Since I don’t hunt for birds, I’m changing the adage: Food in the yard is better than a grocery store full of food and food-like items.

Returning from a week trip to the fair Austin-town, weary travelers we were. We were hopeful about hearty, local vegetables surviving a week-long undisturbed refrigeration. Oh, no. A wilty daikon, rotten onion and some questionable radishes. The radishes ended up being ok; all the rest, compost.

Our lunch roster so far: one can of tuna, old radishes. Hmm. Edible, yet not appetizing. I took to the stoop.

I plucked all my little beets from their earthy slumber; many of them ended up being larger than I’d expected (seeing as they’re a root vegetable growing up in a sort of shallow orange box.) A couple were as small as my pinky. I harvested all of them because the fall chill has already descended upon Brooklyn, and the leaves of my beet greens were letting me know it’s time.

hello beets!I harvested the first shoots of lettuce, the ones that grew tall and sheathed the newer growth at the center. I yanked one green onion and two basil leaves. Beet greens were a bonus in the deal.

stoop harvest
shoot, let’s eat!
beet itThe harvest moon happened on October 2. How appropriate that I should harvest my stoop so near this monumental moon. Crunching into the sweet, sanguine heart of my garden made me realize how cool, and convenient it is to have food in the yard.