The Victory Garden

I hate that American diets and the way most of us think of food is skewed on the basis of ignorance.  We take everything at face value, never asking where our food comes from but only "how much is it?"  We'll buy regular apples, but then find that "organic" apples are too expensive.  Since when did it become "regular" to douse produce with toxic pestacidal chemicals to keep the tiny, harmless bugs away, but then feed those apples to humans?  But when your produce really is the way it was intended to ingest, it's organic and expensive.  Of course I understand the "why?" of it, I'm just trying to wrapping my brain around the "how?"

~Mustard greens for dinner... grown in a barrel~

~A proud gardener~

In our last house near Los Feliz, my husband created a 400-square-foot garden.  We grew everything "organically"or so they say, and everything from cucumbers to kale, 4 types of lettuce and greens and enough tomatoes to make salsa for Cinco de Mayo for the whole city of Los Angeles.  We also grew a slew of herbs, pumpkins (that we set out on our front porch for Halloween), eggplant, bell peppers and so much more.  We grew so much produce that, to get rid of it before it went bad, I sold it to a darling little market and cafe famous for it's seasonal produce and massive red velvet cupcakes.  If you live in LA, please visit Auntie Em's Kitchen... and tell them Katie said "hi".

I believe in self-sustainable produce.  I think that everyone should have a garden for one season just to see all the hard work that it takes to create, grow, produce, and harvest what most people just make a quick trip to the grocery store for.  It's kind of like going to restaurants when you've never worked in one.  You tend you be totally unforgiving of servers, food, and chef's practices while you're there, but being totally unaware of what it takes to get that meal from the fridge to your mouth, just the way you like it.  Once you've worked in a restaurant, you then become forgiving of those tiny little flaws that servers and give them a well-deserved tip when they do a good job.  The same respect goes for growing your own food.  It can be back-breaking and worthy of being called a cardio workout.  But it doesn't have to be, if you go smaller.

If we go through life never growing something special, tending to it and harvesting it for your own nutrition, how in the world could we appreciate it?  It is food... medicine for our bodies, not just another something to shove down our throats to make the grumble of our tummies go away.  Most parents do this with their children, but I really do urge you to start your very own victory garden, if you haven't already.  Your dinners will taste better, you'll eat more slowly, savoring every morsel, knowing that your heart and soul, and very own hands help grow what you're now putting in your mouth.

In our new home in Los Angeles, my husband has worked hard to create a proper gardening space in our backyard, complete with a picket fence.

I'll be posting how to create your own garden for the seasons and how to take what you grow and make it dinner for your family.  Whether in one barrel or 400 square feet, herbs or hearty veggies, in any season, large or small, practically anyone can do it.  I can't wait to teach you how in my coming posts.

~Harvesting the Kale~

~Joel, our good friend Jordan, Emma, Truman and a million carrots~