Green with Envy

The results of combining different vegetables has yielded a delicious and biodiverse garden.
 The bountiful rain we were subjected to in southern California these past months has shifted our garden to spring.
We now reap the benefits.  Hungry?  Come on over and harvest some for yourself...
Just give me a bit of notice..

From one day to the next broccoli has flowered  broccolini to be exact.

Neat little rows of spinach baring different sizes of tender, nutty flavored succulent leafs.

jewel colored nasturtiums bring butterflies, hummingbirds and bee's to the bed they share with onions, carrots, and butter lettuce.

Veiled with bird netting red and gold beets, emerald kale bordered by garlic with  peas towering out towards the southern sky, draping heavy with their load of pods and flowers  scatter spent blossoms in the wind.

And the lettuce keeps on giving to the chamomile, onion, and  curly endive.

The peas stand alone..but not for long.

Oven Roasted Carrots

I remember being about nine years old and espousing the scientific fact, "If you eat carrots you will be able to see REALLY well"  I felt so proud to have this really meaningful bit of knowledge.  Most likely collected from Gilligan's Island episode 28 where Gilligan finds a crate of radioactive seeds, Mary Ann plants them and eats so many carrots she can see far out to sea.
 In reference to this I found some rather funny thoughts on the subject on Snopes... worth a peek..
http://www.ubervu.com/conversations/www.snopes.com/food/ingredient/carrots.asp?page=2

You don't have to look far to find information on the benefits of eating carrots.  They are high in Vitamin A and beta carotine which  to helps sustain good vision.

I began to thin carrots in one of the overflowing garden beds today- arms loaded down by the tremendous greenery the carrots produce- end result I began to resemble a pageant winner in 4H.


After de-greening the gems- I gently used a paring knife to remove superfluous roots.

Tossed with olive oil, Maldon salt and a bit of pepper then inserted in to the oven at 400 degrees.

Gently tossing carrots after 25 minutes they were done to perfection and quickly consumed.

Although things are still blurry- I'm hoping to be able to see clearly now.

The Secret Garden

Though most of the country is frozen deep in winter, outside my door the hillside and secret paths are splattered with the awakening of springtime.  Quietly our property has been transformed in to a dreamy and very colorful secret garden.

baby pinks

Fuscia  

Yellow and Green

Birds of Paradise

lurking in the pathways

Creeping over walls

scarlet pokers 

Droopy Pepper Tree's

Coral

Abundant Citrus

Dreamy Gauguin like images in the twilight...

I suspect not all was quiet over the holidays...

Wise Buddah

Proud Foo Dogs

Muted Duck

Majestic and Rusty

The protectors dry out in the fading sunshine.