Summer is demanding- feed it!

    Is it only me or do your taste buds change right along with the seasons?  About this same time every year,  I find myself blankly staring into our refrigerator.  I'm not the least bit interested in our "favorite go-to" meals.  I have no desire to cook our normal dinners: none-zero-null!

  

   Come autumn, I'm pretty sure I will once again have a burning desire for comfort foods, bright orange- squashes, sweet potatoes and pumpkins.  A rich, steamy bowl of soup will sound heavenly.  But in the heart of nature's abundance, my taste buds are loudly begging for vibrant, crunchy, juicy, light, cool and bright foods.  It is as if my natural instincts pitch a fit. 

   And so, if we are going to eat, I have to listen.  Seasonal food inspires me. It must, because when I create dishes in flow with the natural order of food, I am happy.  When I try to cook autumn foods or winter foods in the middle of July- bad things happen!

   Below is a recipe, we ate growing up. Before dinner we would head to the garden pick: baby tender white corn; juicy, beefy, rich tomatoes; dig up crunchy sweet onions.  Together this trio created a perfectly coherent symphony of summer!

   Wishing you inspired meals from the delights of summer!!

          Denise

Symphony of summer salad

Ingredients: 
Corn:  Pick freshly picked and baby- husk
    (I prefer white corn to yellow but both with work- tender is key)
Tomato:  Cut up a juicy, ripe and fragrant tomato
Onion:  Dice or small chop a fresh sweet onion 
     (You can also dice a green onion- either is amazing)
Butter
Salt and pepper

Directions:  
   Boil ears of corn water for about 5 minutes- keep your kernels crunchy!!
   Cut kernels off ear- put into bowl
   Add a dab of butter
   Add chopped tomatoes and onions
   Season with salt and pepper to taste
           I don't use pepper but that is just me

Enjoy!!!!!  So insanely simple - so delicious!!

Symphony of the Soil

   A little known fact about me is:  I love a good documentary.  For me, the key to a great documentary is starting with a a movie of quality, with an interesting topic, an inspiring message and a movie that leaves me pondering days after watching.

                     Plus, a great documentary movie provides the perfect reason to have gathering.

   I call it a A Documentary Party

My latest documentary movie favorite is:

A Symphony of the Soil.   

   Of course, I understand not everyone gets into documentaries, dirt, composting and learning as much as I do, but this documentary is worth the risk.  If you love to garden, have a worm bin, compost pile or even just love science, this is the movie for you.  If you have friends with similar interests, share this wonder.  We closet scientists usually flock together!!

    To host a documentary party all you need is an invitation, TV, popcorn and maybe some tea and there you have it:  a documentary party has been created.  Not only are Documentary parties super easy, they are also good mixers.  It doesn't matter if you know a soul before the movie, after the movie, everyone has an instant and common connection.

   I borrowed A Symphony of the Soil from the King Country Library but I could own this one and watch it over an over again.  This documentary was inspiring, beautiful, educational and entertaining.  I give it 4.5 stars out of a possible 5 stars.  A perfect movie to get you into the party and gardening season! Hope you enjoy- let me know if you watch it and what you think!

Click here to go to the Symphony of the Soil Home Page

 
Wishing you a happy, healthy and prosperous spring!!
      Denise

1 year under my Lasagna belt

Last year at this same time, I was watching the little plants in my newly built lasagna beds grow. If you remember I created my first beds using the guidance from Patricia Lanza's book, Lasagna Gardening.

Even though the garden was hugely successful: I had very few weeds, the soil held moisture incredibly well and my root veggies were so perfect. I still wondered about Lasagna gardening. Maybe, I thought, it was just too good to be true.

If you didn't follow last years experiment, Here is the readers digest version. Lasagna gardening is a way to garden without tilling, spading or removing sod and weeds. It is a way to use up household compostables like shredded paper, chopped leaves, cut grass and anything else you can find- like weeds before they go to seed. You layer these compostables one after another- like a lasagna and then you plant into the bed.

Fast forwarding to now: This spring I had to pull up my 1st lasagna bed to put in our new sewer system- this is a whole other story. Here is what I found! I found the most beautiful, rich, dark composted soil I have ever seen. Even with my compost bins I have never created that much compost. Success!!!! I am now a true believer!

Happy digging!!
Denise

Good intentions and a little bit of garlic

While contemplating my zillion miles of training for the 60 mile walk, I created a most yummy lunch. Here is my recipe.

7 second garlic and fresh kale

Kale

Edamame

Garlic

Walnuts

Raisins

Olive oil

salt

The ingredient amounts depend on how many are eating. I cooked enough for one, but should have made enough for 3.

Cut up some fresh, out of the garden, kale. Put it in a medium hot pan with a bit of water to steam. Add frozen or fresh edamame and a dash of salt, cook until tender.

While the kale and edamame are on one steaming, start another little pan and add a glop of olive oil. Put 2 cloves of garlic in the microwave for 7 seconds. Take out smash, peel and mince. (the 7 second cooking of garlic is a tip my mom gave me in AZ this summer. Takes the bite out of garlic- tip of the year) Toss in the pan with olive oil the: garlic, raisins and walnuts. Add a dash of salt. Saute until tender. Add the garlic, walnuts and raisins to the kale and edamame and serve.

A girl can not walk only on good intentions, sometimes you need good fuel and a little garlic.

Hope you enjoy.

Denise

Thanks for your support

Lasagna bed experiments get an A+

This morning's newspaper had an article from Mike Stanly the project manager at our cities community garden. It is good to talk to or at least hear from other gardeners. A couple topics caught my attention. First, was the effect the cool and damp spring has had on our local gardens. Lots and lots of slugs are not just part of my garden but more of a wet spring thing. Slow to grow pepper and tomatoes are normal and his first experiment with lasagna gardens is so far a great success.

What does this mean to my own garden? Well since you asked, my tomatoes are growing great, with big stems, healthy foliage and new baby tomatoes. They do not look yellow or spindly but robust. I attribute their vigor to planting my tomatoes in my lasagna gardens. I can't remember if I told you but I built two more beds this spring. In one day, I built the beds and planted my tomatoes. Apparently, if you are highly motivated and creative, building these beds is a snap!

Anyway, I was excited to hear it was more likely the cool and damp spring and not my lasagna beds that brought in the slugs in such abundance. However, my lasagna beds have given me huge and beautiful purple potato plants, great big red beets and yummy onions.

Last night for dinner we pulled our first beets. Not only were they the most beautiful beets I have ever grown, the lasagna soil was incredible rich, dark, moist and so tender. It's hard to believe just a few months ago it was a bunch of shredded paper, chopped leaves, grass clippings, chopped straw, peat moss compost, kitchen scraps, etc...

With the hot weather finally here, I'm curious to see what the beds do with a little heat to match up with their incredible soil. Thanks also to a fellow gardener and lasagna bed experimenter for a few words of confirmation in the local gardening climate.

The lasagna bed shown above is my first built. The potatoes are on the far end. My tomatoes are in two other beds in my back yard. By the way, did I mention this bed is built on a bed of rocks. There is only about 1/2 -1 inch of top soil the rest if a solid layer of rocks. Not a bad garden if I do say so myself. If I had to rate the fun and success of lasagna gardening so far it would get an A+. As an added bonus I have only had to pull about 5 weeds out of this bed all year. My normal beds have tons more weeds!!

Happy gardening,

Denise

Lettuce fresh out of my garden has more protein

Does my red leaf lettuce have more protein than store bought lettuce? There is a high probability that it does.

Yesterday, I cut fresh lettuce for our dinner. I've learned to put the lettuce in a bowl of water, let it sit, while the sand and soil sink to the bottom. You can imagine my surprise when I looked into the bowl to find two slugs climbing out. Kind of cute really, they were all stretched out with their little horns finding a way out of the water. I should have taken a picture. If I have lettuce again today I'll take one. No doubt the little devils will join me-again. (If this blog comes with a picture, you will know what happened.)

The sand had pretty much fallen to the bottom, but really do you think I could let sleeping dogs lie, drain and serve my fresh, organic, home grown lettuce? Yuck! I carefully inspected the whole bowl cleaning each leaf with extreme awareness. If I had not gone to such extremes we would have eaten two more slugs!!!

Have I or one of my family members ever eaten a slug? Probably. Hence, my lettuce has a higher protein content than most store bought lettuce. The books make organic gardening seem so romantic. In truth, gardening is not for the faint of heart. You must press on even in the presence of slimy, crawling and buzzing.

This year, I am growing broccoli for the first time since I was a kid. I have delayed in growing broccoli because I clearly remember finding and picking little green worms out of our home grown crop. Last year, my mom grew her broccoli next to cabbage and swears all the little green worms went to the cabbage. I'm growing both. This morning, I noticed I have a little head of broccoli. I will tread ever so carefully from here. I don't want too much protein with my veggies.

Wishing you health and not too much protein,
Denise

The fresh documentary

This morning I'm preparing for this afternoon's documentary party. The movie we'll see is called "The Fresh Movie". It's about sustainable agriculture. As you probably know by now, I come from an agricultural background. My degree is even agriculturally bases- Agricultural Business. Both grandparents were dairy farmers, we raised beef cattle, my Aunt Velma still has some dry land wheat. I guess you could say agriculture is in my blood and long before I even knew what organic was I was organic.

This morning I was visiting with my dad about composting, my upcoming movie and his organic background. He was explaining how his parents farmed organically. They practiced crop rotation: barely, alfalfa and then corn. They used the manure from their cows for fertilizer. Close by were huge flocks of black birds they relied on as their pesticide. My dad and grandma were the herbicide-at the end of a hoe! This was normal life not some new discovery.

My aunt Velma has had a compost bin out back much of her life. At our house we raised our own cattle, had a huge garden and one summer had 40 chickens- but that is a story all in itself. We fed our kitchen scraps to the cows. I remember watching Princess S and Mable wallering a corn cob in their mouths and then spitting our the cob when it was stripped of corn.

This afternoon, a few of my friends and I will gather in my living room to watch and then discuss this movie. A movie like this is most defiantly a thought and discussion provoking movie. I don't really like watching something like this by myself. Too many thoughts get in my head. It's great to have time and friends to mull over the movie while eating fresh strawberries, homemade scones and real whipped cream.

I hope both the food and movie are good I haven't previewed my new scone recipe or the movie.

Wishing all a happy May,
Denise

If you can't learn with your friends who can you learn with??

Purple potatoes break ground in Lasagna garden

It is working!!! I have potatoes, carrots and beets all coming up in my lasagna garden. It was touch and go for a couple of weeks as it took about 2 weeks for the plants to break soil. It probably had more to do with our temperatures than my lasagna garden. My other non-lasagna garden bed with carrots took just as long to sprout. Dallas-my husband-doesn't think I'm the most patient of gardeners. I keep looking and looking-waiting and waiting.

I planted both purple and red potatoes. The plate in the picture features both purple potatoes and mung beans a picture of my lunch last fall. The purple potatoes are coming up with deep purple leaves. Both types of potatoes just came from my grocery store I let sprout in my pantry.

Next to plant, will be my Aunt Velma's corn from Holyoke, lemon cucumbers, more carrots, squash, and of course tomatoes and peppers. It is looking like our garden experiments are so far so good.

When I get a chance I'll catch you up on my worm bin fertilizer- I have a productive herd of worms!!

Wishing you a garden of abundance.

Denise

Spring planting is like an all you can eat buffet!

This afternoon it is raining cats and dogs. I was thinking about doing some more planting but instead I'm planning and dreaming. Laying out my seeds and lists of what I want to plant, I discover I probably need more garden if I want to get all this into the ground.

My Aunt Velma gave me some seeds from 9" red corn plants her friend in Holyoke Colorado grew. I found some quinoa-bright rainbow seed which grows 4-6 feet tall. I have 2 purple potatoes and 2 red potatoes I want to cut up and plant. Five color Silverbeet Swiss Card is going everywhere I can find, if for no other reason than it is beautiful.

My list goes something like this: beets, carrots, lemon cucumbers, yellow crook necks, kohlrabi, red leaf lettuce, butternut squash, chives, flat leaf parsley, dill, basil, cilantro, red bush beans, pak choi, watermelon radish and if I can still find room maybe some sunflower seeds. Of course, I almost forgot tomatoes and peppers which I will buy plants later this spring. My peas and some lettuce are already growing.

Is it just me or is spring planting like going to an all you can eat buffet??? My eyes are bigger than my stomach and my seeds are more than my garden and probably available time.

Still, this year I'm doing more than just growing my summer food, I'm experimenting with lasagna gardens, worm composting, heirloom seeds and eating locally as much as possible - all on a budget! Whew, this is going to be some garden.

Did I mention my flowers, I'll plant lots and lots of marigolds, apparently they make good companion flowers. Zinnias and snap dragons will get planted, mainly because they remind me of my family and our gardens growing up.

It's a good thing it's raining outside, a little planing might just be good for the garden!

Happy planting this spring!

Denise

Lasagna garden done- filled with worms

First day of spring, it was in the low 60s, Saturday and the perfect day to finish off my lasagna garden bed before planting. Yesterday, I finished my layering. So far, setting up has been a little more work than expected, but this might be because I'm a rooky. A seasoned lasagna gardener might have had this done in 1/2 the time.

While I was digging up my composted leaves and straw, I found more worms than I think I've ever seen. I don't even have this many in my worm bin. There were hundreds and hundreds of worms. I even took a picture of one because they were sooooo big. Did you know big worms move slower than little worms?

I'm lucky my grandpa used to take me digging for worms when when we would go fishing. If it weren't for my mom always smiling when she saw worms in her garden or my grandpa taking me fishing, I might have been a little freaked out. Luckily, I come from a strong worm loving family. If I was finding snakes in my garden- this might have been a whole different conversation!!!!

wishing you a happy spring and healthy garden.

Densie

The great lasagna garden experiement of 2010

This is the beginning of my lasagna bed. I wrote a little about this last fall, but in case you missed my earlier blog let me give you a reminder.

Lasagna gardening was introduced to me be a former neighbor, dear friend and excellent gardener. She thought I would enjoy lasagna gardening.

Lasagna gardening is kind of like sheet composting, where you lay organics out, layer by layer and let mother nature do the work of breaking them down. You use compostable material you find around your home and neighborhood such as grass clippings, fruit, veggies, egg shells, coffee grounds, leaves, straw, compost, wood ashes. You can also use local compostables such as manure, hay, straw, sawdust, seaweed/kelp. The author of the book Lasagna Gardening also relys on peat moss between each layer of compostable material.

I found this form of gardening fascinating for several reasons. You don't have to pull up any sod, as you lay newspaper or cardboard over and smother the grass and weeds. You can rebuild soil that seems unable to grow a good garden. You use your own resources instead of buying new or throwing away organic material. Supposedly, you don't need to do much weeding, you don't have to till the ground each year and you don't have to water as much.

Sounds almost too good to be true doesn't it? After many years of pondering this type of gardening, I'm going to do my first lasagna experiment this spring. Last year, I experimented with water and sweet potatoes. This year it is lasagna gardening.

The site I chose is going to be a great test. There is perhaps 1 inch of top soil here, below the little layer of top soil is a lovely bed of rocks. Of course, I wouldn't normally choose this soil for a rich garden but if lasagna gardening will work here it will work any where. On the good side of this site, it is close to water, I can easily see it and enjoy my gardening process from my office window and maybe most importantly it has the most sunlight in the summer.

As you can see in the above picture I have been assembling organics since last fall, borrowing grass clipping and leaves from my neighbor. My friend Tina grabbed a bale of straw from a Autumn display. As of today my lasagna bed is about 4 inches full of compost, straw, grass clippings, and one layer of peat moss I had left over in my garden shed. I need to build this bed up to about 18-24 inches- I have a long way to go.....

I'll keep you posted of this experiment as I play through the process. If you are interested the book I'm working out of, it is called Lasagna Gardening by Patricia Lanza. Hope you join me in playing in the dirt this year.

Happy composting,

Denise

Lasagna Gardening takes root

Years ago I had a neighbor, Dianna, who recommended I try lasagna gardening. She thought this type of gardening and I would be a perfect match. I didn't start lasagna gardening then but its seed was firmly planted.

What is lasagna gardening? I'll let Patricia Lanza explain it in her own words. ( Patricia is the author of Lasagna Gardening)

"Lasagna Gardening is a nontraditional, organic, layering method you can use to create better soil while keeping your gardens neat and attractive. ... Based on a commonsense approach and readily available natural ingredients, lasagna gardening is an easy, time-saving way to install and maintain any kind of garden without removing the sod, digging or tilling. Close planting and generous mulching greatly reduce the time needed for watering and weeding. And because of the healthy growing environment, lasagna gardens are plagued with fewer garden pests."


For me lasagna gardening is an intriguing idea filled will possibilities. To the west of my house, we have a patch of land. It has maybe 1-2 inches of top soil, below that a nice bed of rocks. This is not the ideal setting for a garden. The area does have some good points -sunshine and close proximity to the water spicket. This horrible soil is where I'm experimenting with my first lasagna bed. If I can grow a garden here you can grow one any where!

The idea of using waste from my home and yard and creating healthy soil is as old as dirt. This is what lasagna gardening does. Gathering up organic waste and using it as the foundation on which to rebuild soil. Layering newspaper, leaves, grass, compost, peat moss, chopped plants, straw, hay, manure, sawdust, seaweed, wood ashes, coffee grounds and stone dust to create a sheet composting system. Fantastic!

This is residue free gardening at its best. Building healthy Eco-systems and minimizing waste!

My experiment starts this fall. This month I'll be collecting matterial and building my beds. Our home is a buzz with excitment!!!

Happy and healthy homes,
Denise