Tuesday, July 03, 2012

The taste of dirt & green

As I sat down with my weekend breakfast of eggs with herbs from my herb garden, I had an epiphany...
Autumn smells like cinnamon, pumpkin & apples.
Winter smells like nutmeg, vanilla & ginger.
Spring smells like citrus & lilacs.
Summer smells like green & dirt.

I am a great fan of food with a good old fashioned hint of dirt on the tongue.  Not dirt as in one has not washed ones greens.  Dirt as in, this was just plucked from the ground a moment ago and it tastes nice and green.  If you don't know what green tastes like, well, I am very sorry for you.

I love herbs, love love love 'em.  I love the way they smell so much I sometimes put a bunch of fresh cut herbs on my kitchen table like normal people would put a vase of flowers.  Doesn't matter what kind, whatever is overflowing is what makes it onto the table.  I have spearmint and peppermint planted around my Spruce tree and a container garden of wonderful at my back porch.  Those spiky things in the middle are garlic chives...GARLIC CHIVES!  It's almost more than one can bear.  And they come back year after year and have survived my less than gentle transplant method of yanking them from here and cramming in there.  Around the chives are oregano, basil, dill, rosemary, parsley and summer savory.  I don't know exactly what summer savory is but it smells summery and savory-y.  Did you know that pretty much any old fresh herb can be put in scrambled eggs and it will be a breakfast miracle?  Don't take my word for it, try it!

And don't even get me started on fresh berries.  The raspberries and blackberries are just starting to plump up and I can scarcely stop from standing at the berry patch and eating them just as they turn slightly less green.  Again, a little dirt on a berry makes it taste better.

If you do no gardening whatsoever, if you hate the very idea of the outdoors, if you buy your lettuce precut and washed and in a bag (egad!)...grow a little pot of parsley and your world will be all the better for it. 




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