For those who know me well, hearing me talk about kale is not a new thing. Every Friday, spud! staff get a sampling of extra produce from the week, and I can often be seen bartering with my co-workers to get one more bunch of kale (I think my record is 5). I’ll trade any of the dairy products that might have made it into my box (things that are close to their expiration date or that we no longer sell) for my green and leafy obsession. I’ve even found blogs to follow of people who share my devotion to kale.
my garden, currently
But it wasn’t always this way. I didn’t become wholly smitten by this vegetable until 2006, when I lived on the Sunshine Farm in Chelan, WA. Kale was one of the veggies that most often had extras, or had some leaves that we couldn’t sell, and just like at spud!, Sunshine staff got to eat all the ‘seconds’ that we couldn’t sell. And what really put me over the edge was a dish of massage kale from a local caterer and chef. It was a really basic recipe, just ribbons of raw kale, citrus and then a light dressing. And I was hooked. Massaging kale with citrus marinates it and breaks down some of the cell walls so that it gets all tender and delicious. I also like doing it with different vinegars, with my current favourite combination being ume plum vinegar with shredded nori, toasted sesame oil and sesame seeds for topping.
I’ve had kale stewed, braised, boiled, steamed, dehydrated into chips, used to wrap filling, mixed into soup, smoothies, and of course in salads. I have a preference between some of the different types of kale (dino kale for salads, curly kale for chips) and I do sometimes tend to get a bit preachy to my partner when he turns up his nose at the 3rd dish of kale for the week. And all of this obsession has led me to decide to grow my own this summer.
red wigglers joining my gardening team
Although I can say that I lived on a farm, but I didn’t have much to do with the actual growing and planting of the food. I just focused on selling everything my farming roommates grew. We did have a garden when I was little, living in Calgary, but with that too, I mostly munched all the peas off the plants, rather than having much to do with the plants actually being places in soil. So, for the first time ever, I started some kale seeds (and 8 other vegetables too) in my apartment last week. I’ve been out of town for much of the week, so I don’t actually know how things are going. Inspired both by David (see his posts from last year about starting an organic garden and how the season went) and by countless tweets and blog posts that have caught my eye about urban gardening, I’m venturing down the same path. I have a bin of red wiggler worms (thanks to City Farmer and the City of Vancouver) with the hopes of some great compost in a few weeks, some balcony boxes and pots, and a whole lot of excitement for my kale!
I’ll be sure to keep you updated as things start growing!
Are you planting anything this summer? What are you growing? What inspired you to start growing your own food? What tips do you have for the rest of the spud! community? Let us know!
