Arugula: Greens of the Gods

Some years ago, long before some idiots labeled people who ate arugula as elitists, I purchased some arugula seed from a seed catalog. I grew my arugula and was delighted with its spicy taste. In Texas, I grew a "rustic" strain of arugula; its flowers were yellow, its leaves slenderer, and its growing habit invasive. I purchased a different strain of arugula last spring; the leaves are just as tasty, but the flowers are white, and its growth is not invasive. I'll be trying out some new strains this spring. As my arugula grows, I'll harvest its leaves, enjoying at least the food of an elitist, if not the lifestyle. What crazy times we live in: our economy goes south; the American taxpayer bails out rich folks and the companies they plundered. People like Darrel Dochow, who made $230,000 a year as a government regulator (and who was "also the regulator in 1989 who oversaw the failed Lincoln Savings and Loan"), is accused of helping a bank falsify its records and yet gets to retire from his government job. He's probably receiving a government pension, too. Yet I, who brought home a laughably low paycheck as an educator, am elitist because I eat arugula. Go figure.

Arugula, greens of the gods. Poster plant for the Greene Victory Garden 2009.

Update: Tom just sent me an article that reminds us that while "our industrial food system is rotten to the core...heirloom arugula won't save us." But on a smaller, personal scale, homegrown arugula can certainly spice up our salads.

Victory Garden, Phase 1

During WWII, not only Americans, but people in Great Britain and Canada aided the war effort by growing vegetable gardens in their front yards. These gardens were called Victory Gardens. In some areas of the country, such gardens have been gaining in popularity again. Some folks want to eat as much food grown locally as they possibly can because they're concerned about the amount of resources, such as fuel, that we waste on transporting fruits and vegetables over vast distances. Restaurants in our own area advertise the fact that they use locally-grown food whenever possible. Some folks just hate the waste of time, effort, and money poured into maintaining a perfect front lawn of grass; others just love homegrown tomatoes. Now that the economy is tanking, more people are looking for ways to save money and have turned to growing their own food.

I grew up in the country, in Chambers County, Texas, and my father always had a garden. I hoed weeds, picked peas, and snacked on crisp raw vegetables straight from the plant. When my husband and I were young married students at Texas A&M University, we gardened on land that the university tilled and allotted for married students living in cheap campus apartments. I've had a garden everywhere I've lived, growing flowers, herbs, and vegetables. Now I live in a suburban neighborhood of houses built in the 1940s. For the most part, our yards are small and our backyards are shady. But I've been planning a Victory Garden in our sunny front yard. Last year, we took out the boxwoods next to the house and re-planted with flowers and herbs, built a homemade trellis, and installed a garden bench. This year, we're expanding. Tom is even going to try to grow purple okra on the south side of the house.

Our biggest problem will be watering our garden. The Atlanta area has been in a drought for the past two to three years. We put in one water barrel at a downspout behind the house and plan to put in a couple more at downspouts on the north and south sides of the house. We hope we will be able to collect enough water to keep our plants alive should the drought continue.

This weekend we began phase 1 of our twenty-first century Victory Garden: turning the soil over, pulling out grass, and incorporating compost. I'll post occasionally on our progress. The arugula I planted last fall, by the way, lived through the winter and is now flowering. Soon it will go to seed and create a new batch of arugula. According to some idiots, arugula is the food of elites. I just call it a green--and our poster plant for the Greenes' Victory Garden.

Arugula Lover

Today I got out my packet of arugula seeds. I've been planting arugula in the spring for several years, and I'm going to try a fall planting in a front flower bed, behind the globe amaranths and a native rudbeckia. I love the stuff. I guess I'm an elitist, too--even though my family's income falls far, far, far short of the $5 million threshold that John McCain claims one has to cross to be labeled "rich." Oh, and I also do my own gardening in my own little suburban yard of my own one little (1300 square feet) 1940s suburban home. Oh, and I have a master's degree in English, and I've been an instructor and assistant professor at several colleges and universities. Also, I read a lot, books with words like "economy," "mergers," "indigenous,"climatic upheaval"," and such. So I must be pointy-headed, too. Although I thought I was an ordinary American, I've recently learned that loving greens and having a graduate degree evidently make me unable to relate to ordinary Americans. Gee, I feel so special. Thanks, Republicans.

Update
Here is Christopher Beam at Slate, defending arugula: "It's Not Easy Being a Leafy Green."