eat these greens in large amounts every day.  Here is an excellent article all about them: Swiss Chard: Nutrition, Health Benefits, and How to Cook It (healthline.com) 

In the picture above you, can see our row of Swiss chard.  It will get much bigger than this, too, as the summer advances. To the right you see turnip greens, which are wonderful, also.

My favorite way to cook Swiss chard, other than just putting it in soup, chop it up with some sliced green onion, a few sliced mushrooms and some cubed tofu.  I sauté all of this in a little fat-free vegetable broth and then serve it on it's own next to some sort of starch... rice, lentil loaf, potatoes, whatever I have.  I put Bragg's Liquid Aminos on mine.  

Garlic Havest 2023

 

I harvested the garlic today. In this condition, it all weighs 20 pounds! I was particularly pleased because in October I planted 60 cloves and today I dug up exactly 60 bulbs.  In case you are not familiar with growing garlic, here is how I do it.  I plant individual cloves a few inches apart sometime in October, cover them with soil and a light mulch.  Then, the following year, when the bottom two leaves are brown, I dig it all up, let it dry on a covered porch, then I will cut off the leaves and keep the garlic bulbs in a bowl or basket in the kitchen.  Some of it I will ferment, so it will keep indefinitely in the refrigerator.