Ever since I was a little lad I loved working with the soil and growing things. I grew up in a small town just outside Kansas City. We had several acres so there was plenty of room to garden. I can remember when I was in my teens my father planted a garden that just exploded. It seriously feed the whole neighborhood and we still had vegetables and tomatoes we couldn’t use and had to constantly try to find people to give the food away to. Tomato plants that were taller than me, zucchini squash by the hundreds. We loved to work in the garden together as a family. It was always great quality time.
I learned to love vegetables back then. I hated the winter time because I couldn’t just go out to the garden and pick what I wanted to eat. In the winter we had to buy all those fresh vegetables at the grocery store and that was expensive. (Local farmers markets weren’t around yet, or at least I didn’t know where to find them?)
So now you have a brief history of my gardening with family. When I grew up and got married this was something I wanted to make sure my kids learned also. Everywhere we lived we planted gardens. I planted fruit trees and our yard was planted with different varieties of tomatoes all over the place. Our landscape was always something you could eat. I went on to raise 4 children and we always had a garden growing. It was so nice to just go out and pick what we wanted.
It wasn’t until I was working as a Chef that I discovered culinary herbs. I learned just how much difference there was in fresh culinary herbs compared to the dried stuff (I call it stuff because sometimes I swear it was just some weeds someone dried out and called a culinary herb.) The flavor difference is like comparing hamburger to beef filet mignon.
I also remember how anxious I was when planning my culinary herb garden. Could I actually grow culinary herbs that tasted like the ones I would buy for the hotel or restaurants I worked as Chef at? I got my kids involved. We started some seed in egg cartons we saved. The kids had so much fun watching the little plants sprout up from the egg cartons. They would watch with anticipation of the “actual planting”. Then we would cut the egg cartons up and slice an X in the bottom of them for the roots to grow out of.
The boys would till the ground and turn up the compost. “They didn’t always like that job so much. LOL. But, when the “egg pots” (what I called them) were ready to go the kids would plant them in the areas I planned out. As they grew they became absolutely gorgeous landscape. It was wonderful to go out and pick off a piece of the plant and rub in between my fingers and smell the aroma they emitted. I could smell just how they were going to add just the right touch to dishes I would prepare with them.
Because my kids grew up with culinary herb gardens they all learned the importance of growing what you can and utilizing local markets when you couldn’t grow your own. They all loved being in the kitchen cooking with the stuff we got out of the garden. They all have become good cooks. The time together in the garden and in the kitchen because part of our heritage. I would like to challenge you to make it part of your heritage as well. If you don’t have property where you can plant your own garden, most communities have community gardens now. Check online and see if one is close to you and what you need to do to become part of it. Or another option is to get some pots and grow kits from your local big box hardware store and grow indoors or on the deck or porch. You don’t have to own acres to grow culinary herbs and a few vegetables.
My kids are all raised and away now. I really miss the time we had together in the garden. But, I still get phone calls asking what do I do with this herb or that herb. Or how do I make this or that. My family all know my passion for food and many of them share that same passion. I am really grateful for that. We have a get together at my parent’s house almost every Sunday. We plan a theme and everyone brings something they have made. It is always a feast of new and unusual foods.
Have you heard of Bountiful Baskets? It is something my sister introduced me to. They are a local community program when you can buy into shares of community crops. They distribute the goodies weekly. You should do a check online to see if anyone in your area has set up a site yet. You will get things you have never heard of, and then you can ask me what do I do with this?
I hope you have enjoyed the article. I look forward to your questions on new things you find at your local market and gardening questions related to food.