Lasang Pinoy, Sundays: from Roots To Ends

sitaw (yardlong beans) seedlings ready for planting on the ground

edamame (soybeans) just emerging from the soil

a food photography meme, Pinoy style, is hosted by SpiCes.

I love this week's theme from Roots to Ends because I am growing in large pots Philippine Lara and Japanese Shishito peppers, cherry and heirloom tomatoes, and Asian eggplants. Vegetable gardening is a very enjoyable and satisfying activity because I get to eat the "fruits" of my efforts and they're 100% pesticide-free too.

I started very late sowing sitaw and edamame and I probably will have only a month or two to harvest some pods from them. It is so much fun, though, to see the seedlings emerge from the soil in just a few days and ready to be planted on the ground.

You may be wondering why I bother to plant the sitaw and edamame. Well, I got tired of buying limp and very mature sitaw at the Asian grocery store. I really miss my next door Thai neighbors who used to give me the freshest young sitaw (and sili labuyo) from their garden. Unfortunately she and her growing family moved away so no more free sitaw for me. The frozen edamame from the groceries mostly come from China and sometimes they already have freezer burn. And I have yet to see fresh edamame being sold at the farmers market.