• about
  • blog
    • adventure
    • mother
    • garden
    • ritual
    • cook
    • podcasts
  • handcrafted / gift bundles
  • shop
  • CONTACT
  • about
  • blog
    • adventure
    • mother
    • garden
    • ritual
    • cook
    • podcasts
  • handcrafted / gift bundles
  • shop
  • CONTACT
hello there
July 23, 2013

I had planned to get a few scheduled posts in the queue for this week. I’ve not done that before and it didn’t happen. Now I am here with dozens of my relatives.

It’s an annual pilgrimage not far from where we live. Slow and easy like a cat’s purr, we tell stories, jump in the lake, shuffle along the old gravel paths between old cabins. And repeat. For a week.

More on this place and time later; Now, I’ll share a simple recipe I made last week with our first cauliflower harvest.

Suddenly, my garden is its own ecosystem. First tomatoes and tomatillos plucked and sunwarm, eaten on the spot. Piles of peas, vines paying no attention to their tidy beds. Nasturtiums and cauliflower like planets orbiting the sun of pole beans. I am a goofy, giddy gardener discovering my ripe food. Each time I say well hello there! They wave back. My kids say say it now as well. Try it; it’s fun.


Well hello there!

I am still pushing vegetable starts in the ground. I can’t help it. At nurseries, I see the tables of depressed cucs, a big sign over their limp, yellowed bodies reading $4  $2  2 for $1.

I am also experimenting with what seeds I can plant right now. I yanked up the bolted spinach and have a few holes where corn didn’t germinate. I don’t yet thoroughly know this new space but I do have a few spots that hold shade for several hot afternoon hours so I am planting some carrots and kale. I might try beets too. It’s so much about experimentation. I could grow lettuce all summer in my previous garden because I learned all the different cooler nooks that discouraged bolting. That might be harder here as my plot is very hot, very exposed. Excellent for setting fruit, hard to germinate in July. But I know it can be done and I am an eager student of this land.







What successive planting works for you? Do you have any ideas for me? Please share!

I had planned to steam and purée our first cauliflower with butter and salt. But our immersion blender broke and I couldn’t get it chopped up enough. Instead, I made a damn good salad with – wait for it – KALE! I can’t get enough kale. Surely, I am addicted.

Kale Cauliflower Salad

one head cauliflower, in floret chunks
one big fistful kale, leaves separated from tough center vein and ripped to pieces
1/4 cup fresh dill, chopped
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
2 cups snap peas
ranch dressing (we like Newman’s Own or make your own)

Steam cauliflower florets and peas until soft. Remove from heat and run under cold water. Separate out the peas and cut each pea pod into 4 or 5 pieces using scissors. Purée (or chop up with a pastry cutter) cauliflower with a few tablespoons (more?) ranch dressing. Set aside. In your salad bowl, mix torn kale, dill and parsley and peas. Add cauliflower purée, toss and serve.


Wishing you all a lovely week.

xo,
dig

Share

mother  / Uncategorized

15 Comments


Ali
July 23, 2013 at 8:37 AM

Hello Montana Garden Queen…

Your garden is lush. But more than that, you love it into life, and then you feed your family the food it grows, grown with love. The neatest, most caring circle of all. Echoes of my own brilliant mother.
Good luck finding the lettuce-loving shady spots!

Ali, sending you greetings from another perfect alpine day



Claire
July 23, 2013 at 10:23 AM

Oh, love these pictures – from arid, urban London they look like pure joy!



Kate
July 23, 2013 at 10:30 AM

Your photos from the lake are gorgeous. Hasn’t this summer been glorious?

Have you ever tried shade cloth over rows you want to keep cool? Just bend some stiff wire into arches tall enough to give your plants some head room and fasten white garden shade material (similar to lightweight non-woven interfacing) over the hoops. I use #9 galvanized wire, because I have miles of it left over from fencing the pastures; your farm supply store will have it in smaller hanks. A bolt cutter snips through it like butter.

I hope a lucky neighbor has free pickings on all that garden bounty while you’re away!



Melina
July 23, 2013 at 11:53 AM

I love kale, too. kale chips and kale in my smoothies. kale is the rage these days!

Enjoy your lovely, sun soaked week!

xo
lina



clove's corner
July 23, 2013 at 3:23 PM

Yeah! I’m totally into (I mean, experimenting with) succession planting this year. I have a little “winter” plot with late-maturing kale, cabbage, leeks, parsley…. My one mistake so far has been ripping up the bolted arugula, mixing-in a little compost, getting ready to plant another green…and, well, the arugula was in the shade of the peas and I got too close, disturbed the pea roots and now I have NO PEAS! Bah! Lesson learned. I’ll be planting more carrots, beets, turnips and lettuce greens today. (Last year I did a final planting in the first week of August and it was *too late*…things grew but never fully matured–it was lettuce, spinach and beets, mostly.) But our nights are so much colder than yours, so you may have better luck. (According to some websites, our “frost-free” growing season is negative 3 days! I counted 72 last year. This year we’re on day 31 so far : ) Makes it hard, but damn, I still try. I love a good challenge. Good luck, can’t wait to see what you do. And man, have fun at the lake!



kellyn
July 23, 2013 at 4:40 PM

In MA I do peas again in August – they’re not nearly as amazing the second time around – but maybe you’ll have more luck in MT…

I’ve also done brassicas by seed in July for the fall.

Could you start lettuce in the shade of your tomatoes, tomatillos or pole beans?

Happy gardening!



Shelby
July 23, 2013 at 6:00 PM

I am planting carrots beets, turnips, radishes, brassicas! Bok Choy and lettuces. Last summer I had luck with lettuce in the shade of kale. Love your site.



Lex
July 23, 2013 at 8:15 PM

Completely jealous of your garden. I really meant to do better this year, buuut … *sigh*

Glad to hear you’re still pushing things in the ground, though. I wondered if it was too late for that. Now I feel a little less crazy. Might just try … 🙂



mir
July 24, 2013 at 6:15 AM

zucchinis are always a good idea, we plant them every year and just have to weeding.



Carey
July 24, 2013 at 11:29 AM

Hello Nici,
Found your blog from etst and I love coming here for a read:-) Your garden is beautiful. How do you keep weeds out??? Enjoy your week soaking up family!



sian
July 24, 2013 at 12:47 PM

It all looks so amazing!



Tiffany
July 24, 2013 at 2:08 PM

Oh this is perfect timing. Thanks for sharing and I can’t wait to try this recipe!



Jaim
July 25, 2013 at 10:36 PM

Lovely…family, fish and floats. Soak up this week!



Stacey
July 26, 2013 at 2:58 PM

Lovely photos. Have a great time at the lake with family! It looks like an ideal spot to relax and soak it all up. 🙂



Jennifer
July 28, 2013 at 6:40 PM

I cannot imagine how many times you will all say “well hello there!” when you return from the lake. Enjoy!



  • hello and welcome

    I’m Nici (pronounced like Nikki) and I live in western Montana where I raise kids, vegetables and the roof.

  • Join Me Here

  • shop Dig + Co

  • heirloom kitchen

    • Heirloom Kitchen 04 > Make Tortillas
      January 31, 2017
    • heirloom kitchen 03 > clean yo sink
      June 6, 2014
    • heirloom kitchen 02 > oatmeal
      May 5, 2014
    • heirloom kitchen 01 > make soup
      April 1, 2014

  • hump day nuggets

    • nuggets: put together/not put together
      May 18, 2017
    • nuggets: holiday
      January 3, 2017
    • hump day nuggets: your heart beating in your whole...
      September 7, 2016
    • nuggets: moonshadow
      April 26, 2016
    • nuggets: finally it's the first day of spring!
      April 5, 2016
    • hump day nuggets: ritual
      October 14, 2015
    • hump day nuggets: full-on(ly)
      July 8, 2015
    • putzing: deck nuggets
      June 1, 2015

  • montana

    • Into the Great Wide Open
      August 18, 2016
    • The Tree of Generations
      July 31, 2016
    • Somewhere between Elsa and Katy Perry
      August 12, 2014
    • There's Nothing To Be Afraid Of Sister
      July 31, 2014
    • ajeeb
      January 22, 2014

  • Archives



  • BLOG CATEGORIES

    Adventure

    Mother

    Garden

    Ritual

    Cook

    Podcasts


dig this chick copyright 2020 / all rights reserved / you may not take any images or content from this site without written permission