Monday, May 23, 2016

And So It Begins


While we do eat from the garden year round, in the winter months it is food put by from the summer garden, nothing quite beats the first fresh meal from the backyard in the spring. This weekend Reece and I enjoyed that meal, on the back deck, in the sunshine, and it was delicious.

We gathered eggs from our hens, harvested asparagus, spinach, nettles, chives and violet flowers and headed into the kitchen. Eggs were scrambled with nettles and chives, asparagus was lightly roasted, and spinach was tossed with dressing and violet flowers. We grabbed a jar of dilly beans and gingery pickled beets from the pantry shelf and headed outside to enjoy our meal. We offered our gratitude for the wonderful food, and started eating. It was satisfying beyond belief, and every last bite was enjoyed by both of us.

This is just the beginning of a summer full of food from the backyard, and I am so looking forward to each and every delicious meal shared with my little man, and hopefully with friends and family too.

28 comments:

  1. Yum! Looks beautiful. I planted asparagus a few years ago and should be getting a harvest by now, but I let the weeds overtake the bed. :\

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    1. Thanks Andrea. It was delicious! Oh no, get out there and find that asparagus, it is so good :)

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  2. Yum! What a wonderful feeling to be able to grow your own food! :)

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    1. It is an incredible feeling, and makes me so very happy.

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  3. Lovely post Kim. How do you prep the nettles? I think I might dare myself to eat some, instead of telling the children to watch out for them!

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    1. Thank you! For the eggs, I just toss them in the pan and let them wilt a bit before adding the eggs. Once they hit the heat the sting is gone. I also add nettles to soup...we had leek, potato and nettle soup last week. And I top homemade pizza with nettles...no need to cook them first, just toss on pizza and then bake, the baking will kill the sting. And then you can make pesto too. Basically any way you would use a cooked leafy green you can use nettles.

      Enjoy!

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  4. What a wonderful meal. I think eating your own produce gives you such a deep appreciation for your food. We've been thinning out lettuce and spinach seedlings into salads for a week or so now, with a few herbs thrown in too. And this morning I spied a few decent sized broad bean pods - they won't be long!

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    1. It certainly does my friend. You are well aware of the time, effort and love that went into producing that food, how can you not have a deep appreciation for it :)

      Enjoy the goodness from your garden. xo

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  5. I didn't know that violet flowers were edible! I learn so much from reading your lovely blog! :)

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    1. They are! And they make a salad look so very pretty :)

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  6. What a wonderful meal! We enjoyed nettle tea with friends yesterday :)

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    1. It was delicious. There has been some nettle tea around here too :)

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  7. That sounds so wonderful. I love your photo of the food too. I know you and Reece have a fantastic summer ahead of you!

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    1. Thanks Jennifer. I have a feeling this is going to be one awesome summer.

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  8. yay for starting the harvest eating!! I just love spring time and new beginnings :)

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    1. I was so excited Karen :) I love springtime too, and new beginnings, well I am enjoying that too.

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  9. Those asparagus look especially delicious! I love roasting things. Just brings their flavour out! Also, asparagus with a salty cheese sprinkled on top is great too!

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    1. Oh Alexa, the asparagus is so delicious. It's our first season harvesting it, and goodness I have no idea why I waited so long to plant asparagus. So happy to have our little plot of it, and it has been a daily staple at dinner the last few nights.

      I might have to try the cheese on top, thanks for the suggestion.

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  10. everything in this post is beautiful .. your words, your harvest from the garden, the feeling that emerges. I just love it all my friend. xo

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  11. We have been eating most of our meals from the garden, but I'm not sure that is going to continue. TD Bonnie just dropped a lot of rain on us and my garden is a pond. I am hoping to dig potatoes later today to try and safe what I can, but not sure about anything else. Fingers crossed XO

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    1. Oh no, I am so sorry Tracey, I had no idea. I have not been listening to the news at all and didn't know the storm season had started for you. I hope you were able to save the potatoes, and that there wasn't too much damage to the rest of your garden. xo

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  12. Looks delicious... The start of our season has been so slow and full of setbacks (lost our tomatoes, cucmber and most of our pepper plants early June with a few almost-zero nights), but we have been eating many MANY greens (both wild and grown) and it's been delicious. Wishing you a wonderful season my friend! xox

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    1. Oh no, so sorry about your losses. Mother Nature has been a bit unpredictable this year. We had a few cooler nights, but not cool enough to do any damage.

      Glad the greens are growing well :)

      xo

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  13. I love this. You are such a lovely person, inside and out. Must be because you fuel yourself with the right stuff :)

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