A lot of our two year old parsley did really well over the winter, we were able to dig under the snow and clip off a few sprigs of fresh parsley which was nice during this past bitter winter. However, this parsley is biennial, which means that it during the second year it will flower, set seed and die. Parsley is a very nutritious herb and easy to grow. It is a great staple if you have limited garden or container space for your herb garden. Here is some nutritional information about parsley. Although the parsley we have is abundant (5 very large chunks) all of it is going to flower soon, so we are trying to use it up before then. Isaac removed three large plants and we made pesto with it. I LOVE pesto! Fresh basil pesto is my favorite, but I will eat it made with parsley, thyme and arugula to name a few. We don't really follow a recipe, just eyeball everything (that is how I make salad dressing too).
All you need it a food processor or blender. If you are really hardcore, like some people we know and admire, you can make this with a mortar and pestle.
Take a handful of your herb, in this case parsley. Place in your mixer of choice. Add 3-4 smashed cloves of garlic. (This can be more or less to taste, but for me garlic, next to the herb, is the most important flavor in pesto.) Next add 1/4 c. or so of nuts. We use walnuts because they are cheaper than pine nuts, but you can really use any kind of nut or seed. Add 1/4 c. of Parmesan cheese, either grated or in small chunks. Add a small amount of your oil of choice, we use olive, to the rest. Pulse the processor until the ingredients start to incorporate. Next add more olive oil until the ingredients start to blend finely and becomes a loose paste. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add to pasta, sandwiches, veggies, bread etc.
We also had quite a bit of red Russian kale that overwintered nicely. It was starting to bolt so we pulled it up and made Kale chips!
I learned about this from Isaac's lovely sister. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Wash, dry and separate your kale. Spread on a baking sheet. Spray or drizzle olive oil onto the kale. Sprinkle with sea salt and any other seasonings that you like. Bake for 10-15 minutes until the kale shrinks and starts to crisp and lightly brown. Let cool and enjoy! These taste like or better than regular chips. They are light crispy and almost melt in your mouth. If you get kale at the farmer's market, your yard or even the store-give it a try! Here is a very nice blog post about kale chips. Here is a photo of some of our kale chips after they came out of the oven. Ignore the messy stove!
I suspect many of the plants are enjoying the warmer weather and copious rain. Including the "weeds". We don't weed in the garden per-se, only when the grass or trees or other somewhat large or invasive plants start growing where we want other stuff to grow. We treat the plants that volunteer in our garden as allies. Dandelions aerate the soil and bring up nutrients with their long tap roots and attract pollinators, clover fixes nitrogen and is food for the rabbits (instead of our veggies!), dead nettle is a nice ground cover as their roots grow mainly lightly along the top of the soil, they also attract bees and other beneficial insects. Here is a photo of all three hanging out in the garden.
So before you start spraying the RoundUp, spend hours on your hands and knees or call your local chemical lawn service. Remember that lots of these plants are beneficial to your soil, food for animals, attracts beneficial insects and look pretty as well! Here is another informative blog post on this matter.
I hope to be updating this much more often. This week will be busy for us, but I should have more time to blog once Isaac is settled and the kitchen is back together.
I'm sure I speak for everyone, I am so happy that it is getting warmer and greener everyday!
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