Making Dolmas: What to do with too Much Chard

If you plant kale or chard, you know you will always produce more than you need, your friends need and your family needs. But if you have to buy wither in a grocery store, they ask for a princely sum. Something is wrong the the supply and demand side of this formula.

Anyway, the following gives a general recipe for how to make dolmas. If you don't grow your own chard or kale, find a local grower/seller or make friends with a gardener.

Pictured below is my very large colander full of kale, chard, herbs, onions and celery straight from the garden.

To make the dolmas, I cut celery, onion, mint, oregano and dill very finely and then mix it with a pound or two of ground meat.

Finer than this even...
Then I blanche the chard or kale in boiling water and then cool it in ice water. The ice always melts half way through and it doesn't change the the success of the recipe so don't worry about it. Once the leaves have cooled, add a tablespoon of the meat mixture and roll it in the centre of the leaf like the picture below...
Pack the dolmas in a casserole and add broth and cook for about an hour. I freeze them after and then eat them as a treat throughout the fall and winter.I do this about two or three times a year and I always run out sometime near Christmas.

Garlic Harvest

It was time to dig up the garlic this weekend. The garden is looking so lush and lovely, but the garlic has been getting browner. This is when you know it is time to harvest, when all the green dies back.

I planted most of the garlic in October, but we lost almost all of our crop in November because the weather as so wet and cold. I replanted with some Russian red garlic I bought at a winter market in December. Although it was late in the season, I decided to plant it.


I had to drill into the frozen soil in order to plant the cloves, and I was afraid it wouldn't work, but it did! It was a good thing too, because I wouldn't have any garlic this year. Maybe I will plant all my garlic in December from now on.

Blueberry Time

Everybody should have a secret berry picking spot. I know I do. I have several, depending on the berries I am seeking at the time. I have included photos of my top secret blueberry picking spot. (All identifying markings have been removed in order to ensure secrecy. )

I remember going berry picking with my family. I kind of hated it as I recall. It seemed like a lot of work with very little reward. Now I look back fondly on those times I spent with my family. My parents are dead now, but I like to think they are there in the bog with me, as I fill my stomach and my bucket with blueberries.