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kale. Food.

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each morning.  Food.  the leaves were glorious for 2 months,  12 inches and Wide,  beauty Full and brilliantly elegant leaves and we harvested them to eat for the beginning of the day,  chopped and stirfried with summer squashes,  choyte,  cilantro, parsley,  other greens, as spinach and broccoli,  cabbage and a LOT of onions,  ginger and garlic.  At first with the shiratake pasta and then,  back to rice as it was reintroduced.   Bragg coconut liquid aminos.  Me,  sesame chili oil.  and then,  the

aphids came

we watched.  the descimation.  slow at first and then with momentum.  I kept giving water anyway  as they dried and became paper like,  those glorious leaves.  Yesterday when i went down to give water i found this.  Alyssia on her way Out had stopped and clipped them.  Laid the leaves gently in front of the strong stems that are still creating green ness.  Other places i have lived,  ….. done.  Enough for this cycle.  Here tho,  we can plant again.  Food again.  We feed ourSelves.

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17 responses to “kale. Food.”

  1. joanne Avatar
    joanne

    My kale re-seeds or just grows again from the old roots. Same with arugula. Spicy as it gets older.
    Broccoli leaves are very delicious sliced thin and fried. Carrot tops–very good ground up and mixed with greens and herbs and baked in little balls. Food 52–Little Green Balls recipe.

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  2. Tina Avatar
    Tina

    2 years ago we put in two gardens .. from early spring to late fall not a day goes by that we are not eating something that we have grown. Even get to share with friends and neighbors .. right now it is tomatoes. Cucumbers beets beans and lots of herbs ..it is amazing. I only wish that here in Wisconsin our going season could be a bit longer.

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  3. jaime Avatar
    jaime

    I do not mind sharing my garden with the groundhog and now rabbit because of the content of your post yesterday – consider adversity. I have known that I am not living solely by my wits… I have the ability to find other, use other, know other ways. Sometimes I just disagree with their definition of “share”.
    I am wondering why you went from shiratake pasta to rice, Reintroduced, as you put it. I have just discovered shiratake this summer while working on some GI issues. I am interested…

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  4. Mo Crow Avatar
    Mo Crow

    your Kale looks like it needs a a good rest!

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  5. Kristin Avatar
    Kristin

    Grace, I have had great good fortune with the aphid issue by planting some hops roots near my veggies. Lady bugs love the hops and I harvest some for making sleep pillows, and enjoy the fall leaves for some eco dyeing. Have had no issues with aphids in the seven seasons here….my neighbors have come to get roots to plant when they see the difference in my success with cabbages, broccoli, kale, etc….
    So nice to harvest fresh every day for meals.

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  6. grace Forrest Avatar
    grace Forrest

    Kristen…THANK YOU for reminding me. You had mentioned
    this a while back and i forgot to make a note. I just
    read about growing hops and for sure, we will try this!
    THANK YOU!
    love,

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  7. Michelle Slater Avatar
    Michelle Slater

    I have a gardening days memory that snails eat aphids. Of course, they may eat Kale as well! SO…have a look here if you want https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1813&context=extension_curall
    PS
    Love!

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  8. Michelle Slater Avatar
    Michelle Slater

    PS Now I recall I mail ordered lady bugs and released hundreds one season when vegetation was being threatened with extinction by aphids. I seem to recall it worked.

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  9. jude Avatar
    jude

    spray with a solution of mild natural detergent and water.

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  10. grace Forrest Avatar
    grace Forrest

    all the leaves have proven to be great Food, sauteed and then mixed with rice or something…really great Food

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  11. grace Forrest Avatar
    grace Forrest

    it’s so incredible, to sow seed and in some days, Eat.
    Really magical when you spend a little time thinking about it. And to share with others….

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  12. grace Forrest Avatar
    grace Forrest

    Alyssia has the diagnosis of Lupus. We have spent the last months working with diet, predominately the AIP…autoimmune protocol which suggests a chunk of time that deletes many foods…grains among them, incl. rice. Nuts, nightshade, any peppers. After eliminating for whatever time you choose, we did 2 months, going on 3, you can reintroduce. One at a time, see how it feels. The pasta was great, really, but is also expensive and also difficult when creating meals that include children ….needing to cook for self and then them too. but it’s been a real eye opener and has changed how we eat in a significant way.

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  13. grace Forrest Avatar
    grace Forrest

    it’s funny. i gave water tonight, a few days after this comment, and it seems that it cannot decide. To rest, or to grow????

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  14. grace Forrest Avatar
    grace Forrest

    so far it seems in the realm of give and take. So we will just watch, learn. I think too that those oh so elegant tree frogs most likely enjoy the aphids????? I can imagine them licking them off the leaves

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  15. grace Forrest Avatar
    grace Forrest

    yes…if the aphids had come when the Kale was in full force. But they came at the end of that cycle and somehow felt a part of the whole thing. Don’t know. Just watching. Learning.

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  16. Kristin Avatar
    Kristin

    Grace we will be harvesting my hops soon….then I can dig a few roots and mail to you. I think they are small enough to get to you through the mail in padded envelopes, okay. Lucked out with my new eastern neighbor part-owner of a small brewery…my hops tumble over the 14 foot fence into his yard for harvesting and he will get all I do not need here for sleep pillow construction. Should be sending off in mid October to you. Truly, I have had not one issue with aphids since growing hops, still some challenges with cabbage moths on all cabbage related crops but not one aphid. Neighbor to the west had continued to be bothered so last summer she planted a couple of hops from me and voila, no aphids..natures way of pest control….no pesticides ever in my gardens, just trial and error with old time suggestions.
    Love reading of your many adventures in this new and very different landscape..I hold you in love and light and wish for a bit of speed in the completion of your more permanent dwelling place.

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  17. grace Forrest Avatar
    grace Forrest

    i will investigate about sending across state lines.
    Though i so much WANt your rhizomes, I need to
    honor the protocol.

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