New Year, and new things

I've never grown a winter garden. Okay - maybe a few heads of lettuce and some garlic. Okay, lots of garlic. But never winter crops. This year is my first time that I've tried my hand at a winter variety of veggies. We have all sorts of brassicas growing (cabbages, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussel sprouts) as well as some lettuces and fennel (And a ton of garlic, both soft and hard neck varieties). Not a lot of each, but when you add it all up, it's a lot of food.

Here is the first harvest of our season - Broccoli that we ate on New Year's Eve. What a feast. It tastes... different... than store bought. Really. More mellow. Not as strong. Sweet? I am getting tired of my home grown veggie descriptions as 'sweet', but frankly, I can't figure out another word to use.

Another thing that you can do with freshly cut broccoli - is use much more of the stem than you can with store bought. It's not woody like what you find at the grocery.