Barbara Doyen - The Farmers Wife Guide To Growing A Great Garden And Eating From It, Too!: Storing, Freezing, and Cooking Your Own Vegetables

THE FARMERS WIFE
GUIDE TO GROWING
A GREAT GARDEN
and Eating
from It, Too!

WRITTEN AND ILLUSTRATED BY

Barbara Doyen

Copyright 2002 by Barbara Doyen

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without the written permission of the publisher.

Published by M. Evans
An imprint of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706

Distributed by NATIONAL BOOK NETWORK

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Doyen, Barbara.

The farmers wife guide to growing a great garden and eating from it, too!
: storing, freezing, and cooking your own vegetables / by Barbara Doyen.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references (p. ).

ISBN 978-0-87131-974-6

1. Vegetable gardening. 2. Vegetables. 3. Cookery (Vegetables) I. Title:
Growing a great garden, and eating from it, too. II. Title.

SB321 .D72 2002
635dc21

2002020246

Book design by Rik Lain Schell

Printed in the United States of America

To my husband, The Farmer (also known as Bob Doyen),
who talked me into becoming The Farmers Wife.

THE WEALTH OF MAN STARTS WITH
FOOD PRODUCED FROM THE SOIL.

Arnie Waldstein

I cant wait to jump out of bed in the spring and summer to view my garden each morning. I get great joy in seeing the progress of each row of beans, each tomato plant. And that joy stays with me throughout my hectic business day.

Home-grown vegetables taste much better than anything you can buy, because they are freshyou can harvest them at their peak of ripeness and be eating them in minutes in your kitchen. Commercial growers often cant harvest at the peak of flavor because their produce would spoil during shipping.

You can grow special varieties not available in stores. Youll never be bored, because every year you can try different varieties to add new taste treats to your repertoire.

Youll know exactly what was used on your produce for insect control, fertilizer, etc. Since you have a choice, you can select products that are wholesome for your body and for the environment.

You can save a lot of money, although this is just a bonus for many people. I must confess that Id be growing a garden even if this were not the case.

Instead of doing boring exercises or gerbilling, as The Farmer calls it, on an indoor treadmill, youll be laboring outdoors with a purpose. And youll be rewarded with a trimmer figure and great food to eat, as well!

Gardening adds interest to the landscape, whether you merely squeeze some vegetable plants into your flower beds or window planters, or have whole areas dedicated just to food production. As I work each day at my computer, I get great enjoyment from looking out of my home-office windows at my gardens spread out on the lawn like vast quilts. Most vegetable plants are quite attractive, and gardens can be designed to complement any landscape.

Commercially grown produce is harvested when it has the maximum ability to ship well, which means its usually not completely ripened and therefore not at the peak of its nutritional content. Add the lag time for shipping, as well as any processing thats done to enhance the appearance or keeping ability of the produce, and youve lost a lot of nutrients. With homegrown produce, you can harvest at the peak of ripeness and be eating your produce fresh out of the garden in minutes, thus increasing the nutrients available to your body.

Also, did you know that tomatoes harvested on a sunny day have more vitamin C than tomatoes picked on a cloudy day? Its an easy way to give yourself a nutrition boost, but only when you grow your own!

On the farm, since were so subject to the whims of our environment, were always looking for signs of what nature has in store for us. By the end of summer, we notice that wild animals are already preparing for winter. If winter is going to be especially cold or long, the animals will have thicker pelts than usual, develop more body fat, and will somehow know to hibernate in deeper holes or shelters with greater protection from the elements. Even the caterpillar fur varies in thickness from year to year. What signals these adjustments? It has to come from their attunement to nature. I suspect that one day well find that eating locally grown food helps our bodies adapt to the conditions in the season to come. Its another reason to garden at least part of our own food!

Gardening is an antidote to depression. Instead of bemoaning the dreary winter weather, youll be spending the months studying gardening catalogues and books. You can draw up plans for new beds, and redesign old beds. You can start seedlings and dream of their promise as you watch them grow and develop. In the summer, there is always something to do outside, giving us purpose, and our gardens are constantly changing, lending endless variety to our lives.

There is something about having your hands in the soil, planting a seed or a seedling, and nurturing its growth thats profoundly fulfilling. It connects us to the source of our existence and puts us in harmony with the rhythms of nature.

Our life comes from the earth, yet many never come into contact with the earth. We live in cement cities, in high-rises far above the land. Or we live in sterile houses surrounded by yards tended by a lawn service and nursery-planted landscaping pruned and groomed by specialists. We have public parks, but theyre removed from our living and working spaces, and we do nothing personally to care for them. Literally and figuratively too many of us are no longer grounded.

With bare hands, grasp a handful of soil. Dont recoil from it, feel the life it contains: beneficial bacteria, worms, insects, seedsits just brimming with potential, full of natures vitality. It is our origin, and we need to touch it, to feel our roots, to connect with our true being.

Although most of our population is far removed from living and working on real farms, it is my sincere hope that no matter where you live and work, this book will encourage you to come in contact with your own soil, to feel the joy and satisfaction of having a hand in creating your own delicious, nourishing food.

I always said Id never marry a farmer. So, of course, thats just what I did!

But The Farmer had to work hard to convince me, trying numerous persuasive sales pitches. I knew he was serious when he offered to stop harvesting for two whole days during perfect weather to move me to the farm. That just isnt done: Farmers dont take time off, because of the urgency of getting their crops in before winter. Still, I resisted.

Then he said, Just think, if you married me and moved to the farm, you could have all the gardens and orchards you want. That did it. So, after our wedding, The Farmer got on his tractor and started tearing up strips of sod for my gardens. (He also promised all the pets I wanted, but thats another story!)