The Rest of the Food Pyramid

Because I spend so much time making bread, which requires the minimum of ingredients and really provides the minimum nutrition, I sometimes forget that other food (like vegetables) exists and that I have to eat it.  Every year around this time I start mucking around in my garden.  And I do mean mucking - I often have little to show for my March activity other than a few sickly shoots.  This year, though, I feel confident that my March work is going to pay off.  I was careful only to plant seeds that I thought were hardy enough to weather the possible April cold.  Today, I sowed kale, chard, spinach, mesclun, and beets.  The greens can handle these temperatures and the wetness that comes with them.  And the beets should do fine, although I have plenty of extra seeds if they don't.  And, let's face it, much of my March work is just weeding and taking care of the flowers anyway.

Today, however, I had a bit of a crisis of confidence.  I was talking to my neighbor who told me that she never grows beets because her partner doesn't like them and she couldn't eat enough of them to justify growing them.  I thought about all the leafy greens I grow, and how I don't really like all of them, especially the lettuces.  Since I don't exactly have a green thumb, it had always been a point of confidence for me that I could grow such lush lettuce, spinach, and chard.  But, if I don't eat them, then what's the point?  With that in mind, I planted only a tiny amount of mesclun, with the majority of the spring garden devoted to chard and beets, and the rest of the space claimed by the spinach and kale. 

Since I'm pretty sure that I purchased my own body weight in beets last season, I'm confident that I will eat all of them.  And there are enough uses for chard that I will definitely eat as much as I grow.  I'm less confident about the kale, but I know that many of my friends are experimenting with kale recipes this year, so I have only to ask (or donate).

My one dream for this summer, although I'm not sure that I will accomplish it, is to grow cantaloupe in my garden.  I love Oregon cantaloupe, with its fleshy, non-tropical taste.  I love living in a cool climate that is just temperate enough to grow this delightful melon, but thus far I have not been able to grow it myself.  This is my project for the summer, and I'm really looking forward to it!