Adventures in Gardening: Preserving

Jessica van Dop DeJesus — Mon, 07 Oct 2013 02:40:00 +0000

From El Huerto

I have already dedicated two posts this year to my adventures in gardening. This summer, I fell in love with what I like to call my “huerto” (Spanish for Garden). It always makes me happy to track the report of my plants when I wake up in the morning. I find myself talking to the plants them as I water them and feeling sad when they are abused by the DC sun. Among my babies, there is small jalapeño plant I bought in June at the Home Depot at Rhode Island Ave which gave me plenty of little green and red peppers. With all too many of them, I decided to try my hand at preserving.

I found beautiful Ball quilted jars at Wegmans which I intended to use for entertaining. I thought it would be nice to use them for their actual purpose. I found a recipe at the Ball website for the jelly. It was pretty simple and omitted the green food coloring. I like my food to look natural. I picked the jalapenos from the plant and proceeded to cut them in my kitchen when I made a BIG mistake: I rubbed my eye with my bare hands!!! Thanks to the internet, I found a great solution to the problem: I made an eye wash with a shot glass and milk. It really calmed the inflammation. Note to self: wear gloves as the instructions state!

Pretty Ball Jars

The last step, processing the canned contents in boiling water

I did not have all the canning equipment of the pros but I managed to follow the instructions and effectively sterilize the jars in my Le Creuset without getting burned. Once the content was set on the jars, I placed them in the kitchen until fully cooled. A few hours later, I started hearing popping sounds, indicating the jars sealed. The proof came the next day, when I got to try my jelly. I was very proud of myself! It had the right balance of sweet and spicy. I later served it at a party with homemade cornbread bites and gave extra jars as gifts. Overall, I thought the process was going to be more complicated than I thought, happy that it turned out well. Looking forward to doing more preserving, especially with the fall and winter fruits.

Ready to be served!

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Adventures in Urban Gardening: Part I

Jessica van Dop DeJesus — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 04:14:00 +0000

Growing up in an urbanización in Puerto Rico was my first experience in gardening. Not as a gardener, but as a spectator to my parents’ garden projects. Our tropical suburban home was blessed with lime, mango, tamarind, and papaya trees. In addition to those, my dad cultivated tomatoes, beans, okra, peppers, among others. Sometime in the mid 80’s, I was grounded for misplacing okra seeds my dad had gone out of his way to acquire. As a child, I loved going to “Mama’s” (or family hen) cage to retrieve her eggs. Little did I know, I was living the coveted organic lifestyle in a small beach side town in Puerto Rico.
I’m starting to believe as we get older, we find ways to find our childhood again. In the last few years, I have become more interested in gardening and plants. I feel plants give a unique sense of life to my home with less time and responsibility than a pet. Last year in Brussels, I started small: a mini herb garden and an orchid plant. I bought rosemary, thyme, sage, and oregano. They thrived the whole summer despite the unpredictable Belgian weather. I made many dishes with them: lamb with fresh rosemary, tomato sauce with fresh oregano, pasta with sage butter, among others. Lucy, my orchid, (named after my favorite aunt Lucilla) also thrived with tender loving care and the guidance of my friend Valeria, an orchid expert who is now watching over her.

My Belgian Crop

Now, I am in Washington with more predictable weather and a mini back yard (for urban standards). Given my current environment, I decided to experiment with a little “urban gardening”. Unfortunately, my mini yard is mostly cement, therefore my gardening experiment is contained. I figured Hope Depot is a good place for beginners. Thankfully, there is one on Rhode Island Ave and it opens on Easter. What better day to plant new seeds than the day of resurrection? As a novice, I decided to get some tomato plants, herbs, and seeds. I love basil and the weather in Brussels was not conducive for growing it. Taking advantage of the warm DC summers, I got 4 plants: 2 sweet basil and 2 purple basil. I also bought oregano, thyme, and rosemary. Aside from misplacing my father’s seeds as a child, I do not have much experience but given that they were so cheap ($1.99 per pack), I decided to experiment with sweet peppers and eggplant seeds.

My Science Project

My friend and I returned home to set up the beginning of the urban garden. We both commented how we felt like 5th graders with a science experiment, especially as we placed the pepper and eggplant seeds in incubators. I was not even aware I could place seeds in incubators until yesterday! My garden endeavor was reasonably priced ($75 for plants, soil, containers, incubator, seeds) and was happy to know Home Depot gives a 10% military discount.

My DC Herb Garden

Now that I figured the process is relatively easy, I would like to get into planting flowers on the small space on my front yard, learn about composting, and maybe getting a fruit tree. The nature of planting: the feel of the soil, witnessing an organism grow, being able to eat what you grow feels like an amazing phenomenon for me. Then again, I am impressed by the smallest things! Now, I look forward to my plants thriving, seeds sprouting in the late spring, and making yummy dishes with the products of my urban garden.

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Adventures in Gardening: Preserving

Adventures in Urban Gardening: Part I