To keep my herbs and other small rooted things fresh in the kitchen I’ve been keeping them in a glass of water on the counter.  When I get them home from the grocery I rinse them off and either cut off the bottom of the stems in the case of rootless herbs or I put the whole thing in water, like with green onions since they still have roots.  This keeps them fresh and vibrant much longer than if I just throw them in the fridge while they wait their turn to become supper.  I change the water every day or so and they seem to last several days longer for me.  I got this idea from a fellow blogger, Feed Your Skull.  Check it out!

Replanting Green Onions

I might be kind of neurotic like this, but I hate to waste food and I hate to throw away something that may still be good – if there’s value in it I like to put it to work.  My husband will often grab some premixed salad from a box of salad and leave 3-4 leaves in the box and say it’s gone.  I get defensive of those lonely leaves and say that those pieces of greenery were grown and should be consumed – out of respect for the plant.  They were planted, grown, cared for, harvested, washed, packaged, shipped, purchased, and placed out to be a dinner salad; it seems a crime to just let them rot in the garbage can.  Am I crazy?

So, anyway, with my green onions, after I chop the green tops off for use in something, I place the root end back in water and they’ll shoot back up.  It’s really amazing.  Their roots continue to grow too!  Just last week I decided to plant the growing root end of the green onions in my little garden area next to the wild strawberries.  They grow back and I can keep using them!  Miracle?  Maybe not.  But I sure do feel great about giving them a second life in my garden.  :)

2nd Life in the Garden