The Gathering Storm

This morning's wind blasted the veggie leaves from the colanders as fast as I could pick them. I can't wait to enjoy today's spinach, swiss chard, and leaf lettuce!

My retriever was so busy visiting with the neighbors, she actually stayed out of my way for a change. She's usually rooting around in my apron or sneaking around in the compost bin. Nika loves walking through the tomatos, peppers & marigolds. Her tail seems to swish at least one plant over every day. Oh well! She's happy & so am I.

I should have stayed out in the drizzle and used the garden sink to strain the greens, like usual, because then I can reuse every drop of water elsewhere in the garden. I have my utility sink drain into a 5 gallon bucket fashioned with a mesh lid to keep out bugs. This, combined with a custom PVC irrigation system, is the BEST Christmas gift my husband has created. I always keep a trash bin, extra jugs for watering, and a bin with holes in the bottom to hold all the gardening tools that need a washing every day. This morning, however, I was working on a loaf of oatmeal pecan bread, so I hurried back to the kitchen to prepare it for a second rise.

On a second thought, I turned back to gather a few snap peas and a radish to add to the lettuce for a lunch salad. I decided to deadhead the marigolds, break up the seedheads & scatter them around the flowerbeds to help repel pests. I took a quick photo of my favorite garden helper, the ladybug, who was resting with her many friends on my potato bushes, then scurried inside.

I kicked off my garden boots in the kitchen (nearly taking off my cat's head in the process), set down the colanders of greens & got to work.

I dunked the dark green spinach and the rainbow chard leaves into a sink of cold water, but kept the leaf lettuce and snap peas in the salad spinner to drain. I turned a pot of water onto the stove to boil, cleaned the greens, then chopped the spinach and chard to prep them for a boil.

I always do the boiling and baking in the morning, that way dinner only takes a few minutes on the stovetop in the evening. Tonight, my son will be happy to help finish off the greens in a saute pan with bacon, onion, chicken broth and golden raisins. So yummy! Thanks to the Neely's on Food Network for that recipe. Hmm, I think I may have to look up Paula Deen's black-eyed-pea buger to go with those. And, I'll bet Dylan will be asking for pears or peaches with his ice cream for dessert.

Now it's time to pull that bread out of the oven and put some tea on to boil to enjoy with a fresh slice of bread and butter.