[aaronaf]

Thank you for enthusiastically encouraging us to grow our own food wherever possible! My first experience of growing my own food was watching my mother happily sowing a small package of radish seeds into a short strip of dirt at the edge of the cotton field bordering our home in the Mississippi Delta, circa late 1950s. We would go outside to check on the progress of our efforts every day or so, and then, surprise surprise! My mom did not wait for the seedlings to grow into plump radishes! She would pluck them out of the ground and wash them off with the garden hose and nibble on their roots! I followed suit and was even more surprised how hot they were, hotter than the store-bought radishes we usually brought home from the grocery store.

You mentioned hydroponics. When I was in junior high a long time ago, as part of a science project inspired by NASA’s use of this method for growing food in space, I used a cooking tray from the kitchen and covered it with door screen wire and layered wood chips on top of that to serve as the structure of my personal garden in my bedroom laboratory. I mixed up a fertilizer blend (Miracle Grow was a start up back then but I was not aware of it), from ingredients I got from neighborhood pharmacies and from my chemistry set, and poured a solution of it into the tray. And then I planted beans in my artificial topsoil. It was amazing to me to be able to see both the seedlings and their roots at the same time. (Funny though, I don’t recall eating any beans!)

Nowadays, I am content to grow mung bean sprouts in a dark kitchen cabinet and then later on my sunny window sills. They are very tasty, especially if I sauté them with garlic, olive oil, along with miscellaneous veggie scraps from the refrigerator.

[kmorros]

Oh my gosh, I love your story. We need more of this kind of stuff in here! Do you have photos of that system you built? My colleague Shanti and I are a little obsessed with growing our own food from table scraps, too. @sbremer

[Karen_flccc]

Yum! I have some containers on my back deck with cilantro, parsley, mint, basil, etc. And then a bed in the community garden with other veggies and herbs. Her in NC — cilantro grows best in the cooler months so I have a beautiful crop of cilantro in my community garden bed now.

One of my favorite breakfasts is a some steamed greens on the bottom, then I layer some sliced avacado, goat cheese (from a local farmer), smoked salmon and a poached egg (from a local farmer). Salt and pepper on top — perfect meal for noontime when I break my intermittent fast.

[kmorros]

Karen, can you root the cilantro? Every time I try it dies. My mom tells me to keep it in the refrigerator in water to keep it fresh longer. I just assumed you could root a sprig at room temp? Maybe seeds are the only way? Anyone know?

[pharris]

Very inspiring! Thank you for sharing!

[kmorros]

Thank you ma’am. 😀