Egyptian Spinach
This spinach is one of the easiest to grow, and we have so far found that no bugs seem to touch it. Apparently this plant is the primary green leaf food in Egypt, and is used in many recipes. It has very unique leaves, with each having long “antennae” at the base. Harvesting enough quantity […]
Malabar Spinach – A Vine You Can Eat
Malabar Spinach grows easily in the tropics of Costa Rica even though its native to Asia. The texture of the leaves is a but mushy, so it should be used in cooking with that in mind. We will be working on some recipes that consider this well. We are using Malabar spinach as a climbing […]
Amazing Fast-Growing Costa Rica Spinach
All of these (bags in the foreground and background) were grown from a few leafless spinach stem scraps, about 3mm wide and 4cm long, leftover from a meal with my friends Jeremy and Andrea, the owners of La Escuela del Sol in Montezuma. I first started the four small stems in four bags, which grew […]
Zucchinis galore!
Our first harvest from our new zucchini seeds, showing a great variety in these heirloom species. We also learned from chef Giuseppe Morisco that we can eat the flowers.
Living Shade Garden Unit
When I discovered that “grillos” (grasshoppers) were killing our baby tomatoe seedlings, I needed to think up a solution fast, so we built this “living shade structure” in one day. The result was this structure, which uses the following materials: 8 sheets of corrogated tin (3.6m) 9 madera negro living fenceposts (3 meters) […]
Miracle Fruit!
These amazing mini-fruits are one of the most remarkable things I’ve ever eaten. Here are the farm, we have a couple of these bushes, and at any given time they have a half dozen or so of these small, bean-sized “miracle fruits“, which have a magical ability that has to be experienced to be believed. […]
How to Harvest Loofah
This Valentine’s Day, say I “loofyah.” Loofahs, the spongy skincare product we recognize from drugstore beauty isles actually come from your own subtropical backyard vines (not the sea!). They grow like cucumbers and indeed they’re part of the cucumber – Cucurbitaceae – family. Ideally harvest them once the skin becomes a crispy brown shell. Because […]
