Simple Living | Storing Fresh Greens

A pause at the center of the day, set the work aside, let the hungry lead to the kitchen. It’s quiet there, save for the sound of the creek outside the window, a reminder to slow the pace, rest in midday’s breath.

I’m glad of it. Glad for the gentle tap, the suggestion to slow. Why is it so easy to just run right through, eating with one hand while working with the other? I wonder this as I pull the enamelware bin of greens from the fridge, reach for a handful of mini peppers from the crisper drawer. Onto a white dinner plate falls a mixture of lettuce, arugula, beet greens, herbs. I snip a confetti of green onion over top, pour a mound of soft garbanzos from the jelly jar that held them in the fridge.

What if I didn’t do anything during lunch but eat, listen, let my mind wander? No phone, no book, no computer, no work. If anything, a notebook and pencil by my side, for catching thoughts that tumble loose. But maybe not even that. Maybe there are thoughts meant to be experienced only once.

I crumble feta cheese, sprinkle roasted sunflower seeds, grind black pepper, pour amber vinaigrette. I fill a glass tumbler with cracked ice, add a splash of lemon, top it off with water. I reach for a linen napkin, gather my lunch, and head outside.

To the table, creekside, where lazy kitties stretch with eyes half-open, then fold, zonked again in their midday slumber. Nellie goes straight over the bank and into the water, wading, looking below the surface, then peeking up at me, hoping for something to retrieve. There she’ll stay till numbed feet force her to warmer grass and sunshine, where she’ll lie contentedly gnawing on yesterday’s bone.

I eat this up. This nourishing of body and soul. It’s simply lunch. But really not. (It’s so much more.)

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The idea of using a vintage enamel refrigerator bin for storing fresh garden greens came this summer from Heather Bruggeman, fellow blogger, Instagrammer, and gardener/preserver extraordinaire. I happened to have such a bin, snagged from Etsy a few years ago, sitting on my larder shelf. I am thrilled to report that it keeps greens amazingly well. So crisp, so fresh, for so long! I simply wash whatever greens I’ve brought inside, let them drain, then put them in the bin, with the lid on, and set it on a refrigerator shelf. A beautiful and successful solution to plastic-free food storage.