Sage seems to be the herb of the week that I'm picking. I'm so happy that my sage plants lived over the winter and some seem to be thriving. I didn't weigh any of this as the little I need for a meal doesn't really weigh anything.
I've used the sage on chicken. In soups.
And in cornbread stuffing. The cornbread was gluten free and vegan. So just OK. But the stuffing came out very very tasty. A bit mushy though. The gluten free breads just don't hold together well. Gluten is such a useful protein. I've got a couple of weeks before I'm trying gluten again so I've been experimenting with gluten free baking.
I dehydrated the last of the sweet potatoes. I'm going to make a sweet potato flour out of it for baking. A lot of gluten free flour mixes have potato flour. Since I can't eat potatoes, I'm going to try sweet potato flour. Of course mine was a purple sweet potato so the color of the baked goods will be interesting. When dried it is a muddy greyish brown purpley color. But color isn't everything.
I spent money on the garden last week. I bought some galvanized wire to make small hoops for my chard. It added $14.22 to my tally. Now I'm at -451.74 for the year. The number always seems so huge every year. But $321 of that number are amortized costs. $180 of which will be gone by the end of the year. And another 100 in two years. The cost of putting a garden together is so expensive. And though I amortized the cost of things over their expected life, the reality is that I was conservative in my estimates. So at some point my costs will start to drop. But even with the huge upfront costs, I do pull a lot of vegetables out of my garden. And I'm always way in the black by the end of the year.
Harvest Monday is a day to show off your harvests, how you are saving your harvest, or how you are using your harvest. If you have a harvest you want to show off, add your name and link to Mr Linky below.
Your sage looks nice and green. It's still a mystery as to whether my sage made it this year. It still looks pretty sad. Luckily, I started a few new transplants for another area.
I am so glad you talk about your costs with gardening, about how expensive it seems (is?) at the beginning, about how the price drops after awhile. This year, I have done some serious expanding, some serious tree additions, and added some asparagus, strawberries and blueberries. I've added new beds. All these things have added up to a pretty big number. But they will last for years, so the cost should drop in years to come.
Our upfront costs on the new garden are still pretty low. We haven't put in any permanent structures yet, like raised beds or trellis' so the only hard costs we have are for the new trees and strawberry plants. But at some point all the beds will be boxed in and that will add a lot to our hard costs.
Your sage looks good. Mine died a few years back! I don't even keep track of my costs! I am sure I spend much more than I harvest but then it is good therapy if that counts for something! Nancy
I've been using quite a bit of sage from the garden also. My plants were less threatened by winter than by an invading gopher. But I nabbed the gopher so the sage is ok for now.
With all the permutations of your allergies, elimination diet etc, it's a good job you have a degree in chemistry! A knowledge of that subject must help with understanding what works and what you can eat. However, I reckon you will be lucky to get Sweet Potato flour to perform like ordinary potato flour.
Looking forward to your purple sweet potato experiment. I use sweet potato starch noodles in my cooking, and I substitute sweet potato starch for cornstarch for various types of cooking and baking.
My sage was hit hard this year, both varieties. There's some green shoots but a long way from using any of it. Lost two rosemary plants too and not sure about the savory. I harvested for the first time this evening, small but its something.
I don't even want to think about amortizing the garden. It is SO expensive to start (especially when we had nothing coming from a small apartment) It is a big pile of fun though and that's worth a lot, right?
Your sage looks nice and green. It's still a mystery as to whether my sage made it this year. It still looks pretty sad. Luckily, I started a few new transplants for another area.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to reading about your sweet potato flour.
ReplyDeleteI love sage! Which is why I'm growing plenty of it this year.
ReplyDeleteWe actually have a yummy cornbread recipe that I think is both GF and vegan. Let me know if you want it.
ReplyDeleteI am so glad you talk about your costs with gardening, about how expensive it seems (is?) at the beginning, about how the price drops after awhile. This year, I have done some serious expanding, some serious tree additions, and added some asparagus, strawberries and blueberries. I've added new beds. All these things have added up to a pretty big number. But they will last for years, so the cost should drop in years to come.
ReplyDeleteOur upfront costs on the new garden are still pretty low. We haven't put in any permanent structures yet, like raised beds or trellis' so the only hard costs we have are for the new trees and strawberry plants. But at some point all the beds will be boxed in and that will add a lot to our hard costs.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, we can't yet quantify the personal and societal benefits of organic food grown in our own backyards.
ReplyDeleteYour sage looks good. Mine died a few years back! I don't even keep track of my costs! I am sure I spend much more than I harvest but then it is good therapy if that counts for something! Nancy
ReplyDeleteI've been using quite a bit of sage from the garden also. My plants were less threatened by winter than by an invading gopher. But I nabbed the gopher so the sage is ok for now.
ReplyDeleteWith all the permutations of your allergies, elimination diet etc, it's a good job you have a degree in chemistry! A knowledge of that subject must help with understanding what works and what you can eat. However, I reckon you will be lucky to get Sweet Potato flour to perform like ordinary potato flour.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to your purple sweet potato experiment. I use sweet potato starch noodles in my cooking, and I substitute sweet potato starch for cornstarch for various types of cooking and baking.
ReplyDeleteMy sage was hit hard this year, both varieties. There's some green shoots but a long way from using any of it. Lost two rosemary plants too and not sure about the savory. I harvested for the first time this evening, small but its something.
ReplyDeleteI don't even want to think about amortizing the garden. It is SO expensive to start (especially when we had nothing coming from a small apartment) It is a big pile of fun though and that's worth a lot, right?
ReplyDeleteFirst harvest for me was last week. The overwintered spinach finally began to size up.
ReplyDeleteI had not thought of dehydrating sweet potatoes...that makes a lot of sense.
ReplyDeleteI've got tons of sage and borage...blooming! The bees are in Heaven.
ReplyDeleteLove the color of the dried sweet potatoes, am imagining the very fun possibilities they present!
ReplyDelete