Heirloom Beans in Markets

Is it my imagination or is it difficult to find heirloom beans in the market? I've been trying to find Adzuki bean for the past two weeks in order to make a particular recipe.  I figured my typical organic natural foods market would carry it since that's where we'd generally pick them up. They weren't there.  I then went to a national natural food market and they didn't have any.  So off to a couple of gourmet markets.  They didn't have any.  What a surprise!  I guess once I finally find them I'll need to buy a few extra to plant so I can save my own seed.

We've started several beans in the garden but with the scarcity of quality heirloom beans I'm thinking of starting more to save.  

Do you know of a source to purchase heirloom beans for bulk purchase for recipes?

Hamburg Parsley

Good grief! Just when I think the garden is under control another volunteer pops up making me wonder if I should or shouldn't yank it out of the ground (and normally that conflict means it stays in the ground).

Yesterday I noticed Hamburg Parsley sprouting in the most unusual of places including the windowbox which contains our Music garlic. It will definitely get replanted elsewhere since the windowbox won't be lengthy enough to enable it to grow to any decent size but the real point is - this is not exactly how I'd planned to spend the weekend! It's a great problem to have but it just musses up the very predictable program I've been trying to institute in the garden (and to that my mind says 'yeah, right').

So, anyway, as I perused the garden I noticed another stowaway of Hamburg parsley that has gone to seed...and as many of my garden friends know, we just can't pass up the opportunity to collect more seeds. It is food afterall - or at least that's what I keep telling myself.

I'll have to do a post on stowaways, aka volunteers, as I tend to have loads of them throughout the year. Last summer's cosmos have made their way back just a few months after going to seed...not sure how they'll survive our cold nights...but oh well.

The end result of this discovery is that I'll need to pass these seeds along (and in a hurry) as I have bundles of new batches forthcoming that we'll need to make room for. Send me a self addressed stamped envelope and I'll send you a packet of Hamburg Parsley.

I've also posted this on the exchange forum as well.

Pac Choi Destruction

...I should also reference the fact that my Pac Choi was abscounded, not entirely but in sufficient quantities in comparison to the number of plants previously planted out. I'd like to blame it on the heat - if we had any serious heat...honestly have no idea what happened other than the fact the majority are gone, simply gone. So, sad. Was looking forward to the consumption. Luckily, that was another one of the plants that was incredibly easy to germinate. I'll plant more and will probably provide them with a bit more security - like keeping them in a planter box that I can take inside each evening!

Oh, and I have lots of seeds in case you're interested. Send me an email and I'll gladly share. It's fairly tasty if you can get your share of the plants before the other creatures.

Today's update...

Beautiful, multi-petaled calendula, brightens up the garden.

Whether I want it or not, it continues to grow. Season after season - fennel.

A forest of yummy parsley.

This was the most unusual flower I'd seen in a long time, from a friend's garden. I call it the pre-historic flower.

Here's another interesting flower from a friend's garden.

Cavallo Cornsalad was grown from seed and with the dramatic weather seems to have disappeared. Just poof! Those dreaded critters probably munched on them.

My new favorite lettuce.

Valdor lettuce is tender, sweet, delicious and extremely easy to grow. Not temperamental at all and easy to grow in all sorts of variant weather conditions.

Another of my favorite kitchen garden delectables to grow! Lettuce - yummy...

Bold and Beautiful Radicchio

This radicchio shocked me. It was so beautiful that I wasn't sure I was growing it properly. It was so shiny in a deep wine color with a stark white contrast. Simply shocking. Don't know about anyone else but all the radicchio I've ever eaten was dull and looked like it had been picked days prior. This is another incredibly easy plant to grow and the bugs didn't seem to bother it at all!

Broccoli

One of the easiest plants to grow in the kitchen garden. Plant it, water it and watch it grow.

Yellow Carrot More than Edible

So I grew yellow carrots during the summer for the first time. They started off great. Many warned I wouldn't be able to grow carrots, let alone yellow ones. Well, with all that negativity, after a couple of months, they did just seem to wither away - at least I thought they'd withered away.

The spot where they were originally grown, I planted other items in that spot, not realizing there was one lone carrot enjoying every minute of it and becoming a double legged, monster. This carrot was in the ground for many, many, many months. Of course it was finally realized that 'something' was growing there but had no idea until I began preparing the bed for something else and voila! A baby was born.

Of course, those same negativos told me not to bother trying to eat the thing as it would be pithy and tasteless. Who cares what someone else thinks? I scratched the surface of the carrot and was stunned by what appeared to be juice coming from it...so I figured what the heck - can't hurt to try it.

That was the best carrot soup I've ever eaten. Not only did it make a very good meal, for several days, I might add, the carrot actually ended up being juicy and tender and really quite delicious.

Nay sayers, bah! I dare anyone to buy a cup of soup as good as the one I had from that yellow carrot that had grown to the size of a baby's leg.




01.25.09 :: Update
I've updated another post to help you locate a supplier for yellow carrots.  You can find the information here.

Peas

Everyone is eager to see how many peas get eaten this year versus those that end up in seed production. We start out picking peas on a regular basis and then end up not being able to keep up with the rapid production. Before we know it, the garden is filled with plump pea pods filled with seeds.

Stock

Stock is one of those garden jewels we keep around all year long. Although it probably prefers consistent cold, it tolerates our tropical climate and never disappoints.

Yesterday I cut several stems, placed them in a vase and completely forgot about them. In the middle of the night I found myself trying to figure out where the incredibly beautiful fragrance was coming from. It was enchanting. It was so enchanting I needed to make sure I didn't somehow leave a bottle of perfume somewhere that may have broken...room by room I searched until my nose led me to the kitchen where this long, thin circular vase stood with several stems of stock. I smiled and proceeded back to bed.

This morning I'm on my way back to the garden to cut more stems - I figure I'll place them strategically throughout the house - a couple of stems each should do it. This time I'll know where the fragrances are coming from and will sleep through the heavenly aroma that floats throughout the house.

This is a nice way to start the day.

If you're interested in obtaining seeds for these and other stock plants, feel free to contact me, I keep a healthy supply of stock on-hand at all times in different varieties. :) Feel free to take a moment to review the seed list. The particular variety to which I refer in this post is a single flowered, star shaped, magenta petals with dusty-miller-like grey-green leaves and stems that grow close to 3 feet tall.

Zucchini in the Winter

Each year we grow zucchini and each year we try to figure out the best way to use the mountains of fruit we get each day. Friends run from us during zucchini season because we are always offering it. This year we tried something a little different by growing it in winter. And I'm convinced this is definitely the way to grow it! Instead of buckets of fruit each day, at the end of the week, there's a nice selection available to make a nice meal. The fruit don't get as large and are delicious. Much to my amazement, this is has been extremely successful. We've had freezing temperatures and it's still growing. The plant had a bit of a set back during those frosty days but it's still viable and producing delicious fruit. Success!