Gardening with a Baby

I have to admit there were years where I didn't garden.  Those years were when my children were under 2 years old.  It was just to busy of a time.  Now that I'm in the over 60 crowd I never in a million  years thought I'd have a baby when I planted this huge garden (size of two city lots).  Then three weeks ago our 6 month old granddaughter, Gabriella Nicole (Gabby), joined us.  What to do?  Well we've hired a helper and need to hire another one, but Gabby does enjoy going to the garden for short periods of time.

Grandma's Garden - Arugula

Arugula is a dark green, peppery leaf that works equally well in salads or as a cooked green.  It is very high in Vitamin A and C.  Some Arugula has been planted in our small greenhouse and will be ready the end of April.  More will be planted in the next couple of weeks and again in the fall.  Our Arugula is non-gmo and grown organically.

Choosing Arugula

Look for dark greens leaves of a uniform color. Avoid yellowing leaves, damaged leaves, wilted leaves, or excessively moist-looking leaves. A bit of dirt is fine - it is likely the result of recent rain or watering (splashing dirt up onto the leaves)

Cleaning & Storing Arugula: Bunched arugula needs to have its tough stems removed and discarded before cleaning. Arugula is best cleaned in a large bowl or basin of cool water. Gently swish leaves in the water, letting any dirt fall to the bottom of the bowl. Lift clean leaves out of the water and transfer to a salad spinner or several layers of paper towels or a clean kitchen towel. Dry in the spinner or by rolling in the towels. Transfer leaves to a layer or two of paper towels (or clean, dry ones if you dried the leaves with towels), gently roll them up, and store in a loosely closed plastic bag in the fridge. Arugula stored this way will last up to a week. Uncleaned leaves keep about 3 days.

Different Arugula Leaves For Different Recipes: Smaller arugula leaves tend to be milder, while larger leaves tend to have a more aggressive, peppery kick.