Sustainable living

It has been as cold as 8 degrees below zero up at Tiny House Ontario.  I left the garden totally uncovered and mostly everything is now frozen off;  however, there is still some fresh food available for nosh.  I had cut down all the swiss chard when I left three weeks ago, because I figured it was on it’s last grow; surprising thing, is that it grew up again so I got another nice sized bag to eat.

The flat leaf Italian parsley was started late this year with a 1/2 a pack of 5 year old seeds and even with the horrible drought, it has been producing enough for me to use all summer.  It is a perennial that continues to grow too, year after year, as long as the winter freeze does not kill it.  The other half pack was what kept my Hamilton house in parsley for the last 5 years.  A very good producer for a $3. pack of organic seeds!  I cut off three good sized bundles to make 3 tabouli salads; one for me, one for my cousin S, and another for my Aunt C, so we all got a nice healthy side dish this week.  There is still plenty there to make a couple of more salads but it is fun to dig under the snow to get it, so I left it.

Sage is another easy keeper.  I don’t plant this from seed because one plant is PLENTY for my family.  Among other things, it makes what would be a good sweet potato and coconut milk soup, really great.  Sage has nice deep undertones that stay on the pallet a long time after eating.   Here is the recipe that I like, because I am a GF veg*an, I simply substitute chicken broth for a gluten free veg*an soup base.  I also don’t fully puree mine because I like bits – and speaking of bits this is nice with a handful of chopped peanuts on top too.

So, what I wanted to say is that I am glad that I did not dig up the swiss chard.  It was a zero mile mouth full of yum!