excitedly telling people that March is the best month to visit Florida. People in California, for example. Funny. People in Chile. Even more funny. People in Spain. Hilarious. Why? Because they all know what happens this time of year. The citrus blooms and it smells great. End of story.
Not quite, cowpoke!
You gonna get some more whether you like it or not! Let me tell you, it's nirvana here in the swamp. No matter where you go, no matter what you do, you're gonna notice. You're gonna see it. It smells so delicious, you want to eat it. You may be walking down the street and there it is, that smell. It smells kind of sweet and gasoline-y at the same time.
I know...I should have quit while I was ahead. But, it's so good and I want to tell you all so bad. Words fail me. (no joke!)
Here's some more. Not one of my better shots, but hey you get what you pay for ;-). Yes, it's beautiful. How we wound up with this delightful citrus tree in the middle of our garden, I don't know. All I can say is thank you, thank you...thank you verrrry much. (Use Jay Leno's voice as you read this to yourself)
What's this, cowpokes? Why, it's mint! And, it's what we in the community gardening biz call a "volunteer", because I sure didn't plant it. But, there it is in all it's glory, hanging out in my patch. All you have to do is pick a little of this sweet stuff, boil some water, drop it into the pot and wait a few minutes. Tao of Tea beware. You've got nothing on this. It's so good, you'll want to cry with joy.
Try making some cookies to go with it out of ... I don't know what. I'll get to that one day. I have a trusty Kitchenaid mixer I have never tried, but the day will come. Soon! If you're into baking or using that contraption somehow I am all ears. Please fill me in.
You want more? I'll give you more. See that tree above? It smells so good! You may read the news and hear all sorts of awful stuff. Blight, plight, trite. Whatever. This is one thing you can do yourself. Despite everything. In spite of ourselves.
Here's a little view of the patches to the east of mine. You want beans? You need a trellace? Can you even spell trellis? Obviously, I can't. But, I jest. Anyhoo, you can see by clicking that trellis link that a trellis may cost anywhere from $20 on up. But, not if you use your noodle and make one yourself. Isn't that beautiful?
I can remember some years ago our fellow gardner Bruce Lipnickis planted some loofahs and his trellis was covered with them.
Ok...I've gone on and on enough about what a great day it was at the garden this weekend. Time for a kale smoothie and yes, I even smell some blossoms here in my humble abode emanating from who knows where. Life is good. Hope the same for you. If not, I hope this little ditty cheered you up a little. If you're looking up and seeing waves, then I beseech you...take a deep breath and venture outside yourself. Physically or metaphysically - do your best and get out. It's going on out there and we want you to join us!…
Hi Mike, Great picture of your garden.... next time get someone to take a picture of you in the middle of it! It was, indeed, a great day all over Gainesville. Caren
Added by Caren Brown at 12:37pm on November 18, 2008
The birds were singing, the breeze was blowing and you could smell the rosemary in the garden the other day. I've been all over the place the past few…
Added by Michael Levin at 7:08pm on December 23, 2009
me mint and collard greens, as well.
Maura, the garden manager, was there on her bike. She brought some organic matter from home to put in our compost box. That's her, wearing a "Recycled Cycles" T shirt. I love the turquoise on brown color combination. By the way, Niles' shop Recycled Cycles is my favorite bike shop in the world. He does it right. I wrote about it here, in case you're interested.
If you're interested in community gardening at McRorie, contact Maura. Her newsletters and contact info are in the McRorie Community Gardeners Group here at Zoobird. There are a few patches available!
Nick was there as well. Nick lives in the neighborhood, which is something I am happy about for him, since he can just walk right across the street and garden. He's also got great neighbors, including Ron Chandler, Chris Suter, Arupa and Bob Freeman, and many more people you'll find here on Zoobird!
When I got home, I decided to make a good old fashioned southern meal of collard greens and lentils, as my wife suggested. She makes me the best lentils you've ever tasted. They freeze well, so there are usually some frozen from larger cooking she does in dinner sized portions to have at whim, without fuss.
I have mentioned in the past the excellent cookbook I found called "Ethnic Vegetarian Cooking", by Angela Shelf Medearis which has a great Kenyan recipe for collard greens. You can take a peek inside the book here (compliments of Google Books). Basically, you boil the greens with some pepper, onion and tomato, and add spices like salt, pepper (I used peppercorns) and I improvised with some delicious Jamaican Yellow Curry powder I got at our local Jamaican shop.
Wow, that turned out well! Meanwhile, believe it or not, the cornbread was a cinch to make. I followed the recipe on the cornmeal box and used stone ground whole wheat flour from our local organic grocer, bought in bulk on the way home from the garden. I used olive oil instead of the veg oil suggested because I didn't have any veg oil. So, the corn bread turned out a little heavier, and delicious! It took about 5 minutes to mix the baking powder, corn meal, egg white, sugar, salt, oil, and stir while the oven heated to 400 F. Then, I popped it in for 30 minutes while the collard greens cooked, Kenyan style. Thanks Angela Medearis and especially the Jamaican Yellow Curry, which made the collard greens taste better than ever before. You know, I have had cravings for corn bread and actually paid $2.50 for a little square, single portion at Whole Foods. The 8"x10" tray I made last night cost about $4.00.
So, I cut up one of the radishes for the Kenyan style collard green dish. It tasted great.
This is what the radishes looked like after our cold weather, here in Florida. The radishes were OK, even though the leaves were wilted.
Arupa sent out the most beautiful, thought provoking holiday card via email this year. I thought of her and all the homeless people especially here in Gainesville as I cooked the collard greens. If you'd like to help out with the homeless here in Gainesville, you can find Arupa's newsletters in Zoobird's Caring Zoobirds group. It's full of good ideas for you to consider even if you're not local.
I lit some incense in honor of our brothers and sisters on the streets.
So, meanwhile the garden continues to be a delightful place to spend time. The rewards are many: delicious veg for the table, companionship, fresh air and spirit lifting surroundings, and some sort of contribution in the form of being a part of the life cycle by growing, cultivating, reaping, and enjoying the harvest!
Let me just mention "Possum Living", which you'll read about soon. Stay tuned!…
Here's a "before" photo linked to a set of photos of the garden, before the cleanup.
Here's an "after" shot, also linked to a set of photos taken this weekend, after the cleanup.
All the water timers have been removed, so we'll have to pay more attention to keeping our patches irrigated.
We're beginning to plant for Fall now, although it's still well into the 90'sF during the day.
We've had a lot of sunshine and blue skies, but you can see that things aren't as green as usual.
My patch (above) has a few sprouts: the garlic chives to the left (south) are still thriving. The jalapenos gave me some peppers for a pot luck Saturday. The mesclun mix that Mary and Ku gave me is growing a little. The lemon tree at the fence line is thriving. The cinnamon basil still produces sweet leaves.
You can see some of the African edible plants Michael grows in his patch in the photo above.
All in all, things are looking great! I look forward to seeing you at the garden as we all plant for the coming season.…