tops and bottoms

the thing i love most about garden beets is you can eat the tops and the bottoms. both are equally delicious and nutritious, and beets are very easy to grow. 

 

i pickled four detriot red beets in one cup of rice vinegar with a pinch of salt, a squirt of agave and a bay leaf. my beets and carrots were planted about 2-3 weeks apart to separate the harvests. four beets and about 16 carrots were planted per square foot.

though we added a 6'x6' and another 4'x4'/2'x2 box, i still felt limited on planting space. the universe heard my wishes and gave us some more soil... at a community garden that just started 3 blocks from our home!

tomorrow we're planting lots of goodies, including watermelon and butternut squash! i'm so excited to share and connect with other gardeners in the neighborhood. we've met the woman in charge, mickey, and a young boy helping with the wood chips - both were super sweet and friendly. yay!=) expect lots more on the community garden!

there's our two rows, measuring 3'x18'. plants were donated to the garden and we scooped up four 'mortgage lifter' tomatoes (ha!) and eight sweetie cherry tomatoes.

so we'll be planting this memorial day weekend and tending to our garden babies =). we'll also meet my sister's new baby puggle, and hopefully get a chance to chit chat with christina pirello, the chef who kick-started my passion for animal-friendly food. she'll be speaking at the american vegan society's 50th anniversary garden party on sunday.

(christina pirello is a local chef (from philadelphia) who hosts an amazing whole foods/plant-based cooking show called Christina Cooks. have you seen it? her show is one of the few i miss since we broke our tv. i told john i think i may feel a little star-struck meeting her in person - we love her!=)

what have you got planned for this weekend? whatever you do, have fun and be safe!

xoxo