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If you’re like me, you’re lazy. Okay, to put it a bit more gently, if you’re like me, you love convenience.

So the idea of pre-washed salad greens in a bag is a winner: convenience leading to healthier eating habits and all that.

The problem is, the ideal and the reality don’t have much in common. In terms of flavor, most store-bought greens are on the same level as industrial strawberries from California: they look good, but are better left as uneaten garnishes. Also, apart from actual flavor, there are little blobs of already-rotten green goo mixed in with the ‘fresh'(er) pieces. Picking out/washing off such slime undermines the convenience (and the overall appeal).

SO–I was kind of in heaven when I looked into the bag Jeff left of greens grown in the new set-up (hoop house?) that he’s been using.

NO DIRT
NO BUGS
NO MYSTERY-GREEN-GOO-BLOBS

I didn’t even bother washing them.

–it was as simple as ‘open the bag, put in bowl, and eat’.

Something that cool, there’s got to be a catch, right?

But I don’t think there is.

So thanks Jeff. Thanks very much. But also–watch out. I think the world is about to beat a path to your doorstep.

It is March and I have begun dreaming about consumable gardens. Evelyn and I miss our plot behind Zion and however wonderful it was to be a CSA member again–it just did not hit the spot. Hence, I will be digging around our home again.

I brought up the idea of turning our extension into a garden plot to grow a few crops intensively, for food, community, and service.

Even though I have tucked vegetables and herbs among the flowers, it isn’t enough. I also miss the community of sharing among gardeners and occassional visitors (bi-ped and quadri-ped).

One of our extensions has a bit more sun than our yard and would be a great place to grow a volume of greens, beans, and a vining fruit. It will be enough to share. Who knows, maybe someone more skilled in growing tomatoes will garden in the extenstion.

And so I have begun my garden dreaming and logistics planning. I certainly think Jeff and Lisa have a fabulous garden out front. I aim for attractive too. I will begin somewhat conservatively. I realize that although it is no longer against city code to use extensions for gardens, there is always the risk of damage and destruction when the city needs to dig. Until move myself to some agri-zoned acreage, I need to do something more here.

A small group of locavores have begun to resonate with our neighborhood breakfast salon. They have stepped up to volunteer to staff the event so that it can take place weekly.   We hope you can come by, pull up a chair, tell us what is on your mind. We are re-imagining the local food economy one cup of RoosRoast at a time.