The Fruit (and Vegetable) of our Labor

In the beginning stages of growing our garden, I had a personal goal of growing enough food to be able to eat for a week from just what we grew ourselves.  It was a first step in becoming more sustainable.  Some friends of mine let me know this was an unrealistic goal, especially with my limited enterprise.  I began believing them until the harvesting began and we started accumulating fresh food in our frig.

This was our first dish from our garden.


Lettuce & cherry tomatoes with marigold petals

We did use Italian dressing and shredded cheese (not from our garden), but I read that certain flower petals add a nutty taste and color to foods and my wife had planted a lot of marigolds.  They definitely added color.  I realized the one cherry tomato plant and three lettuce plants were insufficient for providing many more salads, but also read that if you cut the lettuce leaves consistently, more grow which I did and . . . they did.  I immediately planned to expand the tomato and lettuce operation for next year.

So then I began planning our first meal.  Our beans were ready and we had bell peppers, squash & onions.

We got a zucchini from my mother in law.  I pulled up a couple of onions, diced the bulb and chipped up the green top part.  I added some rice, ground beef and diced tomatoes and made instant mashed potatoes and created this:

I realized that I could have made this entire meal with the exception of the rice and ground beef from our garden if our potatoes and tomatoes had been ready.  We were given some potatoes from my mother in law and I decided to boil some and also pan fry some.  This was my set up for our third meal.

The thinly cut pieces turned out similar to potato chips.  The kids really enjoyed them.  After this, we picked some green Big Boy tomatoes and made fried green tomatoes, very conscious that the flour, salt and oil are not something we can readily reproduce.  We also added a baked chicken patty to the dinner to have some meat.

So what I have learned is that it is possible for me to subsist on just what I grow for at least a limited time and an expanded garden would make this easier.  The trick is, can my stomach take squash at every meal? (we literally have squash coming out our ears - and we only have 2 plants)  So tonight I'm going to roast potatoes, beans and squash in the oven with olive oil and basil and probably make some more fried green tomatoes (and maybe fry some bacon to go along with it).