The Dirty Radish

Behold! The Power of Compost!

noreply@blogger.com (katy) — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 14:25:00 +0000

I'm almost ashamed to admit it, but when we first bought our house, I almost threw away a 4-foot-tall tree peony. It was April and either it didn't bloom or we missed the blooms because all I saw as a wanna-be gardener was ugly black sticks coming out of the ground a some unremarkable leaves. It was planted--or should I say wedged-- in the corner created by a fence and the house. Even *I* in my extreme naiveness knew it was miserable in that location.

Lucky for me and the peony, I decided to give it another year. During that year, I read extensively and visited more and more gardens. I taught myself a lot about plants: growing them and keeping them alive. And, importantly, I didn't miss the bloom. That's right: Bloom. Singular. However, all it took was that one luscious bloom to make me realize I had something special.

That year also allowed me to really discover all the idiosyncrasies of my space. When you've got a small lot surrounded by trees and 2 story homes, you've got to really observe to find the little pockets of full sun. And, did I find a pocket! Half a foot in either direction, you've got dense shade from a fence and the neighbor's house. As an added bonus, I can view it from my kitchen window. Washing dishes is far more pleasant when you're staring at a peony.

Last year, we had 2 blooms. I decided to dump a generous portion of compost around the base of the plant. This year I've got at least 14 buds in various states of undress.

These blooms were brought to you by cow shit, y'all!

How Did I Get Here?

noreply@blogger.com (katy) — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 14:27:00 +0000

Now that school is over and I'm officially a Landscape/Garden Designer looking for the next step, I've started to look back at the crazy road that brought me to this place.

This post isn't meant to be one of those "garden as a metaphor for life" essays. It's meant as a reflection as someone that doesn't come from a particularly creative, artistic background to one that produces gardens--something I view as collaborative art. I come from a long line of electricians and engineers. My mom really enjoys accounting. I also didn't grow up with many garden-centric memories. In fact, I hated yard work. You got horribly sweaty (remember, I'm from Florida!) and then the dirt would just stick to you. Like, so gross, for real. **Flips 1990s hair***

As a female who excelled at both math and science, I almost felt duty-bound to chose that as a career. Besides, I didn't know anyone that was an artist or graphic designer or anything like that. I didn't really know people did those things as a career. After the first week in my AP Economics class, I was in love. Oh, rational expectation theory! Diminishing marginal returns! Giffin goods! Utility maximization! *This* was what I was meant to do. Or so I thought.

I entered a PhD program for economics. Perhaps it wasn't a good fit at the get-go, but I can't completely regret my time there because I made some amazing friends amongst my classmates. But I was severely unhappy diving into the incredibly murky details of economic theory. I fantasized about going to culinary school. But they hours of a cook are terrible, as is the pay (at least compared to an Economist position). I quit school and hopped off to my first job.

Years past and it became clear that a life spent behind a computer staring at spreadsheets and writing SAS code wasn't my idea of fun. When we bought our house, I had these grand plans of a vegetable garden. I decided to do pots of tomatoes using soil from our backyard. CLAY SOIL. Put into a pot. And then watered repeatedly. (In case you were wondering, this gives you basically cement.) Needless to say, those tomatoes didn't exactly flourish. They didn't die, I should note, though! Not killing them was my first feeling of success as a gardener.

I guess it was a series of happy accidents that happened all in a row that lead me to this place of eagerly awaiting a new gardening magazine or almost causing an accident by paying a little too much attention to the flora I'm driving past. The economist in me still strives for absolute efficiency in my use of space while the graphic designer is captivated by contrasts in texture and form and the plants-woman delights in the latest cultivars or rare species. I sometimes wonder what would have happened if I discovered design--graphic, garden or otherwise--from the very beginning, but I don't regret my choices.

I've found my soul and it's the soul of a garden designer. Even if it doesn't pay much or the hours are terrible, this is what I am meant to do.

This post is dedicated to my husband. Without his wisdom and unwavering support, I'd be still sitting in that chair, hating every minute of it.

Well, I Didn't Think This Day Would Come

noreply@blogger.com (katy) — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 21:49:00 +0000

A few years ago I remember talking to another food blogger & avid gardener at a happy hour about Arlington's ban on "farmyard" animals. At the time, a pet dwarf goat was getting an eviction notice from the county. The conversation naturally flowed to hens. I wondered aloud what the big deal with hens were. I mean, they make lot less noise than a (poorly trained) dog and don't poop or pee in other people's yards. And there's no law against poorly trained dogs in your own yard. Hens have the added benefit of creating amazing fertilizer. We figured you could probably raise rabbits for eating under the guise of pets, but both of us agreed that we weren't quite up to the task of killing a bunny ourselves.

Well, it looks like one group is trying to bring hens (not roosters!) to Arlington. My uncle has a backyard hen house back in Florida. I can vouch for the not noisy and not smelly possibility for raising laying hens. Those hens are pretty cute and didn't mind my rather grabby, not terribly gentle toddler to pet them.

Check out the Arlington Egg Project and sign the petition if you agree with them! With any luck, hens for pets & for eggs will make their way back to this--formerly agricultural--county.

What's Growing, 2012?

noreply@blogger.com (katy) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:54:00 +0000

You'll see a lot of the usual suspects from my previous veggie gardens. I have, however, decided that eggplant aren't worth the space for me. I love them, but they don't love growing in my garden.

I have also decided that I don't really like Swiss chard. I know, I know: it's "delicious" sauteed with olive oil, garlic & a squeeze of lemon. I've tried, in vain, to like it. Really, I have. This feels like a huge confession because any time I tell someone that I don't like Swiss chard, it's as if I said I don't like rainbows or chocolate. Perhaps I need to turn in my crunchy yuppie card?

And, finally, hot peppers are more useful for our purposes than sweet, so sweet peppers are out.

Nightshades
Tomato (Sungold)
Tomato (Black Cherry)
Tomato (Eva Purple Ball)
Tomato (Amy's Sugar Gem)
Ground Cherry (Cossack Pineapple)
Hot Pepper (Cherry)
Hot Pepper (Jalapeno)
Hot Pepper (Banana)
Hot Pepper (Trinidad Spice)
Hot Pepper (Fish)

Gourds
Winter Squash (Delicata Zeppelin)
Summer Squash (Dark Green Zucchini)
Pickling Cucumber (Edmonson)
Pickling Cucumber, Diamante
Pickling Cucumber, Homemade Pickles

Lettuces & Legumes
Pole Bean (McCaslan)
Pole Bean (Louisiana Purple Pod)
Bush Bean (Provider)
Lettuce (Deer Tongue)
Lettuce (Red Velvet)
Lettuce (All Season Butterhead Mix)
Lettuce (Romaine Freckles)
Arugula
Arugula (Even' Star Winter Arugula)
Bok Choy (Tatsoi Rosette)
Corn Mache
Kale ("Dinosaur"/Nero Toscana)
Mustard Greens

Root Vegetables
Onion (Yellow Borettana)
Potato (going to try to use a sprouting 'Vivaldi' I got from the farmer's market. these are seriously the most delicious potatoes I have ever tasted & the only places for seed seem to be the UK)
Potato (Purple Sweet)
Kohlrabi
Turnips
Carrots

Annual Herbs & Flowers
Borage
Purple Opal Basil
Thai Basil
Sweet Basil
Opal Basil
Cilantro
Nasturtiums
Marigolds
Pansy
Viola

Perennials from seed
Rosa chinensis 'Angel Wings' (This is just an experiment. It's supposed to be a very dwarf rose shrub.)
Achillea
Agastache rupestris/Sunset Hyssop
Aquilegia 'McKana Giants'/Columbine

2012: The Year of the Early Spring

noreply@blogger.com (katy) — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 23:54:00 +0000

Let's just pretend that I haven't been missing in action for 6 months. I know we've all had periods of insanity that allow push you into survival mode. While I can't promise that won't happen again, I can talk about my 2012 garden which I've already started.

That's right folks: Already started.

In fact, I've even direct sowed some lettuce and mache/corn salad outside. I figure, seed is cheap, and with this warm winter, I'm just wasting time and space if the garden isn't planted. I sowed that seed on Wednesday and there aren't any sprouts yet. It might be too cold still but it's worth a shot.

I've also started some kale and perennials indoors. Kale does OK in colder temps, so I'm going to put that out as soon as it's ready and I've got a bunch of ornamental planting to get done on a very small budget so starting perennials from seed will help that stretch a little.

Usually I've already agonized over my planting plan, figured out how many of each veggie I need to grow, and artfully arrange them as to maximize form and function. This year, I'm going to fly by the seat of my pants. Mrs. OCD is going to go with the flow. It's going to be insanity itself. The truth is I rarely follow my planting plan anyways. I always find another packet of seeds that I simply must use which throws everything off. This year, I'm going to embrace my natural tendencies and see where it takes me.

If you're seed starting for the first time & are a bit nervous, feel free to visit my previous posts on the subject. And, if you need a planting/seed starting guide for your edibles, I'm a big fan of the one created by the blogger at Skippy's Vegetable Garden. Just plug in your last frost dates; I use 4/15 for spring crops & 5/15 for summer ones usually.

Vermin 1, Me 0

noreply@blogger.com (katy) — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 12:16:00 +0000

I've been really sad about the garden. We're still getting masses of cukes and have had several tomatoes.

However, a bunny has found it's way into the garden & eaten my radicchio and some of the bean plants. This actually happened over a week ago & I'm just now able to talk about it without feeling simultaneously furious and sad. (Pathetic? Probably.) I've surrounded the lettuces with a barrier of marigolds & plan to replace the mesh upper with wood that can't be chewed through.

It's so sad when you lose living things that you've nurtured over months & months, ya know?

What a Rotten Day, So I Made Jam & Booze

noreply@blogger.com (katy) — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 12:11:00 +0000

Know what's not fun? Getting your purse stolen at your neighborhood grocery store while you're strapping your baby into their car seat. It's just unnerving when something like that takes a place you felt safe, ya know? I'm trying to think of this thief as someone that really needs the money and not someone targeting a mother distracted by her child which would just be heartless.

This trip to the grocery was to buy almond extract for Blue Chair Jam's Brandied Cherry Conserve. After all the required calls to credit card companies, filing a police report, and reporting my license stolen, I found comfort in the familiar and repetitive movements of making jam. (And, the Blanquette I had bought to celebrate overcoming an obstacle certainly helped as well, although this instead became a night of celebrating my blessings.)

Do you have the Blue Chair Jam Cookbook? If you've mastered basic jam making, I highly recommend it. The jams are a bit more time consuming and the ingredients are a bit more expensive but the result is a very interesting combination of flavors that turns the most ordinary morning toast a special treat.

My variation of her Brandied Red Cherry Conserve is meant to slap you in the face with cherry flavor. And, it certainly does! Besides being awesome on toast, try swirling this into your morning yogurt, top a bowl of vanilla ice cream or top a pound cake (especially a chocolate one!).

Brandied Cherry Conserve (makes about 6 half pints)
My variation of a Blue Chair Jam recipe

3 lb pitted and stemmed sweet cherries
1 1/4 lb sugar (make sure it's cane sugar...the cheap stuff is usually GMO beet sugar)
3 1/2 oz lemon juice
zest of 2 lemons
2 oz dried currants
1/2 lb dried tart cherries, chopped
2 1/2 oz cherry brandy
3-4 drops of almond extract
3 cloves

Directions
1. Prepare your canner & jars (wash & sterilize them in 10 minutes of boiling water). Keep them in simmering water to stay warm.

2. Combine half the cherries with 10 oz of the sugar & half the lemon juice in a non-reactive pan. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring often, and cook until the cherries are softened (about 5 minutes). Turn off heat & let the cherries rest for 5 minutes. Using blender/food processor/food mill/immersion blender, puree the mixture & put through a fine mesh sieve, discarding (or eating!) any solids that won't pass through.

3. In a large bowl, mix your cherry puree, the rest of the cherries, the rest of the sugar, the rest of the lemon juice, the dried fruit, lemon zest, brandy and almond extract (so, everything remaining except the cloves). Let sit for 45 minutes at room temperature.

4. Put the macerated mixture back into your non-reactive pot & add cloves (preferable in a tea ball that you can easily get them out). Boil mixture, stirring to prevent sticking. Cook until jam reaches gel point (testing either checking temperature to see if it's 220*F or using frozen spoons/plate). This will be about 20 minutes. When jam has gelled, remove cloves.

5. Fill jars leaving 1/4" head space, wipe rims, screw on lids & process in boiling water bath for 10 minutes. Let sit in bath for 5 minutes, off heat, afterwards & then remove. Check seal after jars have cooled.

Boozy Cherries/Cherry-Infused Brandy (makes 1 quart)
After making above jam, I still had oodles of cherries left over, thanks to Whole Foods' wonderful $2.99/lb organic cherries sale! After the day I had, more booze was necessary. Cherry-infused brandy it is! This will be great to drink as a cordial, spoon over ice cream, use in baking, give as gifts, etc. Plus, it's significantly easier than making jam.

1 lb stemmed cherries (you can pit too, but then you'd need more)
1 3/4c brandy (get mid-grade)
1/4 c sugar
1 thin strip of lemon peel (optional)
Amaretto (optional)

1. Clean & sterilize jar. Wash cherries.

2. Put cherries in jar. Pour over sugar & brandy. If using, add lemon peel and a splash of amaretto (note: Amaretto doesn't, according to my research, have enough alcohol to preserve the cherries, so just use a splash & do not replace the brandy with it). Make sure cherries are completely covered; if not, add more brandy.

3. Place lid & shake to dissolve sugar.

4. Set in a cool dark place for at least 3 months to mature.

Under $2/lb!

noreply@blogger.com (katy) — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 18:54:00 +0000

After harvesting 4.75 oz of beans, 15 oz of lettuce and 2 lbs of cucumbers I'm at 41.66 lb harvested for the year and $1.97 cost/lb!

Those beans are sitting in the fridge waiting for inspiration, the lettuce is for lunch & dinner side dishes and the cucumbers are destined for pickles.

Recipe: Dill Bean Pickle

noreply@blogger.com (katy) — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 18:51:00 +0000

I'm a lover of all things vinegary and salty. If it's a bit garlicky and a tad spicy, all the better! Thus, I've been really wanting to try pickled green beans for awhile now. When I was faced with a pound of unneeded green beans from the garden, pickles it was!

For me, these are the perfect pickle, but you can add/subtract any dried spice (remember, though, it will get stronger as it sits) or leave out the garlic. Just make sure to keep the water/vinegar/salt ratio the same (this recipe is tried & true from the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving). You can also just store these in the fridge instead of doing a boiling water bath if you're going to eat these relatively quickly.

Dilled Bean Pickle (makes 6 pints)
3 tbsp pickling or canning salt (*not* kosher or table salt)
3 c distilled white vinegar
3 c water
4.5 lb of green and/or yellow wax beans trimmed & cut into jar-length pieces
18 whole black peppercorns
6 cloves of garlic
dill seed
crushed red pepper flakes

Directions:
1. Prepare jars & lids.
2. In non-reactive pot combine salt, vinegar & water. Bring to a boil over medium, stirring to dissolve salt.
3. Add green/yellow beans. Return to a boil & then immediately remove from heat.
4. In each jar put 1 clove of garlic, 3 peppercorns, a scant 1/2 tsp of dill seed and 1/4-1/2 tsp of crushed red pepper flakes. Pack in beans, leaving 1/2 in headspace at the top. Pour in liquid (keeping the headspace).
5. Wipe rim, place lid and ring and process in boiling water bath for 10 minutes. They are best if they are let to sit for at least a week (ideally more) to absorb the flavors.

Lots of Basil (and More Beans!)

noreply@blogger.com (katy) — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 22:53:00 +0000

I really need to get better at using the garden produce. It always comes as a surprise to me when something needs to be used & it really shouldn't be. I vow from this point forward to take stock in what will likely be ready to harvest *before* I go grocery shopping and meal plan accordingly!

The big disappointment is my onions. I think it's a little too shady for them & I planted them too close. They haven't really bulbed much and the leaves are dying back. The same story with my garlic! Alliums, what's with the hate?!?

Luckily, I have basil, beans & cucumbers to cheer me up! My cukes are taking over despite having a 6' tall trellis. There are probably a dozen or more baby cukes just on the tee-pee trellis. Pickles here I come! The beans are also doing well. I can't believe how much they produce. Of course, the lettuce & Swiss chard makes it hard to find them which means they are often a little too mature (but still edible). Oh, well.

The real hero, though, is basil. Good gracious, the basil! It was like 2' tall and definitely time to do a hard harvest (taking 2/3 of the plant). It ended up being over 10oz! I'm freezing most of it for winter use as there's no way we could eat that much basil in a few days (I need a break from pesto).

Totals for the past week are:

Basil 10.75oz
Cukes 4oz (not all pictured)
Beans 7.25 oz (not all pictured)
Onions 7.5 oz (not pictured)
Lettuce 2 lbs (!!! and there's still more...not pictured)
Kohlrabi 3 lb (this is all of it. not pictured)

Grand total for the year: 37.55

Not too shabby!

Garden & Harvest Update

noreply@blogger.com (katy) — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 11:55:00 +0000

The garden is looking awesome right now. The cukes and pole beans are filling up their trellises, the lettuce hasn't bolted yet and the tomatoes seem to be growing a foot a week. Oh, and the zucchinis! The zucchinis! I think at least 1 plant is going to need to go. I planted a bunch b/c I didn't label & I was concerned one could have been a winter squash. I'm just one person...that can't eat the output of 5 zucchini plants.

Also exciting? I realized that some green beans need harvesting. So I picked. And picked. And pickled. Over a pound! There were also 2 cucumbers (weighing over 5 oz total). This brings my harvest this year to over 30 lbs.

Strawberries and Roses

noreply@blogger.com (katy) — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 23:26:00 +0000

I came across a recipe for strawberry and rose geranium flowers in the Blue Chair Jam Cookbook, it inspired me. I have a rose-scented geranium (note that I'm talking about the bedding plants...these are different) but it's not yet big enough to produce enough flowers. Instead, I shoved a few leaves in some sugar to infuse. The result? Delicious, mildly rose-scented sugar.

After a hot day of strawberry picking, I threw a handful of fresh berries, a teaspoon of the rose-sugar, a tiny bit of water and a few ice cubes all together in a blender. The result is a refreshing way to use a lot of berries! Adding a splash of rose water (available in the middle eastern aisle of most grocery stores) just intensified the rose flavor.

All fortified now, I went on to make 2 batches of strawberry-balsamic jam!

Climbing out

noreply@blogger.com (katy) — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 17:51:00 +0000

I know this has been a trend this season, but it's true: I've been unbelievably occupied. I've been, essentially, working 3 jobs: one at a plant nursery, one as a stay-at-home mom and one freelance job. Plus, I'm taking classes. Don't get me wrong, I love all these things, but it barely leaves me enough time to keep up with the garden, let alone post about it. If you haven't deleted me from your Google Reader yet, you're a saint.

So, here I am, climbing out.

I'm happy to report that garden harvests have been epic in my blogging absence. EPIC. I've harvested 5.7 lbs (!!!) of lettuce and 9.4 lbs (!!!!!!!!!) of kohlrabi. Can you believe it? Those this harvest alone is about half the total harvest of last year. Yay for spring gardening!

Thus far, I've harvested 29 lbs and my cost per pound is $2.82! I'm already under my goal of $3/lb! SQUEEEEE!!!! Plus, one bin of my compost is "finished" so I won't have to buy any of that for the rest of the year.

I apologize for the excessive use of exclamation marks in this posts, but it's taken me basically 3 years to get to the point where the garden is really paying for itself...even the fixed costs.

I promise to do a proper garden update (the plants are so big already) and post ideas about what to do with 16 lbs of this:

Recipe: Mulberry Jam

noreply@blogger.com (katy) — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 17:39:00 +0000

One of the great things about being married to my husband is benefiting from his youth climbing up trees. When most people walk by sidewalks dotted with purple crushed berries, they think "What a mess!" Instead, my husband swings open the door and announces "It's mulberry season!" At my job I noticed a tree loaded with berries and watch the horror on the faces of my coworkers as I walked over and put a few in my mouth. These trees are definitely thought of as a nuisance and not a food source for humans. Silly humans.

I am a mulberry novice. I wasn't entirely sure what a mulberry tree looks like (when they aren't fruiting), which is why I count myself fortunate that my husband does.* These are quite delicious berries; I can see why the birds adore them too. They are intensely sweet and have an almost watermelon-y taste. And, now that I know what to look for, I feel like I'm seeing these trees everywhere. I'd be a fool, though, to tell you my favorite mulberry foraging spots...I get enough competition from birds!

*Please verify the ID of any berry before sampling.

Mulberry Jam (makes 6 half-pints)
(From Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving)

3c crushed & stemmed mulberries
1/2c lemon juice
1 package of powdered pectin
6 c granulated sugar

Directions
1. Prepare canner, jars & lids.
2. Combine mulberries & lemon juice. Whisk in pectin.
3. Boil over high heat. Add sugar & return to boil.
4. Boil hard for 1 minute. Remove from heat; skim off foam.
5. Fill jars/wipe off rim/tighten lid; process in boiling water bath for 10 minutes

Mulberry hands.

May Local Eating Challenge: Recap

noreply@blogger.com (katy) — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 12:45:00 +0000

The Last Few Days
The last bit of my Local Eating Challenge left me with these thoughts: "Just a few more days to go! I'm craving tomatoes so badly. And watermelon."

I didn't buy much at the farmer's market because I went to the McLean one which is smaller and I went without a very coherent plan for the week. I just needed to make it to Wednesday. I spent $46 at the grocery store and $35 at the farmer's market (asparagus, 2 bunches of onions, a few cucumbers, ground lamb, 4 zucchini, 1 bunch radishes). We also went strawberry picking so we're all set on fruit.

Plan for the rest of the challenge:

Saturday: Leftovers

Sunday, Tuesday: Burgers with grilled vegetables (lamb or beef, lettuce from the garden, asparagus, zucchini)

Monday: Neighborhood BBQ

Wednesday, Thursday, Friday: Black bean tacos (lettuce, onion, radishes)

My lunch: Quinoa & black bean salad (onions, radishes, cucumbers, parsley from the garden)

Husband's lunch: Pasta carbonara (leftover bacon from last week...don't worry...it was put in the freezer)

Recap
Where the last Local Eating Challenge left me feeling encouraged & uplifted, this one left me exhausted and frustrated. Part of it certainly was the less interesting, IMO, produce for much of the challenge. Greens of all sorts are indeed delicious, but one can only endure so many stir-fries, pestos, salads, braises and soups. Add to the fact that greens take a lot of time to clean and prep as well as are relatively expensive (several bunches cook down to nothing) and aren't terribly filling left me constantly annoyed that I couldn't buy things already washed & prepared. Another part of the picture, of course, is that I'm working 3 jobs and have less free time to search for recipes and cook.

I'll certainly stick with the next challenge month (August), but if I wasn't blogging about this experience, I would have bailed after the first week.

Why Bother?

noreply@blogger.com (katy) — Wed, 25 May 2011 19:35:00 +0000

I was on a gardening forum recently when a women posted that she wanted to grow an organic garden in raised beds built out of cedar. Her husband balked at the cost of cedar and shorter-lifespan of untreated pine. He wanted to use treated lumber. When I said I didn't understand using treated lumber in an organic garden, another poster didn't understand why anyone would pay 8x the price for a garden...why bother gardening at that point.

For decades pressure treated lumber was...well, treated...with chromated copper arsenate as a preservative. Everyone thought this was the answer to all our problems...until research came out that arsenic leached into the soil. Now, some studies said that there wasn't horizontal leaching (meaning, only the contact area near the wood was contaminated...not 20 feet away), others said there was more of an issue. As far as I can tell, both sides agree that the soil is containmented for a very, very long time. There was also some debate over how much arsenic the veggies absorbed and whether or not repeated ingestion of higher (but still small) levels of arsenic was hazardous to human health or not. Regardless, the EPA banned it's consumer use several years ago.

The new pressure-treated-kid-on-the-block is ACQ: Alkaline copper quat. There is no arsenic in this, just more copper, which does leach. I've been to several ACQ lumber-manufacturer websites and they all say in the "safety" information

Do not use pressure-treated wood in circumstances where the preservative may become a component of food, animal feed, or beehives.

I'm having a hard time finding the USDA's official ruling on whether pressure treated lumber can be used in organic farms (maybe for hog pens, for example). I have found that Ohio Ecological Food & Farm Association, a National Organic Program (NOP) certifier, does not allow pressure treated wood on new construction on organic farms. Because NOP certifiers are the ones that inspect USDA organic farms, I'm suspecting it isn't allowed.

Personally, I don't see the point in building a new raised bed with pressure treated lumber. I can see the argument of just using a barrier if you inherited a pressure treated bed on your property. However, the basic premise of organic gardening is to nourish your soil. Having copper (a fungicide & insecticide) needlessly leach into your soil, in my opinion, isn't nourishing...it's potentially killing beneficials. I don't really care if it's just on point of contact or not. Leaching is leaching and it's the principle of the thing.

I'm not some elitist, though, that says you need to spend thousands on building raised beds instead of a few hundred. Untreated pine is CHEAP and lasts about as long as the average homeowner plans to stay in their house. Freecycle and Craigslist abound with cheap and free options for raised beds like cinder blocks, broken pieces of cement and scraps of cedar/redwood. Then there's also the option of using hay bales.

So, why do I bother gardening with my pricey composite lumber boards? Because *not* gardening isn't an option. Over the past few years, my garden has given me so many precious moments and delicious meals. I remember when my first seeds sprouted-- it gave me the inkling of how a proud mama feels. I remember our precious few strawberries which were the tastiest I've ever had (the chipmunks agreed). Chocolate-dipped ground cherries remind me of being hugely pregnant, with empty cupboards, and needing something chocolate-y *right now*.

I also garden to know where my food comes from...and to teach my child that baby carrots have tampered ends like "big" carrots and are not shaped like chubby thumbs. Nothing tastes better than a home-grown tomato too!

And, finally, I garden to create a better environment around my house and my neighborhood. I suppose this includes my ornamental garden as well. Walking around my block it becomes clear that my neighbors don't have nearly as much wildlife in their yards. I see gold finches (and crazy looking birds I don't know their name!) in addition to the robins and crows and sparrows, a praying mantis climbed up my leg last summer and ladybugs are far more common now than when we first moved in.

These things make gardening worth more than the cost of my raised beds for me. Your mileage may vary.

May Local Eating Challenge: Week 4

noreply@blogger.com (katy) — Sun, 22 May 2011 23:16:00 +0000

We're nearing the home stretch! To be honest, the lack (and expensive) of onions and garlic has been what is killing me. I was so thrilled to see both garlic scapes *and* garlic at the farmer's market that I bought both in some sort of garlic-induced frenzy. Then, of course, I forgot to buy onions (mine are still quite small). I also long for some of my pantry meals that mostly rely on frozen vegetables, so there's none of this washing, chopping, and cleaning a cutting board business. It's been a very busy month for me and being able to pull something out of the pantry or freeze would be so welcomed right now. Just another week!

Review of last week:
Well, I didn't burn my lunch, so that was a plus. I'm really getting sick of washing greens though. All that damn pollen from maples and oaks and other trees gets lodged and stuck to the leaves. So time consuming!

Week 4:
As I've already mentioned, garlic had arrived! I'm so excited. I feel kinda exhausted from all the meal planning lately, though. I just want to go on autopilot a bit and buy some frozen corn and canned tomatoes for chili which we can eat off of for days & days & days. But I will resist.

I spent $45 at the grocery store & $50 at the farmer's market. Note, however, that $10 of the grocery store trip was in arborio rice because the bulk bin lever let the rice flow faster than usual.

Here's what I did get at the market: bacon, tongue, pork shoulder, lots of apples, garlic scapes (!), garlic (!!!), 2 bunches of asparagus, tunips, & 2 broccoli crowns.

Meal plan:

My lunch: Kohlrabi pasta (kohlrabi from the garden, garlic scapes)

My husband's lunch: Tongue braised with turnips (tongue, turnips, garlic and some stock made from the carcass of the chicken I bought a few weeks ago).

Saturday: We ate leftovers

Sunday, Monday, Tuesday: BBQ Pork with Kohlrabi & Apple slaw (pork shoulder, kohlrabi from the garden, apples. Also served with baked beans)

Wednesday, Thursday: Vegetable Risotto (asparagus, broccoli, bacon and e more stock from the farmer's market chicken)

Friday: either leftovers or hummus flatbread sandwiches (with salad from the garden)

Garden Planted!

noreply@blogger.com (katy) — Fri, 20 May 2011 19:13:00 +0000

Well, mostly planted. As of Mother's Day weekend. Which was awhile ago.

Thing are lookin' fierce right now. The kohlrabi really needs to be harvested and the beans are no longer laying on the ground. Also, the potatoes I planted wrong (apparently no piece should be under like an ounce or two. I cut them in much smaller pieces. Oops) are looking like they should. I direct sowed some winter squash (delicata) and slugs have taken down teh seedlings so I need to replant that. And finish harvesting the Deer Tongue Lettuce that spilled in the tomato/nightshade bed so that I can finish planting peppers and eggplant.

Ground cherries, tomatoes & mushrooms from all this rain!

Onions, kohlrabi & potatoes are dwarfing my carrot seedlings.

Squash & cukes...still babies.

How's your garden growing?

May Local Eating Challenge: Week 3

noreply@blogger.com (katy) — Mon, 16 May 2011 00:15:00 +0000

Review of last week:
I totally burned my dal. Like, so bad we had to throw the pan out because there was just no way to recover it. Given no farmer's markets on Monday (at least near me) and my overall lack of time, take out it was. I ordered a week's worth of steamed chicken & vegetables from the Chinese restaurant down the street. I'm kind of angry that I wasted some home-grown kohlrabi and even angrier that I ruined a pan. So, my lunch wasn't very "local" unless you count supporting a local business. :) Otherwise, we basically followed the plan.

Week 3:
Egads, this week has been Insane. The capital "I" is intentional. Between work and final projects and having houseguests, I have no idea how much I've spent at the grocery store or farmer's market. All I know is that I bought a bunch of food, usually forgetting what I actually needed.

But, overall, I'm more excited about what I'm seeing at the farmer's markets. Strawberries! Baby zucchinis! Yum.

So, I don't have any pictures of the haul this week (forgive me!) but I can remember almost everything I bought: 5 onions, 1 bunch of scallions, 1 basket of baby zucchinis, 1 quart of strawberries, 2 bunches of asparagus, whole chicken, ground beef, pork roast, apples, 3 bok choi heads, lots of broccoli crowns, and 1 bunch of tiny carrots.

Meal plan for the week:

My lunch: Lentil Salad with Tomatoes and Goat Cheese (minus cukes) (local tomatoes from grocery, herbs from garden)

Husband's lunch: Ricotta Pasta with Sauteed Greens, Mushrooms and Bacon (local mushrooms from grocery stores, greens from the garden, bacon from farmer's market)

Saturday: Date night out!

Sunday: Moosewood's Chili Burgers, roasted vegetables & oven fries (baby zukes, asparagus, carrots, onion and --leftover from last week-- potatoes from the farmer's market, lettuce from the garden)

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday: Chicken Mole Enchiladas with salad (chicken from farmer's market, lettuce from garden)

Thursday, Friday: Cashew Stir-Fry with Rice (bok choi, scallions, broccoli from the farmer's market)

Recipe: Lamb Pitas with Radish Raita

noreply@blogger.com (katy) — Sun, 15 May 2011 23:51:00 +0000

This is what my husband said after eating 2 bites of this meal: "Ya know, sometimes with this local eating thing I feel like we're just making do with what's available, but this is fantastic! I'd eat it even if we could eat tomatoes from Chile."

Gee, thanks? I guess?

To be honest, I have been uninspired at the farmer's market. We're both getting really bored of greens and there's not much variety beyond those and the occasional brassica or root vegetable that look awesome. But this week I decided to embrace the challenge with all the vigor I did back in October. We had ground farmer's market lamb in the freezer to use as inspiration. And, after making some quite delightful radish tea sandwiches for a Royal Wedding Viewing Party, I wanted to do something with them too. Enter spiced lamb meatballs tucked inside a warm pita with home-grown lettuce and a radish raita. I served this alongside a modified tabbouleh (the usual bulgur, but made with parsley, onion, olive oil, red wine vinegar instead of lemon juice, oregano instead of mint and leaving out the tomato/cucumber.)

Spiced Lamb Meatballs (Serves 4)
(Adapted from Nigella Lawson, goddess of all things yum)

1 lb ground lamb
1/4 c finely scallions
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp salt
1/8 c parsley
Crusts from 3 slices of bread (tea sandwich leftovers!)
1 egg
Vegetable oil, for frying

Directions:
1. Pulse the scallions, spices and bread crusts in food processor until a paste forms. Add this paste and egg to the lamb and gently mix until just combined.
2. Form meatballs (I made about 20 balls). Place in fridge for at least 1 hr to firm up.
3. Heat oil in skillet and cook eat ball for about 1 minute per side or until done & golden all around. Place on plate lined with paper towel to drain.

Radish Raita
(Adapted from epicurious.com)

1/2 c plain yogurt
1/4 c diced radish
1 tsp diced scallion (white part)
1 tsp fresh lime juice (I cheated and used fresh lemon because we had one that was going to go bad).

Directions:
Mix everything together & chill.

Recipe: Kale Colcannon

noreply@blogger.com (katy) — Sat, 14 May 2011 00:26:00 +0000

Ah, the quest for new ways to make greens! For some reason the Cooking Channel is showing vintage episodes of Tyler's Ultimate. You know, back when the premise of the show was him travelling to see how different "experts" used an ingredient or made a dish. One episode stuck in my mind: Potatoes. A woman in Ireland was sharing her recipe for colcannon, a potato dish made with boiled cabbage & ham. But I don't have cabbage and the farmer's market doesn't have cured ham.

So, I improvised and the recipe below is still 100% delicious if not a bit blasphemous. I did, however, leave the potatoes unpeeled as I boiled them, which the Irish woman recommends. Probably something more suited for fall (this is seriously comfort in a bowl), but even my little baby licked his bowl clean.

Kale Colcannon (Serves 2)

3 medium-large potatoes (at least the size of your fist)
1 lb kale, de-stemmed and chopped
4 slices of best-quality bacon, diced
4 scallions, finely chopped
1 tbsp butter
Milk

Directions:
1. Place potatoes whole in a pot and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil and cook for 30 minutes or until done. In the last 15 or so minutes, add the chopped kale & a good pinch of salt to the boiling water & cook until tender. Drain.
2. In now-empty pot, render fat from bacon & cook until crispy. Take off heat.
3. Add potatoes (peeled if you like) & kale to bacon. Mash with potato masher. Add butter and enough milk to reach desired consistency. Stir in scallions, adjust seasoning. Eat.

May Local Eating Challenge: Week 2

noreply@blogger.com (katy) — Sat, 07 May 2011 22:55:00 +0000

I actually did most of my farmer's market shopping on Thursday and then I forgot to take a photo of everything. So, you get a view of my dinner + some of the other stuff I bought.

Review of last week:
We followed our meal plan pretty well and had one apple and some scallions leftover! However, no one at the market had garlic and garlic scapes aren't up yet. This is a Big Deal in my family as almost every dish begins with a clove or two of it. Also a Big Deal is $20 for a whole chicken. Ouch. I love making soup with greens and chorizo, but sinking $20 to make stock for it (yes, I realize I'd have meat for something else) is daunting.

Week 2
I spent $38 at the grocery store this week (mainly yogurt for the kiddo, lentils, lots of grains, local mushrooms, milk, pita, tortilla and cheese). I spent $35 at the farmer's market (3 broccoli crowns, 4 medium-sized bok choi heads, 5 lb bag of potatoes, 4 sweet potatoes, 5 apples, 2 onions, 1 qt. strawberries, 1 bunch radish and 1 bunch parsley). Grand total for the week is $73, which is under the $100/wk we budget. However, my pantry is pretty well stocked currently and we still have meat from our last big farmer's market meat purchase (we'd go once every other month in the winter & stock up).

Meal plan for the week:

Weekend lunch: Wheatberry Salad with mustard greens (kinda like this recipe, but with greens instead of root vegetables. Mustard greens from the garden & onion)

My lunch: Dal with Kohlrabi (kohlrabi from the garden, onion)

Husband's lunch: Moosewood's sweet potato and black bean burritos (sweet potatoes, onions, cilantro from the garden)

Saturday, Sunday dinner: Vegetarian Stir-fry with rice (broccoli, bok choy, scallions from last week, mushrooms & cashews in a sauce of oyster sauce, soy sauce, green part of the scallions, brown sugar, and lots of dried hot peppers...from last year's garden!)

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday dinner: Lamb meat balls with salad on pita, hummus & tabbouleh (lamb is from our last big farmer's market meat purchase, onion, radishes, parsley & lettuce from the garden)

Thursday, Friday dinner: a kind of Colcannon except with kale (from the garden) instead of cabbage (bacon from last week and potatoes)

The Garden is on a Roll- Harvest Update

noreply@blogger.com (katy) — Fri, 06 May 2011 17:13:00 +0000

It's taken 3 growing seasons, but I think I'm really hitting my garden stride. What used to seem so difficult is now easy-peasy and...dare I say it...I'm having trouble keeping up with the harvests! (It does definitely help that this has been a glorious spring.)

Since my last harvest update post, I've picked the rest of the arugula (over 3 lbs), all of the kale (over 1.5 lbs), some more mustard greens (12 oz) and just 4 kohlrabi (2 lb 2 oz)! My total for the season is

::::::::::::::::::::::::::drumroll please:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

13.94 lbs!!!

If I didn't have a food scale, I'm not sure I'd believe it, but it's true! In the whole of last year I only harvested 26 lbs to put in perspective how monumental this is for me and my little patch of dirt. But, as I said before, as exciting as getting these big-for-me harvests are, the lingering question is: How can we possibly eat this many greens? I'm getting over greens & I haven't harvested *any* lettuce yet, btw. Yikes, right?

Worse case, we'll blanch & freeze. Or see if mustard greens pesto is any good (and freeze that).

Local Eating Challenge: The May Edition

noreply@blogger.com (katy) — Mon, 02 May 2011 01:13:00 +0000

It's that time again when my family only consumes local fruit, vegetables and meat. As you may recall back in October of last year, I had my first go at it and set up the rules of my game. Overall, I didn't feel like I was ultimately spending more money on food (and, in fact, I was eating more fruits/veggies, less junk). I kept up with the local eating or at least seasonal eating as much as possible until the winter really set in. Then I turned to frozen vegetables a lot. My life was getting busier as the baby got more active and my classes started getting more time consuming. Convience became key. I didn't revert to eating processed foods all the time, but I became less focused on where my fruits and vegetables came from. However, I am proud that we've continued to buy organic (albeit non-local) dairy and, aside from chicken, our meat has mostly been local too.

Back when I started this challenge, I was convinced that by the time May hit, we've have something other than greens to eat. And, I was right. There are greens, potatoes *and* onions at the farmer's market! Hahahahahaha. I suppose there are also tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers, but those must be greenhouse or cold frame grown, so not exactly "in season" as I personally define it. Damn me & my principles!! But, it's OK. Greens we shall eat. They are good for us, at least.

Here's what I bought at the market (total cost: $41.50):

3 apples & 2 asian pears (not shown), 2 bunches of spring onions, 1 bunch of young onions, broccoli, buffalo chorizo, bacon, 1 pint of new potatoes, a block of cheddar

And, I'll be using arugula, mustard & kohlrabi from my garden to supplement. I didn't really buy anything other than ricotta, yogurt for Sprouter, and pizza dough at the grocery store this week; our pantry is pretty stocked.

Here's the meal plan:

My lunch: Chorizo, greens & bean soup (I'll use most of the chorizo, onions and some garden greens)

My husband's lunch: Beef tongue braise with rice (He'll use some onions. We got the tongue from the market a few weeks ago)

Breakfast: Oatmeal with apples

Sunday, Monday, Tuesday: White & Greens Pizza (I'll use some of the cheddar with some store-bought ricotta and make different pizzas using 1 link of the chorizo, the broccoli and arugula.)

Wednesday, Thursday: Frittata (I'll use the new potatoes and some greens. We'll also have a salad)

Friday: Take out night! (aka, I'm tired of cooking)

Snacks: Asian pears, salad

Note: The baby just eats what we do at this point, so he'll be having what we're eating this week.

My New Pets

noreply@blogger.com (katy) — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 12:15:00 +0000

I'm not the crazy cat lady, I'm the crazy plant lady!

I've been wanting to try air plants, but the ones sold in the nurseries around here aren't terribly exciting. I found a store on Etsy that sold really cool specimens and jumped all over it. To say that I'm thrilled with the purchase is perhaps the understatement of the year. I'm IN LOVE.

These ladies don't need soil to grow...they get everything they need from their leaves. A bi-weekly dunk in water, apparently, is all they require.

Are air plants going to be the new hypertufa? They are certainly easier to "plant" and require less light.