Garden Porn: Bounty Abounding...Still!!!

We had another amazing bounty this past weekend at the Eric Waller Community Garden. More delicious green beans, butternut squash, eggplants galore, Swiss chard, herbs and some hidden beets. We took down the sad looking tomato plants and harvested what was left of them. We all raved about the magic of using mushroom compost in our beds and once again talked about food as we worked.

If you are thinking of starting a vegetable garden next year we all highly recommend amending your beds soil with mushroom compost. In Maryland Hollins Organic is a great supplier.

Salsa Fresca with Green Tomatoes: Canning Workshop and Recipe

Robin, Paula, Meena and Doris (L to R)

On Saturday we had our second canning workshop for the community gardeners. Five ladies joined me in my kitchen to can 18 pints of Salsa Fresca with Green Tomatoes. We had a ball. Everyone made a portion of the salsa beforehand. We then combined everyone's, conducted many taste tests and proceeded to can. All the tomatoes, peppers and oregano came from the garden.

Salsa Fresca with Green Tomatoes
Makes 4-6 pints 

Chop into small pieces 6 cups of green and red tomatoes, 2 cups chopped red onion, 1-2 large green and/or red bell peppers, 1-? (how many can you handle?!) Jalapenos finely chopped, 2 cloves of garlic finely chopped, 1/2 cup of cilantro leaves chopped, 1/2 cup of fresh lime juice, 2 teaspoons ground cumin, 1 teaspoon fresh or dried oregano (I added fresh whole leaves), 1 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon black pepper. Mix together, let the flavors meld and then taste test, adding more herbs or salt. Now this tastes great as is, but it will taste better in late February!

When your salsa is ready and your hot water bath is rolling proceed with canning... Click here to go to my post on canning basics.

Canning specifics for Salsa Fresca with Green Tomatoes:

We removed about 1/2 cup of liquid from each pint to pack in more salsa; save the juice for drinking, fermenting, soups and cocktails. Leave 3/4 of head-space and process in the hot water bath for 15 minutes. If you doubled, tripled or quintupled your recipe keep canning!

Enjoy! XOMC

Thank you to my friend Sarah for lending a helping hand and taking some great photos!

Assembly Lines work great!

You can can without wine but why?

Inside out

Indian Runner Ducks

What is is about poultry? Throughout history humans have kept ducks and chickens close at hand, for food, manure and pest control in the garden. They also make wonderful companions and educational resource for children and young adults. So how did this relationship come to be?  And what is it about the come back of raising poultry in urban gardens?
One aspect to consider is the current movement of not only organic food but local food and people wanting to have more control and say over where their food comes from, how it is grown and transported. A recent study has started a ripple effect in the growing community that has separated consumers into two different groups; those who buy organic for its supposedly nutritional benefits and those who purchase local/organic for community, society and environmental benefits. The study recently conducted by Stanford University found organic food has no nutritional advantages over conventionally grown food. Take what you will from the study, but I think for most people that choosing organic produce and meats over conventional is also a matter of choice concerning the environment, keeping antibiotics out of our families bodies, how the farmer treats their land, livestock and the chemical companies they choose to NOT support and the workers they hire. By keeping it local we are reducing our carbon footprint and keeping the economy within our community. Its not just about eating well its about making the right choices that in turn effect our environment, health and welfare of our community. Also, growing our own food and raising our own poultry keeps us connected to our land and agricultural roots. Secondly, don't we want to be self-sufficient and sustainable? To rely on ourselves to grow healthy fresh food for ourselves and the community? I would like to see a study that shows the benefits of visiting the farmers market, meeting up with your NSA (Neighborhood Supported Agriculture) every week to garden together, having a connection with urban poultry, nature and the pride in growing your own food.
Back to ducks...at our NSA we decided to keep ducks to help maintain our dedication to not using pesticides to control bugs like the harlequin beetle, stink bug, cucumber beetle and bean beetle. Ducks also produce wonderful manure that they automatically add back to the soil through walking and foraging deeply with their bills. The water they bath in can be directly applied to crops for an immediate fertilizer boost. Not only that but they lay delicious rich eggs, containing high levels of Omega 3's and vitamins foraged from the garden; not from medicated feed in cages. Ducks, unlike chickens, are easy to train and herd; show a duck once or twice and they will remember! One example is in southeast Asia; Indian Runner ducks in the thousands are herded from rice paddy to another by the community of farmers to eat bugs, lay manure and eggs. Then herded to the next paddy and finally to a large outdoor pen for the night. This has been done for centuries. At our garden not only will we be using them for pest control but also to educate our community at large the benefits of using ducks in the garden and possibly partnering with local public schools to teach children about the ducks, how they "work" the garden and the act of growing your own food. Being a NSA we have a responsibility to educate and share with our community about locally supported agriculture and being kind to the environment. Mostly I think the recent lure to raising and keeping poultry in the urban garden is a longing to have a connection to our food once again.  Along with the knowledge of chickens being raised in confining cages, fed antibiotics and the waste created by big factory farms. After all isn't the food we produce and consume as a society reflective of who we are, what we find to be important and fulfilling? Urban farming and homesteading is on the rise because we know that it is the right thing to do for our health, for our community and environment.
Just in; article about homesteading in the New York Times 

Fawn and White Indian Runner Ducks in the garden by P. Allen Smith

Garden Porn: Bountiful Pleasures

This is probably the best time of the summer...Everything in the garden is practically busting with color and flavors, summers last hurrah before autumn and the long grey winter. This past weekend was a mini-celebration in all that the summer has to offer. A lot of harvesting was done at the Mount Washington Community Garden; tomatoes, Swiss chard, beets, leeks, butternut squash, basil, eggplants, romaine and butter crunch lettuce, red and green peppers, jalapenos and cherry tomatoes. We planted garlic and more spinach and lastly red clover crop cover. While we worked we all snacked on some tasty watermelon. Another lovely weekend workday at the garden!
On Saturday I canned 5 pints of roasted tomatoes with roasted garlic and oregano (all from the garden). Canning always takes SO LONG...But come January when we want some tasty tomato sauce or soup I have a whole pantry full of organic garden tomatoes ready to use. This week we also plan to can salsa, beets and possibly some green beans. Also on Saturday I planted some Winterbor Kale plants, green cabbage plants, some Heirloom Alliums from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange.  

The Color Red: New Kombucha Flavor & Lots of Tomaters

We had a busy weekend around the house...lots of sanding, painting, installing new bathroom and closet doors and finishing up the bedroom. All the little things are adding up and its starting to look really nice! Now with the ducks happily in their garden home we can relax a bit and get the rest of our home projects completed.
I wanted to share with you some of the flavors that appeared in our kitchen over the weekend; red was the default color of choice!
One of which is a new kombucha flavor that I am wild about. Cherry Chia with Yerba Mate (as opposed to black tea). The Yerba Mate gives the kombucha a less over the top tea flavor and instead allows the fermented flavors to sing. We are enjoying this batch of 'buch quite a bit; in fact I think it may be my best in a very long time. To make Cherry chia; add 1-2 teaspoons chia seeds to your bottle, remove the cherry stones from about 6 ripe washed cherries, cut into quarters, add the cherries to the chia and fill with brewed kombucha, swirl a bit of kombucha around to get the chia seeds wet, then fill to the bottom of the neck of your bottle. Cap and date...the cherries and chia become active really quickly (like minutes); burp your bottle the first couple of days and refrigerate for a couple days before you open; it's powerful!!!

The next flavor this weekend was tomatoes...lots and lots of juicy red-ripe tomatoes from the Eric Waller Community Garden and our front yard garden. I am letting them ripen just a tad more today before I can them whole tonight. We will have lots of delicious and local/organic tomatoes for winter stews! Yum!

XOMC

Tomato, Zucchini, Eggplant Tian with Rosemary, Sage and Thyme

Have a lot of tomatoes? How about that giant zucchini rolling around in your crisper? Don't know what to do with that beautiful eggplant you swooned over at the farmers market? Make Tian! Tian is basically a thinly layered vegetable dish that is baked with herbs. It's French, Provençal, and it's delicious. You can make tian hot or cold as long as it consists of thin layers of vegetables (I'm sure fruit tian would be amazing too!) We enjoyed ours with black rice, grilled pork loin spiced with  za'atar and sauerkraut. It makes a lot too, so now I have tian waiting for me for lunch.
All of the ingredients for this dish came from our front yard kitchen garden and the Mt Washington Community Garden...über local yo. Food is so awesome.

Tomato, Zucchini, Eggplant Tian with Rosemary, Sage and Thyme
Serves 4-6

3-4 medium to large ripe garden tomatoes, thinly sliced
1 medium zucchini, thinly sliced
1 large eggplant or 2 medium sized eggplants, thinly sliced
4 sprigs of fresh rosemary, two chopped (leaves only)
6 sprigs of fresh thyme, 2 stripped of its leaves
A handful a fresh sage leaves, or more!
About a 1/4 of olive oil
Real Salt and pepper
A large deep casserole dish

Preheat your oven to 375, lightly oil your casserole dish.
Add your eggplant and zucchini to a large bowl along with some salt, many generous grinds of pepper, olive oil and the chopped rosemary, thyme and sage leaves. Gently toss/mix with your hands or tongs until the eggplant and zucchini are well coated, salt and pepper more to taste.
Begin with a slice of tomato, then eggplant, then zucchini in the casserole dish. I found that making a stack in that order then placing it in the dish to be the easiest technique, slightly at an angle to the side of the dish, like you are spreading a thick deck of cards. Repeat and follow along the entire dish edge. Fill the middle with any remains and line the outside with your remaining thyme and rosemary sprigs. Pour over any juices left in your bowl and place it in the oven, uncovered for one hour and 30 minutes. Check periodically for even baking. Depending on your oven this may take shorter or longer. Enjoy with anything else your heart desires; I imagine this would be amazing with some hearty bread, a fried egg or just as is.

Enjoy!
XOMC

Weekend Maximization: Birthdays and Ducks

Summer is fading...the light is changing and the nights are getting cooler. For some the summer can be a break from the daily grind and others look forward to the return of the cooler weather. I LOVE the summer, everything about it; unpredictable weather, swimming, bare feet, early morning runs, long days and all the garden fresh food; even the 100+ degree days. My energy is boundless.
As we drove back from a afternoon of birthdays last night it suddenly dawned on me, there is only two weekends left of summer, Labor Day weekend is only one weekend away. Soon the pools will close, school will begin for me, wedding season will kick into high gear for the fall for Shane and before we know it Thanksgiving and Holidays and a New Year. Time flies and this summer flew by especially fast. A lot happened and I am grateful for every moment of it. Some highlights; my first DC show, the Sandor Katz workshop at Stone Barns, hiking and camping in the Catskills in the rain with Shane, raising 6 Indian Runners and growing lots and lots of food. It has also been challenging as well; raising the ducks has taken a lot of our time, mostly away from the work we want to complete on our house for refinancing (so adult I know) and mostly finding a nice balance for all the things we want to do...like going on productive adventures, putting by as much food as we can, creating art and feeling centered. So perhaps summer winding down is a good thing, fall is for reflection after all and taking a little time to relax...well sort of...
Some highlights in image from the weekend...non-photographed highlights: yoga workshop with Edie at Charm City Yoga and trading one of my Kombucha Scoby's for Kefir grains from a kind woman in Hampden.

Duck House Building

Lucy's Bug Box

Ducks in Transit

Bonnie and her Birthday Scepter 

Sam with all the moves...

Earl presiding over all...

XOMC

Indian Runner Ducks: Week Five

As the Runners grow taller and fuller they require more nutrients than what their starter feed offers. This past week we have switched up their feeding routine to mimic their upcoming garden schedule.  Ducklings more than chicks require an ample amount of Niacin (B3) and Calcium in their diets. You can simply give them a water soluble "multi-vitamin" or you can supplement their diet using whole foods. Tomatoes, broccoli, asparagus, carrots and nutritional yeast are just some of the niacin rich foods that ducks can eat. Without ample niacin ducks can experience a lack of growth and have a difficult time metabolizing their feed for energy which in turn gives them weak muscles, especially in their legs. Calcium is also an important addition to their diets right now so we have been giving them a treat of yogurt with live cultures. As they grow older niacin and calcium are important supplements for egg laying as well. Their daily "duck-feast" is a mash-up of dry pellet starter feed, a large ripe tomato, 4 scoops of Nutritional yeast and a green leafy vegetable, mixed with some water, yogurt and feed. They LOVE it.

These ducks (the ladies) and drakes (the gents) grow up fast and as they await their entry to their home in the garden I can't help but be a bit sentimental. Just this morning I was remembering the first night we had them - so small and vulnerable! - their little chirps and leg stretching, first swims and first feathers, quacks and individual personalities. A.J. is still the biggest and is most definitely the flock leader (pictured above in the pool in the middle) and Ressie is in the front on the right. Also on the Duck Front we will begin construction of their new home "Fort Knox" over the next few days. We are very excited to have them part of our garden community and community at large, we know that they will make a wonderful addition not only to the garden but for educational purposes within the community as well. Many people inside and outside of our garden community have offered their support (from vet care to solar heating!) and have volunteered their time to care for the ducks. It takes a village after all! And we are one committed village...

XOMC

Indian Runners: 2 Weeks Old

Everyday they grow. It's crazy. And every morning when they see me they expect a handful of fresh greens. They are becoming less skittish and more confident in their environment. Their feathers are starting to come in and their chirps are becoming more quack-like. The Indian Runners have entered adolescence.
On Sunday we took them to the Eric Waller Community Garden for their first visit to their future home. They immediately began to forage for bugs in the dirt and took to being in the garden very naturally. I quacked and they followed me around the bean rows; it was so cute it nearly broke my heart. They then went for a swim in the kiddie pool and I feed them the dreaded harlequin bug which they gobbled up with gusto. They won't be ready to be in the garden full time until they have all their feathers, which may be a while. However they soon will be too big to stay at our house which will mean driving them up to the garden in the morning and retrieving them at dusk; before the foxes, raccoons and other mystery predators come out to hunt. BUT. I am worried about them, already losing sleep over them. I am not sure what I expected from raising these amazing creatures but I am definitely attached and will be very heartbroken if anything happens to them. Tonight we begin building the duck house at the garden. If it were up to me I would be building Fort Knox but we are only a small community vegetable garden with limited funds and time...The first night they spend at the garden I just may camp out because I will not be getting ANY sleep at home.

If anyone out there in internet-landia has any advice or suggestions for deterring foxes (just short of fox hunting) I would greatly appreciate the message.
XOMC

Garden Porn: Big Eric Waller Harvest

Loving mid-summer...

Pics by The Sharer

Indian Runner Ducks: Week One

Today marks the one week anniversary of raising the Indian Runner Ducklings. If you have ever raised ducklings or chicks then you are then familiar with the growth rate that is occurring which is equivalent to mach speed. You are also familiar with the amazing amount of food and water consumption and vocal range of their little-big chirps. Instead of running in fear when we approach the brooder they chirp loudly at us demanding the kale, cabbage or other fresh food we may have with us. They eat unabashedly from our hands and calm down quickly when we hold them. Tonight we are going to bring them to the Community Garden to waddle around and give them their first bath in our tub. A good friend of mine and a duck raising expert said that it was time for them to meet the water and since it is so hot they will dry off quickly under the heat lamp. She said to be prepared for amazing tricks and pure duckling bliss. Both Shane and I woke up this morning already excited for bath time tonight.

She also said to bring them outside and to the community garden to get them familiar with their future home; this will make their eventual transition much easier. Once they are teenagers and have their breastplate feathers they can be left outside 24/7. Until then our responsibilities as duck parents will grow with trips outside and to the garden, daily bath time and eventually pool time to whole days at the garden and nights at our house. Having six ducks versus two or even four they become a community, moving en masse from one place to another, they do everything together, one eats they all eat, one drinks they all drink. So when we took two of them away to our raised beds they freaked out. Chirping so loudly in the direction of the porch where the others looked for their buddies and chirped back. We learned quickly that their bond is strong and where 1, 2 or 3 go the rest will follow. Hopefully we didn't traumatize them too much.

XOMC

Indian Runner Ducklings

5:34am my phone rings; I of course don't hear it because I am out cold. When I do get up and check my voice mail the man on the other end tells me that my chickens have arrived.
OMG! He means our ducks are here! In the meantime S and I are getting the brooder set up in our screened-in porch and flitting around like nervous ninnies.
I get another call at 7:45am from Yvonne at our Post Office, "Mrs. Carpenter, your ducklings have arrived, you can pick them up at 9am." So we waited and at 8:56am we are on our way to the Post Office. We are standing in line waiting our turn when I hear "Chirp!" then a chorus of chirps, and I notice the box on the counter with holes and coming from that box is our hungry Indian Runner Ducklings!
We drove them home and I could feel them moving around in the box on my lap, every once in a while I would see a bill peaking through or an eye. These poor little guys and gals just made an epic journey from Texas and they are not even 48 hours old yet!
Of course Earl is very very curious about the little ducks and we will keep him at bay for the time being.  We placed them in the brooder asap... It was so crazy to hold them, they are so light and soft. They found the water right away and also started to eat the wood shavings! So I quickly did some research and covered the shavings with towels. The shaving won't hurt them but you want them to get used to what their food is first. Then they were off and eating and drinking and eating and drinking, chirping, running! tumbling and just plain old being adorable.

Needless to say we are loving the early moments of duck-parenting and I can't wait to get home and quack at them (my instincts tell me that that's what I should be doing, so they know my voice). Before we know it they will be big and placed in the Eric Waller Community Garden to forage for garden pests, provide additional fertilizer and eggs. 

XOMC

Power

Have I mentioned that it's hot here in Balmy-timore? Like the kind of hot that makes you feel like a bubble-head. Normally I enjoy the heat, but since the derecho last Friday which knocked out electricity for over a half a million people in Maryland alone (and many STILL without it), it's more than most people can take, including myself. However, this is a first world problem to be inconvenienced from our devices, to be without AC for a few days, to lose food, to be in the dark, to be without "power". Yet, most of the world deals with this sort of powerless-ness all the time. Frankly, I got tired of hearing people complain about not having "power" and how awful it was to be in the dark. I get that and I get being hot, but think about how this week has been refreshing as well. Maybe you spent more time outside, or more time with friends, patronizing your community or perhaps you got reacquainted with your natural bio-rhythms. We saw our electricity outage as Advanced Camping and it made me think about how much time and noise is consumed and produced by our devices of convenience. Sure there were a couple nights when I couldn't sleep because I was roasting and we lost some yummy Venison that my Dad gave us but I also got back in the studio, dusted off my bike and swam with close friends. So when the "power" returned yesterday after we came home from our second swim we both were a bit disheartened. Yet, right now it is a 110 degree heat index and temperatures are expected to stay in the triple digits through the weekend, so I am pretty stoked to have AC right now.

This past week at the Eric Waller garden we have been harvesting like crazy. The beans are in and I spent yesterday morning at the garden picking another bucketful for our donation to Our Daily Bread. The evening before 10 of us worked the garden and harvested zucchini, yellow squash and tons of green beans. I love being in the garden, pulling weeds, investigating the bugs, fungi and being close to the earth. Having such an amazing local food source during a time that we can't count on BGE to restore electricity in a timely way is pretty darn powerful. When I got home I immediately set to work fermenting the green beans, zucchini, turnips, beets and radishes from the harvest. Fermenting is a very resourceful way to put food by that requires no electricity or gas. Just the power of microbial action; lactic acid and a anaerobic environment.

After I returned home from the garden I took Earl out for a moonlit stroll. It was so incredible to be able to experience the full moon without light pollution. We bathed in the moonlit and slept like babies.

Little Things...

Thought i'd share some of my favorite snap shots from around town. Upper left is from the woods behind our house. The light was so warm and inviting last Friday that I had to try and capture it. Upper right is one of the most beautiful trees in our neighborhood; a giant Maple. Earl is chillin' in the bottom left, J and I took him for a hike out at Loch Raven. Bottom right is also at Loch Raven, I just loved the way the branches glided into the water. I took all the above with my iphone and used the app instagram; which like many millions of people I am obsessed with but don't have the nerve to make my profile public.

Soon we will be getting our Baltimore Honey Bees! AND Indian Runner Ducks for the Eric Waller Community Garden to help combat pest control. Also we are anticipating a big harvest at the community garden this weekend so I will have some recipes to share.

XOMC

Garden 2012

This is the third year of our front yard vegetable garden. We have definitely learned a lot about growing vegetables. Such as soil and nutrient requirements, using compost and controlling pests (squirrel's who boldly steal heirloom tomatoes!) and maximizing food production in two raised beds. And the added component of  growing food in the front yard where you inevitably engage with your neighbors, children, dogs and friends while out tending to the growing things. Being involved with the Eric Waller Community Vegetable Garden definitely helped obtain working knowledge and skills as well as becoming UME Master Gardeners (we are still in the "Intern" stage). But as Shane and I worked in the yard this past weekend, establishing our very new perennial beds; we agreed that the best way to learn is by doing and asking a lot of questions!

The first year we installed our raised beds we had a few raised eyebrows; folks thought that food gardens should be relegated to the backyard, that they are "unsightly". Well I think we dispelled that "rule" because from my front window, every morning, I can observe walkers slow down in front of our garden to take in its beauty; and frankly I'm pretty darn proud of that.

What I have planted now:
French Breakfast Radishes
Little Marvel Peas
Bloomsdale Spinach
Rainbow Chard
Lacinato Kale
Onions (from last fall)
Leeks (just harvested!)
Red Cabbage
Detroit Red Beets
Chioggia Beets (red and white stripes!)
Broccoli

What we planted last year that is part of our edible landscape:
Blueberry bushes (Highbush and Jersey)
Pear Tree
Asparagus
Strawberries

Herbs:
Chives (I planted three years ago by seed)
Fennel (a perennial that will return as well)
Chamomile (also a re-seeding perennial)
Basil
Dill (that I seeded last year and grew one tiny measly plant and this year BANG! I have 10 healthy plants)
Nasturtiums (edible flower and tasty greens)

Coming up: Soon the radishes and spinach will be done and this weekend I will thin my kale plants and move them and the chard to the front bed along the sidewalk to make room for the tomatoes. I will let the beets, cabbages and broccoli finish out their cycle and plant in Black Zucchini (that I've started from seed) and Bush Beans (also from seed). This year we will grow the pickling cucumbers on a inverted V trellis. When my zinnias and marigolds are ready they will go into the flower pots and perennial beds.
So much to-do but so much fun! This growing season is off to a very good beginning.

Vegetable Gardening Timing Tip: this weekend plant your green beans by seed and your tomato plants!

XOMC

Baltimore Dreamin'

Today I went for my first 6am run of the spring/summer season. The birds were singing in full force as I took a deep breath of fresh morning air. There is something about running in the morning, the air is better, creatures are just waking up and your head is clear. It is highly addictive. This morning as I trotted up towards the Eric Waller Community Garden I started to daydream about turning more vacant city lots into spaces for growing food. Baltimore is like the wild west; there are a lot of resources here if you are willing and brave enough to seek out and act upon. During our UME Master Gardener course we had a community garden workshop where we learned that there is a program through Baltimore City called Adopt-A-Lot. There are an incredible number of vacant lots available for adoption in this city (5,000+!) to use for vegetable gardening, green spaces, community gathering spaces and revitalization projects. The application process is simple and if your lot does not have access to water you can pay $120 and the city will install it for you for the 9 month growing season. The hard part is seeing your vision for the lot through, patience and lots of muscle. 

Adopt-A-Lot

http://www.baltimorehousing.org/vtov_adopt

Some of the lots look like this...

One of the community gardens that has benefited from the Adopt-A-Lot program is the Park Heights Renaissance Community Garden. They received a grant from the Parks and People foundation for purchasing and installing hoop houses. The Park Heights Renaissance garden is HUGE and they have done a ton of work making it the space it is today. 
So get on it Hon!
Images from the Park Heights Renaissance Community Garden:

Park Heights Renaissance 

Dreamy Hoop House

Hoop Vent

Nihima-Garden Organizer