My Adventures As A Local Food Grower

To many people, growing plants, vegetables, or any type of greenery is an easy task.  However, this is in no way my case.  I am a very, rather I should say, extremely lousy gardener.  Not long time ago, I even tried to maintain alive a very tiny cactus that my daughter gave to me as a present for mother’s day.  Needless to say, my attempt ended up in a wrinkled, dead, sadly looking cactus. To this day, my daughter never forgave me for letting her precious gift go to waste; and she avidly promised by no means to give me another plant as a present. 

Today, I am no better plant grower.  However, through trial and error, I have learned a few tricks here and there, and thanks to our lovely, and very intelligent mother nature I can proudly say that I have fortunately ventured into the amazing habit of growing my own fruit trees in my backyard; with great success, I believe.

After enthusiastically reading, and later practicing about sustainable agriculture proposed in innumerable occasions by Alice Waters; or discovering Michael Pollan´s encouragement to bring pleasure back to eating in his book In Defense Of Food, I have found out the incredible satisfaction that is to cultivate yourself part of what you eat.  Persistence and hard work have let me to delightfully taste the fruits of my own harvest.

My story as an improvised horticulturist began in a lovely house in a nameless town, where a once manicured lawn was rapidly surrendering to abandonment and decay.  Ordinary plants disorderly grew everywhere, and the thirsty grass seemed more like a desert than an oasis.  A cadaverous mango tree was the only tree still standing in the yard.  Just a few yellow leaves decorated its treetop like a fragile, aged bold man. Nevertheless, the plot was spacious and the place had a great potential to become our home for the coming future, and the whole family absolutely fell in love with it. (It is too bad that I did not take any pictures at the time)

 Days passed, and we arduously cared for the garden.  We watered the trees, fertilized the soil, and colorful plants and flowers dressed up now our new backyard, delighting us with a gratifying sight.

   

The mango tree leaves flourished, and eventually flowered.   Precious little flower buds populated its once neglected branches.  Soon, hundreds of mini-mangoes fully developed into luxurious fruits, sweet, ripe, and juicy ambrosia, which daringly tempted every visitor who came to my house.

It was as Eve was luring Adam in God’s Garden.

One thing led to another, and sooner rather than later I had planted one papaya tree, two autochthonous banana trees, one lime tree, one avocado tree, my own aromatic herb garden, and a Clementine tree.  However, the latest did not make it to this summer.  I am, somehow, still trying to find out what happened.

Early this spring, we tasted our organic papayas, and they were sweet morsels of delight. The papaya tree is the envy of my neighbors.  And to this day, enormous papayas are continuously growing out of it.

The banana trees are about 5 feet tall and are still maturing.  I am hoping to dutifully enjoy some of my local bananas by March next year.  Like I said, patience is the key essence of being a gardener, a trait I yet have to properly develop.

The young avocado tree is still too tender to offer its fruits, but its dark green leaves are proliferating trough the branches making it hard for anyone to see the trunk.  I can imagine myself savoring the creamy almond taste of the avocados, once the first flowers appear.  I surely will share with you some of my best recipes like shrimp cocktail avocados, or red onion shavings and avocado slices dressed in balsamic vinaigrette once I collect my reward.

             Planting an herb garden is a recommendation that I seriously follow anywhere I get to live.  Nowadays, more and more food connoisseurs, great American chefs, even food bloggers like me are convincing people to get into the habit of procuring oneself a little terracotta pot, or if you are lucky enough, your own piece of land where to grow fresh oregano, sage, thyme, rosemary and anything else that you can get your hands on.  Trust me, any meal cooked with love, passion and of course, pesticide free, organic natural herbs make a huge difference in your taste buds and in the taste buds of your loved ones.

And so, my adventures as a food grower continue as I learn new things every passing day.  And to this moment, when I take a look at my garden, I can’t help but momentarily travel back in time to that first sight of my lonely, thirsty mango tree.  My neglected piece of land has become my refuge, my psychologist (because I talk to my plants,) my pride and joy.

My point behind this story is that with this recipe that mother nature has passed on to me:  a teaspoon of love, a pinch of carefulness, a bit of sun, and a dash of fertilizer you too can grow something very unique in your terracotta pots, or around your garden. Something that will fulfill an unknown sentiment inside you, which once awaken it could never be stopped, and like an addict it will require you to increase the dose.   For starters, you can procure yourself one of those small basil aromatic plants, follow my advice and the next time you need basil for your Capresse salad, use your own grown culinary herbs and taste the difference.  You’ll know what I mean.

Nothing can compare to the pleasure that it is to sample the fruits of your hard, caring labor, and for that, I am unconditionally thankful to our mother nature.
For now, I am just deciding on what tree I should plant next ...

NATY PIECHO

One of a Kind Place

     The sun has finally shone though the unusually dark winter clouds.

     For us, Tenerife locals, a cloudy sky is not a sight we are accustomed to.  The tourism propaganda about the Canary Islands promises 350 days of sunny holidays every year.  The rest is just unpredictable.  And this week, it has been just that... unpredictable.  The temperatures have surprisingly dropped to 0 degrees centigrade in parts of Tenerife and Gran Canaria.  The rest of the seven islands are suffering similar temperatures. A powerful storm has left El Teide national park beautifully dressed in snow.  The color white has completely covered the green authocthonous pine trees above the mountains.  And even in Adeje, a town located in the south of Tenerife where it is always warm and sunny, the residents are in awe this past two days when they look up to the tallest volcano in Spain, El Teide, to see it all covered in white as if God himself had sprinkled powder sugar to decorate the top of a cake.

    Shorts and tank tops are no longer needed for now.  Instead, residents are seeking refuge from the gelid cold with coats, boots and in some cases scarves.  I, myself, had to dust off my heavy coat hidden way back in my closet.  For tourists, however, accustomed to the record breaking, freezing winter European temperatures, this is just a slightly cooler day in paradise.  Strolling down the promenade, the chilly ocean breeze represents an interlude from the high temperatures of a few days ago.  And as the vacationists walk undisturbed through the rain, a rare present from Mother Nature to Tenerife’s arid landscape, the rest of the locals hide drinking hot chocolate and "churros" in bars.  Meanwhile, everywhere you go, the topic of conversation is how abnormally cold the weather is here. If you are lucky enough to speak Spanish, the expression that you most listen to nowadays is "Brrrr! I am freezing cold today!"

     Luckily for us, it doesn’t last long.  Whereas, towns located at the north of the island of Tenerife: La Orotava, Tacoronte, La Victoria... are slowly recovering from the icy weather, clearing and cleaning up roads for regular use, the south is back to business.  Winter here, survived only a couple of days.

     Hungry tourists, in search of the first sunny rays, once more populate yesterday’s desolated beaches.  And as a Spanish saying goes: "After the storm, one can always expect the calm weather".

      The Canary Islands is one of the few places on earth where lucky visitors enjoy the pleasures of the sunny beaches of Spain while taking in a beautiful winter scene without any frostbite.  Look up to the mountains while bathing in the middle of the Atlantic and then, you realize that it is only here, where summer and winter are close friends.

     Here are several spectacular views of Tenerife taken by me.  To me the scenes are breath taking, and just by looking at them I feel better.  I hope they cause the same wonderful feeling in you too.

 

 

Fair and Square

      I would like to establish that none of the restaurants mentioned in this blog have paid me in any way.  I personally do my own reviews and dutifully I pay for each and everyone of them.  I have to say that I do not accept any money, in any form, nor as a gift from anybody related to any of the restaurants, hotels or shops that I may write about in Canarian Chef.  I, myself, decide when, where, how and to whom I make any reviews, comments or recommend in my blog.
    I wanted to create an objective travel blog, leaving the decision making to any of my visitors, many of whom may potentially travel to the islands and check by themselves my personal recommendations.  I try to be as fair as I can be.  My experience in each and everyone of the places mentioned is described exactly as I lived it, nor better or worse.  I tell the truth, whether the place is good or absolutely bad.  You can count on my objective opinion.
    Truth is that I usually chose above average restaurants in my reviews, but... hey! why do you want to go on vacation to a new place if not to experience the culture and of course, the food.  After all, we all live once.  And, as I always say: Que aproveche!