State of the Garden
The young leaves of the Shasta daisy can be eaten like salad greens.

Thoughts about eating well to feed your body and spirit.
The young leaves of the Shasta daisy can be eaten like salad greens.

Pantry items, lost things in the freezer, long-store vegetables, fresh greens and herbs from the garden)

Chickpeas coarsely mashed can be treated like tuna or chicken salad. If all you have is a countertop, it’s still possible to grow your own sprouts. Pita bread was store bought and stored in the freezer.

Pantry items, aging long-keeping vegetables, new things from the garden. Inspired by the title of a recipe in today’s Washington Post.

The beans were the last of last year’s beans out of the freezer, the squash was the last of last year’s squash. Everything else was a long storage vegetable or a pantry item.

I think during World War II, backyard gardens supplied something on the order of 40 percent (don’t quote me on this) of the nation’s produce. Were we to do that, how much it might contribute to alleviating any shortages–with so much of our food from beyond closing borders.
How might it help shift our growing climate imbalance and social inequality and the hideous chaos it unleashes? Wouldn’t growing some of your own food be a healthy strategy?
The generous harvest from today’s garden all came up from prior year plantings. I may joke about how many variations of greens and grains and pulses I can come up with, but the greens are from my back garden, bursting with nutrients, and everything else is a long storage pantry item (including in recent years, dried beans, for having grown enough of them). Most anything else is a luxury. I can go a long time between trips to the grocery store and still have well-flavored, healthy, and inexpensive meals.

In this upcoming time of shortages, how are you preparing? Are there ways you can use more of the food you get? Can you grow some?
