Harvest in April

Even tho I haven't finished turning over the grass in my garden plot, I had my first harvest of the season today.

There is a perennial and herb garden at my community garden. In this garden are two giant rhubarb plants. One is starting to flower, which our coordinator has never seen rhubarb do. While one of the gardeners doesn't think we should let it go to seed, we are considering letting it flower just to see what they look like, then cutting them off before they seed. Anyway, the other rhubarb was crying out to have some stalks harvested. So I did. I plucked seven fat stalks off, with the intention of bringing them home, cutting them all up and freezing them.

So I did just that. But I remembered that last year I made a rhubarb relish/chutney/sauce to go with pork chops. But I couldn't find the recipe (haha...didn't try looking here...wonder if it is here?). So I looked for a new one. Pinterest to the rescue! The recipe, from marthastewart.com, was for four. I am solo tonight as Cupcake is at her dads. So I kind of halved the recipe and cooked one chop (I sprinkled some ground coriander on my chop as another recipe did). My only gripe is that the recipe called for "2 large stalks of rhubarb." Most rhubarb at the store is half the size of the ones I picked. Wish the recipe included a measurement rather than a quantity. Moving on. The recipe has shallots, garlic, ginger, fresh thyme (also from the herb garden), red wine, balsamic vinegar, maple syrup, and chicken stock. And rhubarb, of course. It was yum. Some other recipes mentioned their sauce would be good with sharp cheese or goat cheese. So I made mashed potatoes with goat cheese, and sprinkled some goat cheese on the chop. Mmmmmmmm.....

Pork Chops with Rhubarb Compote
(From marthastewart.com)

4 boneless pork loin chops (1-inch-thick)
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
4 teaspoons olive oil
2 shallots, halved and thinly sliced (I finely chopped mine)
2 cloves minced garlic
1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
1 teaspoon finely chopped thyme leaves
1 cup red wine
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons maple syrup
2 large stalks rhubarb, diced in 1/2-inch pieces
1/2 cup Brown Chicken Stock (I used regular)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Pat pork chops dry and season with salt and pepper. Heat 2 teaspoons oil in a large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat; add pork chops and cook, turning once, until nicely browned, about 2 minutes per side. Transfer to oven and roast until just cooked through, about 8 minutes. Transfer pork chops to a plate and keep warm.

3. Meanwhile, heat remaining 2 teaspoons oil in a medium skillet. Add shallots, garlic, ginger, and thyme and cook over medium-high heat, stirring, until softened, about 1 minute. Add wine and cook until reduced by half; add balsamic, maple syrup, chicken stock, and rhubarb. Cook until rhubarb has softened, 7 to 8 minutes. Add butter and swirl until melted and well combined; season with salt and pepper.

4. Divide pork chops evenly between 4 plates and top with compote; serve immediately.

I think spring has sprung!

Just over a week ago, I signed up for one of the last available plots at the Ferndale Friendship Community Gardens. Our plot is about 7'x15'. When I got it, it looked like this:

All that grass is used as a winter cover crop, to help reduce soil erosion, and fertilize the soil. The gardens are organic, so no chemical fertilizers allowed. So the first thing I had to do was chop all that grass up and turn it under. I will admit to pulling a lot of it out, as it had all been turned under once already about 3 weeks earlier and had grown back. Once that was done, we put a couple inches of compost on top. The Girl (aka M) was a big help, as she enjoyed using the big shovel and the wheelbarrow to fetch, which was a good thing, as my back was killing me from turning the while garden over the day before.

The next day (Saturday), we planted our first seeds...a couple kinds of lettuce, radishes, carrots, kale, and onions in the garden bed, and in cell pots in the green house we planted summer squash, bush beans, sugar snap peas, and Brussels sprouts. And yesterday, we had sprouts! Lettuce, kale and radishes in the plot, and bean, pea, and brussels sprouts in the green house!

Then today, we went to Van Wingerden nursery to get free starts. The nursery was giving away starts in the understanding that we would share our harvest with the Ferndale Food Bank. We got 12 free starts! We got 5 more lettuces, 3 cherry tomatoes, a green pepper, and 3 red cabbages. I also bought 2 everbearing strawberry plants (since that is the first thing M stated she wanted to plant if we got a garden). Isn't it pretty?

Hopefully, my brown thumb is solely due to lack of experience and skill, as opposed to truly being unable to garden. There are several people at the community garden I can ask for help, which I fully intend to do! Wish me luck in growing a bountiful harvest...which we will share with the food bank, neighbors, friends...