by Graham Kerr
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Acknowledgements
PREFACE
CHAPTER ONE - Why I Decided to Grow a Garden
CHAPTER TWO - The Garden-to-Kitchen Connection
CHAPTER THREE - My Need-to-Know List
CHAPTER FOUR - Cooking Methods for Maximum Flavor and Nutrition
CHAPTER FIVE - How to Grow, How to Cook
Apple
Artichoke - Cynara scolymus
Arugula - Eruca vesicaria sativa (domestic)
Asparagus - Asparagus officinalis
Beans - Phaseolus spp.
Beets and Beet Greens - Beta vulgaris esculenta
Bok Choy - Brassica rapa var. chinesis
Broccoli - Brassica oleracea var. italica
Brussels Sprouts - Brassica oleracea var. gemmifera
Cabbage - Brassica oleracea var. capitata
Carrots - Daucus carota var.sativus
Cauliflower - Brassica oleracea var. botrytis
Celery - Apium graveolens var. dulce
Chard - Beta vulgaris var. cicla
Chickpeas - Cicer arietinum
Chiles - Capsicumfrutescens
Collards - Brassica oleracea var. acephala
Corn - Zea mays var. rugosa
Cucumber - Cucumis sativus
Eggplant - Solanum melongena
Fava Bean - Vicia faba
Fennel - Foeniculum vulgare var. azoricum
Garlic - Allium sativum
Jerusalem Artichoke - Helianthus tuberosus
Kale - Brassica oleracea var. acephala
Kohlrabi - Brassica oleracea var. gongylodes
Leek - Allium porrum
Lemon - Citrus limon
Lettuce - Lactuca sativa
Mâche - Valerianella locusta
Mustard Greens - Brassica juncea var. rugosa
Napa Cabbage - Brassica rapa var. pekinensis
New Zealand Spinach - Tetragonia tetragonioides
Onion - Allium cepa
Parsnip - Pastinaca sativa
Peas - Pisum sativum
Peppers - Capsicum annuum
Potato - Solanum tuberosum
Radish - Raphanus sativus
Rhubarb - Rheum rhabarbarum
Rutabaga - Brassica napus
Spinach - Spinacea oleracea
Squash (Summer) - Cucurbita pepo
Squash (Winter) - Cucurbita maxima and C. moschata
Strawberry - Fragaria vesca and F. virginiana
Sweet Potato - Ipomoea batatas
Tomato - Lycopersicon esculentum
Turnip - Brassica rapa var. rapa
The Herb Garden
Basil - Ocimum basilicum
Chive - Allium schoenoprasum and A. tuberosum (garlic chive)
Cilantro - Coriandrum sativum
Mint - Mentha suaveolens (apple mint); M. x gracilis (golden apple mint)
Nasturtium and Edible Flowers - Tropaeolum majus
Oregano - Origanum vulgare; O. × hirtum
Parsley - Petroselinum crispum (curly leafed); Petroselinum crispum var. ...
Rosemary - Rosmarinus officinalis
Sage - Salvia officinalis
Summer Savory - Satureja hortensis
Tarragon - Artemisia dracunculus
Thyme - Thymus vulgaris;T. citriodorius
Basic Recipes
Grains and Starches
EPILOGUE
APPENDIX - Damage Control
REFERENCES AND RESOURCES
INDEX
A PERIGEE BOOK
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GROWING AT THE SPEED OF LIFE
Copyright © 2011 by Kerr Corporation
Illustrations by Sandy Silverthorne
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Stand at the crossroads and look;
ask for the ancient paths,
ask where the good way is, and walk in it,
and you will find rest for your souls.
—JEREMIAH 6:16
For Treena
The one who shares my table and my bed, the absolute love of my life. She has chosen the path to wellness rather than going out on her genetic tide. It is to her that I dedicate my garden and this book with my ongoing love and care.
And for Gracious Gardeners
My present enthusiasm was made possible by my many newfound friends and neighbors, who shared their lifetimes of gardening experience with me.
Please don’t let it stop there!
I have much to learn (and welcome learning) from everyone who has proven experience. If my newfound ideas are different from yours, then I really want to hear from you.
Remember contribution to the common good beats criticism every time. And the common good is the good we can do in common.
To contribute, please go to www.grahamkerr.com/speedoflife.
—GK
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I owe my understanding of greenhouses to Charley Yaw. Charley Yaw passed me on to Scott Titus, who heads up the Center for Holistic Advanced Organic Studies (CHAOS)—and yes, he really does have a good sense of humor—from whom I got a new perspective on topsoil.
Both Charley and Scott have become dear friends, and together with Deb Mitchell—a delightful master gardener/lecturer connected to Washington State University—I have a rich source of local knowledge and continual advice.
While in the midst of reading twenty-four excellent reference books, from which I wanted to extract useful snippets of information to offer in this book, I came across Stephen Albert’s Kitchen Garden Grower’s Guide and his website, Harvest to Table (www.harvesttotable.com). Steve had already done my homework, having researched each plant comprehensively with the practiced eye of a true expert. My sketch pages for each plant were greatly aided by all his hard work.
Sandy Silverthorne went beyond his usual cartoon whimsy and outlined all my plants with his customary economy of strokes. I love his work!
The nutritional numbers have been through multiple layers of analysis, with a final pass under the eagle eye of my very long-term friend and culinary associate Suzanne Butler—or “Butters,” as I often call her. It’s as close as she ever gets to being saturated!
Every word, indeed every keystroke, was the work of our personal, private, and confidential secretary, Wendy, and without her, our little world would be snow white blank pages, without a digital stroke in sight.
Then there’s my dear friend John Duff, with whom I have created six books. I strayed for a season of three more literary efforts, and now I’m happily back in the fold and benefiting from his understanding of good food, good gardening, good books, and, as a result, the truly good life.
PREFACE
Let’s try starting this book with a mild confession. Until this year I’d never met a plant that I couldn’t kill. I was my very own herbicide.
I now understand the problem. I never gave them a reasonable amount of my undivided attention. I even used to suggest that there was no point in going back to smell the flowers inasmuch as I had blown the petals off as I flew past on my way to who knows where!
Almost all of this has now changed. I’m still very active, but I don’t leave my plants unattended. Now they don’t die (at least not from lack of attention). Not only do they survive, but they actually thrive! And here I am with my 29th book, written at the speed of this new inclusive life.
I’m finding a new rhythm, with fewer fits and starts, a more even—almost predictable—adventure that is nonetheless filled with unexpected natural challenges and great joy from sharing the eventual harvest. May our kitchen gardens help us understand what it means to keep growing personally at the speed of life.
Graham Kerr
Nonsuch Cottage and Garden
Mount Vernon, WA
CHAPTER ONE
Why I Decided to Grow a Garden
For almost 60 years I have been running the final stretch of the relay race to put healthful food on the table, which means I was the last one to carry the baton of fresh fruits and vegetables, preparing them for the plate, which is the finish line. It’s not an uncommon role for most cooks, professional or otherwise.
Another member of the team started the race by selecting and germinating the seeds. Another followed by preparing good soil and transplanting the vegetable “starts.” A third and fourth nurtured those plants through their maturity and got them to market to be handed over to me—the cook.
In my long career as a gourmet/nutrition teacher, I have cooked just about everything that grows, but I’ve never grown a thing I’ve cooked. So what got me thinking about the earth-to-table process?
You have to be from another planet not to have heard that a diet made up of mostly fruits and vegetables is a first-line defense against so many of the avoidable chronic diseases of our time, such as obesity, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and some cancers. I’ve been looking at this issue in our own family since 1975, when the National Institutes of Health first introduced the “5 A Day” concept—the idea of consuming five or more servings of fruits and vegetables every day. In fact, I worked with the institutes to promote this initiative. But curiously, and disappointingly, as one set of records shows, the $24 million campaign resulted in an increase of only half a serving (from 3 to 3.5) among American consumers between 1975 and 2008.
The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2001-2006 (compared to NHANES 1988-1994) revealed the following for consumers aged 40-74: The number of those who even attempt the “5 A Day” concept has dropped from 42 percent to 26 percent, and at the same time the obesity rate has risen from 28 percent to 36 percent. Also, the engagement in exercise (12 times per month was used as the benchmark) has fallen from 53 percent to 43 percent.
Nothing about these numbers is good news for our nation’s future health. But please notice that the fruit and vegetable decline is way ahead of the rest by at least 6 percent.
Now that might seem to be a pretty boring statistic, but the way it hit me was far from boring. Any greater release of energy, and I would have gone into orbit.
For my small part in the “5 A Day” program—I had done nearly 500 newscasts on the subject—I saw consumption go from only 3 servings to 3.5 servings. I took this personally, even though I was far from the only one urging folks to consume more.
Why was this happening? And what more could be done to achieve the needed 300 percent increase to between 9 and 11 servings a day that most experts (according to the OmniHeart Study) believe to be the amount needed to truly make a difference in diabetes, heart disease, and of course obesity?
I decided to go back to the starting line and begin to run the whole race by doing something entirely new. During my earlier TV career as the Galloping Gourmet, I was awarded the Broken Wooden Spoon by Weight Watchers International. The company described me as public enemy number one to all those making healthy choices.
Clearly, in the 1,000 new TV programs we’ve made since 1987, we have changed—and Weight Watchers did eventually send me an unbroken spoon! However, even those changes had not made the adjustments that our modern world now needs.
I wondered if I could help others to reach these goals with a little sweat equity in my own backyard and enthusiastically pass my experiences on.
The home that my wife, Treena, and I built and moved into in April 2001 is situated with views facing to the west and south over the fabulous Skagit Valley, one of the most productive agricultural delta valleys in the world, just halfway between Seattle, Washington, and Vancouver, British Columbia. The design of the house was inspired by our love of boats—it’s a mere 1,400-square-foot “cabin” that uses its limited space in much the same way as a maritime architect might have designed it. Called Nonsuch Cottage, after a small sailboat we once owned (and, purely coincidentally, after the infamously overembellished castle built by King Henry VIII in the south of England), our cottage sits on an acre of land that falls off rapidly to the west, giving us up to 16 hours of sunshine on our south side in midsummer. For the longest time, we lived with a south lawn that gradually became a sea of dandelions. (Had I only known that springtime organic dandelions can fetch $7 a pound at market I might have entered the earth-to-table race sooner!)
I’ve always loved the word serendipity—it sounds like something a hairdresser might do to create one of those finger-in-a-light-socket hairstyles. In our case, it was First Lady Michelle Obama putting spade to turf on the White House lawn—yes, it was the south lawn!
Surely it was serendipity that had me plunge my spade into our south lawn within days of the First Lady? And now there are two southern lawn kitchen gardens—and there I believe any comparisons should cease!
Our plans called for three styles, or types, of gardens, all edible. Along one of our docks (there’s that nautical influence again), we would grow each separately in a container called an EarthBox.
The second proje
ct, for which we’d join the food race in selecting and germinating seeds, came in the shape of a greenhouse. We watched in awe as a great local company with a worldwide reach (Charley’s Greenhouses) raised our 16×8-foot structure in just 7 hours! Here we would get a head start on the short Pacific Northwest growing season and, we hoped, grow vegetables all year round.
Our final and most labor-intensive garden would be a tenth of an acre of raised beds for peas, beans, chard, cabbage, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, carrots, parsnips, and a whole raft of lettuce busily keeping down the weeds among the red beets and summer and winter squash—all in all, more than 30 plants under the supervision and care of a man with absolutely no prior experience!
While it wasn’t completely clear to me what impact the experience of creating this garden would have on my life, my neighbors, and even, to a small but vital degree, our community, I recognized early on that I would want to share the lessons learned. And so I started to document my year with the kitchen garden in a series of short videos, since television had always been my most compelling platform when it came to proselytizing about food and well-being—and now even more so since the Internet has provided us with a whole new community of viewers (many of whom have only the vague recollections of their parents recounting the tales of The Galloping Gourmet from the 1970s). Gradually it occurred to me that there would be a book in all this. And it became my intention that this book would not only be of value to the armchair gardener but also serve as an introduction to gardening for the person who had the wherewithal to pick up a spade and dig into his or her own version of the south lawn, be it a few square yards in a suburban backyard, a couple of pots on a balcony in the city, or an acre or so in the country.
