Saturday, June 16, 2012

plant family

Sorry to’ve not been around.

I’ve been breeding.

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Lookit my beautiful babies!

They are growing BUDS!

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Which is particularly impressive given their past life. These guys have a PEDIGREE: they are Abraham Lincoln heirloom tomatoes. They spent the early years of their development in the USDA building in downtown DC, and then somehow ended up in the hands of my bestie, Lydia, who works at DC Central Kitchen. So she, being an excellent friend, called me and went “Uh, I have fifteen heirloom tomato plants. Want some?” The USDA was REAL keen to get rid of these poor guys, languishing away indoors. They were sort of tragic and droopy.

I fortified them with stakes (chopsticks), water, and lotsa sun, and they are thriving!

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And just yesterday they got some baby siblings!

Rumor has it tomato and basil grow well together.

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The friends from my tomatoes were cleverly germinated by my father in yogurt jars! Neat!

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(B for basil. He’s got a whole nursery going over there)

Also on the subject of plants, see that little gap between my front stoop and where the ivy begins?

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It is, in fact, a (seemingly) rather large underground hole.

And the cat loves it. She goes sprinting across the lawn, dives underneath, and completely disappears. We call it her bunker, and enjoy speculating about what activities go on down there. Slash what she’s hiding. She emerges purring and covered with cobwebs.

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Another thriving plant: the oregano! Year after year, with absolutely no encouragement, it winters over and thrives.

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And went into my lovely dinner.

Chopped up some farmer’s market squash (all different colors; yellow, light green, white, dark green), and threw it in the oven for a head start on roasting (just with a bit of olive oil and salt and pepper)

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Meanwhile, cooked up a cup of quinoa.

Stirred together squash, cooked quinoa, a can of white beans, and a whoooooooole bunch of fresh oregano. Sprinkled the top of the casserole with Parmesan, chucked it in the oven for… awhile, and went outside to play frisbee with my sister and our neighbor’s adorable children.

Dinner is served.

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Effortless, amazing (particularly with a little extra cheese). Love summer.

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Important questions:

1. What do I do next with my tomatoes? I’m scared they’re going to outgrow their planters. But I don’t want to put them in the backyard cause there’s not a lotta light and I think deer will eat them (they eat everything else).

2. What’s your favorite easy, summer-vegetable-licious, one-pot dish?

1 comment:

Samantha at Pollinator Plates said...

Just found your blog through the Virginia is for Bloggers link!
My favorite one-pot-summer dish- ratatouille. I made it a month ago or so- it's basically 1 or 2 eggplant sliced up, tomatoes sliced up, onion sliced up, then all of it layered with drizzles of olive oil and sprinkles of oregano (or basil or both) and baked until the veges are tender. So yummy. My husband loved it with cous-cous :)