“I just left some groceries on your doorstep. Go ahead and bring it inside,” I texted my brother.
Our community was and still is in the trenches of battling the spread of COVID-19. Social distancing is requiring parents, siblings, friends, neighbors, co-workers, acquaintances and strangers to stay at least six feet away from each other. All Orange County residents are asked to follow Stay At Home Orders. According to the Orange County Government website, only “certain necessary activities” are permitted, and grocery shopping is one of the necessary activities.
Although grocery stores are open for business, their bare shelves tell another story. Supplies are slow to replenish, and demand is voracious. My siblings and I have a group text going in order to share which stores’ shelves have been replenished and which stores’ shelves stand bare. To limit grocery runs, we even pick up some groceries for each other. My brother was looking for flour and I was in luck; the grocery store had just been restocked.
As I placed the bag of groceries on my brother’s doorstep, I noticed beautiful tomato plants in his front yard.
“Where did you get those plants?” I texted him. “I planted them from some tomatoes that were going bad,” he texted back. “WOW.”
A lightbulb went off in my head: How many tomatoes had I thrown away because they were about to rot?
When I got home, I ogled the four wrinkled tomatoes on the kitchen counter in a whole new light. I immediately sliced them up and placed them in one of the planters in our back patio.
A thought started to brew in the back of my mind: What other plants can I regrow? And so, began a quest to find out what I can regrow from what I already have in the kitchen. Below are some helpful resources I’ve come across to help me get started:
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My Garden Channel
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Foodrevolution.org’s Infographic: 19 Foods You Can Regrow from Scraps
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EatingWell
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Don’t Throw It, Grow It! by Deborah Peterson
After doing a little research, I looked around he kitchen and found many more treasures that could be regrown either from the scraps or roots: scallions, potatoes, ginger, garlic, celery and bok choy. As we brave the current crisis and continue to see empty shelves, re-growing vegetables and herbs would not only stretch our grocery trip but would also help us waste less and be more self-sufficient. Since I planted those tomatoes, I’ve been eagerly watering and peeping to watch for the seedlings to appear.
