Hungry Times Two

This is an interesting time to garden. It's pretty hot outside - the kind of warm that makes you reconsider your ban on grandma linen capri pants that you bought 2 pairs of a few years ago in a moment of humidity-induced weakness. (Or not. Maybe that's just me. I have three summer wardrobes: one that's meant for external audiences, a dowdy but comfy look that is Borderline Bag Lady, and a few "breath-able" things that could make a pastor blush.) In Charlotte it rains nearly every other day, either as torrential downpours or blink-and-you-miss-'em showers. I love the rain -- thanks to Mother Nature I get more time to sleep in the a.m. instead of lugging the hose to our backyard raised beds and our two plots in the community garden.  And the vegetable plants in the garden are right on the verge of exploding... but not quite.  You see the flowers popping up on the tomato, cukes and squash plants. Your green bean plants double their height ove...

A vegetable garden in February is just so sad. Just ask actor Ethan Hawke, aka "Troy Dyer." For a while we had our raised bed of vibrant carrot tops -- the  Scarlet Nantes  variety. Scott and I kept checking in on them, occasionally pulling a small carrot or two, just to make sure they were growing. They have a 65-75 day maturity cycle, so since we planted them in late September...   Paging quality control.  ...in the third week of January, four inches of snow came and the green carrot tops became drab and shriveled-up. So Scott grabbed a hoe and turned up all the dirt in the raised bed. And we found the carrots waiting for us to rescue them before they became too woody to eat. Filthy carrots. Clean carrots. I'd like to make a pot roast or beef stew (naturally the lazy way, in the slow cooker) with these carrots but for now a quick way to use them is Mark Bittman's recipe for Curried Carrot Lentil Soup. I can't find it online but it...