Spinach: This Too Shall Pass

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The first thing I notice about spinach is how long it takes to clean it properly. Washing the individual spinach leaves is time-consuming and tedious. Tack that on to the time it takes to pinch the leaves off the plant itself, the cooking or preparation of it as a food, and the process of preserving it should you decide to keep it for later; it adds up to quite the time commitment (also known as: time suck).

The first thing I notice about spinach is how long it takes to clean it properly. Washing the individual spinach leaves is time-consuming and tedious. Tack that on to the time it takes to pinch the leaves off the plant itself, the cooking or preparation of it as a food, and the process of preserving it should you decide to keep it for later; it adds up to quite the time commitment (also known as: time suck).

Is it even worth it? These types of thoughts run the hamster wheel of my mind while I'm rubbing at the leaves with wet thumbs.

That's just the cranky gardening-too-early-in-the-morning part of me. As soon as I start applying reason to the process, it becomes clear: growing your own food is worth whatever time commitment necessary.

That's my belief, anyway: I enjoy knowing where my food comes from (especially when I've grown it myself). I know what's been added to the soil. I know it hasn't been sprayed with pesticides.

Also, it feels good to know that I can actually grow spinach. Spinach is a rich vegetable, one of those 'bad boys' that really socks it to you in the nutrients department. Should I ever need to support my family's food needs, I'll feel confident growing spinach.

Garden wisdom is priceless. Our national food system is "taking care of us" now, but there is only gain in learning how to manage local food for one's self.

So, even though I wasn't really in the mood to clean up all that spinach, I knew it had to be done. (If I trust the process, I will be enriched by the journey.)

I had a huge harvest today (a spinach bounty!) and it might well be the last considerable harvest of the spinach season. Spinach (like me) prefers cool temperatures and gets all excitable once the days lengthen and heat up. Literally excitable, it seems, as the term for their behavior is called "bolting."

Bolting occurs when the spinach plant decides to switch from using its energy for leaf production to pumping up its seed and flower production. It's in reproductive mode; when that happens, humans are expected to tiptoe backwards and leave it be. Or, more realistically, to "call it a day" on the spinach season and cut down the plant at its soil level.

Because once bolting happens, the spinach will stop making leaves at a "productive" rate. They'll yellow and die off or just remain stunted little baby spinach leaves (which are not necessarily a bad thing, but there won't be a lot of them anyway). At this point, you could grasp on to dying hope for your spinach plants, but (really) they're taking up space in your garden. Fertile land is valuable. Cut those babies down and sow seeds for another crop (how about some more broccoli for an early autumn harvest?).

Sure enough, my spinach plants have bolted and it's time to divvy up the harvest for fresh or frozen consumption.

I've had multiple spinach harvests before, so I decided to freeze today's harvest.

There are a couple ways to freeze spinach. It can be blanched for three minutes, cooled for three minutes, dried and frozen; or it can be "dry" frozen, which simply involves drying it and sticking it in a freezer bag.

Since I'd spent enough time with the spinach today, I opted for "dry" freezing. Initially, I thought this would take less time. And it might have, had I realized my lack of a salad spinner was a severe handicap. 

Using a roll of paper towels to dry off a bowl of spinach leaves seems a bit superfluous. At least I'm keeping northern Maine loggers in business.

Had I decided to keep this spinach fresh, there are a few things I could have done with it.

I could:

  • make a spinach salad with balsamic honey lime dressing, strawberries and almonds
  • use it as an ingredient on pesto pizza (with feta cheese and chicken!)
  • made a warm, gooey spinach artichoke dip
  • done something crazy like hide it in a smoothie

 Or, if I'd had it up 'to here' with spinach, I could give it away. (I've given some to friends and family already, so there's no guilt in keeping this batch for myself.)

Giving away homegrown produce has to be in my 'top five feel-good activities.' The other day I stopped by a friend's house right around dinnertime; her almost-two-year-old was eating my spinach. Talk about a swelling heart; it's downright awesome feeling pride for good things you've done.

What "good things" have you done this summer? Canned? Preserved? Took great photos at your friends' wedding? Leave a comment and let me know what's got your heart a'swellin'!

Now, make like some spinach and bolt! (Oh yeah. I went there.)