Who are the Young Farmers of 'Generation Organic'?

Interesting story from NPR.

Kale in the Limelight

Nice story from npr, prompted by the Eat More Kale/Chic-fil-A thing.

Bittman, the Santa Barbara Syndrome

"This kind of approach — grow what you can close to where you live and eat what you can grow — is obviously nothing new. (Even in my lifetime, I can remember seeing asparagus only in late spring, Macintosh apples in the fall and Empire apples — long keepers — through the winter.) What’s new is the lack of farmland, because much has been lost to sprawl or commodity crops, and farmers who can make it happen, farmers working on a scale between sustenance and industrial."

the whole article

One NUGGET in his article was a link to this article about the Santa Barbara syndrome. In our country we export 99% of what is grown here. AND IMPORT 95% OF FRUIT & VEGGIES THAT ARE EATEN!!! Holy Cow! David Cleveland, UCSB professor and garden friend is quoted thusly: "Picture two produce-laden tractor-trailers passing on the highway, one bringing food into the county; the other hauling it out."

Here's the UCSB press release on the Cleveland study

Garden, Fall 2011

A new local community garden asked for some pictures of our garden, here are a few I took.

comfrey

a chilean chile

EAB plot

pineapple guava

citrus

fava bean

fuyu persimmon

plumeria

fly trap in walnut tree

Composting Workshop

Rob led a workshop that built 2 piles out of garden weeds, comfrey, the chayote plant & manure. Hopefully we'll be composting most everything from now on.

Fall 2011 Workday #1

We've had great turnout for workdays now that so many new people have joined. On this workday we worked on weeding around the greenhouse so that first impressions are improved. Unfortunately, we have alot of pics of people from behind, and only a few from the front...

Frank working on clearing out the ponds

Ann pulling weeds in the cactus garden

Baker Creek Seeds on NPR

good story, might have to get the book

Rain, 2011-2012 Water Year

1.04", October 5, Goleta Fire Station

SB rainfall stations link.

Organic Food jpeg

Eat More Kale

A house guest was rocking an eat more kale shirt, pretty cool. On a more serious note, I have some extra plants, and have a ton of nice kale seeds if anyone wants them...

Ingredients Movie

I heard about Ingredients a little while ago because the Wild Garden Seed guy is in it. It's a documentary about local foods, mostly in the Willamette Valley of Oregon, and a couple of farms in NY. It's a nice overview of some facets of organic food -- lots of interviews with farmers, farmer's markets, school gardens, organic wine, free range meat, CSAs. It streams for free on Netflix, so check it out!

E Coli in Germany

These stories piss me off. It seems like the initial blame is always placed on something organic. It's happened before with spinach, for instance. So when the story broke the initial culprit was said to be organic cucumbers from Spain. But no one in Spain got sick, it was only people in Hamburg or who had produce distributed from the Hamburg produce distribution hub. Hmmm, sounds like the problem is in Germany... and not with organics.

Brassica Shoots

It's getting a bit late in the spring for cool season veggies, but they are still doing ok. One thing I've really been enjoying are the shoots - the flower stalks - of the Ho-Mi Z mustard. They are sweet and crisp/tender, sometimes with a hot aftertaste - they are a mustard after all. The purple peacock broccoli is about done, and truth be told it did better in pots at home than it did in the garden, but the little side shoots that came in after the main head was harvested have been tasty. Note that I don't have a relationship with the farm I'm linking to, I just like their stuff, their philosophy, and the fact that they are from my hometown. Let me know if you'd like some seeds in the fall, I have some extra.

Ho-Mi Z

Purple Peacock Broc

Loquat Upside-down Tassajara Gingerbread Cake

EPIC. There are a ton of ripe loquats in the garden right now, so went looking for a recipe. This lady made a loquat upside down cake that looked amazing so I wanted to do that, but used the gingerbread cake from the Tassajara Bread Book instead of her cake, doubling the recipe to make a birthday-sized cake. The only thing I'd change is I only had 27 loquats on hand when I was baking it, it needed more, maybe double that. But otherwise it was great. Amazing with some freshly whipped Straus cream.

Loquat upside-down Tassajara gingerbread cake:
more than 27 ripe loquats, halved and pits removed
1 stick butter
6 oz sugar

~1 lb (4 1/2 C) sifted whole wheat flour
1 T baking powder
1 t sea salt
1 t soda
1 t ground cloves
2 t powdered mustard
2 t ginger
2 t cinnamon
1 c oil
2 c molasses
2 eggs
2 c hot water

350 oven. butter and sugar in a 13x9 pyrex pan throw it in the oven for 5-10 min till butter and sugar are happy. Lay loquats cut side down on the mixture.
Sift together flour, baking powder, salt.
Mix soda, and spices into oil. Put into a bowl, add beaten egg, then mix in molasses.
Add flour mixture and hot water to wet ingredients, alternating as you go. Beat well.
Pour over loquats.
350 45 min.

What to do with Rutabaga

On my cooking blog I have a couple of rutabaga recipes using rutabaga from my garden plot. I highly recommend this winter vegetable, let me know if you want some seeds to plant in the fall.

What to do with Fava beans

Another bit from my cooking blog, fava beans sauteed in butter, with homemade ricotta cheese.

May 15th Garden Workday

The first one with Seth and Sara as Garden Managers. The goal was to have a presence in the garden all day as there was an event nearby and we didn't want people from that messing with the garden. We were there from 8-2 with some people, and then more people came later. We made a poster of potential tasks to give some ideas for when we weren't there. Worked well, but I think the next one we'll target a narrower time range...

Free food

weeding the cracks

baby carrot, from one of the cracks

greenhouse nice and tiny
Lizzie
airing out Lizzie's bed

Pilgrim Terrace Community Garden

Pilgrim Terrace community garden is located on Modoc Rd, and they happen to have a wonderful gardening blog and also a newsletter. I'm not able to paste the monthly newsletters into a blogpost, so will forward them to active GHGP members. But do check out their blog, it's got everything one needs to know about gardening in our area.

Watch a GHGP plot evolve

Andrew & Teisha, GHGP gardeners since 2010, have chronicled the stages
of establishing their garden plot; from weeding to buying seeds and
starters, to dealing with gophers and other pests and enjoying the
fruits of their labor. It showcases the garden project as a whole,
and may inspire your garden design (and let you learn from their
mistakes).

Part I: Getting a Plot and Weeding http://www.paradoxdruid.com/archives/641
Part II: Planting and Drip Lines http://www.paradoxdruid.com/archives/650
Part III: Sprouts and Gophers http://www.paradoxdruid.com/archives/659
PartIV: Thinning and Protecting Crops http://www.paradoxdruid.com/archives/662
Part V: Ups and Downs, Zucchini and Blight
http://www.paradoxdruid.com/archives/678
Part VI: Corn and Fruit Trees http://www.paradoxdruid.com/archives/686
Part VII: Watermelons and Wire Fences http://www.paradoxdruid.com/archives/810

Garden Manager's note: we strongly encourage submissions to the blog, it would be great to get lots of communication going in our community garden!

You Bet Your Garden

Hello Gardeners,

We want to recommend a radio show/website called You Bet Your Garden http://www.whyy.org/91FM/ybyg/index.html. It is broadcast on KCLU 1340am Saturdays at 5am and 1pm, and the website has old shows and a collection of A-Z garden tips. He has great info, he's enthusiastic, and his Philly accent is entertaining.

Because it is based in Philadelphia, some of the info is more applicable to the East Coast, but recent topics have involved composting, re-using potting soil, and seed starting, which should be interesting to beginner and experienced gardeners alike.

cheers,

Sara and Seth

Seeds

In case some gardeners need a spring pick-me-up to decide what to plant....

Island Seed and Feed on Fairview just south of the 101 has a nice selection of seeds, plants, and organic soil ammendments, and garden members get a 10% discount (Matt who works there used to be a GHGP member in the 1980s).

These are companies that were recommended to me and I've quite enjoyed paging through their catalogs:

http://rareseeds.com/

http://www.johnnyseeds.com/

These guys are in the town where I was born.

https://www.wildgardenseed.com/