Making food from the backyard

Since it's spring and my roommate and I have lapsed into a Depression-era poverty level (I am a grad student and she is a social worker and we are both up to our eyeballs in student loans), I decided to try cooking with ingredients from the immense, lush garden we have in our backyard.

Now, okay, up until recently, I forgot that this place HAD a backyard, and I think my neighbors did too, but now that everything's coming up roses (literally), we happen to have realized.

We have rhubarb, which I picked for a pie this weekend (pictured above), and carrots, tomatoes, raspberries, the aforementioned roses, a peach tree, a grape arbor(!), a blueberry bush, and a variety of flowers growing. We also have weeds. LOTS of weeds!!

Luckily, these are dandelions, which are edible. And because our garden is urban, I don't have to fight with the rabbits and deer that would normally claim my dinner. So it's polenta with tofu, dandelion greens, and morel mushrooms tonight! MMMMM yum