Wednesday, November 18, 2009

November and the garden's still going

If this were a commercial, our garden would be powered by Energizer.

Thanks to DH's gardening, Andy-the-guardian-llama's manure and those busy grub-scratching chickens, we're eating beautiful cauliflower and sweet turnips and Savoy cabbage this week. Also available are garden beds filled with Swiss chard (green and rainbow), beets, spinach, cos and buttercrunch lettuces, kale, cilantro (who said that stuff is a summer crop?) and another type of cabbage -- Early Jersey Wakefield, I think. Plus I'll be using the usual fresh herbs (thyme, sage, rosemary and even bay) from the garden to brine our turkey next week. There's really something for everyone growing in the garden as the chickens are enjoying freshly-sprouted greens which DH planted where the potatoes were earlier and Andy and the sheep get a share of turnip tops or other greens when picked.

This the first year we've planted Savoy cabbage. Usually DH plants Flat Dutch cabbage (early or late varieties) as our green cabbage and those are very good, too. The heads are large, heavy and excellent keepers. I've eaten that type of cabbage all my life and used it for everything from fried cabbage or soup to coleslaw and sauerkraut. But, oh man, those half-dozen heads of sweet Savoy cabbage that we've had this fall have knocked me for a loop. Who knew there was such a difference? I'm sure we'll still plant plenty of Flat Dutch but I'm holding out for at least a dozen Savoy cabbages, too. They are so sweet and tender we can eat a whole head of cabbage at one meal and all I did was saute it in a little garlic olive oil. My mother said the only way she could improve on it would be to fry a couple slices of bacon, use the grease to cook the cabbage and crumble the bacon over top. But then some people think everything tastes better with a little bacon...

1 comment:

sue said...

That does look delicious, Carolyn! I'm drooling thinking about it. Bacon does sound good on it...gotta' admit.

Happy almost Thanksgiving! I'm home for just a few days and today, Joe and I cooked a ham, to celebrate early, since he'll be gone a few days and then I head back out. One more trip and quiet. Can't wait! It's going to be fun to do some home cooking again! You're making me drool with these photos.