Like anything you grow at home- ginger just tastes better than store bought. And with how much I love ginger’s bold and distinct flavor of course I grow it. Plus, growing an exotic, tropical plant up in zones 3 and 4 is pretty darn empowering.
Then there’s the fact that most ginger sold in the U.S. is imported from China, Brazil or Thailand…and has been grown without much regulation and then shipped thousands of miles. Add in that is a beautiful plant that smells amazing and you’ve got to try growing this at least once!
Ginger Botany
Zingiber Officinale roscoe Classified as an aromatic herb, the part of the ginger plant we most often eat is called a rhizome, the underground stem of a plant. But with homegrown ginger you can enjoy the stems as well- I chop the stems and enjoy them in tea!
Native to Southeast Asia this plant likes if hot and humid. So if you have a greenhouse you’re a step ahead, but dedicating your warmest space to this plant should get you a happy harvest too. Growing ginger is an 8-10 month project, so we try to get started at the end of January here in Minnesota zone 4. And yes, these plants will be LARGE before they head outside, so plan for space similar to a tomato and they may even have to stay inside longer.
Here’s A Ginger Growing Timeline
Jan 20-Feb 20- Start soaking your rhizomes
Jan 27- Feb 27 pot up into soil, in a tray to sprout
March 1-15 pot up again into deeper pots with ample space
June 1- 15 Once temps are 65+F outside, you can move to final growing space outdoors
I’m finally slowing down enough to take the time to get in that frame of mind where I can rewind and somewhat clearly peer back at 2022, the year in review.
Thankful for 2022
I distinctly remember being so very grateful for the late spring as I was frantically writing/editing/revising so many pages (so many times) along with Stephanie Thurow for our upcoming book, Small-Scale Homesteading.
I felt lucky that the maple sap held off until we got back from our March vacations. We brought home and raised a new brood of chicks into a healthy, happy (and spoiled) backyard flock. I took my local Master Gardener coursework and completed 50+ hours of volunteer hours. I helped grow vegetables and flowers at my son’s elementary school.
New Additions to the Homestead last Spring
We took time up north in Minnesota to walk through and wonder at creation. I taught classes on companion planting, composting, growing garlic, garden planning and preserving the harvest, wrote for magazines new and old. I got to manage our 6th annual Winter Farmers Markets. My family all got Influenza A at the same time and we nursed each other back to health with homegrown remedies. And I grew as much food as ever- including so many new favorites.
We celebrated life as we lived it. What a year both in and out of the garden!
Click HERE to watch some fly-over drone footage of the garden from this summer.
Making your own infused spirits to add flair to your cocktails is simple and fun!
I love playing in the kitchen – being able to coax out intense or subtle flavors from high quality ingredients lets you taste the herbs and spices in new ways! infusing spirits feels like magic to me…
And magic is always a good gift to give!
Remember to save a jar or two so you can gift yourself as well 😉
I’ve gotten rave reviews from friends who’ve sipped the results of these infusions so far. They are simple to put together and fun to give- and better than the store-bought versions in so many ways (especially because you can pronounce all the ingredients!). Plus, they can shine bright in their presentation, or be as homey as you like!
For more holiday gift ideas visit my Gift Guide to give from the heart
Gather Ingredients
Similar to mixing and matching herbs for teas from dried-up leaves, Infusing imparts flavors (or healing properties like in calendula oil for making salve.) without the heat. Letting herbs and spices impart their flavor at room temperature takes longer- but also brings with it subtler scents and layers of flavor.
I have just started seeing these kits in a few specialty shops and farmers markets and they are not cheap! But luckily, making them at home is quite inexpensive.
If making for yourself, you can use fresh ingredients (fresh orange or apple slices and cherries) but these make really fun gifts when fully dehydrated ingredients are added to the jars. Gifting dehydrated ingredients let’s the person who receives the gift choose when they want to make the infusion themselves. You can gift with a bottle of spirits or without.
I love a versatile soup – and this broccoli soup can be tweaked so many ways, from silky smooth puree to a hearty chunky pottage, to cheesy and creamy decadence –but it all starts with some beautiful broccoli!
Start with the Best Broccoli
Broccoli is one of our family’s favorite garden veggies to grow. So much so that my boys will even go patrol for cabbage worms, the little green guys that can ravage this plant if left to their own munching.
I also love that when we eat broccoli, we’re eating the immature flower buds! I used to tell my boys they were eating broccoli bouquets, and I like to think that helped them grow in their love for this powerhouse veggie.
I’ve had good luck growing Bellstar, Emerald Crown and Green Magic varieties of broccoli in our zone 4 gardens (all from Johnny’s Seeds).
Harvesting Tip** Soak your broccoli florets in salty water (1 TBSP in a bowl of water) for a few minutes so any creepy crawlies float to the top!
Because it is a family favorite veggie, we grow a lot of broccoli and usually have some frozen to use during the winter months. And while we love many veggies from green beans to corn simply heated and eaten as side dishes straight from the freezer, I find broccoli needs a little extra love once frozen.
Soup is the perfect spin!
In addition to the blanched and frozen broccoli from the garden, I’m also saving broccoli stems all season to use in this broccoli soup. To make the best use of them, peel the ‘skin’ from the tender part of the stems closer to the buds. Toss the woody part (further down the stem) into the compost. These add great bulk and flavor to soups. And by peeling, you’ll get rid of the most gas-inducing part of the broccoli!
My secret ingredient in so many pureed soups is a little cream cheese, it adds such a depth of flavor and pairs well with broccoli.
You can keep it really simple, and even skip the pureeing, if you like it chunky. If leaving this kind of soup chunky, make sure to not overcook the vegetables. You can also add up to half cauliflower if preferred. See, super flexible soups really are the best!
I’ve added the white beans and/or potatoes as a way to thicken this soup without adding gluten, and I like the flavor better too. Leave out the cream/cheese if you want to keep it dairy free or vegan.
Best Broccoli Soup Recipe
Ingredients:
1 medium yellow onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1-2 celery ribs, chopped
1-2 Yellow/White Carrots (optional)
1 tsp thyme
1-2 cups shredded zucchini (optional but great thickener)
2-3 Yukon Gold potatoes, chopped
4-5 cups broccoli stems and florets (frozen is fine)
6 cups chicken (or Veggie) stock
½ cup white beans (optional)
1 cup milk or, ½ cup of half and half, or ¼ cup of cream cheese
Salt + pepper to taste
Olive oil to sauté
Our family’s favorite garnishes for this best broccoli soup are roasted chickpeas, pea shoots, green onion- and of course always served with toasted bread.
Directions:
Chop veggies into desired sizes, considering if you’ll be pureeing.
Sauté onions for a few minutes, then add garlic, thyme + celery.
A few minutes later add the shredded zucchini, potatoes and stock, and if you have lots of good broccoli stems, add those in now as well, simmer for 10 minutes.
Then add in broccoli florets and cook for another 5-10. Or if pureeing, add florets at same time, cooking for 10-15 minutes total.
You can puree some stock with the white beans to thicken, or add milk, half and half or cream cheese while pureeing as well.
Have fun garnishing, we love to sprinkle microgreens on top of our soups! And make sure that bread is extra toasty!
For more Very Veggie Soup Recipes, check out my RECIPE page. I’m also perfecting a “Broccoli Leaf Soup” recipe – stay tuned for that deeply flavorful and nutrient packed recipe!
This makes excellent leftovers and keeps in the fridge for a few days.
Who doesn’t love a good two for one? I’m here to show you that you can have your squash and eat the seeds too!
So many of us skip over roasting squash and pumpkin seeds because we’ve had a bad experience… maybe you did it once and they were well, stringy, chewy, like eating straw… and just not very good at all.
Well, that probably comes down to two main problems-
The wrong seed.
The wrong preparation.
So let’s get you back on track to using all of that pumpkin/squash/gourd! And if you’re into squash like I am, check out my Pumpkin Spice cake recipe, and my Winter Squash Lasagna recipe too!
I never met a zucchini I didn’t like. I’ll grill them, relish them, pickle them and freeze them all season long. But at least once (or twice) a summer I’ll bake up a storm with them too. And over the years I’ve tried and loved many versions of zucchini breads and desserts- but I think I’ve settled on this as my favorite. Adding some fresh whipped cream and sour cherry sauce doesn’t hurt either…
Cucurbit What? All squash and zucchini are in the Cucurbit family (along with cucumbers, melons, gourds etc.) All zucchini are squash, but not all squash are zucchini…
There are few crops as funky, dependable and well loved as garlic. For good reasons too! Garlic, and the other bulbs in the Allium family (like onions and shallots) add the base flavor to meals the world over. They’re easy to grow, easy to store and easy to cook with.
Humans have been cultivating garlic for over 7,000 years! In that time, we’ve selected variations in flavor, size, growth habits to come up with roughly 700 current varieties.
Welcome to summer at its best – Fresh Garden to Table Eating that celebrates so many of our favorite flavors of the season!
This is a great flexible recipe that can be changed to what you have on hand.
We eat this is as a chilled meal during high summer. While some might call it a salad, I see it as more of a base to add other things to; from leftover grilled chicken, some sourdough slathered with pesto… We’ve also added cooked and cooled cannellini beans to this for a protein boost. If you add beans, plan to add more dressing to keep the flavors balanced.
We’ve garnished with balsamic vinegar, pesto, fresh mozzarella, parmesan, olives, or whatever Italian flavors feel right that night. The main idea with this meal is to let the flavors from the garden shine. All the herbs in this recipe are easy to grow.
You can make this with regular pasta or use zucchini noodles (zoodles) or both if you have split family preferences like we do.
Filling your basket with fresh picked herbs is one of those garden routines. It is by far one of the more glamorous parts of gardening (much better than mixing compost or weeding, right!?!) so don’t skip this joyful garden practice.
Whether you are growing herbs for cooking, herbal tea or the medicine chest there are a few tips to harvesting and preserving that I’ve learned along the way…
Favorite Homestead Herbs
Here are a few of my favorite (which also happen to be the easiest) herbs to grow. Watch a recent video of me harvesting herbs growing in my garden HERE on my @forksinthedirt Instagram.
As sunlight hours (if not warmer temps) return to Minnesota, so do the backyard eggs. This gluten free Strata recipe is a beautiful way celebrate the return of spring and fresh eggs. It is also a healthy family favorite, and a great way to sneak in all kinds of veggies.
On Our Suburban Homestead
I love how our chickens help keep us in tune with nature’s cycles. If you’ve been interested in starting a backyard flock of your own, or want to learn where you can buy local farm fresh eggs, I’ve got you covered. This is a family favorite for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Especially when the boys go and collect the eggs then crack them right into the mixing bowl!
