All My Lilies Enjoying the flavors of the seasons. BY CHEF BOY ARI Winter pow-pow, summer nudity, autumn reflections, spring's promise — we all have our reasons for liking our seasons. Me? Well, with a gastrointestinal tract that doubles as my central nervous system, I rate the seasons by their flavor. Summer is for fresh stir-fry, salad and berry pie. Autumn is for all-out feasting and stocking up for winter, which is for chewing fat, forgetting about summer and starting seeds ahead of spring. I used to want to grow my own food and live off the land. But I'm coming to grips with the fact that I am not a homesteader, and that's OK. Living in community is a beautiful thing in many different ways, if done right, and the world isn't big enough for us all to have our own back 40. I still raise a big garden, but I've adapted my plantings away from self-sufficiency, with an eye toward ensuring myself the things that my community doesn't usually provide, such as a tomato picked five minutes ago, instant parsley, or certain crop varieties that farmers around here don't usually sell, like Klari Baby Cheese sweet peppers, borage flowers and asparagus. Crops like squash, potatoes, beets and corn I leave entirely to the farmers, and when they're in season I acquire them, either on the open market or via private negotiation. I acquire enough to get me through the year. There are also crops that I grow a modest amount of, like kale or peppers, so I can always run to the garden and grab some for any meal. Doing business with the growers in my neighborhood does wonders for my social life, since farmers are among my favorite people. I get to meet them and give them money, which makes them like me. I also acquire recipes, observations great and small and really good tasteless jokes at no extra charge. When you take into your body the food that someone has cared for, a bond grows. There are, however, a few items that I do grow in vast, perhaps absurd quantities, despite the fact that many fine local farmers grow them too. Raising these crops — all of them, interestingly, members of the lily family — is a little piece of my old homestead fantasy, giving me the year-round belly rub with the land that I still yearn for. I never buy garlic. Ever! … Except in highly unusual circumstances, or when I'm far from home. When I'm in my kitchen, if I need garlic, I go to the garage where it hangs, grab what I need, and it makes me very happy. With shallots at six bucks a pound, growing them is partly an economic decision. I grow sweet onions for eating raw and occasionally cooking, but I prefer to cook with shallots. Having leeks standing in the garden from August into winter gives me the option of adding their buttery sweetness to the meal at hand, as well as the possibility of meals that include all my lilies. By mid-summer, you can start pulling your lilies though they will keep growing well into fall. If I get my way, I'll be pulling my lilies 'til I'm pushing up daisies.
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