Sustenance Gardening

While I don't actually plan on growing vegetables and fruits to feed my family year around, I am going to grow a few and I am going to try out some canning and/or pickling.  I just love the way the jars look all neatly lined up on a shelf.

Tonight we have a great opportunity to learn how to do this.  Two neighbors, one a great full yard vegetable & fruit & flower gardener and preserver and the other a professional consultant on eco garden planning are going to share their expertise and ideas at a workshop on sustainable gardening.  It's free and it's open to anyone who is interested, so join me tonight at the St. Anthony Park United Church of Christ from 6 - 8PM.  Here are the details:

SAP Sustainable Food and Land Group
(part of the neighborhood Energy Resilience Group, a subcommittee of the District12 Community  Council)
is pleased to announce an evening of discussing all things regarding Sustenance Gardening!

The evening will be highlighted by having

Dina Koutoupes  owner/ framer from Harvest Moon Edible Landscapes and Mieteka Glowka, a well-seasoned SAPgardener leading our discussions!

Topics for the evening will include…

vplanning our gardens so their harvest can sustain us throughout the year,

vhow to integrate our vegetable / ornamental spaces for a pleasing and productive urban landscape,

vhow to harvest and preserve our produce,

vwhat to plant v what to buy,

vcooperative gardening,

and whatever else comes to mind!

 

When: Wednesday, May 14 6-8 p.m.

Where: St. Anthony Park United Church of Christ  •  2129 Commonwealth Avenue  •  St. Paul, MN  55108  •  (651) 646-7173     

 

Plant Sales That Save Bees

It's planting time!!!!
It's also plant sale time and this weekend there are three that I want to share with you.  Each is an opportunity to:

1. Get those plants you are looking for
2. Support a good cause
3. Be assured you will be buying products that have not been treated with chemicals that are harmful to bees.

Here they are:

University of Minnesota Horticultural Club plant sale
Thursday and Friday, May 8 & 9
9 - 5:  Larpenteur Ave. W and Gortner Ave - look for the white tent.

Here's a link to their web site:  HortClub Plant sale
You will find:
"Herbaceous perennials, small trees, shrubs, edible annuals, house plants, Mycology Club products (grow-your-own mushroom kits), and more!
-Limited availability of unique plants such as Gingko bushes, Daphnes, Magnolias, Hellebores, Trilliums, Acer (Maples), and more! "

They use two suppliers for their plants and tell me that they do not use neononics and are very involved in land stewardship.

 St. Anthony Park Elementary School plant sale
Thursday and  Friday May 8 & 9th : 9- 4
On the school grounds, Como Ave. between Scudder and Knapp.
Here's a map:  SAP Elementary

They will be selling hanging baskets, flowers, vegetables and herbs.  All plants are from Glacial Ridge Growers, a company committed to organic and sustainable practices.


Friends School Plant Sale
Friday, May 9th,  9AM - 8PM, Saturday, May 10th:  10 - 6, Sunday, May 11th 10 - 2
State Fair Grandstand

This sale is huge!  It is the biggest plant sale I have ever attended by far and if you've not been there, go just for the experience.  They fill the entire grandstand to overflowing with plants and outside there are venders for all sorts of green gardening products and art works, and educational sources.  There are even seminars.

At this sale the selection is huge and the plants are small and inexpensive.

If you go, plan ahead, the catalogue is 60 pages. If you arrive early in the day, plan on getting a wrist band to determine when you get to actually go in to the plant sale - you can shop at the vendor's booths while you wait.

Here's their website where you can learn about the sale, search for plants and make your own plant shopping list.  Friends School Plant Sale.

The Friends are also committed to providing plants that are free of neonicotinoids, the component in many pesticides that is harmful to our bees.  They will also be providing a workshop on encouraging bumblebees, among other topics.

I just love that a humble school fund raiser has grown to such immense proportions.

Bring your own wagon to carry all of those plants you will buy.

Warming Up a Rainy/ Snowy Day

Snowy Rain on Knapp Street

Yes, it's raining again today - it even snowed.  That makes almost a week of rainy, cold days.  I think I could stand one or the other but getting the rain and the cold at the same time is pretty miserable.  We can expect more of this with global warming, I understand.

But let's be positive!  The rainy/ snowy/ cool weather got me to finally do a project I've been saying all winter that I'm going to do - make Granola!  I'm not sure of the carbon impact of making granola at home.  It does, after all, entail heating up the oven.  I expect it's more efficient for great big companies to toast those oats than it is for everyone in the U.S. to toast their own.  On the other hand, look at all of that garbage that gets eliminated - a box and a plastic bag (and maybe another plastic carrying bag from the store) for every 14 oz. or so of granola- and maybe less gas expended in delivery.  That's what I'm thinking of when I decided to finally make my own today.

Here is today's batch:

Granola Right Out of the Oven
Oven temp:  300,  cooking time:  1/2 hour

And here are the benefits I see to home made granola:

• It's an easy project to do with a three year old.  Andres got to pour and stir all of the ingredients and we didn't worry about measuring.
• It filled the house with a wonderful aroma thanks to the vanilla and coconut we added.
• It tastes great.
• I think it has less sugar than the store bought stuff.  Tastes that way, anyway - just sweet enough, but not too sweet.
• You can put about anything you want into your granola.   We used what was in the fridge and on the shelf:  oats, some sesame seeds, walnuts and almonds - raisins - coconut, vanilla, wheat germ, honey and a little sesame oil to smooth out the honey. (I added the raisins after baking.)
• It warmed the house up to have that oven on - particularly since I opened the door every 10 minutes during the 1/2 hour cooking time to give the oats a stir.
• I'm reducing waste - no more cardboard boxes and plastic bags from the prepackaged kind.

One word of warning, if you want to try granola on your own, remember to stir it often!

I still remember my first batch of granola, back in my college/ hippie days (I was never technically a hippy because I didn't own a pair of jeans or one of those cute long flowery dresses, but close to the earth was popular back then too, and making your own granola was kind of expected.)  I shared a house with a few other students, and the granola was a joint effort, but I must have been in charge.  That first batch - full of wonderful nuts and dried fruits - was fondly dubbed Christy's Hard As Nails Granola.  I didn't stir it while it was cooking and the honey congealed the oats into hard, barely chewable, clumps.  Ah well, it tasted good anyway.

15 Things You Will (Almost) Never Throw Away Again

So much of what we talk about reducing our carbon footprint our parents would have just called thrifty - or necessary.  At last night's Timely Topics presentation, Kit talked about growing up in a family that had a big garden because the produce was a necessity to supplement their small income.  Besides eating and growing vegetables, they also practiced frugality with their food - waste not, want not.

Kit shared tips for ways she uses up the parts of vegetables that we perhaps throw away.  I must admit that I throw away a lot of vegetable scraps, peelings and ends and feel bad about it, particularly in the winter when the compost bin is buried under several feet of frozen snow.  I've already forgotten most of Kit's quickly shared tips but luckily, when I got home I sat down to read one of Cathy's handouts - a past edition of "Mix" a Twin Cities Coop publication - and there was a great review of the book "An Everlasting Meal" by Tamar Adler.  The article was by Tricia Cornell (Minnesota author) and included a great sidebar titled "15 Things You'll (Almost) Never Throw Away Again.  Thanks Tamar and Tricia.  I'm now going to share a bit of your wisdom.

15 Things You'll (Almost) Never Throw Away Again

1.  Leek Tops.  Cook with other vegetables or meat for broth.  Add to a pot of beans.

2.  Parsley stems.  Chop finely for tabouli.  Use to brighten stews.

3.  Chard stems.  Cover in vinegar and spices to make quick refrigerator pickles.

4.  Kale and collard stems.  Use in vegetable stock.  Boil and blitz with garlic and oil to make pesto.

5.  Onion skins.  Save and dry to color eggs.  Add to vegetable stock or to pots of beans.

6.  Carrot tops.  Blend with plenty of oil, garlic and salt for a universal green sauce.

7.  Radish, turnip and beet greens.  Saute.  Douse with vinegar.  Enjoy.

8.  Tomato seeds.  Push through a sieve to catch the flavorful juices.  Shake with Tobasco and salt.  Drink.

9.  Potato peels.  Scrub clean and deep fry for a crispy snack.

10.  Broccoli stems and leaves.  Roast or saute along with florets.

11.  Cauliflower cores.  Boil for soup or mash with oil and cheese.

12.  Bones.  Save raw and cooked bones separately in the freezer.  Simmer for stock when you have a big batch.

13.  Stale bread.  Grind or grate to thicken soups and stews.  Cube for croutons.

14.  Bean cooking water.  Season and drink on its own.  Use as a soup base.

15.  Brine from pickles and olives, oil from tuna and sardines.  Use to launch vinaigrette or dress cold roasted vegetables.

Here is something I have been doing this year with vegetable peelings:  put them in a zip lock bag in the freezer and when there is enough, make a vegetable stock. This isn't particularly recommended for cabbage and broccoli, but works well with onion skins, potato and carrot peels, herbs etc.  I don't tend to do this when I'm not using organic produce because I worry about pesticide residue - so there is one more reason to bite the bullet and buy organic produce.

So what are your tried and true tricks to use up everything?

And why is it important?  Again, the methane gas from our landfills is a huge, huge contributor to climate warming.  We just need to reduce, reduce,  reduce our waste.  I hear of people who have hardly any garbage.  It can be done.  I'm still working on it.

Food and Gardening Resources

Tonight was the last of the Prospect Park United Methodist Church's "Timely Topics" series on climate change.  The focus was Local Sustainable Food.  As one of the presenters, I shared the speakers list for my garden club this year because I am so excited about what a great percentage of the speakers will be talking about sustainability and care of the earth.  The meetings are open to the public, so come if you can.  Here's the list:

February 11 “Putting Down Roots: The Clean Water Potential of Rain Gardens”

Presented by Elizabeth Beckman, Education Outreach Coordinator for Capital Region Watershed District

March 4 “Dream of Wild Health: Native American Indigenous Seeds”

Presented by Dian Wilson, Master gardener and Executive Director of “To Dream of Wild Things” Hugo Farms

April 1 “Full Frontal Vegetable Gardening”

Presented by Eric Johnson, garden speaker, designer, photographer and frequent contributor to MSHS Northern Gardener magazine

May 6 “Trees in a Changing World”

Presented by Andy Holland, Falcon Heights arborist and owner of Birch and Bough

September 2  “Prairie Restoration - Large and Small”

Presented by Marcie O’Connor, Naturalist

October 7 “Update on Bees and What We Can Do To Help Them”

Presented by Dr. Marla Spivak, Distinguished McKnight University Professor and researcher at the U of M, Director of the Bee Colonies at Larpenteur and Cleveland Avenues.

November 4 “Northern Adapted Garden Lilies”

Presented by Dr. David Zlesak, Professor of Horticulture a the University of Wisconsin

December 2 “North Carolina Wild Flowers”

Presented by Sara Evans, retired historian and Chuck Dayton, photographer and retired environmental lawyer

The St. Anthony Park Garden Club meets at St. Matthew's Episcoopal Church fellowship hall, 2130 Carter Ave., St. Paul.  Business meeting is 6:30, social time and refreshments from 7 - 7:25 and the programs begin at 7:30PM.

I'd also like to share with you some links to resources that Cathy Eberhart recommends on the subject of local sustainable food.  Since the subject tonight was local food, these resources, for the most part (except the first one) are most helpful if you live in Minnesota:

Diet for a Hot Planet - Take a bite out of Climate Change (Anna Lappe)
http://www.takeabite.cc/

Land Stewardship Project:  http://landstewardshipproject.org/

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) directory:  http://landstewardshipproject.org/stewardshipfood/csa

Stewardship Farm Directory and other tools for eaters: http://landstewardshipproject.org/stewardshipfood/tools/foreaters

Star Tribune - Taste 50: Year of the Farm (Examples of our transforming food system)
http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/taste/210094971.html

Make Dirt Not Waste - Eureka Recycling
http://www.makedirtnotwaste.org/at-home/prevent-wasted-food

Gardening Matters/Community Food Forms/Local Food Hubs:  http://www.gardeningmatters.org/

If you've made it to the bottom of the post, here is a tip that Kit Canright shared tonight:

Throw the big green ends of your leeks (the part that the recipe tells you not to use) into a pot of soup.  They will add a wonderful flavor of leek to the soup. (You may want to throw the green part into the compost pile after it has cooked and lent its flavor to the soup if you find it too woody.)

Black Bean and Avocado Recipe

Black Bean Avocad Salad recipe from "Oh She Glows"

I've gotten a couple of requests for recipes from my almost vegan recipe plan that I shared last month. Here's the Black Bean and Avocado Recipe.  I've pulled it from a blog called Oh She Glows which has lots of fun vegan recipes.  I've found that Pinterest is a great application for saving recipes.  I can search for ideas on the web and when I find one I like, Pin it to one of my boards of Pinterest where the photo from the recipe will show up.  Then I can just scroll through a bunch of pretty photos of things I've decided I'd like to try and when I choose one, click on it and it links me back to the site with the recipe (I usually have to click twice.  The first link goes to the photo and the second link goes to the original site.)

I've tried this recipe a couple of times.  It is so simple and uses ingredients we often have at home and it is just delicious as a salad, or a filling for a taco, for instance.

As far as how I'm doing on that menu planner, the answer is not so well.  That is the norm for me.  I'll spend a lot of time putting a menu together but when it is actually time to make a dinner, I go more by what is in the fridge than what is on the menu.  Never the less, I am getting back into the practice of cooking meat free (we had a month there where we ate a lot of meat) and I have used some of my planned recipes - or at least versions of them.  You know, I do feel better when I'm eating those whole grains, beans and vegetables.

Sharing Seeds

Seed Order

I'm getting ready to put in an order for vegetable, flower and herb seeds for this year's garden.  This is the first year that I've ordered seeds and I don't really know if I'll get them all planted and successfully grown, but I'm going to try.

The advantage to starting vegetables and flowers from scratch is that I have a much larger variety of plants to choose from.  I can actually plant varieties that I wouldn't see at the market.  Even more importantly, I can choose to order from a grower that doesn't use pesticides on the plants so that I don't have to worry about harming the bees and other pollinators.

What I notice, though, is that each seed packet contains from 25 to 100 or more seeds and even though I only buy one packet per variety of plant, I'll end up with way more seeds than I will need this year.  I've sent out a notice on our neighborhood list serve that I would like to share this seed order with someone else.  I expect there is someone out there who would like some of the same seeds I'm buying.  Are you one?  Let me know.

Here is my seed order:

Mayflower pole bean
Dwarf Blue Curled Scotch Kale
Apollo Arugula
Forellenschluss Romaine
Mantilla Bibb Lettuce
Charentais Melon
Bull's Blood Beet
Romaneso Brocolli
Five Color  Silverbeet Chard
Green Tomatillo
Waltham Butternut Squash
Basil Emily
Cilantro
Marigold Brocade Mix
Mexican Sunflower
Bright Lights Cosmos

Saving Our Bees and Other Pollinators

 

Busy Bee At Work

I'd like to talk about bees and how we can save them. We need bees to pollinate our crops, but they are in trouble due to many factors.  There are steps that we can take to help them out.  One of the easiest is to plant lots of flowers, so there is something blooming in your yards at all times.(see: Minnesota Plants for Bees) Natives are preferred, but any flower helps - as long as they haven't been treated with pesticides.  Unfortunately, most plants and seeds that we buy in nurseries have been treated with these chemicals that threaten, in particularly, our bees.  My neighbor, Margot Monson, sent out an informative letter recently that I would like to share with you.  She knows her bugs and explains the issue well.  She knows her gardening too.  I've been in her back yard.  The tomatoes in particular were amazing! I'll follow up in the next post with her list of nurseries and seed houses that sell untreated plants and seeds. Here is her letter:

For all the gardeners and lovers of healthy ecosystems, please be aware that most nurseries and garden centers, especially the larger ones, are selling seeds and plants pretreated with systemic pesticides.  They are listed by many different names and sold by many companies.  Systemics affect the entire plant, so include the nectar and pollen, and will remain in the roots and soil for years; after perennials die back in the fall, they become a part of the entire plant again the next year.  Contact sprays may be shorter lasting, but if in contact with the flowers,  will affect the pollinating insects.  Even for self pollinating plants, if treated with systemics like our agricultural crops, the insects will still forage on the pollen.

Research is revealing that honey bees are bringing many different synthetic chemicals back to their hives and together with a lack of enough diverse plant resources that provide them adequate nutrition, the pesticides further weaken them, making them more susceptible to diseases. Just like humans, insects need a balanced diet to be well nourished, and they struggle to find diverse resources in our cities and in our rural landscapes devoted to genetically modified monocultures.

As an entomologist and beekeeper, I do not use any synthetic preparations in our gardens, and with a diverse assemblage of plants, I have few pests - occasionally there are large populations of a particular pest species, like the Japanese beetles of 2 years ago which were definitely a problem, but the numbers of predatory wasps, lacewings, beetles, flies, ants & spiders that I regularly see in our gardens take care of anything that does show up.  Honey bees and Monarchs are attracting a lot of attention now because we can recognize & identify them as special and responsible for pollinating at least 1/3 of our food crops, and we can count them, so to speak, so know their numbers are declining rapidly.  However, whatever impacts these insects will affect all our pollinators, and there are thousands of different species of native insect pollinators at risk as well.

Please ask the managers and growers of the nurseries and garden centers where you purchase your seeds and plants, and ask the catalog companies if they are using seeds pretreated with systemic pesticides and if they pretreat their plants as well - our laws do not require pesticide labeling, so you will not know unless you ask.  If they do not know or will not disclose, then go elsewhere.  We need all our native insects for us to have healthy environments to grow our gardens and for all our wild creatures, including the insectivorous birds, reptiles, amphibians, and mammals, and so us.

I have been researching the local nurseries and garden centers about their methods by calling and asking questions and am compiling a list to share of those I feel who are answering my questions candidly, and several have.  This is by no means exhaustive, and I welcome any additions that you are aware of.  Please contact me off line if you have additional information and/or are interested in a copy.  I also have papers with more detailed explanations of what scientists are finding and can give you the references.  One good one is in the MN Conservation Volunteer:  A Sticky Situation for Pollinators by BrianDeVore  July-Aug 2009;  Yes, this is not new information, so we need to be responding now before it is too late.  I have included it below.

Happy spring planting and may your gardens be buzzing this summer!

Margot Monson

An Easy Way To Start Seeds Without Windows or Grow Lights

Plastic Containers To Become Seed Starters

I've been allowing used milk jugs and produce containers to pile up in the basement.  Even though I'm trying to avoid buying things in plastic containers, the family continues to buy milk in plastic jugs and we had plastic produce containers from before my ban.  But no worry, they all have a very good use.  I'm going to start this year's vegetables and flowers in these containers and set them outside to await the warmer days of spring.

I've always avoided starting plants from seeds because the few times I've tried it's just been too putzy.  However, last year at a garden club meeting the speakers shared this great method for sowing seeds in milk jugs and other plastic containers in the winter or early spring, putting them outside and pretty much forgetting about them.  I tried it with a few seeds last year and thought it worked pretty well.  I'm going to try again this year with many more seeds, so I hope it works this time too.

Check out the website mentioned at the bottom of the instructions.  Wintersown.org.  It has photos and links to more information that looks very helpful.  Also, I see a tab marked Free Seeds!

Here are the directions:

WINTER & SPRING SOWING INSTRUCTIONS

Michelle Mero Riedel

For milk, distilled water, and similar containers, gallon sized, rinsed, toss cap.

1. Cut four 1/2 - 1” holes in the bottom of the milk jug with a utility knife. Twist knife to make a hole.

2. Cut a horizontal line with utility knife from one side of handle to the other, about 3-5” from bottom of

milk jug, leaving a 1” hinge.

3. Grab handle and pull back to open container. Again, don’t cut all the way so you have a hinge.

4. Add soil to 1” from cut line.

5. Water well so soil is muddy and you see water coming out bottom.

6. Take a break to make sure water will flow out the bottom.

7. Flatten soil so there isn’t any peaks or valleys.

8. Add seeds, as many as you wish.

9. Cover with enough soil, the diameter of the seed (example if seed is 1/8” in diameter, add 1/8 inch of

soil). Additional soil is not needed if seeds are very tiny.

10. Lightly add more water to moisten.

11. Add a plant label along inside container wall with name of plant, color, light requirements, and height.

This label will go into the garden.

12. Close cover and duct tape in place. Clear duct tape is best.

13. Label container lid with plant name and date.

14. Remember to toss the container cap.

15. Place outside on the east, south, or west side of your house. Allow snow to pile on top and collect rain.

Can put container on patio, in garden, on grass, on picnic table, on deck. Do not put under deck, awning,

or roofline.

For bakery, takeout, produce, or rotisserie chicken containers:

1. Follow same instructions as milk containers except add holes at top of the container.

2. Add as much soil as you can.

3. Place plant label inside on its side.

4. No need to tape unless the container won’t stay closed.

5. Label container top.

Hints

1. Plant perennials in February and March

2. Plant annuals, herbs, and vegetables April 1-20.

3. After late April, they can be direct sown in the ground

4. Most Aprils are wet, so you won’t have to water until early May.

5. Watch containers for drying and water if necessary with hose attachment on mist. Be gentle with

small seedlings.

6. If you wish, as weather warms up, open containers during the day, and close at night if temps are too

cool or below freezing.

7. Bring your tender plants (what you sowed in April) indoors or in your garage if temps are at or

below freezing. Perennials can remain outside. They can take the cold.

8. On hot spring days, you might want to move your containers to receive less sun (east side of home)

so they don’t completely dry out.

9. Can cut off lid when weather warms up, usually after May 15.

10. Wait for mature roots before dividing.

11. For additional information, go to wintersown.org.

Menu Planning For A Meat Free (almost) Diet

Lime black bean salad with avocado

My move to meat free and more healthy eating is slow, at best.  My main approach has been to just not buy meat.  However, I am not the only shopper in the family and the others don't show much compunction in that matter.  We have eaten a number of meatless meals over the last few months and I've tried new recipes - some of which I liked and some of which I didn't.  Still, there is always meat in the fridge and the freezer which makes me think I'm not helping global warming much, if at all.

With that in mind, I spent yesterday pouring over the recipes that I've used and liked and that fit into our eating patterns pretty well.  I organized them and put together a menu for 11 dinners and then I put together a shopping list for those 11 dinners.  Now I figure I can grab that shopping list, check off what we are missing, and be in a position to usually have the right ingredients around for anything on that list.  Therefore - no excuses!  HAH!  I know myself better.  I do the pouring over recipes and making menus bit - frequently.  But I was more thorough this time and I now have that shopping list, so wish me luck.

This took me a long time to put together, organize and make the shopping list. To spread the benefit around, I'll share it with you.  If you would like any of these recipes and/or a copy of the shopping list, let me know and I'll send it to you.

Here is the menu briefly:

1. Falafel with Tahini , Tabouli, Green Salad and Pickles (This recipe was a hit with the whole family)

2.  Mushroom and millet bowl, mixed greens with apples and walnuts, pumpkin spice muffins (I've tried the mushroom and millet bowl and it was fine.  We'll see if it grows on us.)

3. Bean Burgers, caramelized onions with beer, sweet potato fries and other green vegetable (I love bean - bean/mushroom burgers and am trying to perfect the recipe.  Same with sweet potato fries.)

4.  Salmon, broccoli, wild & brown rice pilaf and applesauce cake (It's not like me to make cake or cookies for dessert, but we all like to eat them.  I figure if I add a "healthy" dessert, it will replace the candy and make for a cooking activity on the days when the boys are home.

5.  Lentil vegetable soup, corn bread, kale & fruit salad (all really great recipes, though I haven't tried all three together before.)

6.  Fajita style vegies, avocado, lettuce, beans, rice (yes, we have to get a Mexican style dinner on the menu.  We love it.)

7.  Vietnamese salad with potstickers (Another recipe I'm working on.  I love the Vietnamese salads I've tried in restaurants.  Haven't gotten it right at home yet. So this may morph into potstickers with vegies and rice.)

8. Mushroom or other nice ravioli or tortillini with tomato sauce, onions and peppers, lime black bean salad with avacado, green salad (A quick dinner that even the boys will love (except the salad).

9.  Tofu stir fried rice with vegies - or maybe stir fried vegies with tofu, rice on the side. (We actually like tofu, but don't have many recipes where we use it.)

10.  Honey Lime quinoa with sweet potatoes, pan seared brussel sprouts with cranberries and pecans. (Two recipes that are really yummy that didn't quite fit into other menus, so I'll just make them a meal of their own.)

11.  Buckwheat pancakes with sweet potatoes, banana, raisins and walnts with fresh fruit and yogurt or fried apples  and (optional) sausage - real or vegan.  (This is a sneaky way to get fruit and vegetables into the grandkids.  They scarf these up.)

Knowing me, this exact menu will never actually  happen since we are a use up what is in the refrigerator kind of people, but I'll give it a good try when we get back from vacation.

Another Seed Exchange Resource

Vegetables by the Window

I have known for quite some time that community gardens exist here in the Twin Cities.  We have a very nice community garden in our own neighborhood and I always enjoy walking past the garden plots in the summer and looking at all of the vegetables, fruits and flowers and the sometimes fanciful garden layouts and structures in the garden plots.  Last summer, I even participated in a bike ride that went from one community garden to another in St. Paul.  There was a garden by the railroad tracks, a garden by a freeway overpass, a garden in a church yard, a garden on the grounds of the University of St. Thomas and a garden grown by children.

But I hadn't really thought about how these gardens came to be and it hadn't really occurred to me that there might be some overall coordination between community gardens in the Twin Cities.   This week, though, I have found out about an organization called Gardening Matters which is devoted to encouraging gardening and food preservation by individuals and which provides all kinds of resources - from web site space to canning instruction for community gardens, garden groups and individuals.

One exciting recent development is their Local Food Resource Hub program.  This is a networking group for gardeners to share garden resources, knowledge, tools and Seeds.   So in many ways it is like the Seed Savers Exchange I talked about in yesterday's post, except more local, not quite as glitzy and, perhaps, still a work in progress.   Last year the Hubs organized two seed and seedling distributions to their members, offered free and low cost gardening workshops and organized tool lending libraries.

The exciting thing about all this is it is, once again, an example of neighbors and community members creating a way to work together to help each other accomplish goals that are good for the earth, good for their communities and good for themselves.  The information about this year's membership and seed distributions isn't out yet, but you might want to bookmark the site for future reference:
Gardening Matters Local Food Resource Hubs

Seed Savers Exchange

"A vibrant, diverse plant world is necessary for our survival, but crop diversity is increasingly threatened by industrial agriculture, climate change, and habitat loss.  The Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that since the 1900's an estimated 75% of the world's crop diversity has been lost." Seed Savers Exchange

This catalogue arrived in the mail today and now I just want to plant a bunch of beans!  Aren't they beautiful?  Growing your own vegetables is a great way to combat global warming.  You can be in charge of what chemicals are used - or, more importantly, not used - in your garden and your produce doesn't have to travel so far to get to your table. You can also help save our precious resources by growing heirloom varieties of fruits,vegetables, herbs and flowers like the ones in the above catalogue from Seed Savers Exchange.

This year vegetables are going to be added to my front lawn - the only place in the yard that gets much sun and I'm planning on starting them from seed thanks to a really nifty and easy winter sowing method I used last year (I'll share that on another post).  I'm pretty excited to look at all of the varieties that I would not find in the grocery store or the nursery and the tales behind many of the plants are so fun to read - like these, for instance:

Hidatsa Shield Figure beans from the Hidatsa tribe who farmed in the Missouri River Valley of North Dakota.  These beans were described in Buffalo Bird Woman's Garden (one of my all time favorite books).

Aunt Mae's Bibb Lettuce:  From seed donor Kelly Yeaton who acquired the variety from Nestor Keene, who in turn acquired it in 1937 from his aunt, Mae Smith.

Bear Paw popcorn, grown and distributed in New England from the 1930's until the 1960's, served in movie theaters and featured at the World's Fair.

Charentais melon: A true French cantaloupe that originated in the Poitou-Charentes region circa 1920.  "Considered by many to be the most divine and flavorful melon in the world." (I'm going to try that one.)

... and so on.  Doesn't that sound like fun?

I see that I can order from the catalogue or I can become a member of Seed Savers Exchange and have access to their  "yearbook" of seeds that are exchanged between members - 13,000 varieties.  This is a great people driven effort to keep our world sustainable.  Check it out: Seed Savers Exchange

Great Recipe for Lentil Soup

Lentil Vegetable Soup

I've been trying out vegetarian and vegan recipes.  My family puts up with me.  We still eat meat because I'm not the only one in the house who shops and we do have a freezer.  Still,  as I wade through recipes, I do come up with plenty that are quite tasty.  I use Pinterest to collect my recipes.  It is just so inspiring to look at the beautiful photos of how other people's recipes turn out.

Here's one for lentil soup that I tried last month and just loved.  It was so hearty and made me feel good to eat it, but I haven't tried it since.  This weekend I'll be at a cabin with friends eating and snowshoeing and reading and talking.  I'm going to make the lentil soup again.  We will have it with some corn bread, a nice hearty salad and a yummy sounding cake with icecream. Wish me luck.
Here's the recipe:
     Lentil Vegetable Soup Recipe

Here's a link to my Pinterest recipe to try collection and here is a link to my Tried and True Recipes collection.  It's smaller by far.   There are others I've tried and liked but they aren't on Pinterest yet. Maybe one of these days I'll take photos of my own - assuming I get any that look photogenic enough.

Getting Rid of Plastic Food Containers

"New" glass containers for pantry shelf

My mind has been on plastic the last couple of days.  It is everywhere! In the pantry, in the fridge, kids plates and cups, the shower curtain, the bathtub, every single lotion and cosmetic container, the milk jug, the vegetable wrappers, indestructible packaging and on and on and on.  And yet, there is plenty of evidence that many plastics are just plain bad for you - not to mention the environment.  I've known this for a long time, but when I look in my cupboards and my refrigerator, there is plenty of plastic and in the past I have been complaisant about heating up food in the microwave in plastic containers.  NO MORE!

Part of my problem has been that I wasn't really sure what plastic is OK and what is not and there is always the thought that if the government let's manufacturers sell the stuff, it must be OK.  Well, maybe not.  I found a good website yesterday that clearly defines by recycling number, what the different types of plastic are and which ones ought not to be around food.  (Stay away from 7!) Here's the link to the list:  Exposure to Chemicals in Plastic.
 This site also provides lots of information on breast cancer, and the things one should do to reduce cancer risks.  Now I had breast cancer 20 years ago and had sort of stopped thinking about it, but in the last month two people close to me have been diagnosed with breast cancer and I've heard several stories of the fatal return of cancer in women who had been cancer free for years.  Ooops.  Maybe I should be paying more attention to these things.  If not for me, than for my daughter and my grandchildren.

So today I got rid of the antique plastic containers I've been using in the pantry because you know they probably have BPA, as well as all of the plastic kids' plates, bowls and glasses just to be on the safe side.  My house is still full of plastic, but I feel a little better about the food.  Besides, I like the look of the glass jars full of goodies, don't you?

Oh, and of course, I don't really want to throw the old plastics away.  The containers will get use as storage organizers for non food items, but I'm not sure what to do with the kids plates etc.  I should give them away, but if I think they are not a healthy idea, how can I give them away just because other people aren't as worried??

Gardening to Reduce Climate Change

Roberta's garden (from DigginFood blog post)

It's the middle of winter.  It's cold outside.  There is snow everywhere.  Of course, I'm thinking about gardening.  The thought of green things growing, the smell of soil and flowers - it is like dreaming of going to a vacation paradise.  It's pretty good for the earth too.  Growing your own vegetables is certainly a way to avoid buying plastic enclosed vegies at the store.  Picking vegetables and fruits in your own yard takes less carbon than buying ones that have been trucked to your city and composting your fruits and vegetables will reduce the amount of produce that is thrown into landfills where methane - a heat trapping gas 23 times more potent CO2 - is formed.  I'll probably be sharing lots of posts on my efforts to grow vegetables this year, starting with this one that has some ideas for how to reduce the carbon impact of our gardens.  Here are a few ideas gleaned from The Union of Concerned Scientists website.  I know nothing about the organization, but the points in this linked article "The Climate Friendly Gardener" certainly make sense.  Here is a summary of their climate friendly gardening tips:

1. Choose low emission garden products and practices (use push lawn mowers, and avoid fossil fuel based fertilizers and pesticides, and peat based potting mixes).

2. Grow cover crops at the end of the season to keep the soil covered and replenish nutrients

3. Plant trees and shrubs.  They suck up CO2

4. Compost your food and garden waste

5. If you have a lawn, avoid those fossil fuel based fertilizers, mow high and water during the cool times of the day to reduce the negative impact of watering.

Here's a nice graphic on the flow of CO2 in our atmosphere:

And here is another plus to gardening - it is a way to reuse containers that are lying around!  Here is a link to a blog post from DigginFood of the garden that grows behind Roberta's pizzeria in Bushwick, Brooklyn (pictured at top).  This garden is planted on top of storage containers.  I love that she has used old cans for planting  and great big plastic containers for her raised beds.

What fun reused items have you used in your garden?

Chicken and Climate Change

Another of the many quandaries on my climate change challenge - to eat or not to eat chicken.  Here is the story:

I stopped at Speedi Market to buy a chicken yesterday and not only was it encased in plastic, but then the butcher enclosed it in a second plastic bag.  I said "You don't need to do that," and he gave me a look - kind of a polite "what are you thinking of lady" look.  I was upset about adding even more plastic to my shopping, but what I didn't realize was that I has buying a bio hazard.

When I got home, sitting on the table was a Consumer Reports magazine with the cover story "Is Your Chicken Safe to Eat?"  Well, evidently not. In the Consumer Reports testing of 252 samples from conventionally produced chickens and 64 from brands that use no antibiotics in raising chickens, more than half of the chicken was tainted with fecal contaminants and about half of the samples tested positive for at least one multi drug resistant bacteria.  Oh dear!  Here's the link: The High Cost of Cheap Chicken

But from a climate change position, chicken is the most environmentally friendly of the meats.  See this article on the Carbon Footprint of  Chicken for details.  Not eating meat and milk products at all is best. If everyone in the U.S. gave up eating meat for only one day a week, it would be the equivalent of not driving 91 billion miles or taking 7.6 million cars off the road.  What a simple way to have a tremendous impact on climate change.  Why not try it.  I certainly will.  Actually I've been trying to give up meat entirely, but that has not happened yet.  But one or two days a week - we can handle that.

Try giving up meat and milk products for at least one day a week and when you do eat meat - eat chicken (preferably raised without antibiotics), and follow these safety precautions:

1.  Don't wash it before preparing it - bad stuff flies around the kitchen

2.  Cook to 165 degrees F. - use a meat thermometer

3.  Wash your hands after touching raw poultry

4.  Use a cutting board reserved for raw meat

5.  Buy chicken last at the store

And if you would like your chicken to be safer in the future, read the Consumer Reports article for some suggestions on actions you can take.