Harvest on New Year's Day

Despite some plenty-chilly weather and several overnight freezes, the vegetable garden continues to produce. Currently in abundance are bok choi and a wide variety of lettuces. But, because they are in such abundance, I'm tiring of them and went for some alternatives. Today I harvested a half-dozen carrots, several beets (with greens), some young scallions, some spinach, and because the cherry tomato has met its doooooom, I stripped most of the remaining tomatoes.

I'll be roasting the roots and sauteing the greens (with the scallions). The ripe tomatoes will go into a salad made with lettuce harvested earlier. (The green tomatoes will sit in a basket on the counter with a ripe apple while they learn how to be red.)

You know, it's been a long time since I've done serious vegetable gardening. Sure, most years I've planted a vegetable -- a tomato or two or a row of beans or peas or cucumbers -- but not multiple vegetables nor over multiple seasons. Not in at least a decade, closer to two.

One of the things I used to do back when I was vegetable gardening on a regular basis was order up all the seed catalogs I could find. I haven't ordered a seed catalog in eons. It turns out that they have been multiplying while my back was turned! This came as a big surprise to me, but I suppose it shouldn't.

You see, I've been working "in tech" for a couple of decades, so most of the folks I associate with don't "do garden." But, outside of those folks, I've also been becoming aware of a movement toward simplifying, going more organic, and "eating local." "Eating local" means buying your produce, eggs, and even meats that were grown within a short distance from where you live. You can do this by buying at your local farmers' market, a grocer that specifically buys local produce, subscribing to a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture), or growing your own and/or sharing with friends and neighbors.

Anyway, since I started raising veggies again, I decided to go scouting online for a couple of vegetables that I always liked, but wasn't finding in my local seed racks. I found one source that had both of these veggies, so I decided to order their catalog and see what else they might have to interest me.

Wow. The flashbacks of reading the seed catalogs through the cold of winter, dreaming of planting in the spring, and of harvesting all summer! It was amazing. Especially since I actually found seed for the two cover crops that I can grow to get those Root Knot Nematodes (that I wrote about in October) in check! Wow!  So, I ordered seeds for the two veggies and for the two cover crops.

But this time I ordered via The Web, not by mail-order! That's different. I also ordered the catalog via The Web. I used to order by mail using ads, inserts, and interest cards in Organic Gardening magazine. But today, even that venerable publication is available online.

I guess "tech" and gardening are quite compatible, no matter what my coworkers say.  :-)