{"id":213,"date":"2021-09-27T23:49:42","date_gmt":"2021-09-27T23:49:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/cultureofgardening\/?p=213"},"modified":"2021-11-19T17:35:23","modified_gmt":"2021-11-19T17:35:23","slug":"scott-on-growing-cooking-and-sharing-abundance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/cultureofgardening\/2021\/09\/27\/scott-on-growing-cooking-and-sharing-abundance\/","title":{"rendered":"Scott on growing, cooking, and sharing abundance"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Scott and his husband Dave garden in Corvallis. Scott documents their experience gardening while connecting with other gardeners on Instagram at @thegardendaddies<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What was your gardening journey?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We moved to Corvallis in 2016 to start working at Oregon State University and began thinking about gardening almost immediately. We had done a little bit of gardening when we lived in Davis, California when we were both learning and working at UC Davis. When we got here, it was sort of like, \u201coh there\u2019s so much possibility!\u201d So we started very small, and dug up a square of grass and planted some chard in it. And it\u2019s grown to what you see now.<\/p>

That was sort of the journey but if I think a little farther back, I\u2019m so lucky to have two grandmothers who were and are incredible gardeners. My grandma Joanne was an incredible gardener in Ohio and always kept beautiful flowers. My grandma Kay, who immigrated from India to the US, always had\u2014and continues to have\u2014beautiful gardens. One of my really strong garden memories is when she lived in India, and I actually had a chance to live with her and my grandfather for a period of time, she had this beautiful garden on a terrace and grew ginger, turmeric, vegetables and flowers and all sorts of things. I think it seeped in that you can grow a lot of good and nutritious food in a small space, so that\u2019s been something we\u2019ve carried with us. <\/p>

I\u2019ve tried to grow ginger and turmeric. We grew ginger last year and this year we had a little turmeric experiment that didn\u2019t go as planned but I\u2019m going to try again. We do have other herbs that are unique that maybe you don\u2019t find everywhere, like is Rau Ram<\/em> and chilies that are indigenous varieties that aren\u2019t typically grown in the United States. We try to think of the different cultural traditions in the foods we grow.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
“There’s maybe nothing more wonderful than having your two grandmothers over, both of whom are accomplished gardeners and having them tell you you’re doing a good job.”\u2014Scott <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

We also have a beautiful jasmine plant that my grandmother gave us. It\u2019s grown from cuttings that have been all over the world, including in India. We planted it this year and it bloomed really well.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

How would you describe your relationship to gardening today?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For me, and for us, especially this last year, the garden has become a place of calm. I use the word sanctuary both because it\u2019s a great word and because it describes this place where we can put our hands to work and put our minds to work but in a very different way than we do in our day jobs.<\/p>

The experience of growing your own food is really special, even if it\u2019s just 2 or 3 carrots or a couple of tomatoes, just having the chance to see something grow from a small seed or start is really incredible. We\u2019ll have meals almost entirely made from our garden, \u201cthis is amazing!\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

How do you see your cultural identity intersecting with gardening?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m a strong believer in connecting our identities to food and the foods we eat. I identify as multi-racial and the fact that I can maintain a strong connection to my Indian identity, my south Asian identity, through the food that we grow is important to me. That means that the food we grow we get to cook and eat in dishes that I grew up eating that my mom and grandmother made. I think that\u2019s important. It creates a continuity in identity that\u2019s unique and special. And I think a lot of people do that.<\/p>

I think about friends that grow vegetables that they can\u2019t find anywhere else. They\u2019re able to grow them and share them with others because they can grow them. I grow a couple of variety of Indian eggplants that are very small. The variety that I have is called Udumalpet<\/em>; you just don\u2019t find it except at some specialty Indian grocery stores. Last year I grew a type of squash called Bhopla<\/em> from seeds my grandmother gave me from India. Our climate isn\u2019t quite right to get the squash, but even just seeing it and having it range all over the yard was special. That creates a through line: the plants we grow, the food we grow, all help me to connect to my own sense of cultural identity.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
“The garden takes care of itself while we’re away, and every time we return, it’s waiting with new vegetables and a surprise or two. This time, it was the tomato suckers we propagated in water and experimentally planted in the same fabric bags and soil as the potatoes roasted by the June heat wave that flowered and set fruit. Plants are kinda incredible, eh?” \u2014Scott<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019ve been exploring eggplant this year: tell me more about it?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are so many different kinds of eggplant. We use it in subji<\/em> (mixed vegetables), people often know this dish as curry. We also use the grill a lot for eggplants. I\u2019ll roast them and cut them up, and then cook in sauces that have garlic, onion, spices and tomatoes.<\/p>

Eggplants are really underrated. We\u2019re just used to those big spongy versions. This year we\u2019re growing Udumalpet<\/em>, Tsaloniki<\/em> which is a Greek variety, Shimoda<\/em> which is a Japanese variety, Thai long eggplants, and there\u2019s a variety called Annina<\/em> which is just beautiful. It\u2019s fun exploring them.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s your number one gardening tip for growing eggplant?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eggplant is hard to grow in the Willamette Valley because it needs consistent heat. We also have what I\u2019d call a non-optimal gardening spot. We have huge 80-foot trees behind us cutting off the sun at about 2:30 or 3 every day, but we have lots and lots of eggplants that are growing.<\/p>

The key for us is that we start all of our warm weather crops under low tunnels. The tomatoes will be in the ground late March\/early April under tunnels and the peppers and eggplants will follow 3-4 weeks afterwards. In some cases, we put seed starting mats inside the low tunnels to provide some warmth on the ground. This allows them to get some heat and start putting in their roots. Then we will get eggplants by July instead of September.<\/p>

All of the eggplants this year were grown from seed. We\u2019ve been transitioning to starting more by seed. Tomatoes, eggplants, peppers are all inside the house to start\u2014Dave is very patient with me putting up seed racks in the house. And then cool-tolerant crops like lettuce and brassicas we start in our garage. I really need to pace myself. If I had my druthers I\u2019d start tomatoes in January, but that\u2019s a little too early.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
“Some of this morning’s harvest. Send help.” \u2013Scott<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

You grow a lot! What do you do with it all?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We give a lot of it away. We show up at our neighbors\u2019 doors. We have friends across the street who don\u2019t have a garden, but they have apple and plum trees, so we trade. Our neighbor Nora grows Asian pears and apples, and she comes by and we\u2019ll send her on her way with collards and tomatoes.<\/p>

We take the quickest route to preserving. With tomatoes\u2014we\u2019ve canned\u2014but we\u2019re lucky that we have a chest freezer. I take whole tomatoes, wash them, dry them, freeze them completely whole, and stick them in a paper bag or container and just put them in the freezer. And then take out one or two, not even defrost them, and throw them into a soup, stew or daal, and they disintegrate. We do a lot of freezing. We blanche the greens, shock them in cold water, make softballs out of them, and freeze the softballs. Those greens go into everything, but mostly pastas and soups.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Read more about the cucumbers Scott is growing, and a recipe for his favorite way to eat them, in Raita. <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

All photos by Scott Vignos<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Scott and his husband Dave garden in Corvallis. Scott documents their experience gardening while connecting with other gardeners on Instagram at @thegardendaddies What was your gardening journey? We moved to Corvallis in 2016 to start working at Oregon State University and began thinking about gardening almost immediately. We had done a little bit of gardening […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10670,"featured_media":214,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,4,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community-gardening","category-edible-gardening","category-uncategorized","has-thumbnail"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/osu-wams-blogs-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs.dir\/4504\/files\/2021\/09\/Screen-Shot-2021-09-24-at-7.32.09-AM.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/cultureofgardening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/cultureofgardening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/cultureofgardening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/cultureofgardening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10670"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/cultureofgardening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=213"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/cultureofgardening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":236,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/cultureofgardening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213\/revisions\/236"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/cultureofgardening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/cultureofgardening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/cultureofgardening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/cultureofgardening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}