Sometimes I am brimming with ideas for what to grow in the greenhouse and what to do with the harvest. Other times i need a little inspiration and one person in particular has been especially creative and vocal when it comes to what veggies she'd like to see come out of the greenhouse. Sometimes her motives are personal: "I just want to see what that plant looks like", others are experimental: "Could we even grow peppers? That'd be cool!", and other times she's looking to share the bounty: "I think we should grow cucumbers and make pickles to serve!" Whenever i express hesitation or doubt, she's there with a good idea. Oh, and she's always willing to help create or taste test the final product.
Who is this muse, you ask? It's Stephanie Browne, the Food Service Director at USM Dining Services in Gorham! Here she is, showing how much she loves plants:
You might be asking what this all has to do with rainbow chard, and I'm about to tell you. Stephanie wanted to try growing chard because she liked to eat it at home. I decided this was a worthy experiment for the following reasons: In the greenhouse we need to grow vegetables that 1) don't take up too much space, 2) continuously produce (aka have multiple large harvests like spinach and lettuce), and 3) don't mind the cool weather (since I didn't have any bed space until August). Chard fulfilled all of these qualifications.
I grew only a small amount from seed since i wanted to see how it performed in the shallow greenhouse beds. The answer is GREAT! It has been growing well since August and has sustained two major harvests of all large leaves. Next year i will grow more earlier in the season and the yeild should improve due to the warmer weather and increased sunlight.
Teenage Rainbow Chard (a colorful variety of Swiss Chard) growing in a bed of basil
Rainbow Chard picked and ready to be used!
Here in Dining Services we sauteed the chard with butter and put it as a side dish on our Home Line in the Residential Restaurant on the Gorham Campus. At my house, I have perfected a great way to enjoy chard as part of a healthy, fast, easy, affordable and filling vegetarian dinner. Here are easy instructions to get the chard ready. Here are easy instructions to poach an egg (or two if you are really hungry!) to be placed on top of the chard.
So: sauteed chard (cook it only until it turns bright green, don't overcook it!) + poached egg (the runny yolk acts as a sort of sauce) + a tiny bit of balsamic vinegar + handful of pine nuts (or other mild tasting nut like sliced almonds) + salt & pepper = delicious!
Head to your farmers market or local grocer and pick up some locally grown chard and eggs right now!
Grow on,
Tyler
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