It’s never a good sign when you start the new year off sick.  Today is the 6th — dangerously close to the 7th. This means that 1 week is already in the can for 2009 (s*gh).  Rather than ennumerate resolutions, which frankly don’t seem to have much impact anyway (big s*gh) this year I’m vowing (which is waaaay different than resolving) to try and cultivate an attitude of resiliency.  I figure if I can learn to bend and weave with the challenges the coming year will present I will be way ahead of simply losing 15 pounds or finally organizing my stacks of paperwork, photos and clippings.  Not that I don’t need to loose and sort, organize and uh, edit, but perhaps by exercising some flexible thinking I’ll stand a better chance of accomplishing my other goals with less damage to my self esteem.  Besides I can hardly get out of bed!

On a more positive note, these beautiful apples are Arkansas Black.  We got them at last sunday’s farmer’s market from Tiny’s.  You have never seen such perfectly formed, intensely garnet-colored orbs!  They almost look like plums to my (somewhat delirious) eyes.  We’re not used to such perfect, flawless and organic fruit.  Many organic orchardists have a complex regime of spraying, wrapping, and repelling various pests and disease spots;  apparently, Arkansas Black apples have a naturally waxy skin that protect them from damage and renders the fruit - beautiful!!!  As the gal who was working Tiny’s stand that freezing cold, damp and miserable morning said “I don’t get paid enough to wax fruit!”  They are delicious besides…the skins are a little tough and I would probably remove them if I were to bake them into a pie, (Ha!  Even the thought of baking right now is hilarious!!!)

Anyway, I thought I’d share my beautiful apples with the outside world.  I’m supposed to be working on several projects having to do with ornamental edibles and integrating vegetables into your “regular” landscape…let’s just say, it’s an uphill battle stringing cogent thoughts together when my white blood cells are duking it out with my own internal pests and disease spots.  I know, TMI, sorry.

But I can’t close without posting about Eat the View, a campaign to ask President Elect Obama to turn the White House lawn back into the Victory Garden that it once was under the leadership of Eleanor Roosevelt in 1943.  In addition to acknowledging the relevance of clean, healthy food, organic and sustainable growing practices, and the importance of food security, these gardens would produce delicious fruits and vegetables for the First Kitchen as well as area food pantries. 

I may not be able to get out of my jammies, but I can make a pitch for the future of our planet and a wholesome diet.  Happy New Year!

…First 5,000 years, almost everybody is a farmer.

Last 50 years, almost nobody is a farmer.  The 2 percent of Americans who farm are exotic, largely invisible pixies who magically turn petrochemicals into grocery-chain products encased in plastic wrap.”

The above quote, and my headline, are from an article entitled Satisfying an Old Hunger, by William Dietrich in this morning’s Footprint section of the Sunday paper.  Go there, read it, it’s encouraging, enlightening and entertaining–a farmer who “calls and sings” to his pasture-raised cattle to get them to return to the barn, instead of confining them to “filthy feedlots.”  I’m in love…  In fact the subtitle for the entire section reads:

Real Food Makes a Comeback:  You may now kiss your local farmer

Ethical bananas, urban communities, and pretty potagers.  It was a good read and I hope a permanent addition to the Seattle Times’ Sunday offering.  Admittedly, it was a bit uber-hip - Picks for veggie-growing virgins - but I only felt really old and not-uber-hip a few times.  Obviously, they don’t let the farmers write the headlines!

It was a perfect way to start my day as I head out on a solo roadtrip through Eastern Washington to Moscow, Idaho.  Blue skies, wheat fields, “blue highways” and roadside farmstands.  NPR on the radio…and QUIET!  What am I doing?  Lorene, go pack and hit the road!!!

 One last quote from the article that I think I’m going to post in several places throughout my home and office:

“At some point people in the resource industries gain their self-worth from what they do, not in how much money they make.” — Bob Hart, farmer, La Conner Flats Farm (and my newest hero)

Nothing like a book project to focus one’s attention.  The Encyclopedia of Country Living (or ECL) Guide to Preserving and Canning is proceeding at due pace.  Chapters on Freezing, Canning, Drying and Live Storage have been fleshed out and I’ve got the blackberry jelly, raspberry jam, peach jam, cherry vinegar and quick pickles to prove it!

It is with no small amount of concern that my household anticipates salting and cured meats but I’m having a ball.  I’ve always had a streak of Little house in the Big Woods in me…that chapter where they make maple taffy on freshly fallen snow…?  Trust me, it doesn’t work with Aunt Jemima and city slush, I tried in the fourth grade!  But the romance, the independent spirit and the stubborn streak of frontier self reliance is so attractive to me.  (When I presented my package of freshly procurred LARD this afternoon my husband anticipated the day when I would don a buckskin and wield a knife in my teeth…but he’s just being dramatic!)

Last week we celebrated birthdays with a household of family and a pile of pulled pork!  Seemed like the perfect opportunity to practice my quick pickles.  Pork, pickles, slaw…what’s not to love?!?  It’s quite a responsibility to test, taste and sample one’s way through an entire battery of preserving skills, but you do what is called of you (YUM!)  I’ve always loved pickles and the intrigue of “quick” fits my impatient nature (as well as my minimal storage space).  Here are my results:

Provisions were gathered:  organic carrots, radishes, sliced fennel, green (& purple) snap beans from the garden, shallots, sweet and hot peppers and cherry tomatoes - a colorful and nutritous blend! 

Everything was duly sliced (the radishes and shallots got a quick blanch i.e., dip, in boiling water followed by an icewater bath to chill)

A pungent and flavorful broth was made by combining 6 cups white wine vinegar, 1 1/4 c. sugar, 2 tablespoons kosher salt and 1 1/2 teaspoons whole black peppercorns, bringing the whole mixture to a boil over medium heat in a non-reactive saucepan.

Clean jars were filled thusly:

1) Carrots, peppers (hot & sweet), and a fresh bay leaf

2) Radishes, shallots and fresh thyme

3) Beans, fennel and fresh chervil (Note to self…purple beans fade to an unsightly almost, but-not-quite green when doused with hot liquid)

in the way of full disclosure I must add that I also tried cherry tomatoes and thyme - but don’t go there.  Too mushy.  I’ll just take one for the team here, trust me. 

Once packed with beautiful veggies, the jars were then topped off with the hot, flavored vinegar solution, capped and left to cool.  They spent most of a day in the refrigerator and then debuted in their colorful goodness the following evening to fabulous aclaim.  They were crunchy, spicy, and leant a real zest to the richness of the pulled pork sandwiches.

Nearly a week later I’m still pulling out a few morsels to liven my lunch!

I met the most wonderful blog the other day… Redwhiteandgrewblog.com is devoted to

“promoting the Victory Garden revival and other simple, earth-friendly endevors as bipartisan, patriotic acts in an age of uncertainty.” 

Go there - Go there often… In just one short week I have been inspired by the optimism and energy of this “growing” movement towards raising our own food.  It’s not just exciting - it’s of crucial importance and a simple act of independence and yes, patriotism in a country we can help to become.  The following definitions are from RWGblog: 

Meme:  “A unit of cultural information that represents a basic idea that can be transferred from one individual to another, and subjected to MUTATION, CROSSOVER, and ADAPTATION.”  Source

Social Entrepreneurship: “A social entrepreneur is someone who recognizes a social problem and uses entrepreneurial principles to organize, create, and manage a venture to make social change. Whereas a business entrepreneur typically measures performance in profit and return, a social entrepreneur assesses success in terms of the impact s/he has on society.” Source

So here’s my response to RWG’s challenge to talk about fall gardening (yeah, yeah, twist my arm!!!) 

Victory Garden Meme Questions

What are your favorite local garden resources:  Sentimental favorite - Emerald City Gardens, a tiny, quirky and passionately run nursery

What are your favorite books and magazines? 

1.  Northwest Garden News -  a regional resource for gardeners in Washington and Oregon. From publisher, Mary Guiterrez: “I want a love of gardening to be passed on to future generations. I believe that gardeners can, one backyard at a time, help to restore health to our planet. We can provide habitat for wildlife, restore lost trees, and create natural spaces for future generations to grow up in.”  full disclosure - I contribute on a regular basis
2. The Complete Guide to Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades, by Steve Solomon: a classic for years now and one I always used to refer people to at the nursery for his clear, succinct and thorough explanation on soil science - the basis for ALL gardening success.
3. The Kitchen Garden by Anna Pavord
4. The Art of French Vegetable Gardening by Louisa Jones - hey, a gal can pretend, right?

Truth be told, some of my best inspirational vegetable garden books are in fact Cookbooks. 

1. The Herbal Kitchen by Jerry Traunfeld, former chef extraordinaire from the acclaimed Herbfarm Restaurant
2. Northwest Kitchen by Seattle cooking diva Kathy Casey
3. Unplugged kitchen, a return to the simple, authentic joys of cooking by Viana la Place - a delicious homage to fresh produce and seasonal eating.

(OK, now I’m hungry!)

What have you had success with growing in your (fall) garden? and When do you plant and harvest it?   Well, I’ve only just begin to plant for a fall garden.  What with our fitfully slow start to Spring this year, we’re barely into Summer!  What I have planted so far:

• Beets - beautiful in the ground (ever the sucker for ornamental edibles) and sweeeeeeet on the tongue
• Red mustard - again a beautiful plant that always bolts too quickly when spring planted but holds for months in the shortening, cooler days of autumn
• Arugula - again with the spring bolting, plus along with radishes (a favorite of our household for baguette and sweet butter sandwiches) you can’t beat arugula for instant germination gratification!
• Fava beans - of course - after harvesting my crop in late July I cut the plants back to about 12″ and added a fresh layer of compost.  The regrowth is already about 12″ tall, branched and flowering - can you say more, more, more!?!
• Black Kale - actually I sowed this seed some time ago between the rows of the Favas but it’s not been until the beans were cut down that the little seedlings have really put on some growth.  They should be eating size by late September and hold well into the winter.
• Kohlrabi - I always wonder when I’m moved to plant something I never even buy at the market but these are just too weird to pass by and in the course of my research writing The ECL Guide to Growing Vegetables (Sasquatch Books, due out in 2009) Kohlrabi just sounded too good to pass by, its’ taste a cross between a crisp radish and an apple (?) and perfect  for late summer sowing.

• Lettuces - I’ve really worked to keep some small cut-and-come-again crops coming on.  Usually we have lettuce for the world and then nada for the rest of the summer!
• Leeks - these have been in the ground since May but are sizing up and looking beautiful.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve left leeks to flower - an amazing sight - and just bought leeks for the kitchen!
• Rainbow chard - spring planted transplants are still cranking out stems and leaves; a few plants are starting to bolt so I’m planning on cutting everything back fairly hard fava bean-style and going for a second crop that will produce throughout the fall.  Same goes with the sorrel plants.

What is your favorite gardening tip?  Grow it, kill it, know it!!!  I know it sounds glib but in spite of all the information I take in from books, magazines, and yes, blogs, it’s the hands-in-the-dirt successes and failures that stick and live another day to inform my next move.

• On a more practical level my friend Sally told me to regularly snip/mow my tiny patch of chamomile and use as an anti-fungal mulch my tomato plants - It works!!!
• Under “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘um”  - having long ago been handed down (red flag!!!) a division of  comfrey, and after repeated efforts to dig it up, bury it deep, or excavate the entire area to eradicate the beast (fail, fail, failed) I finally have made a tentative peace with the beast when I found out from my friend Willi on her weekly radio show on KUOW, our local NPR affiliate that comfrey also makes a great mulch in the veggie garden.  Check out Willi’s blog Diggin’Food.  I did a little more research and found that comfrey is as high in nitrogen as barnyard manure, with an NPK analysis of 8-3-20.

Why do you call your garden a _________ (Victory Garden, Peace Garden, Freedom Garden, vegetable garden…etc.)?  Definitely “Victory Garden”  I am a vintage ephemera nut with a definite retro streak so’ Victory Garden’ floats my boat on a lot of levels.  (check out these great public domain images from the Library of Congress and the University of North Texas)  I also think we do claim an independence and satisfaction when we produce for our own table and reconnect to the process and evolution of FOOD - I’d call that victorious!!!

So, there you have it my fair readers.  Plant one for the homeland!  I always say…

Plant the World, Grow Yourself!!!

Carla Emery first began to pen what was to become The Encyclopedia of Country Living in 1970 while working a small farm in Idaho and parenting the first of her seven children. All around her people were going “back-to-the-land”, trading city life for country living. Their desire for self-sufficiency vied with a nagging fear of nuclear annihilation and they were filled with urgent questions as to how to proceed in their new rural world. What began as serial chapter installments, produced by hand and mailed to people who responded to an advertisement for an “Old Fashioned Recipe Book” in Organic Gardening magazine over the years grew to become a definitive work on country living and modern homesteading. Now in its 10th edition, 35 years after the first complete book was collated (by hand) in a rural library in Idaho The Encyclopedia of Country Living remains a living history and comprehensive resource for “living off the land and doing it yourself”.

The above is from my draft of the introduction to The Encyclopedia of Country Living Guide to Growing Vegetables the first of my two single subject books drawn from the original title by Carla Emery.   The completed manuscript just went to the publisher this week and now it’s time to turn my sights to the second book The Encyclopedia of Country Living Guide to Preserving and Canning (Yum!).  Both titles are due out in 2009.  The books are the brainchild (…storm?) of Sasquatch Books, publisher of ECL’s newly released 10th Edition. 

I’m pleased, proud, and delighted to have been asked to author these works for many reasons - not the least of which is my growing fascination with writing about gardening and food, but also because as my editor put it, I “understand the ethos” of what Carla set out to accomplish beginning so many years ago. 

While I don’t think I share her pathos of alarm and stubborn autonomy I will admit to a fierce streak of independence and yes, a certain “flower child” period when I did indeed purchase one of her earliest editions.  It’s crazy how time wrinkles in on itself, no?  Nearly 30 years ago however determined I was to bake our bread and grow our food if something went awry or I got tired…we just went out to eat!  I know, hardly the stuff of self-sufficiency, but still reflective of my desire to be a part of the process  and an awareness of a food web growing increasingly industrial and removed from daily life.

Today, thankfully, the pendulum is swinging the other way - or time is un-wrinkling - and everywhere, city and suburb, downtown and country, people are looking which a fresh perspective at where their food comes from and how it is produced.  Today’s “victory” garden supports clean healthy food, a safe, sustainable environment and fair living conditions.  We may not have more than a tiny patch in the backyard or a few containers on a shyly-proportioned patio but there is much we can grow, and much more we can learn in the process. 

There is a dawning movement towards procuring local foods that follow the rhythm of the seasons - that is the seasons of the hemisphere in which we reside…  for those of us willing to brave the weather, dance an evasive tango with pests and disease, kneel in the dirt, sport definitely non-fashion forward tan lines while shading our heads against the midday sun, or support friends, neighbors and small farmers who do, the table is set for a feast that feeds both body and mind, belly and spirit, at once economically sound and emotionally satisfying.

Read more about Sasquatch Books and The Encyclopedia of Country Living and Carla Emery.

Anyone who knows me or who spends much time with me this summer has to hear about the continuing progress of my tiny vegetable garden.  I kid you not…my delight and never ending fascination with this small plot is more keen than the most elaborate, coifed, and highly designed perennial border out there.    Good food, fresh food and organic food are very, very high on my list of simple pleasures and everyday luxuries.  And it doesn’t get more local, organic or fresh than my own backyard!

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about my current obsession as I weed the chard, pick snap peas and cut greens for yet another giant salad.  We all know gardening is a lot of work, physically demanding and not without a degree of pain and yes, suffering.  Good healthy food is just the balm our bodies need to replenish our energy, reignite our spirits and cultivate the marvel of a productive earth.  I must have checked every 15 minutes to see if my runner beans were up once I planted them at the base of their tee pees - I swear, I was just like a second grader!

I never stop learning in the garden and sometimes the harshest seasons are the best teachers.  I continue to fuss over the tomatoes as I string their wandering vines up the strings.  “Do you think they look a little wan?”  Have a sip of kelp and a nice tidy blanket of comfrey leaves.  I was excited to find out that this herbal pest is actually very rich in nutrients - it’s NPK analysis is something like 8 - 3 - 20 (!!!)  I guess that enormous, tenacious taproot is actually mining the subsoil for potassium and storing it in the plant’s tissues. 

NOTE:  comfrey is almost impossible to eradicate once it’s taken hold in the garden and due to it’s pyrolizzidine content - a mild toxin - the official recommendation is that comfrey not be ingested in any way shape or form.  Do NOT plant this pest.  But, if like me you already have…  Fresh chopped comfrey leaves are higher in nitrogen than barnyard manure - I don’t know about you but I’m looking at my here-to-fore cursed patch of comfrey with a new glint in my eye!   Besides, I don’t really want the responsibility of barnyard animals. 

In a wonderful turn of circumstances, part Universal kismet, part hard work and wordworking (I’d like to think), when I’m not in the vegetable garden this summer I find myself in the midst of a 2 book contract with Sasquatch Books!!!  My topics?  Growing food, harvesting food, preserving food and celebrating all that is good and choice in the process.  I’m trying to “cultivate” my professional gene (read: self promotion) so I’ll write a separate post formally introducing my new projects but I just couldn’t resist indulging in vegetable heaven and celebrating the first FAVA BEAN harvest of the season!!!  I’ve got my priorities and like I said… Hey, a gal’s gotta eat!

Lorene’s favorite fava bean pasta

2 cups shelled, blanched fava beans (* see below)

1 small sweet onion, thinly sliced

1 clove garlic, minced

Fresh marjoram

Parsley

Bacon (of course)

White wine

Olive oil

Salt

Pepper

1/2 pound dried penne or corkscrew pasta

 *Fresh fava beans have got to be THE MOST laborious fresh vegetable to prepare.  For people new to their preparation, a brief primer…  Each pound of pods will yield about a cup or so of prepared beans.  Slice each pod with a small paring knife along the “seam” and remove each plump, flat bean from the cottony pods.  With any luck you will also score the beans on the inside of the pod and ease an upcoming step.  Put a pot of salted water on to boil and add about 1/4 minced fresh mint along with the shelled beans.  Boil the beans until tender; their seed coats will turn a silvery green.  Drain the now cooked beans and allow to cool until you can handle them.  Each bean must now be separated from its tough, sometimes bitter outer shell.  If the bean was indeed scored when you split the pods with the knife, a quick pinch with your thumb and forefinger will pop the now tender morsel from its skin.  Otherwise use a knife to free the bean.  There…now you can proceed with the recipe - see I told you this was laborious!

• Cut bacon into a small dice and cook until crisp in a large flat saute pan with a little olive oil.  Add sweet onion and garlic to the pan and cook until tender.  Deglaze the pan with white wine and water to get all the good browned bits worked into a flavorful sauce.  Add prepared fava beans to the pan along with the chopped fresh marjoram and parsley.  Salt and pepper to taste and allow the flavors to blend for about 5 minutes.
• Meanwhile,  boil pasta in salted water until al dente.  Drain thoroughly and add finished pasta to the fava bean sauce.  I like to retain 1/2 cup or so of the pasta cooking water to add to the finished dish to bring the whole thing to the saucy consistency I’m after.
• Serve with parmesan cheese if desired and give thanks for fava bean season.

  the germination of a great idea takes root

What if there was a community edible garden where neighbors, gardeners - expert and newbie alike, and people who like to eat could gather to learn about organic gardening, water conservation, sound nutrition AND enjoy some tasty free food as well?  Well now there is!

GOOD NEIGHBOR GARDEN PROJECT

The Good Neighbor Garden Project’s first ever demonstration and inspiration garden at the Queen Anne Community Center at 1901 First Ave West. The garden consists of several raised beds to be filled with a rich array of veggies, herbs, edible flowers and tasty fruits.  Design and materials were generously donated by local businesses and the garden will be supported and maintained by the work of many enthusiastic neighborhood volunteers. Wanna play too?  Follow the link above for the latest in work party dates and other celebrations.

The garden’s delicious, organic produce will be available to anyone who would like to eat it. Later in the season look for helpful information supplied at the garden about what’s ripe and ready to be harvested (and guidelines that encourage respectful sharing).  Any garden surplus will be donated to area food banks. 

“…you’ll be able to pick a bouquet of herbs for dinner, pull a few weeds, identify a bug for a child and get to know a neighbor..yourself and your place a little better.”

I had a lovely morning May 5th hammering, measuring and generally knocking around with the other volunteers.  These are NOT my best strengths and I look forward to contributing in a more meaningful (and accurate) way in the coming months.  The Garden is right next door to McClure Middle School (my old stomping grounds!) and apparently right in the path of students as they make their way to the neighboring playfield.  Like habitual sheep on a well worn trail (hey, I have kids, I know middle schoolers!) we confounded them with the sight of our empty boxes.  Hot tubs?  Coffins?  We certainly had their attention, no easy task with this demographic!! 

 We explained they were witnessing the birth of a garden and soon there would be veggies, herbs, and fruit to share.  The request most offered by the young wanna-be gardeners - WATERMELON!  S*gh, we’ve got a lot of education ahead of us.  This is a great start.