I haven’t done a Weekly Photo Challenge since being Freshly Pressed – keeping up with comments and continuing to write has pushed photography to the side (as usual, I’m afraid). But for some reason, this week’s photo challenge theme, Home, made me want to take these photos.
These specific ones.
Why? Got me. I guess it’s because home is where I feel free to do all that random quirky stuff that comes to mind, however unusual. Like my little winter window garden here. Most people chop up old veggies and just see the sprouting tops as waste, or at best, compost fodder. I see green things that just want a little water to grow into a fresh garden salad.
I’ve been craving that salad for awhile now. We eat local produce as much as possible, so winter means no fresh greens, other than the locally produced aeroponic lettuces at the Farmer’s Market. And the greens I can grow on my kitchen table. Monocultured lettuces that travel thousands of miles to the grocery store are the height of unsustainable consumption (yep, “organics” too, sorry folks).
home is where I feel free to do all that random quirky stuff
The cut vegetable tops include a beet, the inspiration for it all, and two radishes, all of which are growing quite nicely, and will make a tasty smattering of mini-greens. Just added today, a purple carrot and celeriac will also produce yummy edibles.
The thing that has fascinated me is that these root vegetables make no attempt to put down roots in order to grow afresh, like a cutting of most plants would. They just slurp up the water through their cut bases without soiling the water at all. Neat, eh?
I love this! You are doing just what my grandfather used to do. Before he got sick with depression he had a big truck farm outside of New York City. Then when he had to move to the city because he couldn’t farm anymore, he would make little table-gardens in the winter out of root vegetables, just as you are doing. They don’t need to put down roots because they already are roots, just doin’ their job….
Cool! I never heard of anyone else doing this, aside from the random elementary school science project sort of thing. I have every intent of eating the greens.
I bet you’re not going to put beet juice in the celery root’s water so the new greens will have red veins, are you
Probably not. All the new additions are sprouting up nicely.