Mulch Madness

This weekend I mulched the veggie beds and it was very satisfying.  It brings a uniformity to the look of all my disparate pockets of growth.   (We won't talk about the rest of the non-food outside spaces that look pretty neglected -- maybe I'll deal with them during warmer days next year.)

Notice that the front part didn't get mulch -- the cauliflower patch has fallen victim to our first ever gopher.  Bastard!

I was really proud when my garden helper called our Kale "dino" sized Kale.  So I picked a few leaves for juicing and a few others to make duck fat sauteed Kale.

And where did I get duck fat?  That's where the "madness" part of the post title comes from. I decided to make duck prosciutto. Why?  I'm not sure I have a rationale answer for that.  I've been wanting to do it for a long time, but now that we have 2 refrigerators, I was able to set aside enough space to be able to hang the meat during curing.  So... materials + facilities = challenge accepted.


 Here are 3 little duck breasts -- Ideally, you want to find thicker ones than these.  I submerged them in kosher salt for 24 hours, and this is what they looked like after I dug them out.

Then I dusted them with white pepper, wrapped them in cheesecloth and hung them in the fridge so that they don't touch anything.  See ya in 7-10 days.

Came across a bag of potatoes that I forgot about and it got all sprouted, so I strategically dumped them into the compost file which is now transformed into the potato bed!

Today Max harvested and ate the first broccoli of the crop.  It was so delicious.  Tender, nutty and a little bit sweet!  I'm all verklempt that Max is now a big boy who can use sharp objects in the garden.