kami faye

Delicious! I adore Chinese cabbage, and bokchoy/pakchoy. One thing I learned from a Chinese Grandma during a cooking program-- was that vegetables were best when they were lightly blanched (though I often skip this step with great results), and then stirfried in neutral oil with garlic, a bit of sugar and salt or soy sauce. If you don't have a wok, you can still get a good char/"wok-hei" just by keeping a pan at high heat and stirring often.

It doesn't take long at all, and this is my favorite way to eat vegetables in a simple, but consistently delicious way. You can also add some chilies while stirfrying, or topping with some chili oil afterwards. Absolutely divine.

Kimchi could also be an option for that Chinese cabbage-- or any other vegetable, as well, since Koreans have a million different recipes for "kimchis" which are used for all kinds of wild plants and herbs. Creating a kimchi fermenting sauce (blending rice flour paste, gochugaru (korean fine red pepper powder), onion, garlic, apple/korean pear, soy sauce/kombu stock (veg replacement for anchovy paste/fish sauce), and ginger) that can be mixed with julienned daikon, green onions, chinese chives, and then layered into your vegetable of choice.

Maangchi has a great recipe for making kimchi, which details how to properly salt and wilt your cabbage, before applying the paste and letting it ferment: https://www.maangchi.com/recipe/chaesik-kimchi

Happy cooking, and congratulations on that first harvest of your garden!! It will be absolutely delicious, and with many more years of growing to come

This is another really great thread on your fascinating project, Nancy. I'm also so (pleasantly) surprised that someone from the UK knows about the Camas meadows that were historically and still are cultivated by the Native nations here! Camas was a big staple, as well as wapato-- which grew in wetland areas. I know that controlled burnings were a big part of what kept the competition of other plants down, as well as tree/foresting pressure, but I don't know if that would work as well here... Either way, the one thing I do know is that those meadows took a lot of time to cultivate the soil and keep competition away So I think you're doing very well-- and like you mentioned, it will definitely take time for "zones" or little patches to properly establish themselves.  The more an area is allowed to fill out, the hardier they can be against invasive grasses, especially.

Is there a lot of invasive grass pressure in your area-- or is it all native? We've had a huge problem here (more urban area of Washington state) with invasive grasses because of city development and non-native landscaping.

I'm new to this site-- so hope that it's okay that I comment here... But what a beautiful sanctuary you have built... These pictures bring so much peace to my heart to see!! I adore the wildflowers, the embrace of water and water-loving plants (the first page, the self-seeded willow and creeping thistle? Absolutely gorgeous), and just how beautifully green and wild it all is. This seems as close to heaven as one could hope to be Thank you for sharing this, and giving those of us watching a bit more hope for our own future projects!!! Love the passing of all this wisdom