If we ate them three times a day, I doubt we’d make a dent in the salad offerings around here. I dream of these days in winter.
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Got something to say? Email me at fastweedpuller at gmail dot com.Wisdom from the sage
Wendell Berry:
"We have lived our lives by the assumption that what was good for us would be good for the world. We have been wrong. We must change our lives so that it will be possible to live by the contrary assumption, that what is good for the world will be good for us. And that requires that we make the effort to know the world and learn what is good for it."
--from an essay in "The Long-Legged House""The word agriculture, after all, does not mean "agriscience," much less "agribusiness." It means "cultivation of land." And cultivation is at the root of the sense both of culture and of cult. The ideas of tillage and worship are thus joined in culture. And these words all come from an Indo-European root meaning both "to revolve" and "to dwell." To live, to survive on the earth, to care for the soil, and to worship, all are bound at the root to the idea of a cycle. It is only by understanding the cultural complexity and largeness of the concept of agriculture that we can see the threatening diminishments implied by the term "agribusiness."
"Odd as I am sure it will appear to some, I can think of no better form of personal involvement in the cure of the environment than that of gardening. A person who is growing a garden, if he is growing it organically, is improving a piece of the world. He is producing something to eat, which makes him somewhat independent of the grocery business, but he is also enlarging, for himself, the meaning of food and the pleasure of eating."
--both the above are from essays in "The Art of the Commonplace: Agrarian Essays"Is this so hard to believe?
"An atheist is just somebody who feels about Yahweh the way any decent Christian feels about Thor, or Ba'al, or The Golden Calf. As has been said before, we are all atheists about most of the gods that humanity has ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further," Richard Dawkins, 2002.
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fast grow the weeds 
Oh, I know what you mean. I’m alomst sick of lettuce!! *gasp* This will be my first year trying to eat seasonally, and I was wondering if you do grow any greens in the winter and if so, what and how? (Not asking for much am I?!:)
Why not try cold frames? You won’t have any leaf from mid-December through mid-Feruary, but at least you could have some until then, yes?
Landon and Ang, I do cold frames, and we have a greenhouse (actually a polytunnel). This will be the first winter we’ll use the latter, and in its raised beds I have LOTS of to-be-eaten-in-winter goodies, including a type of perennial scallion. The problem with the simple cold frames is QUANTITY. I want lots!!
And there’s a whole different set of greens that go in there, Ang: You should look into Eliot Coleman’s Four Season Harvest. (That man is a demigod, veg-wise, in my book.) Mache. Claytonia. Escarole….
I love that speckled lettuce. So pretty and tasty. I wish I had all that lettuce. Something completely ate down three rows. It looks like a buzzcut. The fall crop will have to be fenced.
Oooh, that looks like Forrellenschulss (sp?) I love it. We call it speckled trout; does well up here in MN. I just harvested a huge head of it, but then had a bit of remorse: it was so beautiful, and our crop is limited.
We’ve almost hit the time of not needing to buy any greens, though, too! Horray!
M, yes, fence away!! There are all types of really inconspicuous (and chicken-proof) nettings out there now.
GTR, hey! You know, next time, don’t pull the whole plant up: slice it with a knife at a point about 1-1.5″ above the soil line. It should make new heads. This also helps when the lettuce starts to bolt.
And no, it’s not Forellenschuss, it’s Freckles Romaine. Not nearly such a storied history. But tay-steee!
You’re saying you have too much?
I can be there in about three days.
Thanks for the advice El, I’ll look into the book. Thanks again!
CC, I am just sad I can’t preserve it, you know? Instead I just have to watch it wither. (Actually, I do what I told GTR to do and extend the season slightly with new little lettuce nubbins.) This season doesn’t last long.
Ang, you’ve stepped into a Brave New World.
oh,, that lettuce is so pretty!! I’m setting up a couple of row covers over my salad boxes for winter. Determined to have some fresh green food when the snow’s flying.
Kelly, yes: try some mache, even though it’s tiny. It actually likes the cold!