Today I realized our fridge is starting to overflow with veggies from our garden. Greens take up a lot of room in there. We go through them rapidly, but as the garden continues to produce and with our CSA program getting ready to roll in later this month, I found myself looking for what to do with extras (besides putting them in the compost pile). I do get a little tired of green salads after eating them twice a day for weeks on end. But, I remind myself that I pine for fresh salad during the winter months when I’ve run out in the garden and the farmer’s market isn’t offering lettuce. So, with that rounded thought in mind, I make another salad. I saute another batch of greens. I whip up a jar of pesto, and I chop another radish. In the end, I enjoy every fresh, homemade meal. And, I do follow some of these ideas for making good use of any excess I produce:
The First of Many Cabbages from My 2009 Veggie Garden
Looking for ways to empty your garden or your overflowing fridge of extra fresh produce this season? Here are some of the things I’ll be doing:
- Preserve it: Freeze it. Dry it. Can it. Make something out of it and put that up. Later, you’ll be glad for frozen zucchini bread, dried tomatoes, pea soup, sorrel pesto, pickled beans and frozen broccoli. It might take a while to make now, but it’ll make for fast food at home during the short, lean, cold days of winter ahead. Plus, the right preserved foods make fantastic gifts for the holidays. Who doesn’t love getting a jar of jam made with love?
- Trade it: Odds are if you’re drowning in lettuce, someone else is overwhelmed with broccoli. If you’ve got too much yellow squash, you probably know someone who can’t stand the sight of another zucchini. Ask around. Someone will be glad to make a trade.
- Give it away: Sure, your neighbors may already be tired of the piles of cabbage and pears that you leave anonymously (or so you think) on their doorsteps each season. But, local food banks are always happy to receive and distribute fresh produce. Find out when their distribution days are and be sure they’re set up to take home-grown freshness so you can make sure your extras make it to the plates of the hungry. And, if you have extra plants that won’t fit in your garden, consider donating those to the foodbank as well. Turns out, they’re starting to distribute “grow your own” foods as well!
- Eat it: You worked hard to produce all that produce, so don’t let it go bad. Think creatively about what you can make. Chard may seem like a dinner food, but sauteed with beets and served with eggs, it makes a fantastic breakfast food. Try new combinations at different times of day. Kale, fresh from the garden, isn’t tough like store bought and can often be torn up into your green salad like a cabbage. Make a huge meal and invite friends. Feed them from your bounty and send them home with a bag of greens or leftover salad.
Whatever you do, don’t get overwhelmed. Be sure that food doesn’t go to waste. Somebody out there is hungry, and its in your power to help fill their need.
Tags: foodbank, harvest, hunger, preserving food, starving, veggie garden
[...] planting some seed as early as January. The cabbages I seeded in 2009 in January were ready for harvest by early June (and continued to feed us for most of the summer). Need help planning your own vegetable garden? [...]