When I first started juicing fresh fruits and vegetables, I looked for something to do with the abundance of leftover pulp, rather than just tossing it in the trash. I tried adding it to smoothies, I froze some in the hopes of adding it to carrot muffins, I even added some to pancakes once (not entirely recommended). Then, about 3 years ago, I purchased a composter and began making rich organic soil from the juice remnants and the other organic kitchen waste that would otherwise have been lost forever. To my surprise, the soil that came out of the composter provided us with a full garden the following year. We first noticed tomato and arugula sprouts, and thought, "Wait a minute, these are not weeds."
The sprouts grew to what we now call our spontaneous chaos garden - a mix of the strongest, heartiest, plants I have ever seen, all sprung from the seeds of our previous year's produce. It took my own personal gardening experience to remind me that Mother Nature always has the perfect plan - the plants that are strong enough to nourish those who eat it will be the ones to survive. I do not use any type of pesticide, not even an organic one, and this year, I have the biggest, healthiest garden of spontaneous growth yet.
Above are the leaves and flowers of the summer squash vines that have taken over my yard and threaten the neighbors' yards as well. The leaves measure 12-16" across and I have stopped counting the large yellow flowers which produce new squash buds daily (although I may halt this process by snipping some flowers to stuff with goat cheese and sauté in some Ezekiel bread crumbs...). I just had to find a recipe for all this squash, so scroll down for a summer squash and pesto dish, and feel free to stop by and help yourself to a summer squash - I have more than enough to go around.
Happy gardening, composting, and basking in this gorgeous summer,
Jennifer
Comments
Post new comment