Sticks & Stones and HERBS!
Planning the Garden & Using up the Onions
Our home is a giant greenhouse. Flats of onions decorate the living room floor, giving the effect of indoor grass. Tiny cotyledon peppers, eggplants, and a variety of kitchen herbs stretch their arms wide and lean towards the sunlight that's flooding through the windows. Bags of soil and vermiculite stud the hallways, and seed packets and saved seeds from last year's crop -- squash, beans, corn, among others--await the spring thaw so that they can be sewn in their warm beds of soil.
Some of the baby greens dotting the soil in the house at this very moment are destined to be cared for by Sticks & Stones' 2011 Apprentices, who will have the opportunity to plant and tend their own garden this summer at the workshop, learning hands-on organic "footprint-less" food production and seed saving techniques. This will be a wonderful compliment to their wild edibles supplementation studies.
Our very own Bobbi Marshall, who will be helping to facilitate part of the gardening component of the program this season, sits amidst an array of almanacs, books and her own notes as she plans her planting schedule according to biodynamic principals.
What an amazing feeling it is to sprout and grow your own vegetables. My goal this year is to have enough potatoes, onions, garlic, squash and carrots to nourrish us through next winter's cold months, taking us another step away from our dependency on grocery stores, empowering our "survival" skills all the more. After all, grocery stores don't grow in the wild.
Can't you just smell the warm moist earth? Can't you feel that tingle of anticipation for spring?
In the meantime, you may have onions in storage that are beginning to sprout. Did you know you can lacto-ferment onions the same way you might sauerkraut?
here's what you'll need:
CRUNCHY SPRING ONIONS
-onions to fill the croc 3/4 full - peeled and cut in half lengthwise, or whole if they are small
-water enough to just submerse the onions
-salt enough to make the water into a mild brine of 5-10% salinity-- about 1 tsp per 500 ml
-a large croc pot
-a plate or plastic bag willed with water or brine to weigh down the onions
Prepare your onions and place them carefully into the croc pot.You may also wish to add a few whole cloves of garlic into the mix. Cover with brine. Use the plate or a ziplog bag filled with water or brine to weigh down the onions so that they don't come into contact with the air at all.
Cover the crock pot with a lid, or a plastic bag to keep out dust. Store in a cool dark place for 2-3 weeks until onions are sour and crunchy. You may need to skim the brine of the natural and harmless scum that forms once fermentation begins (after about 1 week). Skim as needed, every couple of days until onions are finished.
For more info on the health benefits of fermented foods, see our
September 2010 newsletter.
