The quiet paths and gorgeous plants at Flora Grubb Gardens never fail to inspire. Even more so when you happen to visit with Willi of Diggin Food, a fave growing and cooking blog (and new Sunset fame!). We met up this week and let me tell you, it was humbling and inspiring to hear Willi talk shop with the veggie guy, throwing out genus names and germination times and all kinds of mysterious lingo. Then Willi said something great about gardening, that totally resonated with me. It was something to the effect of being a perfectionist in so many aspects of her life, but out in the garden it doesn’t matter so much. Some things are going to flop, and others are going to thrive, and that’s that. It’s just great to be part of the process and relish the satisfaction of growing food.

I’m hoping to bring Willi back for a Q&A in the next few weeks, so stay tuned. In the meantime, I picked up a veggie I never heard of before: salsify. It’s a long, skinny root veggie with black skin. The guy at Flora Grubb says it tastes kind of like potatoes, and kind of like beets. But I also read that when it’s cooked it tastes like an oyster…I'm not so sure how I feel about that. Willi reported back to me that the leaves are edible and it produces pretty purple flowers.

So potentially, there's lot of beauty and weirdness to come. Just how I like it.