Countdown

I am in complete amazement regarding my accomplishments in the garden. It is the second week of January and I still have an ample selection of items to keep me from needing to use a market for more than a rounding out of a meal – onions, garlic, citrus and avocados seem to be what I am purchasing to take home. Now, by all accounts it has been a mild winter, which is no burden for a sun-loving, sweltering heat-loving creature like myself. However, I have been advised that I will have to cross the divide between growth and rest. Yes, my little plot needs some time to replenish itself by being fed the compost I have been turning for almost the past year augmented with well aged manure and a weekend rental – that roto tiller that took me down last year. I have been given a February 1^st deadline to have all my darlings consumed so next year’s round will be well fed, just as we have been this year.

Today I am starting by finally seizing the remaining cabbage plants from the garden that have been there from day one. They have survived spring, summer and fall allowing me to pinch a head in each season, and now, with their final hours approaching I will use the small clusters that have formed in tonight’s dinner. I had read that if you snip the large, dense cabbage head but leave the rest of the plant a less robust heads will form giving you multiple harvests off a single planting – I put four cabbage plants in the garden. I am slowly, but surely, clipping the leaves from the broccoli that longer has the energy to produce any flowers, and have made stir fries and oven crisps with great frequency this winter. Though I think a will most likely take my Romanesque broccoli last for its flower is taking the longest to develop. Spying into the center of the leaf mass I see nascent, coral looking formations, and I beg them to hurry up – what if a hard, extended freeze comes along!

Pork, Cabbage and Potato Stew – yields 6 servings

1-1/2 pounds boneless pork butt

½-pound smoked sausage – such as Andouille, Kielbasa – cut into 1-inch pieces

2- large onions – peeled and sliced into ½-inch half moon shape

5-garlic cloves – chopped

1-teaspoon caraway seed

1-teaspoon celery seed

12-cups roughly chopped cabbage leaves (or combination of cabbage/cauliflower leaves)

1-1/2 pounds potato – such as Yukon gold or French fingerlings – cut into 1-inch chunks

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Heat a 12-quart casserole pot over a medium high heat, and add the pork but and sausage. Allow the meat to brown on all sides. Remove the meat from the pot, and hold in a bowl.

Into the pot add the onions and garlic, and cook for 5 to 10 minutes to lightly brown – stirring occasionally. Then mix in the caraway and celery seeds cooking for a minute longer. Return the meat to the pot and place the cabbage leaves over the meat. Put on the lid and cook for 10 minutes. Once the leaves have wilted down a bit add the potatoes, and salt and pepper. Return the lid, and lower the heat to low, and cook for about 2 to 3 hours.

Correct seasoning with salt and pepper. The pork should fall apart, if not, use a spoon to break up the pork. Serve garnished with grainy mustard.

Weekly Report

It has been a sad week for me, as I had to put down two plants. I am so attached to each and every vining, flowering, fruit-offering organism out there. I had to admit that it was time to take down the sweet peas for they never really took. I got maybe a total of 10 pods off the five seedlings that all season struggled to survive – while those peas were delicious they will go down as the most expense peas I have ever eaten. I bought the plant in New York’s farmer’s market, an heirloom variety that should have done well in the heat. The truth is they went in too late here, and next year I will plant the peas in late March in order for them to establish themselves and hopefully shoot, flower and pod. The only upside was that the rabbits and deer got not even a nibble off the plant. The harder but necessary removal from the garden was the cauliflower -- so sad, so sad. They ended up infested with black little critters that were have a feast on their leaves, turning their nascent flower heads speckled with dark spots and leaving their leaves looking like laces dollies. However, the lavender spray is successful with the aphids that from time to time I find sucking the life from the tomato plants – I have been calling on all ladybugs

to come and assist me. It did not matter have much of my lavender concoction I dosed on them I was going to win this one. It was obvious, even to me, left unchecked that the cauliflower was days from being but a stalk, and I did not want to run the risk of them moving on to the adjacent cabbage or okra. I believe I lost this battle to the emerging Japanese beetle, which has become this month’s nemesis.

Don’t despair for me for it has not been a week of only horticultural woes. In general the ground that I hoped to be able to collect from has been providing generously: more zucchinis then one consume on any given day; copious engorgement of cucumbers, both the more common elongated ones as well the bulbous lemon. Starting life out in the garden as a puny, two-leaf hope the pineapple sage is flourishing and scenting my meals. Jalapenos, poblanos and bell peppers hang heavily on branches. Almost all the corn stalks now have the tassels from cobs

fluttering in the afternoon breeze. That cabbage head that is vying for a spot at the county fair.










And, I am going to beg we harvest that

watermelon this weekend.







The earth is kind and generous, and I am rendered more peaceful as a witness and custodian of some of her miracles.

Latin White Cabbage Slaw
1 head white cabbage
5 scallions – thinly sliced
2 tablespoons oregano leaves - chopped
4 clove garlic – thinly sliced
2 poblano chilies – sliced julienne
1 jalapeno – sliced julienne
1 serrano – sliced julienne
1 white onion – thinly sliced
1 medium carrot – peeled, and sliced julienne
1/2-cup cider vinegar
1/4-cup olive oil
2-teaspoons salt
Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Cut the cabbage in quarters, and cut out the tough core. Then slice the cabbage very thinly. And place in a large, clean work bowl with the scallions and oregano.

In a 2-1/2 quart saucepan place the garlic, chilies, onion, carrot and cider vinegar. Bring to the boil, and then remove from the heat and allow it to sit for 10 minutes. Then pour the vinegar mixture over the cabbage. Toss the cabbage along with the oil, salt and pepper. Correct seasoning. Chill.