Gangbusters

We are not avid gardeners. We actually purchased our steep hillside home partly because it won't support a lawn and can be mostly left to the wild grasses that are prettier unmown. We like flowers and exotic plants, fresh herbs and just-picked veggies but we aren't willing to work very hard for them when the cornucopia that is California will provide them for us at small cost. And one leftover from being part of the hippie generation is that we think weeds have rights, too.

However, the sun peeked out briefly midweek so My Beloved and I seized the opportunity to clear the dead stuff out of our two tiny garden plots. We left the weeds to flourish (most of our garden plants are volunteers and some are quite pretty) but, as I was breaking off the stiff, brown stalks of last year's Shasta daisies, what should I find but our Swiss chard from two years ago, happily thriving amongst the weeds. It was a little slug-eaten but vigorous, brightly green, and knee-high.

This Swiss chard is one of the reasons I gave up veggie gardening last year - it was quite disappointing the year before last when it was planted from seed. It burgeoned but only grew a few inches high. "Harvest" was a palmful or two of leaves every two weeks. But, I didn't pull it out - again, my hippie philosophy - just figured the snails would take care of it for me. So, I was quite surprised to find an actual meal or two's worth of fresh, curly leaves out there, loving all the rain and chilly weather we've been enduring since the first of the year.

We'll welcome having this exquisitely local produce on our plates this week, sautéed with butter and garlic - what's a few slug holes between friends?