NOMAD DREAMING

I never get tired of the vivid colours from the garden. It’s not just the harvest. A volunteer Tithonia inserted itself, unnoticed, in the Hyacinth Bean vines. Unnoticed that is, until it bloomed. Now why didn’t I think to cultivate that combination? #6thavenueshala

One of my kitchen alchemy projects this week: dipping my toe into the world of vegan cheese making with a super simple vegan feta/cream/cottage cheese. It lies between them in my result, though the recipe called it feta. Not many ingredients: raw almonds, lemon juice, garlic, salt, olive oil, water. I impulsively went off script and dusted this attempt with home made za’ataar mix which is a blend of sesame seed, sumac, thyme and oregano. The recipe didn’t call for this. Next

Today’s harvest: piles of eggplant, a handful of sweet Gypsy peppers, green beans, cowpeas, Cape gooseberries, Jing okra, and the first pods of Appaloosa heirloom drying beans for the winter pantry. These beautiful beans remind me of the hides of Nguni cattle. #6thavenueshala

Cowpeas ready for shelling and Jing orange okra also came in from the garden today. #6thavenueshala

Today’s harvest of heirloom Fresno (hot) green chile peppers, yellow onions, and a few scuzzy tomatoes (I think the prolonged, excessive heat has the tomatoes hunkered down and producing poorly) went into making two small jars of green chile to put aside for winter. Listening to Michael Pollen’s in depth exploration of cookery, Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation, during my kitchen alchemical activities this morning really added a dimension. If you have any interest a

Neighbourhood felines are thirsty. Almost every day I spot a variety of them prowling the jungle of the lush August undergrowth, availing themselves of the water sources scattered throughout. #6thavenueshala

First bunch of sweet little green grapes harvested today. I’ve been waiting for this bunch to turn black because I thought I had planted a black seedless variety, as per the tag. That’s what you get for buying plants from a big box store that sees plants only as merchandise and not living beings with personality and character. I will never know, now, what variety of grape (vitis) arches across the entrance to the outside yoga practice area at #6thavenueshala so don’t ask. Not

Sunday savory brunch on the cooling rack: vegan, gf veggie patties : a mix of cooked and puréed green split peas, rolled oats, leftover garlicky eggplant okra gumbo, leftover cooked brown basmati rice, chickpea flour and a tablespoon or two of olive oil. Baked 350 for 25 minutes each side. When I turn the patties, I also flatten them with the spatula. Delicious hot or cold, alone or doused with chutney/relish/pickles. Can be used in a bun too for vegan burgers. Freeze well in

Spied a few swelling little Madhu Ras Rajasthani honey melons the other night. My first time growing this heirloom, open pollinated Cucumis melo variety, I picked it because it is desert adapted, coming from the Thar desert region of Rajasthan, India. Another factor is that it is a small, palm sized melon: perfect for a single person. I tried to persuade the vines up the trellis alongside the gem squash, but they are emphatic about other directions. It’s that time of summer

Flowing in from the garden these days: a river of San Marzano, yellow grape and cherry tomatoes, Havasu, Fresno green and Thai hot chile peppers and a few dried pods of cowpeas. More spicy tomato sauce later today from those San Marzano and Havasu peppers. #6thavenueshala

Black cherry stained fingertips after preparing 6-7 lbs of sweet cherries for the dehydrator. Preserving what’s in season is an offshoot of establishing food sovereignty. For me, the dehydrator is an important tool in food preservation, especially in the way it allows me to enjoy summer’s bounty of fruit throughout the year. Dehydrated food also takes up less storage space and is very grab-and-go ready when the siren call of nomadism comes. I don’t have cherry trees, but some

Scarlet Runner Beans (Phaseolus coccineus) have buds at last. I expected these vines to be more vigorous but they are struggling a bit. Perhaps it has been the extreme heat of this summer so far, since their origins are in highlands of Central America. I am hoping they will prove perennial here but winter might do them in. It’s the first time I am growing them and I’m loving the scarlet flower. Already planning a planting mixing these and purple hyacinth bean (lab lab purpure

The gem squash vine is covered in brilliant orange flowers and swelling squash. Have begun harvesting them along with milk stage Indian corn. Steamed with fresh sliced tomato my brunch is completely from #6thavenueshala garden to table. Unless I add a handful of harissa spiced local pecans and a dash of olive oil and wash it down with a cup of coffee. For today I want to savor the taste of the garden’s fresh offerings without condiments.

Jars of tomato sauce are mounting up in the pantry. Squirreling the harvest to be enjoyed in winter, when this generosity of tomatoes, chile, onions, garlic and fresh herbs is no longer available. Makes me very happy to know that everything in this tomato sauce, except the couple of tablespoons of olive oil, was offered up by the garden at #6thavenueshala. Urban homesteading and approaching a satisfactory measure of food sovereignty is definitely a thing with shape and conten

Starting to fill the dried legumes and pulse jars in the pantry again. This morning the Milagro bean field offered some ready to shell pods of exquisitely speckled Othello Pinto beans. Chosen for their purported yield and disease resistance, it is my first year of sowing this variety of Phaseolus vulgaris. Also found a few pods of Black Crowder cowpeas (Vigna unguiculata). I don’t produce nearly enough pulses to be completely self sufficient in this department as my vegan di

Didn’t find a ripe eggplant in my living pantry, but I did find a good handful of green beans ready for harvest. Main meal today is therefore green beans, onion, okra, tomato, basil, garlic, green chile veggie stew over brown rice. Sprinkled with walnuts just before serving. Olive oil, walnuts and rice were not grown on #6thavenueshala.

So much spicy chile heat coming in from the garden in the mornings now. Cayenne peppers will be dried for grinding into pepper flakes. Havasu (yellow) and the fiery little Thai peppers at the back will probably become pepper mash or hot sauce. The heirloom Fresno green chile will go into a spicy, tomato, eggplant dish later today if I can find an eggplant to harvest. Yes I do eat chile every day of the year. For the chile powder/flakes and hot sauce/ pepper mash one bush each

Spent a happy few hours recently grading my over 27 pounds of Inchelium Red heirloom garlic which was harvested late May and has been curing in the conservatory since. I have decided to offer some for sale at the local Farmers Market on Saturdays. It seems greedy to keep all of this this beautiful bounty of food medicine to myself though my gardening goal isn’t commercial but toward self sufficiency. To this latter end, I am also planning to dehydrate some and preserving som

The tepary beans (Phaseolus acutifolius) I am growing as a partner gardener for Native Seed Search are beginning to germinate by July 5th: 4 days since sowing the seeds. Weather: humid, warm (nineties high) monsoon season sultry, but no actual rain (fingers crossed every day) since sowing. I have been giving the seedbeds a can of rainwater from the catchment barrels once daily. Major threat at the moment: neighborhood cats wanting to use seed beds as litter box. A dusting o

Today’s main meal is largely from the garden: orange and burgundy okra, eggplant, Fresno heirloom hot chile, tomatoes, basil, onion, garlic served over brown rice spaghetti (obviously didn’t grow that). Love this time of year when what I eat is dictated by what is offered as ready for picking by the garden: my living pantry. While food sovereignty is something to strive towards, I know I will never get to 100%. I am happy to settle for days like today when I’m probably pushin