Chard, and me in my potager......

This is one of our favourite plants in the veg plot this year, and oh what a pretty plant it is. It is unfortunate, therefore, that we don't actually like the taste of chard. This might be because it is a vegetable which we have not grown before so perhaps I am not cooking it right, but then we only had it the once. But chard is going to be an ongoing vegetable here because it flourishes under difficult conditions, so we really need to learn to like eating it and not push it to the side of our plates, after which it goes out to the chickens, so it isn't wasted, but I am a stubborn biddy and would like to get in into our own food system.

However, I read that it is the white chard which is better, so I will have another go at cooking leaves from that plant only, and not mix the gorgeous red chard with it which, according to web info, is the bitter one. I shall not be defeated on this. Chard has survived the long, hot, dry, weather very well, so I think it is only right that I learn to cook it in a way in which we like it to be cooked. Would anyone have any helpful hints about how I can do this? Any help would be much appreciated.

But the cows like it. Bonny especially does. After giving her only one leaf to try she now gives a little groan of anticipation whenever she sees me. Makes her sound all gooey. I feel blessed that we have this close association with our animals. It is a lovely feeling knowing that they can feel pangs of pleasure as well.

Bonny

 

It has been a hard summer for our cows and sheep. With no grazing out on the fields they have had to stay indoors a lot. To help them keep healthy we bought in some silage. They love it. but at 25 euros (about £20 / 28 dollars) a bale, which lasts about four days, it is an expensive treat. Not to worry, they are worth it, and we need to keep them well fed if they are to get through the winter months ahead.









.....and here are some leaves of chard waiting to be given to the cows sitting on top of a bucket full of snap beans, which have done really well despite a lot of the plants looking sickly. Well, so now what do I do with all that lot? Dehydrate them, that is the plan, and immediately, not tomorrow, or the day after...... in the past I have frequently dallied about getting the harvest sorted out once it has come into the kitchen. Problem is that the veggies and fruit do not want to linger at peak condition waiting for me to get round to putting them into storage. Nature is a strong creature, and will push those veggies and fruit into decay quite quickly, this is what I have learnt. Okay, so the animals will eat the rotten mush, but that is not the point of growing produce which we are supposed to eat. Get off my butt, that is what I have to do, and get a move on with getting the produce stored.

This year I have to dehydrate everything because I am not set up for using my canner, and I don't want to put anything other than meat into the freezers because of the time it takes to rummage through everything to find what I want meanwhile getting cold fingers along the way. So dehydrating everything is what I am going to do this year, and making an effort to get whatever comes in from the veg garden into the dehydrator on the same day, if not the next morning.

By the way, it has taken me several days to write this blog, and meanwhile I have done those beans in the bucket, plus another lot I picked the next day, plus the few I picked last night, and for that effort I am quite pleased with myself!

And here is me in the potager, looking serene as I harvest the coriander. To the right of me are the bush beans, then a row of cabbages which are doing well, and then the coriander. I looked tranquil, and I did feel tranquil......

 

...but then there are days when I am frazzled........

...just saying that 'living the dream' is not always smooth sailing, when the moments of tranquillity have to be held on to during the times when one's self is cooking away with a million tensions. And then the cows twinkle their eyes at the sight of me carrying a few leaves of chard towards them, and the chickens coo and cluck around me hoping to seduce me into giving them more food, or the rottweiller girls try ever so hard to love me up so that I forgive them for escaping to the river yet again, or Lester romps in, collapsed with laughter because the snake which was by the fridge in the front room (!!!!????!!!!! wot snake????!!!!) and which he was shooing out had got picked up by one of the hens even though the snake had gone into cobra stance and lifted its head and hissed at the chicken but which took no notice and ate its head anyway and raced off with the dangling body hanging from her beak with all the rest of the chicken flock in frantic pursuit.

 

.... and then there was  the sight of Lester picking up the last of the tarpaulins from off the hallway floor, which gave me a lumpy moment in my chest because it means that we are now going to have proper floors throughout the house which means that we shall have floors which are easier to keep clean, and I shall not run the risk of tripping up on the tarps when I am in 'scurry about the house' mode, which I have often done in the past. (The tarpaulins were put over the concrete floors when we moved into the house from the caravans in an effort to control the amount of cement dust which was made in the air as we walked over the floors)

 

...and if you have any helpful hints about how to cook chard then I would be most grateful. Thanks.

 

Vx