boulderwoodgardens

11/21/2025

👋✨Easy, Bright + Delicious Brussels Sprouts✨

*Take your Brussels sprouts, wash them, and pat them dry.
*Season with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and a drizzle of olive oil.
*Spread them on a parchment-lined sheet pan and roast at 400°F for 15–30 minutes (depending on how many you have).
*Let them get soft and a little charred if you like some crisp.

Transfer to a bowl and toss with:
– a handful of fresh arugula
– fresh grated Parmesan
– half a squeezed lemon
– more salt to taste
– lots of fresh cracked black pepper
– and one more tiny drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil

*Taste as you go and season the way you love.
*This is a hit with everyone — even my husband who normally doesn’t like Brussels sprouts — but this? Gorgeous.

If you’re looking for an easy, bright, fresh, delicious side to add to your Thanksgiving menu… this is it.

If you love simple recipes like this, you’re in the right place.
Until next time, friends! ✨✌️

11/20/2025

Top 3 reasons I roast a small turkey the week before Thanksgiving ⬇️

1️⃣ My gravy is done ahead of time
I use the drippings from the small turkey to make a big batch of gravy before the holiday. On Thanksgiving Day it’s literally heat + whisk — done in seconds.

2️⃣ The fat makes the BEST roasted potatoes
I save the rendered turkey fat so on the actual day, my potatoes and veggies roast in their own pan with that flavor-loaded fat. Total time-saver + honestly unmatched flavor.

3️⃣ Built-in meal prep for the whole week
The meat from the small turkey becomes homemade dog food for the week — and whatever’s left goes toward shareable leftovers or plates for guests after the holiday.

Would you try this?
I love little hacks like this… especially when I’m cooking for a crowd and want the day to feel calm instead of chaotic. 🦃✨

11/20/2025

✌️Fresh ginger is one of the most rewarding crops — not just because you can grow it from a grocery-store root, but because the soil and the roots smell like pure ginger when you harvest it. It’s unreal.

If you want to grow your own next year, start early:
• Buy your ginger in December
• Let it sprout in January or February
• Plant it node-side up in a little potting soil
• Keep it warm + covered while it sprouts
• Move it outside after frost
• Give it heat, sun, and regular watering
• Harvest right before your first fall frost

It’s easier than you think — and once you start growing your own, you’ll never want store-bought again.

📌 Save this for December & January to start growing your very own kitchen garden ginger!!

11/20/2025

11/19/2025

If you grow enough ginger, you can save a few pieces to sprout again next season… and you’ll never have to buy ginger again. 🌿✨

Fresh ginger is one of the most rewarding crops — not just because you can grow it from a grocery-store root, but because the soil and the roots smell like pure ginger when you harvest it. It’s unreal.

If you want to grow your own next year, start early:
• Buy your ginger in December
• Let it sprout in January or February
• Plant it node-side up in a little potting soil
• Keep it warm + covered while it sprouts
• Move it outside after frost
• Give it heat, sun, and regular watering
• Harvest right before your first fall frost

It’s easier than you think — and once you start growing your own, you’ll never want store-bought again.

📌 Save this for December & January to start growing your very own kitchen garden ginger!!

11/18/2025

🌿 Meet Sorrel: Your Winter Garden MVP 🌿

Bright, lemony, and versatile — sorrel is amazing fresh or preserved. Chop, blanch, and freeze her, and you’ve got flavor all winter long.

She’s both an herb and a leafy green, depending on how you use her — but most people love her for flavoring, just like a kitchen staple herb.

And like spinach, she’s naturally high in oxalates, so enjoy in normal portions — a handful at a time is perfect.

Add her to your garden next year — you’ll thank yourself when everything else is dormant.

Looking for kitchen garden inspiration 🌱✨… your in the right place 🤗✨

11/17/2025

‼️Dealing with leek moths before winter is completely non-negotiable if you grow leeks, onions, garlic, or shallots.
They’re overwintering right now inside damaged leaves and plant debris… and if they survive, they explode in spring and destroy entire beds.

Here’s what to do:
🔥 If you find larvae or leaf tunnels, burn or trash the plants — never compost them.
🧹 Clean up your beds now so nothing can overwinter.
🔄 And next year? Rotate your alliums so overwintered moths don’t wake up to a free buffet.

A tiny pest — but a really simple prevention. I have dealt with them and this is truly a non negotiable!

Have you ever dealt with leek moths?
Drop a comment so we can help each other out 👇

11/17/2025

👑The golden rule of fermenting?✨

👋Keep everything fully submerged and you’ll be fine. That’s it. That’s the whole secret.

In lacto-fermentation, we rely on lactic acid–producing bacteria (LAB).
These good bacteria thrive only when there’s no oxygen.

When vegetables are fully submerged in brine, three important things happen:
1. Oxygen is removed → prevents mold and bad microbes from growing.
2. LAB take over → they’re salt-tolerant and love low-oxygen environments.
3. Acidity rises → the brine becomes increasingly unfriendly to harmful bacteria.

But…
When even a small piece of vegetable floats above the brine, it sits in oxygen.
And oxygen = mold, kahm yeast, and spoilage.

So is it literally the “golden rule”?

Yes — because across ALL vegetable lacto-fermenting traditions (kimchi, sauerkraut, pickles, curtido, etc.), submerging the produce is the key safety and success factor.
It’s the one thing almost every failure can be traced back to.

If your veggies stay under the brine, they stay safe, happy, and on their way to becoming something delicious. When problems pop up, it’s almost always because something floated.

👉 So in case you needed the reminder:
Use weights, pack it tight, and check the brine level the first couple days.

Make sure you’re following boulderwoodgardens for more simple, confidence-boosting tips like this 🌿✨