From the Garden: Beets and Potatoes with Spring Herbs

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There were times when I thought we would never grow anything here in this climate of extremes. Seasons seemed foreign at best, nonexistent in the hardest of years. It would take years to build soil, I told myself, and found it to be true when we only really started making a dent in our food supply several years on.

I’d like to say that I handled those hard times with faith and grace and nothing else, but that is not true. There were times when I would know, as one does the face of their own child, that if it were His will to do this, the Lord would provide. And there were times when I wept over lost fruit trees and demolished gardens and asked, even out loud, if anyone but me ever felt like giving up.

Growing food in this land of hot has burned my fair, redheaded skin, hurt my heart, and tested my faith in a way I can only compare to motherhood. And though it pales in comparison to that privilege of being called mama, being a part of plant and animal life is wondrous and challenging and mysterious and trying as well. In both cases, there is soil to build and seeds to plant and a never-ending need for the grace of our savior seen through my weakness of the everyday.

And sometimes, there are harvests.

It seems, as the years have gone on in this endeavor to plant and grow and reap and sow, that each year has had a general uptick in the amount of homegrown hitting the dinner table. There is milk and cream and butter from Mabel. We have even started making a dent in our meat needs, something that we have long looked forward to.

And then there is the garden. I have hit that time of year when I start to get a bit too stubborn to actually buy vegetables. There is no denying that the squash – formerly one of our biggest crops – are completely failing. But there are salads and roots and herbs and I haven’t killed any major crops this week… and what mercy there is in all of it; in every breath of every day, when you get right down to it.

This recipe might not be worth blogging about, actually, but the gift of it all – this beautiful harvest being just a drop in the bucket – seems like something to shout from the rooftop. Through drought and sadness; aching muscles and sickness; scarcity and abundance, the mercies of the Lord have been unending.

There is always so much – everything, actually – to be thankful for, you see.

Beets and Potatoes with Spring Herbs

Ingredients

  • 1 lb beet roots, trimmed
  • 1 lb potatoes, cleaned
  • 1/4 cup, packed, chopped fresh dill
  • 2 Tablespoons, packed, chopped fresh chives
  • 2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
  • 1/4 cup olive oil or 1/3 cup sour cream
  • salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Boil potatoes and beets together in a pot until fork tender. Meanwhile, mince fresh herbs and combine the vinegar and oil or sour cream in a medium mixing bowl.

Drain potatoes and beets really well and toss into the bowl with the vinegar-oil mixture. Toss with the fresh herbs and season generously with salt and pepper.

Quite representative of our reality, we served it alongside a garden salad and salmon salad made from canned, completely store-bought, salmon.

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6 Comments

  3. The beets and potatoes look delicious and makes me yearn for my beets to mature enough to eat. Do you also eat the greens?

    I am the same way with vegetables, fruit, berries, eggs, or honey. If I should run out of fresh, I refuse to buy them in a store. Since I can and dehydrate or ferment or pickle every thing, I shouldn’t run out, but one never knows. I’ve been very fortunate that my a few of my hens provide us with eggs even during the cold winters. But I pickle tons of eggs during their productive time and freeze them too so I can use the pickled eggs for salads or use the frozen ones in my cooking.

    Last year, I canned and also pickled twenty-five quarts of beets and have just now ran out. I planted an extra row this year because I love beets. I like to roast mine with turnips potatoes and onions. I usually wash the root vegetables, peel them, and trim off the ends and quarter the larger ones. I mix oil, usually olive, in a bowl with a little vinegar, salt and pepper and put the vegetables in it to marinate in the refrigerator for an hour or so before roasting. My daughter likes her’s roasted with lamb but my husband and I are vegetarians so ours are roasted without meat. Sometimes I serve them with fish. Recently, we have been eating gar. I know it sounds gross but gar boiled in salt water really taste like lobster. In AR gar is referred to as the poor man’s lobster. We just like the taste of it.

    If you ever get a chance to get cattails while the ends haven’t opened up yet, try boiling them. They have an incredible taste. If they have pollen on the ends, put the ends in a paper bag and tap it until all the pollen falls in. Then use it to make pancakes, bread…anything that you would use flour for. We have some growing around our pond and since we don’t put chemicals out, we know they are safe to eat. Also, the roots are good to smash up into a paste and make flat bread with. My son loves the bread I make with the roots but if he knew he was eating cattail roots, he would probably refuse them. He is a traditional food kind of guy.

  6. Shannon, you inspire and bless me deeply. This recipe looks lovely, but your heart of encouragement in the story behind the recipe fills my heart with hope and joy! Praise Him for His unfailing strength and grace through the challenges of learning to walk in the old paths. Blessings to you and your beautiful family.

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