vegetables

On May 1st, 2012, PEAS, PEAS, PEAS…

Sundown peas on the roof

…yes, yes, yes.

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On April 28th, 2012, A ROOFTOP GARDEN REPORT…

late spring rooftop garden bounty

…while looking back at January 16, March 2, and April 7th updates gives me new appreciation for the speed of dirt to wild native fields and dense veg beds.

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By Fritz Haeg on April 28, 2012 | gardens
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On April 7th, 2012, ANOTHER ROOFTOP GARDEN REPORT…

today's rooftop garden with wildflowers, succulent rocky slopes, and veggies

…follows on the heels of others from Jan 16 and Mar 2, and today the reports are coming in of wildflower blooms, big fat broccoli heads, more kale than a kale-lover can consume, lines of leafy greens getting harder to keep up with by the day, meager strawberry harvests that allow for little more than a nibble on alternate days, onions that are shooting up, snap peas that are climbing the fence and putting out subtle white flowers, plus ambitious collards, early eggplants, and tangy parsley…

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On March 1st, 2012, FIRST KALE OF THE COOL SEASON ROOFTOP CROPS…

garden kale ready for the soup

…is ready – and though it pains me to remove those pretty leaves in lots of shades of green from the garden – it’s also one of my favorite foods, an extremely critical addition to the spelt, lentil, carrot, leek, parsley, garlic, pot of soup stewing on the stove, so I’m just back from the harvest and in it goes.

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By Fritz Haeg on March 1, 2012 | food
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On February 2nd, 2012, BROCCOLI ON THE ROOF…

dusty brocolli green growing on the roof

…was planted a few weeks ago in the new terraced beds I labored over for weeks, now finally paying off with some evidence of slow February vegetable growth, plus that lovely spectrum of dusty peculiar shades green only seen in cool-season crops.

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On January 19th, 2012, LA WINTER SOUP…

bright veggies waiting to be soup

…is everything you want, using whatever is available, becoming whatever you need it to be, lasting for a while, feeding whoever shows up, and my weekly drill these days – and for dinner parties – gathering up all of the great soup-friendly produce at the local Atwater Village Farmers Market on Sundays, sautéing things like onions, squash, carrots, leeks, in olive oil, adding water to the soup pot, and then filling up with everything else that wants to join, like tomatoes, parsley, potatoes, parsnip, kale, spinach, garlic, etc. plus a little peperoncini for kick and salt to taste, then always always a mix of dry lentils and spelt.

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By Fritz Haeg on January 19, 2012 | food
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On October 22nd, 2011, ŁÓDŹ TOWER BLOCKS AND VEGETABLE MARKETS…

Łódź tower and market

…oppressive and quaint, global and local, dominating and warm, standing side by side, on the same street, duking it out.

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By Fritz Haeg on October 22, 2011 | architecture, food
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On May 31st, 2011, THE INTERNATIONAL MARKET…

exotic veggies at Roman market

…near Termini is a destination this morning after tours of the playground of a nearby elementary school and the roof of an institution for the mentally handicapped – possible future homes for my Roman rooftop garden which will have to be relocated when I leave at the end of July.

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By Fritz Haeg on May 31, 2011 | food
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April 23rd, 2011, FAVAS…

fresh favas twice de-nuded: served fresh they should be shelled from the pod and then de-skinned

…from the Roman rooftop - shelled twice and served fresh with pecorino are the classic May 1st Roman picnic dish – which we are enjoying a week early tonight.

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By Fritz Haeg on April 23, 2011 | food
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On October 26th, 2010, DINNER WITH ALICE WATERS…

cold season row covers at the American Academy in Rome kitchen gardens

…at the American Academy in Rome tonight (over the delightful food prepared in the kitchen she revolutionized, and presided over by the indomitable indefatigable Mona Talbott) was a highlight of autumnal Rome for me , as we sat for 3 hours absorbed in conversation about food, art, gardens, and culture occasionally interrupted by animated stories of people we both love and admire like the brilliant Peter Sellars – who she had to drop everything for in the middle of the meal to have a picture of the two of us taken by her assistant Verun with her iPhone to immediately send to Peter and let him know we were both thinking of him – and at some point in the future I might get my hands on that photo of us smiling in the Academy dining room and post it here, but in the mean time I share with you the image of the plastic row covers installed over the new seedlings in the kitchen garden this morning as the night time temperatures drop towards 45 degrees – but I like the way they look – as if you mean business, like mini radical 1970′s counter-cultural architecture.

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On August 27th, 2010, MACDOWELL COLONY VEGETABLE GARDEN…

the MacDowell Colony vegetable garden

…is looking great towards the end of the season, producing butternut squash, tomatoes, and lots of leafy greens.

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By Fritz Haeg on August 27, 2010 | gardens
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On June 8th, 2010, ROOFTOP VEGGIE SURPRISE…

the beginnings of the wild rooftop kitchen garden with a squash plant of mysterious origins (butternut?) in the foreground

…is what I am calling this season’s kitchen garden which began with mixing up in a container all of the seeds for edibles that I have been collecting for the last few years but not able to plant, and spreading them around generously on the extremely fertile soil, newly covered with a thick layer of fresh compost, on my rooftop planting area – which is enclosed by thick trellised passionflower vines – and I have no idea where most of the seeds came from, what might pop up, and it’s been fun to try to figure out what is going on in this wild garden, and then eat whatever happens.

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On February 12th, 2010, GARDEN RESTRICTIONS IN WAYZATA, MN…

Headline from today's Star Tribune about new garden restrictions in Wayzata, MN

…a suburb of my hometown of Minneapolis, is considering an ordinance to limit vegetable, fruit, and herbs in the front yard to 10 square feet – as reported by master gardener Rhonda Fleming Hayes in the Minneapolis St. Paul Star Tribune – I’d love to post a list of other communities with similar restrictions – do you know of any?

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By Fritz Haeg on February 12, 2010 | gardens
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On February 9th, 2010, THE EXPANDED SECOND EDITION OF “EDIBLE ESTATES: ATTACK ON THE FRONT LAWN”…

The cover of the new expanded 2nd edition of "Edible Estates: Attack on the Front Lawn" featuring before and after photos by Leslie Furlong of gardener Clarence Ridgley in his Regional Prototype Garden #6 in Baltimore, Maryland

…arrived in the mail last night – the first advance copy of the new book from Metropolis Books and DAP which will be out in stores by early April – and I am so excited about all of the new content including essays by Will Allen of Growing Power and Eric Sanderson of The Mannahatta Project, chapters on all eight gardens, and new stories from the gardeners in London, Austin, Baltimore, Los Angeles, and New York City. (book webpage)

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By Fritz Haeg on February 9, 2010 | books
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On February 8th, 2010, THE GERMINATRIX (IVETTE SOLER)…

Ivette Soler, aka The Germinatrix, defending her Los Angeles front yard garden.

…came over for tea and conversation about growing food, starting yoga, and an exciting new gardening book she’s working on which will be out next year, in the mean time you can follow her Germinatrix blog.

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By Fritz Haeg on February 8, 2010 | gardens
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On February 1st, 2010, SQUASH SOUP…

Close-up depiction of today's Butternut Squash Soup

…is stewing on the stove – and like my other favorite dishes these days, is primarily about one great fresh local ingredient with minimal preparation and very little else – started with baking halved squash (butternut today) with whole garlic and olive oil, which is then pureed and added to a pot of sauteed onions, which then gets lots of chopped fresh parsley and sage with salt and pepper.

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By Fritz Haeg on February 1, 2010 | food
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On January 3rd, 2010, BEETROOT, KALE & SQUASH…

Beets; Russian & Curly Kale; Butternut & Kombucha Squash arranged for a family portrait.

…are filling bags from the farmer’s market today, and seem to be all I crave lately, which is remarkable since they are the very few things that I despised, refused to eat, would dramatically gag on (especially beets) at the dinner table growing up, and in fact only recently have I developed a taste for them, even just by themselves, kale steamed, and squash & beetroot roasted with just a bit of olive oil and salt, heaven.

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By Fritz Haeg on January 3, 2010 | food
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