November 13, 2014

Good morning, on a recent Sunday, Deb roasted a bunch of veggies to go with dinner. Seems like there were garlic, onions, sweet potatoes, tomatillos and beets. It has only been in the recent past that I have learned that I like beets.

No wonder so many people do not care for some veggies, so many of their memories are from their childhood and these memories are almost set in concrete. Right up top on the “no fly” list for me were canned asparagus, canned spinach and canned beets. I remember the use of vinegar to help the flavor of the beets and spinach but the asparagus was left to stand a lone.

It wasn't until my family moved to Kentucky that we harvested wild asparagus that grew up in fence rows. This was the first chance I had ever had to really taste this wonderful veggie. It would be many years latter after I had “flown the coop” before I was able to really taste spinach or beets.

Spinach was first and I found how wonderful it was lightly sauteed or even just raw. What truly a waste when canned.

Beets probably would never have passed my lips if it were not for my Alpine, TX. garden and a request for me to grow gourmet beets (slicing red beets, gold beets, chiogga and white beets). Well I grew these beets and when it came time to harvest I tried to contact this person and she would not return my call. What to do??

Deb found a recipe that called for roasting the beets. We roasted them until the sugars caramelized on them and then quickly devoured them while raving how wonderful they were. Neither one of us knew what a wonderful treat they can be.

It has given me pause to revisit some of my more unfavorable veggie experiences. For the most part the revisiting has been favorable but I must say neither okra or spaghetti squash have made it onto my menu. I have recently tried them with the same appeal as before. Guess that leaves more for other folks to eat.

I guess where I am going with this is that childhood memories can be quite powerful and hard to overcome but who knows what wonderful tasty things you might be missing if you were to try them once again from a fresh harvested and prepared perspective. It could very easily knock your socks off.

Well it does look like winter has come again what with the recent chill down. Sadly summer veggies are gone for another year. This week has been a bit of a challenge trying to prepare for the cold, harvest and take care of civic duties. Lucky for me I was called to jury duty and with 30 as my number I won the lottery so to speak. Needless to say I have not gotten as much harvested as I would like. The fore cast low for Thursday is in the teens and the high is only expected to reach 39. As I write this it is 25. If the high is 39, the fabric will remain frozen to the ground. If this happens I will not be able to have Friday deliveries because I will be harvesting and preping for market. In the event that I am unable to harvest, I will send out an updated veggie list latter today for those folks that would like to place orders for Saturday market pick up.