purslane?!

Plants are awesome, but the watering can is more awesome.

Until we discovered purslane, baby tomatillos we the most interesting things the garden was producing. The campers didn't really seem to care whether they were ripe or unripe (sweet or sour). Because we may have stressed the plants by moving them a few times, Jeff said they might be pushing out their fruit as quickly as possible. Even the ripest fruits fall off the vine no bigger than 2 cm in diameter.

Two days ago we discovered that our most pervasive weed was edible, and actually very healthy. After doing some research about common garden weeds, we googled "succulent weed" and instantly found pictures of the juicy looking red stem we'd been finding all over the garden. Evidently it's really high in omega-3's (higher than any other leafy green) and other vi and it tastes like watercress. (The campers pick it and eat it more eagerly then I've ever seen a kid eat something leafy and green).

Why don't people cultivate it? Well, you don't really have to, as each plant can produce up to 240,000 tiny seeds that are viable for years left in the soil. Some people don't know of the high nutrition they're throwing away by tossing purslane aside with the rest of the garden weeds. But I asked a chef in the Ross kitchen, and she says she often uses purslane in catering, adding it to salads. Yesterday I picked a bucket full and brought it upstairs with some fresh leaf lettuce and a bunch of chives. The chives I know will be used today with the beets, I hope the purslane finds a spot in the salad bar!