Redlands, 21st October, 10:17am, fog

This week marked the return of our own home-grown leafy green salad mix to our dinner table. Filled with a mixture of lemony heirloom sorrel, giant red mustard greens, wild arugula, Nero Di Toscana kale, micro greens, edible flowers, spinach, all  in a bed of  little gem lettuce and bronze mignonette lettuce – this was way more than a salad. It was the return of our main food group.

I can not tell you how many nights this leafy green salad mix becomes the base of our dinner. Some nights, we top it with left-over chicken and enjoy it with TJ raisin rosemary crisps [amazing]. Other nights, it is a delicious side dish to just about any main course.

While the sorrel and arugula grow quite nicely year round, lettuces and kale do not. Leafy greens  taste a whole lot better when it is cooler – not bitter like those grown in the heat.  Yep, this is prime time to get leafy greens into our gardens and on to our tables.

For the next seven months [yes, 7] we can ALL grow leafy greens until our hearts are content [and our palate!] Leafy greens grow super fast [unlike warm season favorites like tomatoes, peppers].We can plant our heirloom starters and in just a matter of a few short weeks, voila, we are EATING HOMEGROWN FOOD!!

This is not a joke. And as you all know by now, these leafy green plants  can  to harvested  again and again. Fast, ecomonical, nutritious, delicious & safe!

As it happens, lettuce is in the news this week, a recall of romaine from a grower here in Northern California. This has got me thinking, about food safety of course but also about the cost of the bagged salad mix and  dependency we have gotten ourselves into on foods we can easily grow ourselves – namely leafy greens. So, when at the grocery store this week, I priced varieties of bagged leafy greens – organic and non-organic and WOW, the average price for 4 oz of leafy salad greens is $4. Really?

These prepackaged blends were not that exciting to me. Sure, the spring mix wasn’t bad, it had arugula and the one that was a blend of 1/2 spinach and the remainder spring greens could work. But let’s face it, the blends are quite expensive and taste nothing like the blends we create at home. Friends, there really is nothing like walking out to your garden and harvesting a little of this and that to create a leafy green mix that is do delicious and satisfying!

Just this morning,  our friend and nursery intern Franco and I  went out into our  garden  and harvested a bag full of mixed greens, he will enjoy for tonite for dinner [he is going to add candied pecans and fresh apples, yum!]. This was personally very rewarding for me. Sure, as a parent myself, I love it when I see young people eating well – especially things they may never have even heard of let alone tasted.  Sharing food that we have grown ourselves with others is such an amazing feeling as well . Perhaps the best part for me  is sharing the end result of our work as growers of heirloom nursery stock – the food that it produces – that is beyond words.

Tomorrow morning at the Redlands farmers market [between 5th & 6th off Redlands Blvd 8-11 a.m] we will be well stocked with a variety of  delicious heirloom leafy green transplants. Getting started can be as simple as picking up just a few plants, tucking them in to your existing raised bed, into a window box, a large container or even growing them in a cardboard box! [want to know more about that last one, let us know!]

Interested in trying the lettuce blend we love so much? Look for it at the farmers market in a few weeks. Fresh, local, heirloom salad greens that are out of this world! It doesn’t get much better.

See your tomorrow and enjoy the day!