Due to cooler-than-average weather this summer, garden tomatoes have taken awhile to blush completely crimson and the zucchini hasn’t yet exploded into zeppelin-sized specimens. Despite a slow start, however, gardens up and down the Central Coast are beginning to pump out plenty of fresh, ripe produce.
The harvest of backyard bounty comes just in time for World Kitchen Garden Day, an international celebration slated for Aug. 22. Festivities are free form and spontaneous and can include anything from sharing a salad made from just-picked greens to planting seeds for a fall garden.
Anyone can take part in World Kitchen Garden Day, and observing the occasion can be as simple as picking a peach or buying something succulent at the farmers market. Celebrate quietly at home or organize a block party featuring homemade treats and maybe even a contest to determine the sweetest heirloom tomato or spiciest chili pepper.
Designed to raise awareness of the benefits of eating locally, World Kitchen Garden Day highlights the positive role organic kitchen gardening can play in society, personal health, and gastronomical enjoyment. The loosely organized celebration takes place in neighborhoods around the world and helps build both local and global community spirit.
Participants include anyone who appreciates the taste of homegrown fruits and veggies, from apples and avocados to beets and green beans. They are people who tend to avoid the cardboard-flavored produce shipped from thousands of miles away, and they understand the sensuous rewards of eating locally grown produce when it’s in season.
Most fresh food aficionados shop regularly at farmers markets, and many even tend their own gardens, whether it’s a quarter-acre spread or a few pots on the windowsill. All feel a kinship with the land and enjoy a profound connection to the just-picked goodies they put on the table.
Kitchen garden fans don’t rely on tricks from celebrity chefs to make their meals taste good. Preferring foods that have undergone minimal processing, they use simple recipes to turn garden fresh ingredients into four-star fare.
Roger Doiron, a Maine resident who was active in the campaign to have an organic garden planted at the White House, founded the nonprofit Kitchen Gardeners International in 2003. His intention was to encourage people to grow at least some of their own food.
[image-2] Doiron believes it is unwise to assume grocery stores will always stock a wealth of wholesome edibles. He contends that a resurgence of appreciation for homegrown food may be among the strongest tools for positive social change.
The annual celebration of World Kitchen Garden Day began as a rebuttal to Snack Food Month, promoted by the International Snack Food Association each February. Doiron hopes the focus on homegrown goodies will promote unity among the world’s gardeners and the people who eat from those gardens, while inspiring everyone to share their enthusiasm for fresh food and good eating with others.
Harvesting edibles from a kitchen garden often leads to an appreciation for the wild plants that also deserve a place at the dinner table. On the temperate Central Coast, yards and open spaces abound with what some call weeds, but others call delicious.
For instance, purslane is much maligned for its tendency to reseed with abandon all over the yard, wherever the soil is moist. In salads, however, its succulent leaves offer a pleasant crunch, as well as a zesty flavor somewhere between lemon and black pepper. Loaded with protein, vitamins E and C, and omega 3 fatty acids, the humble purslane makes a tasty, nutritious addition to soups, sauces, and stir fry.
Also ripe for foraging, prickly pear cactus offers fleshy pads that taste a bit like fresh green beans. Scraped free of their spines and steamed until cooked through, but still crunchy, the pads may be chopped and scrambled with eggs, Or try sautéing them before adding to couscous, corn dishes, or any dish made with tomatoes, garlic, and hot peppers.
Locals lucky enough live near a clean creek or natural spring might want look for watercress, a peppery green plant chock full of calcium and iron. Snip it with scissors, rinse in cold water, and pat dry before adding to sandwiches, soups, and salads.
There are many ways to celebrate World Kitchen Garden Day, whether by puttering in the vegetable patch, gathering wild greens, or showing a neighbor how to peel a fresh tomato. Spread the word about how easy it is to cook simply and eat well, especially when the menu features plenty of goodies fresh from the garden.
K. Reka Badger enjoys puttering in a vegetable patch. Toss her a gardening shovel at rekabadger@hotmail.com.
This article appears in Aug 19-26, 2010.