It's Spring! Or very nearly. Birds are chirping, squirrels are scampering, and the ground is coming back to life. I've seen lovely little spikes of green edging their way up into daylight from the bulbs I planted last year. So, naturally, I'm beginning to think about what I'm going to plant this year, how I'm going to use it (hopefully more efficiently than last year), and what my long-term plans for crop rotation and permanent structures will be.
We are truly blessed with an overabundance of garden space, a rare problem these days. We live on 5 acres with a modified log-siding home, large barn and small pond. Both of us work, part-time moving to full-time in June for me, and full time for my partner Ben. We are also sharing our space with three glorious creatures of elegance (ie: cats) and one small carnivorous pony (the dog).
We've owned our home for going on three years; Ben has owned a home before, but I'm pretty much a homeowner newbie. I'm also a complete newcomer to this natural space as well, after growing up in the Caribbean, and moving to Houston;Oklahoma was a bit of a surprise to me. Interestingly enough, the effects of climate change are first being felt in the garden all across the nation, so this Oklahoma climate is a bit of a surprise for everyone here.
We are busy folks with a lot of potential land to mess with, so last year our intentionally small garden patch...became a bit larger of an undertaking than we had planned. We started with a 10 yard by 25 yard space directly behind the house. It is shielded between the house and a thicket of oak and scrub bushes to the east and west, by an extension of that thicket to the north, with southern exposure. It does get plenty of morning sun, and little direct sunlight after 3:30 p.m. typically. We've put in raised beds, according to Mike McGrath, about four feet wide so we can reach them from the edges.
Last year, we planted heirloom tomatoes (Cherokee Purples and Boxcar Willies) and some romas, as well as two tomatillo plants and a host of peppers. We also planted Swiss Chard, Rosemary, Sage, Thyme and Oregano. I found a Cuban Oregano plant, but he did not survive winter, sadly. He was in a pot, but I suspect he'll do better if I can find a good warm microclimate for him in the ground with southern exposure.
We are planning to put in okra, more tomatoes, kale, chard, more tomatillos, bell peppers and scotch bonnet peppers. Most of my produce loss last year came from planting more and not knowing the growing seasons well enough. We did surprisingly well, our tomatoes had two rounds of fruiting, with so much yield, I didn't know what to do with it all in time. We had colanders of plump vivid tomatoes sitting around for days. I finally did the lazy plan...I stuffed whole tomatoes in ziploc gallon bags, and just froze them. They disintegrate upon thawing...but the flavor is AMAZING when cooked, and it saves labor in the kitchen if you're reducing the tomatoes to paste or prepping for sauce.
The other part of gardening I'll be posting here is the cooking of said produce. I love veggies. Growing up Indian in Trinidad, you have access to a massive variety of culinary traditions, foodstuffs, herbs and techniques; I'll share my successes here...maybe even my failures (cautionary tales are entertaining...and helpful!).
So to start off...a major complaint about okra is the texture...that slimy, stringy, er...snotty texture that has people turning to the deep fat fryer as the only functional way to eat okra. Instead of fried okra (which I love, don't get me wrong, people) I tried skillet stewing it with a natural goop-cutter...tomatoes. I sauteed onions, garlic and a little ginger in the skillet, with some bell pepper chunks in olive oil (a Cuban mirepoix) until the onions turned translucent. I then added the tomatoes and okra, 3/4 cup of water and about a half tsp of good black pepper.
Cook that mix down, at a simmer, stirring occasionally. When the visible liquid has reduced to a quarter of what it was, stir thoroughly and taste. Add salt at this point, or a little low-sodium soy to intensify the flavor. Then cook to your desired texture. I like a little liquid in mine, but some folks prefer a thicker mix with more of a paste. I like to serve the okra and tomato beside a good piece of protein and starch (chicken and brown rice, steak and roast (homegrown) potatoes) but it's pretty good on its own, over rice or with a piece of roti. Vegan friendly recipe, btw!
I discovered that I loved cooking out of my garden. Every meal, we'd calculate the approximate percentage of the meal we had grown, or that was locally sourced. There were many meals where, with the assistance of my local farmer's market, 99% of our food came from within 100 miles of our home--including the spices. In Houston, I could source my food locally, but it was harder to grow it myself...here in Oklahoma, we're more than just slow-food consumers, we're producers as well.
