The Modern Victory Garden

Tuesday was my birthday and because it was mid week, we kept to a simple celebration of a nice dinner at home.   I harvested the first of the 2009 brussel sprouts so that we could enjoy some young sprouts sautéed in olive oil and butter along with our stuffed pork chops (bread stuffing with herbs, dried cranberries, onions, and mushrooms).   While the pork chops were wonderful, the brussel sprouts were the real highlight of the meal – tender and sweet.                  

With the full onset of fall, fresh picked garden produce for the evening meals are less frequent and an increased amount of preserved or stored items are being put into use.   I have to force myself to use preserved items and not over harvest the fall/winter crops by leaning on them too hard and too early.    I much prefer fresh produce over frozen or stored, but the fall and winter crops are essentially in a state of suspended growth (brought to maturity before the short cold days slow the growth to essentially nothing) and will not replenish once harvested.   It is important therefore, to pace the usage of the fresh produce supply so that it provides a steady supplement to the pantry and freezer items all through the coming months.   For the month of October (to date) fresh harvested produce was used in approximately 50% of our dinner meal preparations and frozen or stored items in the other half.   That’s pretty typical for us during the fall and winter months and is a good pace of consumption of both the preserved/stored items and the fall and winter crops. 

Now I am just going to have to exercise restraint and try to keep some brussel sprouts available for Thanksgiving!