Kitchen Farming

I set out to landscape the kitchen counter. The backsplash was variegated black before. It didn’t reflect enough light, although it looked gorgeous. So I went Green and painted the backsplash a gorgeous, satiny, punchy pink with some mauve overtones. Then I had to re-landscape the counter. All this Green thinking got me inspired to start farming as part of the landscape.
Driving seventy miles to the city, in the winter to get dandelions and watercress is not all it’s cracked up to be now that my eyes are sensitive to light and sunshine on snow really makes me squint. Not good for my wrinkles, all this squinting.
I think I may go back to farming. I’ve already got a little 4” by 10” windowsill field set up with garden cress and dandelions as the crop to harvest.
Next I’m going to sprout some clover and alfalfa in jars with plastic strainer lids. Maybe not. Those seeds are pretty dinky. I’d better get some old panty hose to cover the jar top so the seeds don’t get rinsed away.
I have to soak the seeds overnight and rinse and then drain them three times every 24 hours
When I get that to work, I’ll sprout some beans and see how that affects their ability to terrify my digestive tract. I would love to make a Mock Chicken Loaf which has a mashed bean and bread dressing mixed with an egg to glue it together. It tastes great hot or cold, but it’s quite gassy. I’m hoping that sprouting deals with that problem. Some sprouted wheat bread could be fun, too.
I have no illusions that I’m going to be eating food within a hundred-mile radius. I’ve got this concept down to 20 feet from place of growth to dining room table. But, the seed comes from somewhere else and not within a hundred miles, either.
I’m not getting watercress, but garden cress is quite similar in nutrients and the chlorophyll is great. I can see that learning to farm in a new way can solve a lot of nutritional problems as well as being very economical. I can put the money I save on shopping trips to the city toward an ionic footbath.
Should I call myself a kitchen counter farmer, or an organic chef with a vertical food production system?
But first, I’d better find the panty hose. And those seeds that I bought last spring at the health food store.