This weather is lasting way too long. High 60s out at the garden today, and no serious rain in the 10 day forecast. I did some weeding. And I watered - yes, on President's Day weekend - the favas, garlic and sprouting broccoli. After a long wait, the sprouting broccoli is sprouting.
Showing posts with label community garden. Show all posts
Showing posts with label community garden. Show all posts
Saturday, February 15, 2020
Faux Spring garden report
This weather is lasting way too long. High 60s out at the garden today, and no serious rain in the 10 day forecast. I did some weeding. And I watered - yes, on President's Day weekend - the favas, garlic and sprouting broccoli. After a long wait, the sprouting broccoli is sprouting.
Sunday, September 1, 2019
August garden report
Better late than never.
Well, only a day late.
Tomatoes began appearing in August, and now are in full flush.
Rattlesnake pole string beans have passed into oblivion, but dry beans are going crazy in the same plot. I already have 3/4 pound of Good Mother Stallard. My forecast is 1 1/4 of them, less of Rio Zape and Christmas limas.
Plenty of summer squash and chard.
The winter squash plants (two in a hill) I thought might never do something erupted over night. They now have 6 or 8 butternuts in various stages of growth. They have lot of time to finish their growth and ripening. The nearby green beans I got in late (Romano bush) have set some fruit; another week.
Winter squashes that went in earlier in other beds did not do so well, though it looks like five or six small fruit and soon.
Some may wonder why I plant things like beans for drying and winter squash in small community garden plots. It's simple; I like to grow real food, not just salad and greens. Here, from a week or so ago.
Well, only a day late.
Tomatoes began appearing in August, and now are in full flush.
Rattlesnake pole string beans have passed into oblivion, but dry beans are going crazy in the same plot. I already have 3/4 pound of Good Mother Stallard. My forecast is 1 1/4 of them, less of Rio Zape and Christmas limas.
Plenty of summer squash and chard.
The winter squash plants (two in a hill) I thought might never do something erupted over night. They now have 6 or 8 butternuts in various stages of growth. They have lot of time to finish their growth and ripening. The nearby green beans I got in late (Romano bush) have set some fruit; another week.
Winter squashes that went in earlier in other beds did not do so well, though it looks like five or six small fruit and soon.
Some may wonder why I plant things like beans for drying and winter squash in small community garden plots. It's simple; I like to grow real food, not just salad and greens. Here, from a week or so ago.
Monday, July 29, 2019
July garden report
Today I brought home chard (too much), some string beans (the rattlesnake beans are just beginning to pump), and a serving of strawberries. Two-tone zucchini is ripening, though slowly, and there's one tomato on the verge.
I feel behind in the tomato department, but as I toured the other plots this morning I noted that only cherry tomatoes are doing much. The marine layer keeps returning - a good thing from an overheated human perspective - and that means most of the tomatoes will be ripe in August, September, and into October. My Early Girl and Imwalle Special have set plenty of fruit. The San Marzano looks like it will be last of all, and not very prolific.
Meanwhile there are almost full-sized green Fresno peppers; the bell peppers have set fruit. The Sunshine winter squash has several fruit growing fast, and the butternut I got in earlier is not too far behind. The other butternut and the Italian green beans - late additions both, along with a Lisa Simpson summer squash - are still making up their minds. One of the three dry bean varieties (Good Mother Stallard?) is loaded with pods, and the others (Christmas Lima and Rio Zape) are are blossoming and beginning to set. There are a few beets and some perennial chard in the developmental stages. I've thinned both once.
Tomorrow we harvest the remaining plum trees on the edge of the garden, to get the fruit to the FISH food pantry.
And I still haven't learned any Tigrinya.
I feel behind in the tomato department, but as I toured the other plots this morning I noted that only cherry tomatoes are doing much. The marine layer keeps returning - a good thing from an overheated human perspective - and that means most of the tomatoes will be ripe in August, September, and into October. My Early Girl and Imwalle Special have set plenty of fruit. The San Marzano looks like it will be last of all, and not very prolific.
Meanwhile there are almost full-sized green Fresno peppers; the bell peppers have set fruit. The Sunshine winter squash has several fruit growing fast, and the butternut I got in earlier is not too far behind. The other butternut and the Italian green beans - late additions both, along with a Lisa Simpson summer squash - are still making up their minds. One of the three dry bean varieties (Good Mother Stallard?) is loaded with pods, and the others (Christmas Lima and Rio Zape) are are blossoming and beginning to set. There are a few beets and some perennial chard in the developmental stages. I've thinned both once.
Tomorrow we harvest the remaining plum trees on the edge of the garden, to get the fruit to the FISH food pantry.
And I still haven't learned any Tigrinya.
Sunday, June 30, 2019
June Garden report, part 2
I took some photos on Thursday.
Here's my plot with pole beans.
And the promising strawberries...
A real plus at the Stony Point garden is the area planted for produce to be delivered to FISH Santa Rosa. These are in 12' x 12' plots, and feature what's popular, what's healthful, and what's culturally appropriate.
The tomatoes, kale, and tomatillos are from transplants on May 11, the beets and other greens we direct seeded. The sunflowers are volunteers. Community gardens that have been in existence for several years are filled with volunteer plants, not to mention weeds.
And one more shot. The fence around the garden is softened with many rose bushes. They are a bit past their prime blooming time now, but here's one beauty.
Here's my plot with pole beans.
And the promising strawberries...
Here are my neighbors' zucchinis, transplanted on or before the May 11 workday...
And here's mine, planted five weeks later.
And one more shot. The fence around the garden is softened with many rose bushes. They are a bit past their prime blooming time now, but here's one beauty.
Monday, September 16, 2013
Harvest
I've just been looking back over what I have written about gleaning, because I am preparing my midpoint grant report (thank you again, Episcopal Community Services - but what a month for someone involved with ministries of gardening, gleaning and preserving to have to write a report!) and am gearing up to mentor my first senior project (SVUSD) in gleaning.
It seems like an annual occurrence and a perennial problem - getting down to writing about food at the most food intense time of the year!
Two gleaning days this week, and the challenge of placing apples in a year when things are early and plentiful. I've been feeling I must make something every evening with produce - what I call my squirrel complex - and I lost every weekend evening to one event or another - or just tiredness from two many different schmooze opportunities in one week, beginning with the Heirloom Festival. Oh well - I've seen lots of friends and colleagues in the last week - and do have my supply of applesauce in the pantry, and 30 jars of jam and chutney in the hall closet for the holiday fair at Trinity.
Tonight I made pesto for the freezer. I read a recipe that subbed pecans for the worth-their-weight pine nuts, so tried that. Not quite sure what I think. But I wasn't quite sure about sunflower seeds or cashews either. Nothing has quite the combo of sweet and resinous that pignolis do.
At the garden, so far the thieving vandals are ahead of the gophers in reducing the numbers of my winter squash crop. Tomatoes are at their peak now. Every time I do something with three or four pounds, I bring home as many two days later. Mountain Magic, with it's ping pong to golf ball sized fruit, is most productive and has been a hit with everyone I gave a plant to on Rogation Sunday. The romano pole beans have waned, but the late crop of french horticultural beans are racing the waning days to produce - and looking good.
I keep telling myself it's good to be tired because you are surrounded by produce. And that's about as profound a reflection as I can manage...
It seems like an annual occurrence and a perennial problem - getting down to writing about food at the most food intense time of the year!
Two gleaning days this week, and the challenge of placing apples in a year when things are early and plentiful. I've been feeling I must make something every evening with produce - what I call my squirrel complex - and I lost every weekend evening to one event or another - or just tiredness from two many different schmooze opportunities in one week, beginning with the Heirloom Festival. Oh well - I've seen lots of friends and colleagues in the last week - and do have my supply of applesauce in the pantry, and 30 jars of jam and chutney in the hall closet for the holiday fair at Trinity.
Tonight I made pesto for the freezer. I read a recipe that subbed pecans for the worth-their-weight pine nuts, so tried that. Not quite sure what I think. But I wasn't quite sure about sunflower seeds or cashews either. Nothing has quite the combo of sweet and resinous that pignolis do.
At the garden, so far the thieving vandals are ahead of the gophers in reducing the numbers of my winter squash crop. Tomatoes are at their peak now. Every time I do something with three or four pounds, I bring home as many two days later. Mountain Magic, with it's ping pong to golf ball sized fruit, is most productive and has been a hit with everyone I gave a plant to on Rogation Sunday. The romano pole beans have waned, but the late crop of french horticultural beans are racing the waning days to produce - and looking good.
I keep telling myself it's good to be tired because you are surrounded by produce. And that's about as profound a reflection as I can manage...
Friday, May 25, 2012
What a difference a year makes
A relatively dry winter - except for a sopping wet March - means that cool weather things are fading fast. I found one bud on the peas - they put out like crazy, and don't appear to be bouncing back to bloom some more, even though the weather has been a little cooler the last couple of weeks.
On the other hand, I got overly enthusiastic and started my tomatoes inside too early, aided by a better insulated greenhouse window and a new heating mat. So - I put them in the ground early. And three varieties - the Rutgers, the Orange King, and the cherry - have set fruit! I may have tomatoes in July (if we don't get lots of June gloom) instead of a few teasers in August and no real production until Labor Day like last year.
I've gotten a few reports from those with whom I shared my plants, too, and they are pleased. I might become a hero, when, alas, it is really just our very variable weather.
I'm having to water a couple of areas that need some digging so I can plant my pole beans. The only plants left on the potting bench at home are winter squash - to go in within the week - and the eggplant, which will go in when the garlic comes out - and that will probably be early this year, too. It's looking fat and fine.
The sage garden I planted around our sign is coming along and beginning to look pretty good. But the best photo I took yesterday is of the tricolor culinary sage in my plot. Between the sign planting and my plot I now have nine (9) species and/or varieties of perennial sage. I must be craving sagacity.
Monday, May 7, 2012
Silent Spring
Not that kind of silent spring - but my spring silence on this blog. Apparently I've been so busy with my own food system that I haven't posted anything here.
For Earth Day I repackaged cucumber and zucchini seeds and gave them away at church. I also had about 25 plants I had started from seed. Mostly tomatoes, but a few peppers and herbs, too. The idea is that people will bring some of their yield, and then we'll have a canning class or two. A learning opportunity, moving forward the tradition of preserving among members of our congregation as some of the oldsters die. We'll also generate some goods for the annual sale around Thanksgiving. One of our members is taking a master preserving class in another county, and we are looking for the appropriate equipment for the parish kitchen.
I've also been busy in the garden. The greens that wintered over are bolting and coming out. Today's task is to haul them to a spot at the edge of the garden where I will begin a new compost pile. Tomatoes and peppers are beginning to go in. Meanwhile I am harvesting artichokes, peas, leaf lettuce and baby turnips.
My artichoke has been quite prolific. I've steamed a lot, and had one for lunch most days. I gave a lot away, but now am down to the babies. These last small ones for this year will be stripped down and sauteed rather than steamed. I must say, though, that the plant is a space hog, and kind of a snail Hilton, so it may come out next year and be replaced by other perennials, perhaps with an intervening planting of legumes.
At home I still have more peppers and eggplant in the nursery. Squashes are sprouting. There are spots for several winter squash in my plot; the summer squash, eggplant, and additional peppers will go in when the peas are spent and the garlic is harvested. Oh - and I'm going to get some new poles for pole beans - 3 teepees this year, both green and shell.
Sometimes I marvel at how much goes on in my little plot.
For Earth Day I repackaged cucumber and zucchini seeds and gave them away at church. I also had about 25 plants I had started from seed. Mostly tomatoes, but a few peppers and herbs, too. The idea is that people will bring some of their yield, and then we'll have a canning class or two. A learning opportunity, moving forward the tradition of preserving among members of our congregation as some of the oldsters die. We'll also generate some goods for the annual sale around Thanksgiving. One of our members is taking a master preserving class in another county, and we are looking for the appropriate equipment for the parish kitchen.
I've also been busy in the garden. The greens that wintered over are bolting and coming out. Today's task is to haul them to a spot at the edge of the garden where I will begin a new compost pile. Tomatoes and peppers are beginning to go in. Meanwhile I am harvesting artichokes, peas, leaf lettuce and baby turnips.
My artichoke has been quite prolific. I've steamed a lot, and had one for lunch most days. I gave a lot away, but now am down to the babies. These last small ones for this year will be stripped down and sauteed rather than steamed. I must say, though, that the plant is a space hog, and kind of a snail Hilton, so it may come out next year and be replaced by other perennials, perhaps with an intervening planting of legumes.
At home I still have more peppers and eggplant in the nursery. Squashes are sprouting. There are spots for several winter squash in my plot; the summer squash, eggplant, and additional peppers will go in when the peas are spent and the garlic is harvested. Oh - and I'm going to get some new poles for pole beans - 3 teepees this year, both green and shell.
Sometimes I marvel at how much goes on in my little plot.
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Americans Discover Food
Reflection: Americans Discover Food
Christine Sine
I have just been doing a little research on the trend towards growing one's own food which is really taking off here in the US, partly as a result of the recession and partly because young families are worrying more and more about the health risks of store bought food. Evidently the sale of vegetable seeds in 2009 was up 35% over the previous year, and predictions are that sales will be even higher this year. An estimated 9 million people who have never planted vegetable gardens before started growing their own produce last year. Even the White House planted a garden to supplement presidential salads.
More of Christine's reflection at
http://msainfo.org/articles/americans-discover-food
Christine is part of Mustard Seed Associates based in Seattle.
+
Christine Sine
I have just been doing a little research on the trend towards growing one's own food which is really taking off here in the US, partly as a result of the recession and partly because young families are worrying more and more about the health risks of store bought food. Evidently the sale of vegetable seeds in 2009 was up 35% over the previous year, and predictions are that sales will be even higher this year. An estimated 9 million people who have never planted vegetable gardens before started growing their own produce last year. Even the White House planted a garden to supplement presidential salads.
More of Christine's reflection at
http://msainfo.org/articles/americans-discover-food
Christine is part of Mustard Seed Associates based in Seattle.
+
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Rosewood Community Garden
- this just in, from our friends at the Church of the Beloved.
Date: Sunday, February 28, 2010, 1:54 PM
So, the garden is calling you...
...but you don't have a garden and maybe you've never gardened before.
That's okay, because that's what the ROSEWOOD COMMUNITY GARDEN (RCG) is for!
WHAT YOU WANT...
This Garden is for everybody, if you are pre-novice or if you are a 40 year expert - we want you to join in.
We're making a schedule of events and designating beds and want to know what you're interested in.
Take thirty seconds to fill out this Doodle Doc and let us know: http://www.doodle.com/fxppdxvkbgmv95de
WHAT'S POSSIBLE...
The real of possibilities is massive when it comes to what we could do together. Here's just a few ideas, but we need your ideas!
Heirloom seed harvesting, drying and sharing, vegetable gardening, flower gardening, soil testing, soil reclaiming, worm bin & composting workshop, educational films, seed starts, cider pressing, canning and pickling, berry bushes, mulching, earthen cob oven construction, green houses, classes for kids and families, energy conservation, rain water catchment... what else?
JOIN THE RCG MOB...
Not only do we want to create a spectacular working urban farm that offers growing space and hands-on education, but we also want to rally together to bless other gardeners and small sustainable farms by creating "Garden Mobs". This is where we get a big group of volunteers together and do in an afternoon what would take a small time gardener or farmer weeks. And what we get out of it is new know-how, strengthened community, and that, "Wow! We just did that!" feeling. There's a box to check on the doodle if you want to join or let me know if you want to nominate a garden/farm. (read more about other Mobs around the country)
LASTLY, WHAT'S THIS GOT TO DO WITH GOD?
Everything! The Trinitarian Creator God who has called us Beloved has also called us to care for this big beautiful planet starting with what's right in front of you. But we've gotten so far away from our sources of food and the natural world altogether that there's no wonder that we have no wonder left for God's good creation. Nothing personally impacts us and the world more than what we eat. At every meal there is a hotbed of issues directly related to how we "Do justly, love mercy and walk humbly with our God." So this is just one little way to love and serve the God who creates, saves and sustains the world... and invites you to join in.
JOIN US THIS TUESDAY 5:30PM in the garden to do some planning with author Christine Sine
and THIS SATURDAY from NOON to 4PM for the first round of planting at RCG.
Keep praying that we receive the garden grant, but either way the sun is emerging and so is the Rosewood Community Garden,
peace,
ryan
--
_____________________
www.BelovedsChurch.org
"It's a really, really big house church"
worship_sundays @ 5pm
____________________
phn&txt_206.356.7976
adrs_8104 220th st. sw edmonds 98026
Date: Sunday, February 28, 2010, 1:54 PM
So, the garden is calling you...
...but you don't have a garden and maybe you've never gardened before.
That's okay, because that's what the ROSEWOOD COMMUNITY GARDEN (RCG) is for!
WHAT YOU WANT...
This Garden is for everybody, if you are pre-novice or if you are a 40 year expert - we want you to join in.
We're making a schedule of events and designating beds and want to know what you're interested in.
Take thirty seconds to fill out this Doodle Doc and let us know: http://www.doodle.com/fxppdxvkbgmv95de
WHAT'S POSSIBLE...
The real of possibilities is massive when it comes to what we could do together. Here's just a few ideas, but we need your ideas!
Heirloom seed harvesting, drying and sharing, vegetable gardening, flower gardening, soil testing, soil reclaiming, worm bin & composting workshop, educational films, seed starts, cider pressing, canning and pickling, berry bushes, mulching, earthen cob oven construction, green houses, classes for kids and families, energy conservation, rain water catchment... what else?
JOIN THE RCG MOB...
Not only do we want to create a spectacular working urban farm that offers growing space and hands-on education, but we also want to rally together to bless other gardeners and small sustainable farms by creating "Garden Mobs". This is where we get a big group of volunteers together and do in an afternoon what would take a small time gardener or farmer weeks. And what we get out of it is new know-how, strengthened community, and that, "Wow! We just did that!" feeling. There's a box to check on the doodle if you want to join or let me know if you want to nominate a garden/farm. (read more about other Mobs around the country)
LASTLY, WHAT'S THIS GOT TO DO WITH GOD?
Everything! The Trinitarian Creator God who has called us Beloved has also called us to care for this big beautiful planet starting with what's right in front of you. But we've gotten so far away from our sources of food and the natural world altogether that there's no wonder that we have no wonder left for God's good creation. Nothing personally impacts us and the world more than what we eat. At every meal there is a hotbed of issues directly related to how we "Do justly, love mercy and walk humbly with our God." So this is just one little way to love and serve the God who creates, saves and sustains the world... and invites you to join in.
JOIN US THIS TUESDAY 5:30PM in the garden to do some planning with author Christine Sine
and THIS SATURDAY from NOON to 4PM for the first round of planting at RCG.
Keep praying that we receive the garden grant, but either way the sun is emerging and so is the Rosewood Community Garden,
peace,
ryan
--
_____________________
www.BelovedsChurch.org
"It's a really, really big house church"
worship_sundays @ 5pm
____________________
phn&txt_206.356.7976
adrs_8104 220th st. sw edmonds 98026
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
I love the community garden
mostly because it is practical community. Right now we are all very busy getting our warm weather plants in, so most every evening someone is there working. And even when we are racing the dark to get something done, there is always time for an exchange of information, speculation, hope - gardener talk.
Tonight I got more tomatoes planted. Dan was there to check on the compost pile he built last night, and gave me some rhubarb. Robert was setting out tomatoes, too, and planting some bush beans. He and I arranged to swap some surplus plants on Thursday. I went crazy with squash starts, and he has extra basil.
Also on Thursday, Ian will be through with his finals at Santa Rosa JC, and he and I are going to start in on a plot another gardener decided to give up. We're going to plant for FISH or the food bank. I want to put up a sign on it that says "Squashing hunger, one zucchini at a time."
Tonight I got more tomatoes planted. Dan was there to check on the compost pile he built last night, and gave me some rhubarb. Robert was setting out tomatoes, too, and planting some bush beans. He and I arranged to swap some surplus plants on Thursday. I went crazy with squash starts, and he has extra basil.
Also on Thursday, Ian will be through with his finals at Santa Rosa JC, and he and I are going to start in on a plot another gardener decided to give up. We're going to plant for FISH or the food bank. I want to put up a sign on it that says "Squashing hunger, one zucchini at a time."
Friday, September 26, 2008
Urban Farmer Makes Good
The second farmer ever to win a MacArthur Foundation genius grant is Will Allen of Milwaukee.
http://www.macfound.org/site/pp.aspx?c=lkLXJ8MQKrH&b=4537249
His story is not just a marvel of urban agriculture, but one of community development, integrating human good with sustainable farming.
One of the themes that emerged so clearly in my recent researches about Episcopal communinty gardens - the way growing community and growing food work together - is elevated to an art form by Mr. Smith and his neighborhood colleagues.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/01/dining/01genius.html?partner=rssyahoo&emc=rss
For all of us who care about food systems, this is something to celebrate, big time.
For me on the local level, thoughts are turning to how we can do more to develop an integrated system at the TLC community garden that would allow us to do our own plant starts and have worm composting. But before we can have greenhouse dreams, we need a sound shed. And we need a few more gardeners - to get to that critical mass where year round, integrated systems can happen. Growing community, growing produce.
http://www.macfound.org/site/pp.aspx?c=lkLXJ8MQKrH&b=4537249
His story is not just a marvel of urban agriculture, but one of community development, integrating human good with sustainable farming.
One of the themes that emerged so clearly in my recent researches about Episcopal communinty gardens - the way growing community and growing food work together - is elevated to an art form by Mr. Smith and his neighborhood colleagues.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/01/dining/01genius.html?partner=rssyahoo&emc=rss
For all of us who care about food systems, this is something to celebrate, big time.
For me on the local level, thoughts are turning to how we can do more to develop an integrated system at the TLC community garden that would allow us to do our own plant starts and have worm composting. But before we can have greenhouse dreams, we need a sound shed. And we need a few more gardeners - to get to that critical mass where year round, integrated systems can happen. Growing community, growing produce.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Yes, but we must cultivate our garden
Just a note to recommend conversation around the topics treated in "Gardening at the Dragon's Gate" by Wendy Johnson - who gardened at Tassajara and at Green Gulch Farm near Muir Beach in Marin County California, both SF Zen Center projects, and now carries on in her own garden near Stinson Beach.
Lovely beginnings - friends who got me started on it also got me thinking about community gardens in Snohomish County WA where I now am (mostly). . . some local churches have (I think) gotten into community gardens as well as food banks -- making the connections from land to table.
What is going on around here for sure is Annie's Kitchen at Edmonds Lutheran Church - open to all, and all sorts of folks come. It's free, using donated food from local grocers, and cooks and servers are volunteers (including some from St Alban's, Edmonds, my own place). I'm wondering if we might cultivate a garden (displacing some himalayan blackberry bushes, at least temporarily) out behind our education building.
Meanwhile two of my 'bio-intensive' organic gardening enthusiast friends are staging a pumpkin growing competition in Santa Cruz..... will fog-kist squash beat out hillside sunned?
***
At Christ Church, Bayfield WI, a couple bring produce grown in their garden to the sherry hour after High Mass - help yourself and leave a cash donation for Lutheran World Relief (one of the most efficient charities, according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy, so you get a lot of bang for your buck - as well as string beans and summer squash).
Lovely beginnings - friends who got me started on it also got me thinking about community gardens in Snohomish County WA where I now am (mostly). . . some local churches have (I think) gotten into community gardens as well as food banks -- making the connections from land to table.
What is going on around here for sure is Annie's Kitchen at Edmonds Lutheran Church - open to all, and all sorts of folks come. It's free, using donated food from local grocers, and cooks and servers are volunteers (including some from St Alban's, Edmonds, my own place). I'm wondering if we might cultivate a garden (displacing some himalayan blackberry bushes, at least temporarily) out behind our education building.
Meanwhile two of my 'bio-intensive' organic gardening enthusiast friends are staging a pumpkin growing competition in Santa Cruz..... will fog-kist squash beat out hillside sunned?
***
At Christ Church, Bayfield WI, a couple bring produce grown in their garden to the sherry hour after High Mass - help yourself and leave a cash donation for Lutheran World Relief (one of the most efficient charities, according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy, so you get a lot of bang for your buck - as well as string beans and summer squash).
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Local, Local, Local and Local
The New York Times has assembled links to many resources on local eating - from the Times and other sources - here:
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/l/local_food/index.html
And in my own little local sphere, I've got squash.
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/l/local_food/index.html
And in my own little local sphere, I've got squash.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Garden Bliss
Last evening when I finished fiddling around at the garden, tucking in a few more plants from among those donated, I straightened my back and had a moment of bliss, thinking how happy I am to have this garden.
I added a cucumber, another pepper, another eggplant, another tomatillo and some cinnamon basil - so I now have four kinds of basil. This seems like greed - but also sensory bliss.
I've also realized that given my struggle to find local garlic - or any California garlic - at our markets, I am determined to start growing my own. The soil is so much improved from adding compost that I think I can grow it over this winter and be successful. And I intend to learn to store it properly. Seems to me that one of the problems with market vegetables - and even farmers' market vegetables - is that things like onions, garlic, and winter squash are not prepared properly for keeping. Why would you when you can fly them in off season from Argentina, she said sarcastically.
I added a cucumber, another pepper, another eggplant, another tomatillo and some cinnamon basil - so I now have four kinds of basil. This seems like greed - but also sensory bliss.
I've also realized that given my struggle to find local garlic - or any California garlic - at our markets, I am determined to start growing my own. The soil is so much improved from adding compost that I think I can grow it over this winter and be successful. And I intend to learn to store it properly. Seems to me that one of the problems with market vegetables - and even farmers' market vegetables - is that things like onions, garlic, and winter squash are not prepared properly for keeping. Why would you when you can fly them in off season from Argentina, she said sarcastically.
Friday, May 2, 2008
Why garden?
Michael Pollan's essay, "Why Bother?"
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/magazine/20wwln-lede-t.html?ex=1366516800&en=4c931d0a068a2a1a&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
underscores the importance, real and symbolic, or personal change, of - he dares say it so I will, too - character, as we face the specter of accelerating climate change.
He concludes, of course, by suggesting everybody plant a garden. It's about using solar power directly, cutting the food miles close to zero, recycling kitchen waste, amusing yourself rather than being dependent on electronic diversions, cutting down on time at the gym - and better tasting food.
I got my first salad from my garden this year a few evenings ago - lettuce and radishes from the community garden, with some edible flowers - nasturtiums and chive blossoms - from my back yard. Dressed with olive oil from Oroville and the juice of half a Meyer lemon - from someone else's backyard - it was perfection. I had forgotten how good really fresh baby lettuce - as opposed to the gassed stuff at the supermarket - tastes. I planted my edible podded peas late, but they are blooming, and every grey morning means means another day they'll like before the consistent heat hits.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/magazine/20wwln-lede-t.html?ex=1366516800&en=4c931d0a068a2a1a&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
underscores the importance, real and symbolic, or personal change, of - he dares say it so I will, too - character, as we face the specter of accelerating climate change.
He concludes, of course, by suggesting everybody plant a garden. It's about using solar power directly, cutting the food miles close to zero, recycling kitchen waste, amusing yourself rather than being dependent on electronic diversions, cutting down on time at the gym - and better tasting food.
I got my first salad from my garden this year a few evenings ago - lettuce and radishes from the community garden, with some edible flowers - nasturtiums and chive blossoms - from my back yard. Dressed with olive oil from Oroville and the juice of half a Meyer lemon - from someone else's backyard - it was perfection. I had forgotten how good really fresh baby lettuce - as opposed to the gassed stuff at the supermarket - tastes. I planted my edible podded peas late, but they are blooming, and every grey morning means means another day they'll like before the consistent heat hits.
Thursday, February 7, 2008
A guide for policy makers
is the subtitle of the item I've just added to the sites list on the right.
It's a report from the Robert Wood Johnson foundation, short and attractive, but full of the kind of ideas we need to put in the hands of our elected officials, because it encourages systemic thinking about food access.
I'm struck by the note about providing food processing/kitchen space in economically distressed areas. I know there are a million health code issues, but it does seem there ought to be something we could do communally to enable folks to process gleaned and community garden produce for their home use.
I am now mulling over the possibility of having a tomato canning night in the church kitchen adjacent to our community garden. Why not share equipment and make a party out of it? Some equipment is costly, and home kitchens in affordable housing get smaller and smaller - assuming, I guess, that folks only use the microwave and coffee maker. And canning alone is no fun. I can invoke my parents and grandparents - communion of saints canning parties? - but it would be much better to have useful company. And it would also be a way of handing on skills - which are in short supply among younger folks.
Is this something other congregations could consider? Newer church buildings often have pretty lame kitchens (microwaves and coffee makers again), but older ones often have sizable ones that are underused. My thoughts are running away with me: what about the big kitchen at St. John's, Lakeport and all those Lake County pears?
It's a report from the Robert Wood Johnson foundation, short and attractive, but full of the kind of ideas we need to put in the hands of our elected officials, because it encourages systemic thinking about food access.
I'm struck by the note about providing food processing/kitchen space in economically distressed areas. I know there are a million health code issues, but it does seem there ought to be something we could do communally to enable folks to process gleaned and community garden produce for their home use.
I am now mulling over the possibility of having a tomato canning night in the church kitchen adjacent to our community garden. Why not share equipment and make a party out of it? Some equipment is costly, and home kitchens in affordable housing get smaller and smaller - assuming, I guess, that folks only use the microwave and coffee maker. And canning alone is no fun. I can invoke my parents and grandparents - communion of saints canning parties? - but it would be much better to have useful company. And it would also be a way of handing on skills - which are in short supply among younger folks.
Is this something other congregations could consider? Newer church buildings often have pretty lame kitchens (microwaves and coffee makers again), but older ones often have sizable ones that are underused. My thoughts are running away with me: what about the big kitchen at St. John's, Lakeport and all those Lake County pears?
Friday, September 14, 2007
tomato tyranny and zucchini exuberance
I've been neglecting writing because I seem to be spending too much time with my own harvest and (literal) gleanings. As long as I have the oven on to bake zucchini muffins, I might as well roast the excess grape tomatoes for the freezer - that kind of thing.
I've also made muffins with the first pumpkin and grated some zucchini for the freezer, for more muffins later. And frozen some single portions of marinara and giardiniera sauce.
And as long as I have enough green tomatoes and a donation of some backyard pears, why not say yes to an ad for free apples? So tomorrow I can make and can green tomato mincemeat.
But I might have to make applesauce, too - there are so many. They are a beautiful variety - pink pearl (no, no - not erasers, apples) and would make beautiful sauce - or a galette or kuchen.
And with the apples came some tomatillos - and the poor woman was so tired of canning, I could not say no, take them home! No more produce! So instead of sitting with my knitting and watching a ballgame this evening, I made a small batch of salsa verde.
The apples also came with a copy of a recipe for zucchini relish. Frankly, I don't eat much relish - but I suppose it could be a novelty for the fantasy league reunion next winter. But as long as I can find anybody to take zucchini and crooknecks - still producing like their lives depended on it - and, of course, they do (since summer squash are harvested immature, they keep making new ones in pursuit of seeding the next generation) - I think I will keep giving them away.
One of the wonderful things about the garden project is the happy responses of people to whom I give extra produce. I don't know which is more edifying - to look at a colorful basket of tomatoes you grew yourself, or to see the happy smiles of people with whom you share them.
But really plants - time to slow down, and relax into fall, so I can get out of the kitchen in the evenings before the 10:45 weather report. I do want to extend the harvest, with local food put by to enrich winter meals. But I don't want to be building bigger barns.
I've also made muffins with the first pumpkin and grated some zucchini for the freezer, for more muffins later. And frozen some single portions of marinara and giardiniera sauce.
And as long as I have enough green tomatoes and a donation of some backyard pears, why not say yes to an ad for free apples? So tomorrow I can make and can green tomato mincemeat.
But I might have to make applesauce, too - there are so many. They are a beautiful variety - pink pearl (no, no - not erasers, apples) and would make beautiful sauce - or a galette or kuchen.
And with the apples came some tomatillos - and the poor woman was so tired of canning, I could not say no, take them home! No more produce! So instead of sitting with my knitting and watching a ballgame this evening, I made a small batch of salsa verde.
The apples also came with a copy of a recipe for zucchini relish. Frankly, I don't eat much relish - but I suppose it could be a novelty for the fantasy league reunion next winter. But as long as I can find anybody to take zucchini and crooknecks - still producing like their lives depended on it - and, of course, they do (since summer squash are harvested immature, they keep making new ones in pursuit of seeding the next generation) - I think I will keep giving them away.
One of the wonderful things about the garden project is the happy responses of people to whom I give extra produce. I don't know which is more edifying - to look at a colorful basket of tomatoes you grew yourself, or to see the happy smiles of people with whom you share them.
But really plants - time to slow down, and relax into fall, so I can get out of the kitchen in the evenings before the 10:45 weather report. I do want to extend the harvest, with local food put by to enrich winter meals. But I don't want to be building bigger barns.
Thursday, August 2, 2007
new feature
I just added a new feature, titled "curiosities", because I stumbled upon a site with cucurbit postage stamps. Squashes and gourds around the world. I could not resist adding a link.
The garden continues to amaze me. I find reasons to go by even on days when I don't have to water. There is something about growing things. Lately I have been musing about how the pumpkins and gourds change shape as they get bigger. What gene interactions are causing that development? (I'm also wondering if they cross pollinated, because some of the shapes aren't shown on either seed packet. Near as I can tell they are all Cucurbita pepo, so this is quite possible.)
In an anthology of Thomas Merton's writing on nature, When the Trees Say Nothing, he marvels at the growth of the corn in the monastery garden. "I know the joy and worship the Indians must have felt, and the Eucharistic rightness of it!" he says.
He continued
"The irreligious mind is simply the unreal mind, the zombie, abstracted mind, that does not see the things that grow in the earth and feel glad about them, but only knows prices and figures and statistics."
This captures how I feel about the garden. But I would add that even when I find myself asking scientific questions, I can still experience deep awe. Science and communion are compatible, but commodification and communion aren't.
The garden continues to amaze me. I find reasons to go by even on days when I don't have to water. There is something about growing things. Lately I have been musing about how the pumpkins and gourds change shape as they get bigger. What gene interactions are causing that development? (I'm also wondering if they cross pollinated, because some of the shapes aren't shown on either seed packet. Near as I can tell they are all Cucurbita pepo, so this is quite possible.)
In an anthology of Thomas Merton's writing on nature, When the Trees Say Nothing, he marvels at the growth of the corn in the monastery garden. "I know the joy and worship the Indians must have felt, and the Eucharistic rightness of it!" he says.
He continued
"The irreligious mind is simply the unreal mind, the zombie, abstracted mind, that does not see the things that grow in the earth and feel glad about them, but only knows prices and figures and statistics."
This captures how I feel about the garden. But I would add that even when I find myself asking scientific questions, I can still experience deep awe. Science and communion are compatible, but commodification and communion aren't.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
note to self
Next year taller bean poles.
The garden is beginning to yield. I have high hopes as long as we can stay ahead of the gophers, who seem to have developed a taste for marigolds.
I'm also very encouraged by the vision those of us involved in the garden so far are developing. We are thinking theologically and largely.
The garden is beginning to yield. I have high hopes as long as we can stay ahead of the gophers, who seem to have developed a taste for marigolds.
I'm also very encouraged by the vision those of us involved in the garden so far are developing. We are thinking theologically and largely.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)