Children in the Garden

I’ve posted before about playground gardens in England and childrens’ gardens that I’ve visited.  And I’m happy to see even more opportunities now for children to experience the growing process, plant their own seeds, and experience their growth.  I think it does as much for the children long-term as it does for them in the short term getting to pull up and eat what they grew – it creates a connection to their food, community, and gives them (perhaps unconsciously) an experience that might make them think or influence their choices in later life.

Recently, I read that the Unquowa School opened their Farm Camp for registration.  The Camp includes groups from 1st through 6th grade, as well as campers entering pre-school and kindergarten, who travel daily to Sport Hill Farm.  Sport Hill Farm is an organic farm in Easton, Connecticut where the campers will participate in planting, caring for the crops, learning about hens/eggs, and ultimately harvest what they grow.   They also take part in science classes oriented towards sustainability.  I think the weekly field trips sound like fun – one is to a bee keeper! I wish I could attend!

Over at Simple, Green, Frugal Co-op, Bel also discussed the benefits of community gardens and children’s participation in the growing process.  Head over for a look if you can, it is really something to think about developing.

What about you? Are there opportunities for children to take part in the growing/gardening process? Is your community interested in and/or open to the idea? Have you seen children’s gardening in your own family?

From "How Stuff Works," vegetable garden images

Wednesdays Independence Days

I missed the last week, but I’m trying to stick to reporting on the Independence Days Challenge.  It does seem to get repetitive this time of year though.  But:

Plant something: More bean sprouts. 

Harvest something: Thyme and rosemary from outside again, and the bean sprouts I did last week.

Preserve something: Nope.

Reduce waste: Usual recycling, and cloth bags when I went to the store to get stocked on dry-goods.  I need more ideas here on reducing waste….

Preparation and storage: Stocked up on aforementioned dry goods.  I also got seeds ordered in prep for the summer garden.  Stored some more potatoes I found at the farmers’ market.

Build community food systems:  I went to the new farmers’ market last week in Norwalk (discussed in my DDC post this week).  I’d like to join Foodshare’s bread sorting efforts at least one time this month, so stay tuned…

Manage something: Rescued an elderly butternut squash and a couple apples when checking my storage.  Those were paired for a nice meal… It’s odd I know, but I actually enjoy finding things “on the brink” that would be gone in a day or two – knowing that I checked, and was able to eat them as delicious food.

Eat the food: Not in the freezer or canned storage yet.  I used the turnips though! I did a turnip mash as well as a turnip “bake” of sorts with lots of onion, cumin, turmeric, and paprika.  What I didn’t anticipate was the turnip being so, well, watery, as compared to potatoes.  The mash had far more liquid to it, and the bake was also a bit runny.  I added in some thickener to the bake, and cooked out the liquid for the mash, but the texture was still off a bit.  Any ideas on what other veg might be added to the dishes to make them a little sturdier?

Spotlight: Dark Days 2009-2010 Week Eleven

Week Eleven of the Dark Days Challenge.  I often don’t feel like having soup as the base of a meal, unless it is more of a stew dish.  This week, though, I wanted to make a warm potato and onion soup.  I used some russet potatoes and some tiny fingerling potatoes for this meal, and red onions.  Red onions for some reason seem much more flavorful to me, and I’m happy to have them in storage.  Since dairy is out for me, I pureed some potatoes to get the creaminess factor in there.  And that was a challenge in itself – keeping it from turning into mashed potatoes took a bit of doing, but it got to where I wanted it.  For flavoring, I used lots of chives and some thyme as well.  I had a few carrots that needed to be used, so even though its non-traditional, I chopped them and incorporated them at the last minute.  Along with this soup I paired a sautee of some kale and a bit of the extra onion from the soup.  I’m surprised the kale held up this long in the refrigerator!

Sources: Carrots, kale,  and onions from George Hall Farm, potatoes from a vendor at the Norwalk farmers’ market.  Herbs from my summer garden.

Choosing Seeds – So Many Choices!

I’ve been going through the seed catalogs over the past week or two, trying to choose what I’ll plant this year.  I’d like to do more herbs, and maybe add a small group of flowers.  Rosemary and thyme I have, and they are still doing well.  Mint – well, that has taken over its area so I’m sure it’s all set for next year.  More basil and oregano for drying and eating fresh, chives… and perhaps some herbs for teas.  Judy, your list was inspiring!   Fewer veg, since I can get more than I need from my local farms and CSA – and they are much more successful than I am.  But I’m certainly planting some veg – the question is which to choose.  Just when I thought I’d made a final list, a new group of catalogs came in, making me reconsider and flip through even more options.  Indecision has struck. 

I did stumble on this article about choosing seed varieties, and recommendations from some “successful gardeners” – along with a couple “never plant again” type of veg.  I can certainly relate to one of the comments about okra!  I’d like to plant some shelling peas and sugar-snap peas this year, after seeing how determined those volunteer pea seeds were this past season - even without my knowing they were there.  Perhaps also some cherry tomatoes, as those were a success in my half-season garden in 2008. What do you all think? Any experiences with the seeds mentioned in the article? Any recommendations of go-to seeds that have performed well for you?

Spotlight: 2009-2010 Dark Days Challenge Weeks Nine and Ten

Doubling up this week on the Dark Days Challenge, since I missed posting for the last round.  Its strange, I’m eating pretty much all locally, but its often just stuff that’s the “norm” – nothing that is really post-worthy with veg, beans, and a grain.  Almost as if I’m meandering through the winter, and I don’t get excited to really put up the effort for anything else.  Mid-winter strikes perhaps?  I’ve been working on my imaginary garden (and seeds for my real one!) so maybe that will lift my spirits.  At any rate, here’s what I’ve got for the past 2 weeks:

Week Nine:

I finally figured out how to make buckwheat pancakes! Happily, buckwheat flour is available in my LocalZone, so its been something I’ve been trying to get a handle on for a while.  Whole-wheat, rye, sourdough, all of those are now off-limits for me, so it was a lot of trial and error to get to these pancakes.  (Yes, a recipe would normally be the way to go, but I don’t get along too well with recipes!)   I started with my old familiar pancake recipe, just subbing out the flours.  No go.  The buckwheat tends to be a lot, well, clumpier and runnier all at the same time.  Pairing it with cornmeal helped some, but the ratio was a struggle for the past few weeks.  I finally adjusted the xanthan gum and liquid properly, and it came out great! Not a light fluffy pancake, but since I prefer a slightly more solid one, it works out fine.  I topped the pancakes with raspberry “sauce” made from raspberry jam I canned in the summer that was heated up in a small pan on the stovetop. Well, well, worth the tweaking.  Breakfast for dinner, yum.

Successful buckwheat pancakes!

Sources: buckwheat from Kenyon Corn Meal Company and cornmeal from Grays Grist Mill; raspberry jam made by me from berries from Rose’s Berry Farm; honey from Andrew’s Local Honey.  Baking powder, baking soda, egg replacer, and xanthan gum from “away”.

********************

Week Ten:

I’ve been trying to be better about managing and checking my storage, especially the ones that can turn from fine to not-a-food in a flash.  While I was checking this week I saw a couple of red onions that needed to be made into, well, something.  Some apples also needed attention, so “apples and onions” it was for my Spotlight choice.  I had them along with some corn muffins.  Not fancy, but very satisfying.  The red onions had their own sweetness that really came out.  At the end, I added a handful or two of cranberries.

Sources:  Onions from George Hall Farm; apples from Easy Pickins Orchard; honey from Andrew’s Local Honey; cornbread made with buckwheat from Kenyon Corn Meal Company and cornmeal from Grays Grist Mill.  Cranberries from from the Cape Cod Cranberry Growers Association. Salt and pepper throughout the meal, baking powder, baking soda, xanthan gum, and egg-replacer for the cornbread from “away”.

***************

I did get to the new Norwalk farmers’ market last weekend, and it was quite small, maybe three or four vendors – one selling produce, one meats, one soap/products, and one jams.  The area felt so empty and sad, I don’t know how else to describe it.  We have another winter market in Fairfield, and a quite strong one in New Haven, so people are certainly going to them.  It’s hard for a new market to get established, I suppose, because of the vicious cycle: farmers hesitate because it is the unknown, and there is some effort to going only to find a small number of customers.  That keeps the market sparse, which deters the new customers who *do* come, which in turn further deters farmers.  I think that this one has competition as well, since the Fairfield market is fairly close by and considerably stronger.  I’ll keep attending the Norwalk one too along with the others – it should have a good chance since the summer markets in the area are all strong, even though there are many in the same area.

Encouraging News from the Leopold Center

I just came across an encouraging report from the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture  in Iowa concerning the cost of buying local produce.  Per the executive summary, they did direct price comparisions between grocery store non-local vegetables, eggs, and meat with that sold from local farmers – and the cost difference was minimal in many areas.  This compared local produce sold in peak season, which I think points again to the impact of seasonality from a cost prospective.  Plus, there is the whole freshness/taste advantage to seasonality as well as the sustainability (which the report didn’t evaluate).  Take a look – the full report is here as a PDF (21 pgs) - easy to read and also pretty interesting.  I particularly liked the “Family of Four” comparision section.

I hope that more such reports come out and are publicized so that there is a realistic information base out there.  Seeing this across various parts of the country could shed more light on this issue and identify areas where some improvement in access might be needed.  Its a mental barrier for a lot of people I’ve talked to, and information can only help more people made an informed choice based on what they feel is appropriate.   Even if someone might think that they can’t go for local dairy (for example), they might still decide to buy more local produce.  There doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing mindset or judgment as to what the possibilities could be.

 This summer I also noticed that my local farmers’ markets were also aceepting payment via various food assistance programs, which also suggests that there is a more organized effort to make local food accessible.  Part of it, I think, is recognizing that there are many barriers to food security, some mental and some more tangible, and that there are ways to get around them if some effort is put into finding creative solutions. 

What have you seen in your area? Do you think information and comparisions like this could make a difference in people’s mindsets and priorities when making purchasing decisions?

From the Leopold Center's website image

Wednesday Independence Days

Another weekly update for Independence Days Challenge.  At this time of the year, it seems that there is little to report, but here goes:

Plant something: I started some beans for sprouts a day or so ago, so that counts as planting, right? I also started “planting” my imaginary garden too, and I will put that in a separate post. 

Harvest something: Thyme and rosemary from outside are still somehow alive, so I had roasted potatoes with rosemary harvested from my garden.  I hope to be able to “harvest” those sprouted beans I “planted” this week soon.

Preserve something: I actually have something! I canned a couple more jars of cranberry relish and applesauce.  Several of the apples I’d been keeping in storage were in need of attention – they were at the point where they were still fine, but I knew I couldn’t finish those before they became… not fine.  So into the jars and applesauce was made.  My Dark Days Challenge meal for the past week reminded me that I enjoy cranberry relish, and that I have a lot of cranberries taking up space in my freezer.  Hence the cranberry relish.

Reduce waste: Usual recycling.  I’ve found that my can/bottle/newspaper contribution is not that much, maybe because I don’t use the items that often come in cans/bottles at stores? I’ve been reading the news and other info online, just because it is more convienent for me, so the paper side is also lower.  I guess that in itself is reducing waste, but it seems that I am not doing that much in this category in an active way.  How do you all reduce waste?

Preparation and storage: I did start ordering my seeds – I put in orders for the herbs.  I can’t decide on the veg yet, so even though I know I should do them all at a time (or more at a time than this), I just went for the herbs.  I was inspired by Judy’s plans for her herb garden – both culinary and for tea, she has more than I even thought about or considered when looking through the catalogs.  The end decision for me in culinary herbs was more thyme and rosemary (after seeing their hardiness this winter, and enjoying the flavors in most anything), chives, oregano, lots of basil, and cilantro.  We use cilantro in so much cooking, I had to get that.  I also ordered a bit of peppermint and spearmint, since I’ve lately started drinking peppermint tea, and it’d be great to grow enough to use there.  A friend gave me some mint 2 years ago, and I know that they take over the garden!   Somehow though that batch of mint was not so prolific as I’d heard, maybe because I didn’t tend it? It’s still there though, so the new seeds can join the group and hopefully give me enough for tea.  I don’t have as much space as many people do, but I do enjoy herbs, so I’m willing to set aside more space for that this year.

Build community food systems: Nothing.  I want to get to the new farmers’ market in Norwalk, CT this weekend, and since I’ll be in that general area for work, it’s a perfect chance to do so.  A new farmers’ market – and a winter farmers’ market at that – needs all the support it can get.

Manage something: Thanks to the IDC, I checked though my stores and rescued some elderly potatoes.  Matronofhusbandry had a great post this week on checking and storing potatoes.  I really do encourage everyone to take a look – she has very practical and timely advice.  Some of the factors like humidity and storage of different *types* of potatoes are things I’d never considered.  Especially since potatoes are big for storage, its something I should learn a bit about.  Maybe she’ll do a similar post highlighting winter squash?

Eat the food:  Still haven’t gone into winter stores.  Like many others, I’m seeing a lot of potatoes, acorn squash, and kale on the table.  I should really do something with the turnips though.  I’ve still got far too many from my last CSA pickup back in December.  It’s one of those things where I enjoy turnips when I get them on the plate, but the thought of making them doesn’t leave me too enthusiastic.  Somehow its hard to convince myself I like them when it comes time to cook, even though in fact I have grown to like them. 

Spotlight: 2009-2010 Dark Days Challenge Week Eight

Week 8 of the Dark Days Challenge, and I think we are past the half-way mark? All through this past week I felt like I wanted something involving tomato sauce, but couldn’t figure out exactly what that was.  By Saturday afternoon, I’d eaten potatoes in one form or another at one meal or another over the past 3 days.  Not so creative.  For a DDC Spotlight dinner that night, therefore, I went for something on the opposite end of the spectrum: green and sweet.  Lots of kale in the fridge needed to be used, so I did a stand-by kale and red onion dish.  Even though many people don’t cook greens that long, I love the flavor of kale and onions after they have simmered together for half an hour or more.  Really.  It’s good.  Next up were corn tortillas with cranberry relish.  I also had some black beans with tomato salsa that I’d made in the summer.

One thing I didn’t anticipate about canning was the memories that come back eating that food months later.  I remembered picking the tomatoes, splashing the juice on my counter-top, and hovering over the processed jars waiting for the “thwack”.   Good memories to go with a good meal – but a rotten photographic record.  I promise, this meal wasn’t the brown blobs in the picture below!

Sources: Kale and onion from George Hall Farm; tomato salsa made by me with tomatoes, onions, peppers, herbs, and tomatillos from Easy Pickins Orchard; cornmeal for the corn tortillas from Grays Grist Mill; black beans from Cayuga Pure Organics; cranberry relish with cranberries from the Cape Cod Cranberry Growers Association and honey from Andrew’s Local Honey, and vinegar from “away”.  Salt and pepper throughout the meal from “away”.

Developing Local Grains

Sometimes something just pops up in multiple places over a short time.  A couple of days ago, I read Sophie’s post at Late Bloomers Farm about a new grain grower in D.C. – adding to the efforts of Lightening Tree Farm (they sell grains through Wild Hive Farm in upstate New York) on the east coast.  Today, I saw this article in the New York Times about a cooperative of farmers in New York state who grow corn, spelt, and wheat – some of it heirloom.  Apparently, Cayuga Organic Farms – a participating farm that is already a staple source of my local beans – will be selling the cooperative’s grain flour in Greenmarkets in New York.  As the article points out, grain was once grown in this area, and local farmers are joining together to try to get it going again.   Lots of positive thoughts that this effort meets with support in the local community.

I think it has a good shot, since (just anecdotal) I’ve heard that more people are learning/enjoying making artisan bread from a variety of grains, not just the plain wheat.  We are fortunate to enjoy local cornmeal and buckwheat from Rhode Island, it would be great to add another group of farmers to the community of grain growers.  Again, the one hitch that I can see in this new plan is the price – $5 to $6 for a 2-pound sack ($10 to $12 for 5-pounds).  The same barrier that exists for local dairies may threaten these developing ventures in grains.  Somehow fruit/veg farmers seem (on the surface) to have it easier in terms of offering a competitive price, at least in my local farmers’ markets.  Customers can often justify paying a bit more for the freshness, taste, community support, sustainability, etc.  But for something like grain, the story may be different.  For a household trying to save money, home-baked bread using bulk “store flour” goes a lot further than home-baked bread using “local farmers’ flour.”  Same story over and over, it seems.  The more people buy, the easier to lower the price a bit – but getting to that tipping point is hard.  And I have to admit, the thought of paying $10 to $12 for 5 pounds of flour makes my stomach sink a bit.  I just hope that this new cooperative somehow makes it, both agriculturally and in the sustainable business sense.

What do you think – does it have a chance? Why?

Wednesday Independence Days – Week 1 (again)

Week 1 report of the Independence Days Challenge.  Its been a long time since I did an IDC report, and since its a new year, I thought I’d just start the count over again at week 1.

Plant something: Nope.  But I have a nice stack of seed catalogs and am flipping eagerly though them to see what I can plant next year and what should be included in my imaginary garden.

Harvest something: Nope.  Well, not really.  I went out to see what became of the rosemary that I left out in the ground… we’ve had some snow and plenty of cold, but the rosemary still was hanging in there, so I snipped a bit to add to dinner a couple nights ago.

Preserve something: Again, nothing.

Reduce waste: I’ve been reusing a set of tin containers that are perfect for taking to work with lunches.  All sizes, and I love seeing them in the lunch box for some reason.  Also, the usual recycling.

Preparation and storage: Um.  I stored a bunch of potatoes that I picked up at the farmers’ market.  Also some winter squash (acorns and butternuts).  I’ve been prepping lunches and sometimes dinners ahead too, because I’ve realized that too often after work what gets on the plate is somewhat boring, just because it is fast.  And the food I like gets neglected.  So some of the stuff that will keep is made a couple days ahead, especially if I know I have a busy week at work or will be travelling.

Build community food systems: Nothing

Manage something: In the winter, one of the things that I need a reminder on is this category.  After travelling the past 2 weeks, I went through all my winter squash, potatoes, apples, and sweet potatoes to make sure there was nothing spoiled and to identify some “elderly” veg that need to be moved to the top of the priority list.  I found a couple of acorn squash on the verge, and promptly used them for dinner and a stored “mash” for later in the week.

Eat the food:  I’ve still not really gone into my winter stores in the freezer or the “cool dark place”,  just using the veg that keeps in the cold and can still be found from our local farms.  So winter squash, potatoes, turnips, winter squash, kale, and Brussels sprouts.  Fruits have been apples that are in cool storage.