If you don’t have room at home for a garden and you’d like to join a gardening community, one of the 70 neighborhood P-Patches may be right for you. Many of the gardens in the most highly populated areas of Seattle have waiting lists for plots, sometimes for up to 3 years. The further you get from the center of the city, the more likely you are to getting a plot.The Picardo Farm, the oldest and largest garden usually has space for new members. You can start out there, put your name on a waiting list and move to your neighborhood garden when space becomes available. Who knows, you may like Picardo so much, you might want to stay.
I decided to go to the Wedgewood neighborhood and check it out. The first thing that struck me was the soil—rich and black beyond belief. It appeared to be blanketed in dark compost–everywhere. I met a friendly gardener who assured me it is a naturally rich area and crops grow at amazing rates as compared to some other areas of the city. There wasn’t much activity this time of year but it isn’t hard to imagine what a beehive of activity it must be on a sunny weekend.
Gardening connects us to the unique agriculture of our region, sometimes in our own backyards. In her lecturelast week honoring Seattle Tilth’s 30thAnniversary, Anna Lappe’, author and food activist, emphasized such connection.She made an accounting of the real cost of food, factors that are not fully disclosed to consumers, and ones which are difficult to face:
Industrial global food production is responsible for at least 33% of green house gas emissions.
India and China now want something like an American diet, which will at least double demand for meat and dairy worldwide.
People tend not to connect food with environmental degradation, and we must begin to educate ourselves about that.
I pay $6 for a dozen large eggs from Growing Things Farm. The eggs are delicious and as fresh as they come but I’ve started to wonder if “eating local” is accessible to those of us eating on a budget. I was reminded of this question when listening to Anna Lappe’ , author of Grub: Ideas for an UrbanOrganic Kitchenand co-founder of the Small Planet Institute. She spoke about why the true cost of “cheap” food should include the long-term cost of health care resulting from diseases caused by obesity, such as diabetes and coronary problems. Not to mention the “cost” to our environment by the increase of greenhouse emissions and loss of farmland.
Is it a luxury to look at the big picture when your biggest concern is getting food on the table for you and your family?
If we’d had some prescient idea about how much we’d love it, we might have invented eggs just for the egg salad. It’s difficult to crack and peel vibrantly dyed Easter eggs, but eventually we do, and we make egg salad.
First of all the ‘perfectly boiled egg’ - its yolk will be bright yellow (no green around the edge), cooked, but tender.Two ways to achieve hard-boiled perfection if you care to try:place eggs in cold water, gradually bring to a boil, turn the heat off, let sit for 15 minutes, and then immerse in cold water before peeling.Or, place room temperature eggs gently into simmering water, cook for 8-9 minutes and place immediately into cold water. Timing will vary a little according to the size of the eggs.Read the rest of this entry »
I’ve been observing my own cooking and eating habits and am frankly impressed at how easy it has been to incorporate more and more local food. Granted, shopping for the week at the Farmers Market makes it much easier. But even on the occasional trip to QFC or Safeway, I find myself checking labels to see if they have a local alternative and choosing to buy local whenever I can.
If you are trying to make this transition yourself, a good place to begin is to cook one local meal a week. We are going to start giving you some examples of meals that we make using mostly, if not all, local ingredients.
This week’s local meal can be prepared in about an hour’s time using recipes we have already posted. The baked potato goes in the oven first, while it is baking, you can prepare the brussels sprouts (I left out the bacon for this meal) and the salmon. Since the salmon goes in the oven for about 10 minutes, you can put it in just as your potato is finishing.
Radishes-in-waiting . . . Get your hands dirty, plant a seed, and begin an edible garden.
“Let’s start your seed education by going over some basics.A seed is a small food-filled container that holds an embryonic plant within.The embryo is dormant but alive – breathing and eating at a very low rate.It possesses genetic instructions to grow and develop into a mature plant.The seed is activated by moisture, and once sprouting starts it must be completed or the embryo will die.”
Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades, Steve Solomon, 1989, Sasquatch Books
Vigorous seeds produce healthy plants that eventually produce their own healthy offspring and a new generation of ‘vigorous’ seed.There’s good and bad seed out there.Explicit information about the seed is on the back of the packet, such as the year it’s packaged and an implied expiration date; the likely percentage of seeds that will germinate and grow – 80% are commonly published odds in the world of statistical seed survival;optimal soil temperature (yes, there are soil thermometers) and range of days to germination.
The Planting: Once soil is prepared, remember that a seed is alive and waiting to be tenderly nurtured toward its true calling, which is to sprout and grow.Vigorously!Follow directions on seed packets, and there are a few additional tips for improving chances of successful germination: Read the rest of this entry »
Our planet’s essential elements are often taken for granted: earth, fire, air, water. Gardeners contend with it all, but especially in springtime the earth, soil, dirt is a primary focus– the blanket that surrounds and nurtures plants, the food we eat. I read somewhere recently that worldwide we’re covering so-many thousands of acres with concrete daily. At least for this moment in time that soil is ‘gone’ and perhaps tainted for a very long time, the earth that allows us to produce food, to sustain life. There should be a bumper sticker: Save the Soil! Seriously.
But it’s the soil in our own backyard, in large pots or tiny plots, that we can directly nurture, and where we can grow some food, maybe salad greens.
Soil: first, you have to have some, and then to understand that baby seeds want light, water, and minerals via that soil, their mother’s milk so to speak. Lots written about how to achieve the best soil for growing food, here’s an offering for getting started:
You could just jump in, plant and see what happens;
The best first addition to any soil is compost, either homemade or from a garden store;
Next, consider slow-release organic fertilizers to amend your soil like a multi-vitamin, because plants need nutrients, especially nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, essential plant elements. Fertilizers provide a mineral boost. Some boxes/bags are specifically labeled ‘for vegetables’.
Due to winter rains, soil in western Washington becomes slightly acidic; add lime to neutralize;
If using compost and fertilizer, stir the fertilizer into the soil along with the compost. Packages suggest ratios – read guidelines and talk to garden store experts. You can create your own homemade mix of dirt, compost and fertilizer, but if you’re starting out and want to plant a small plot, a pot or two, you can purchase what you need at the garden store.
(Links to additional and in-depth information about soil, composting and seeds are at the bottom of this posting. Read or skim, either way they’ll give you something more.)Read the rest of this entry »
The baked potato. Perfect, yet so humble. An age-old comfort food that still ranks high on my list, second only to mashed potatoes. For the past several weeks at the Farmers Market, Full Circle Farm has had russet potatoes that are the ultimate in baking potatoes. Half of the fun is choosing your toppings. I use loads of butter, salt & pepper, sour cream, if I have it, and this time of year, chopped chives. Local butter and sour cream are available in many grocery stores. I use Wilcox, which is local and organic but unfortunately they are closing their dairy division at the end of March.
To bake a potato, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Scrub one potato per person to remove any soil. Prick each potato once or twice with a fork to release some of the steam as it is baking. No foil, no oil needed. Set in the oven and bake for an hour .
Now go and check your email and catch up on your favorite blogs. After an hour or so, prick again with your fork. You can feel the soft texture inside the skin when it it done. Better to err on the side of overdone than underdone. The larger the potato, the longer it takes to cook. Eat immediately. Be creative with your toppings if you like. You can devour the entire potato–skin and all.
Let’s face it. You can’t get any more local than your own backyard. The first step in growing some of your own food is to decide where to put it. Look around your yard and see if you have a sunny area with fairly easy access to water. You may have a space immediately calling out to you. If not, don’t be afraid to think outside of the box. Sometimes an area of lawn or parking strip could be better used as a small garden. If you don’t know your neighbors and want to, plant your garden in front of your house. You’d be surprised at how many people will stop by to chat when you are out working in your yard.
Krista and her family bought a home with a flagstone patio. It is nice and sunny but they don’t use it as much as they would a small vegetable plot. They have decided to move the stone to another area in the yard, dig up the soil and start a vegetable garden. Here is the site of their future garden. We’ll be checking back in from time to time to see how they are doing.
If you want to grow some of your own food, be prepared to have lots to share with friends, family and neighbors. Don’t forget to include the kids in the process. They are often happy to help and will be learning about where their food comes from at the same time.
