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.

Garden Porn: Biggest EVER

Wow. I'm sure Google will bring many confused internet surfers to this post with that title...they may be a bit disappointed. This weekend was prime-time for the Community Garden and putting some food by. We had our biggest harvest yet to date this past Saturday; eggplants, butternut squash, green and red peppers, jalapenos, watermelons, beets, tomatoes, herbs, romaine and butter-crunch lettuce, Swiss chard and leeks. I also harvested the rest of my beets from the front yard garden to make room for my fall cabbages and kale. With all the delicious food-stuffs piling up in the kitchen there was much to can and ferment this weekend. Saturday after the garden three garden members came over to learn the basics of hot water bath canning. Each brought over about 8-12 pounds of garden tomatoes, already skinned. All together we canned 7 quarts and 9 pints of garden fresh tomatoes in their own juice. It was a lot of fun showing others how to can; its a relatively easy thing to-do, but its helpful to see the steps and how it works before venturing out on your own. I will post the How To and basic recipe later on...






















This weekend was also spent with a good new friend drinking Cherry Kombucha outside and making plans to take over the world (which is always easier to do with a buddy). We sipped our hot-red elixir from some fun little vintage Playboy Bunny glasses outside. It was such a perfect weekend for indulging in fortunate bounties of food and friends. I hope yours was just as wonderful....XOMC

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

Garden Porn: Harvest

" People deal too much with the negative, with what is wrong. Why not try and see positive things, to just touch those things and make them bloom?"
Thich Nhat Hanh

XOMC

Garden Porn: Big Eric Waller Harvest

Loving mid-summer...

Pics by The Sharer

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.

Garden Porn- Crowns of Green Heads of Purple

This third year in the garden I planted my first Red Cabbage and Broccoli. Our community garden had extra plants so I purchased two red cabbage plants and four broccoli plants. I Planted them in the same raised bed as my Detroit Reds and Chioggia Beets. Since I planted the cabbage and broccoli sort of late I did a couple of things to speed up the growth; I added fresh compost and a row cover. Before we left for Minnesota I fertilized again with Plant-tone, crossed my fingers and bid adieu to my garden. 
When we returned home the crops were practically exploding under the cover, sure enough, their growth had tripled in only a week and a half. I removed the row cover and waited. And waited and waited some more for the broccoli to crown and the cabbage heads to form. Nothing. Meanwhile at the Eric Waller Garden we were harvesting beautiful heads of Cauliflower, Cabbages and Broccoli. 
Now there is something here to consider. The Eric Waller Garden gets about 3 more hours of sunlight then my garden does, so in general my crops tend to be slower growing. Which is fine because then we enjoy two cycles of the same vegetables. We also planted these crops a lot earlier and in super rich mushroom compost. So sun and nutrients. 
Again I added more compost and Plant-tone to my beds and water, water and more water (its been very hot and dry) and then BAM! I have crowns! I have cabbage heads for the crowns! This weekend I will be harvesting my first crowns of Broccoli and next weekend I will harvest my first heads of Red Cabbage and the rest of my beets. 
Now the question is...what do I plant next? Beans? More beets? Both? Can you juice broccoli leaves? Suggestions and ideas welcome!
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

Fried Zucchini & Squash Blossoms

Hi! I have a confession.......

This summer I've been craving burgers and things fried in beer batter. Not only have I been craving these delicious fatty food stuffs but stuffing myself with them. Maybe its the 5 milers 4-5 times a week, all the fresh garden air or just a robust 30 year-old appetite, but I crave hardcore and once that taste settles into the giant part of my brain that's obsessed with food it does not leave until it's in my belly. On a personal food politic side note I have given up eating beef, I've gone back and forth with vegetarianism, veganism and back to all out carnivore, and oddly enough stopped consuming soymilk in exchange cow's milk or goat milk. In the end it came down to what it should have been in the beginning, cows are too damn cute and CAFOs are wrong. Now strangely enough I still think turkeys, lambs, goats, fish and chickens are cute but I still eat them...we'll tackle Swine on another day. Maybe that will change in a year or two or never, but I do know that my body needs animal protein to function properly. So when the urge strikes for it, I honor it, but I never let that big food part of my brain allow me to overdo it.
So! Back to vegetables. Last night I made the first fried young zucchini, with their blossoms as well as some young spaghetti squash with their blossoms. This year I planned on planting extra squashes exactly for the purpose to fry them. So happy I did! Seeing as I also planted a ton of basil this year I thought...how yummy would basil tops be fried? How good? Food orgasm good. It's a good thing I'm a runner...
You can fry just about any veggie, but there is something so enchanting about consuming a fleeting blossom in the middle of the summer picked moments ago from your garden. You can find blossoms at your local farmers market, get there early and plan to prepare them that day. You can also ask your favorite grower if they have any coming up and make a special request. Definitely ask for the young squashes, the size of your pointer finger, with the blossoms still intact, they taste like the most decadent vegetable entity on the planet.
Fried Zucchini and Spaghetti Squash Blossoms with Basil in Beer Batter
Gather enough small squashes and blossoms to allow for each guest to have 4 each (two small squashes with blossoms and two blossoms, OR if you have a ton make 'em all and have a party!)
You can use big basil leaves and basil tops to. The tops are the most tender however...to properly pinch off a basil top you want to take just below the first set of leaves where you see the split for the second set. Pinch flush with the new set. Big leaves take from the middle of the plant and save and inch or two of the stem.

Beer Batter*

1 cup beer (I like to use National Bohemian, Pabst or Labatts)
1 egg
2 teaspoons salt*
3/4 teaspoons black pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne (or less or none depending on your personal relationship with heat)
1 cup floor
1 1/8 teaspoon baking powder
Peanut oil or canola oil for frying

In a medium size bowl whisk the egg really well. Add the seasoning, whisk. Measure and incorporate your flour and baking powder together in a separate bowl.
Gently rinse your squash and blossoms, set aside in a colander.
Heat up a 1/4 inch of oil in a large skillet. While the oil is heating up pre-heat your oven to the warm setting, place a baking sheet in the oven, paper towels are optional (no towels will keep the fried deletables crispy). Arrange your batter and blossoms close to the fry pan. Tongs prepared. Kitchen fans on, windows open...
Ready? Now incorporate your flour/baking powder mixture with the beer, whisk well until smooth. Using a basil leaf as your tester dip it into the batter like you would a floppy paint brush, let the excess drip off and lay it in the pan. It should sizzle, once sizzlin' repeat the process with the rest of your blossoms and basil.
Done-ness: Like pancakes the pieces will puff up, the blossoms will expand like balloons, flip, when you have reached side two they are done when they can be pushed around. Transfer to the sheet in the oven. Repeat until all are done OR serve immediately to your drooling friends. Making sure to save some for yourself. Drink with the beer you made the batter with.
Dips: yogurt, mayo or nothing. They are that good.
*you can use half of the salt if your watching your sodium intake, but then again why are you making this if your "watching" anything?

Welcome to the dark side....
XOMC