The Not Garden

We had plans to grow a garden. Tomatoes and herbs, perhaps a vegetable or two would add to our kitchen supplies and inspire. Plans change, distractions occur, and life can get in the way. Our garden, at least the space where the garden is supposed to go, did not materialize. Instead small patches of purslane have grown into fully established plants, acting as ground cover and a delicious succulent to munch on. The oxalis which cohabits with the purslane is also growing with alacrity. The oxalis has grown pods, an ingredient we became aware of after seeing it in pictures of dishes at Alinea. It was great to peer into our yard and see and taste this ingredient, which we thought might be difficult to source. How little we knew, since it happily grows in the plot of soil intended for a cultivated garden and now filled with what some people think of as weeds and we see as ingredients.