This weekend, I was in the garden planting some beans and cucumber seedlings and doing a little cleanup. Whenever I am in the garden, I usually do a little harvesting simultaneously. My garden is a give-and-take operation; every time I plant something, I take something, usually to go with my dinner.

While cultivating my cucumber spot, where potatoes had been the year before, I was surprised to see I had a few new babies. As I had thoroughly disturbed them, I kept digging and getting the lot, and a few were added to my dinner plate that night.

I also had just two beetroots that were ready to come out. I planted these from a packet of seeds last year and got a great harvest. For some reason, I had a few come up very early this spring. I think it must have been a few seeds that did not germinate for some reason last year. What a gift.

The wonderful thing about beetroot is that you can eat the whole plant, roots and leaves. I rinsed the leaves and boiled them in salted water, like spinach. I roasted the roots for one hour in a small roasting dish, dressing them with olive oils and sea salt. I did not peel them, but just gave them a good wash and ate them skins and all. Nothing was left of the plant as it all ended up on my plate.

And yes, the beard is homemade sourdough, but no, I did not churn the butter.

You should get some beetroot into your garden and onto your plate. It is so good for you, being a good source of fibre, folate (vitamin B9), manganese, potassium, iron, and vitamin C.

As always, Live well

Valerie