A juice recipe

Last week while talking with a couple friends about gardening I asked them if they knew any juice recipes using spinach. They suggested carrot, apple, ginger, spinach, and lemon. The other night I got out the juicer and tried it. I knew I liked carrot, apple, and ginger together, but wasn't sure what the addition of spinach would bring.

The following amount yielded about 2 1/2 cups of juice:

6 carrots, washed

2 gala apples

slice of ginger

juice of part of a lemon, to taste

lots of spinach, probably a gallon size ziploc full

First I blended the carrots, apples, and ginger, and it made the most beautiful orange. Then the spinach produced a thin, green slurry to which I just squeezed the lemon in by hand. Stirring it all together certainly makes it a dense green so I was surprised by the sweet taste. The spinach itself is subtle, and kind of just deepens the carrot and apple flavors. My husband was surprised how much he liked it. I added a cube or two of ice to my glass and also tried a sprinkle of fresh pepper on top.

Do you have a juice machine? If so, what recipes do you like?

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garden notes:

5/12/11 Thurs.

`The robin eggs in our plum tree hatched! Mama and Papa robin take turns feeding the three babies.

garden happenings this week

like heather, i like to keep a gardening journal.  it's a practice i started when i first began gardening five years ago (i think i got the idea from you grow girl, which is coincidentally by the same author as grow great grub, which natalie wrote about yesterday).  i'm so glad i got into this habit right away and have stuck with it through the years.  to be honest, i've noticed that my note-taking gets steadily less detailed and more infrequent as the season progresses, but that's okay (for example, last year i noted when the lilac first bloomed in the spring, but neglected to note how many garlic cloves i planted and what types were planted where in the fall, oops!)

anyways, it's been a busy week, so i thought i'd just share some of the happenings from my garden this week:

may 2: radishes are sprouting, and a little bit of the arugula too.  still no carrots though.  the bees came yesterday and the hiving was very successful-can't wait!  must sprout potatoes.

may 8: planted onions-2 containers and some in the ground in between the garlic and arugula.  about 30 yellow onions, i think.  thinned out the radishes.  arugula, lettuce and peas are sprouting, and i think the carrots are finally coming up too.  first farmers market!  i bought some herbs-thyme, rosemary, and sage.  started hardening off seedlings and repotted the tomatoes into bigger pots.  all potatoes were sprouting even though i never took them out of the box.  bought supplies to build potato towers. 

may 11: seedlings have been outside for 3 nights now-still on the porch.  i need to move them into the sun.  thinned arugula and added string to the pea trellises so they can climb.  cut up potatoes this morning, so hopefully i can plant the towers tomorrow.  it's been really hot yesterday and today (almost 90!) and humid and rainy.  bees are doing well- chris came by monday, the queens are alive (with eggs) in both hives.

what's happening in your garden these days?

stem cuttings

grow great grub by gayla trail is pulling tightly at my gardening heart strings. i am a full believer in her ideas- food in small spaces! container gardens! reusing & recycling! i am even so inspired as to make her ideas a sort of manifesto for myself as we prepare for our move in a little over three weeks.

one little tidbit from the book that i found incredibly interesting is making more plants from what you already have. on page 31, trail gives easy instructions on how to propagate a variety of plants. by cutting the stem just below an attached leaf & sticking it in water, you will have new roots in a couple of weeks.

so, i tried this method with my mint plant gifted from a gardening friend.

& to my surprise- i had real success! from the stem are healthy roots just waiting to be covered with soil. although this seems like such an easy task, it was satisfying to know that i didn't need to purchase another plant for my garden.

i can only imagine the generations of women before me who shared plants and reaped their bountiful harvests together. i encourage you to pick up trail's book from a local book shop or library & begin propagating!

on fiddleheads

three years ago i moved to new england and became fascinated with fiddleheads. besides lettuce and mache, they are one of the earliest spring foods available here. we are lucky to have abundant fiddleheads on the property where we live. i hear that they cost $8.00 a pound at the local market. i find it so satisfying to be able to walk out my front door and harvest my supper, whether it's from the garden or from the woodlands.



fiddleheads are the new growth of the ostrich fern--small and unfurled is how you want to pick them. a quick word of caution before i continue: the ostrich fern fiddleheads are the only ones you should eat. luckily, they are pretty easy to identify. when we first began our foray into foraging, we asked a local to take us on a walk and show us which were the ostrich ferns. i recommend learning from someone who is familiar with edible plants just to play it safe.

the brown chaff you see on these fiddleheads is another indication that you have found the right type of fern. in the above photo, the three smallest fiddleheads are the perfect size of harvesting. just use a knife or scissors. also, please harvest sustainably. don't cut every fiddlehead--leave some so the plant will thrive. you'll want to harvest again next year, right?



next you need to clean the fiddleheads and remove the brown papery chaff. give them a quick rinse and then soak them in water for at least 15 minutes. carefully remove each fiddlehead, wiping off any brown chaff that may still be attached and rinse again.

now, it's time to boil them. boil for 5 minutes, drain the water (it will be brown--this is normal) and add fresh water. boil for another 5 minutes and then drain. so, remember cook thoroughly for TEN minutes--undercooked fiddleheads can make you sick. after the double boil, you can saute them with onions and garlic in a little olive oil and eat them as a side dish or use to top a salad. we like to make a vermont fiddlehead pie with seriously sharp cheddar and a dollop of whole grain mustard. what do fiddleheads taste like, you ask? i find that they remind me of asparagus and perhaps, too, artichokes. i hear they pair well with bacon and make excellent pickles.



my husband and i find that slices of this pie are best eaten outdoors on a beautiful spring day served with a glass of homemade rosy rhubarb soda (rose geranium and rhubarb simple syrup + seltzer).



here's to spring!

swiss chard

swiss chard,
oh how i love thee!
your dark crinkly leaves
and your bright colored stems.
you are a true gem in the garden.

can you tell that i love swiss chard?

i love this green for so many reasons.
one of them being it’s beauty in the garden.
due to my limited growing space you will not find swiss chard growing in neat little rows (or any vegetables for that matter) but rather tucked in among my perennial flowers, and in pots and planters.
i like the “bright lights” variety with stems of many colors including gold, pink, orange, purple, red, and white.

a member of the beet family, swiss chard is the perfect green to grow for beginner gardeners. a hardy green with few pest problems, it can grow from spring until frost providing a continuous supply of delicious leaves.

i am always searching for edibles that can handle shady conditions. yet another reason why i adore this green which can withstand both full sun and part shade.

but the best part about swiss chard is the flavor. a mild, nutritious green similar to spinach, swiss chard (stems and all) is wonderful in omelettes, soups, stewed in with beans and tomatoes, or just simply sautéed with olive oil and loads of garlic.

but our favorite way here, quick and easy, is it playing the starring role in a smoothie.

did i mention that i love swiss chard?

The garden and me

seedless concords

This season I am learning something about gardening and myself. The process of working in a garden is very satisfying in the sense that there is something reliable about it. You put work into it and are rewarded. Granted there are disappointments when caterpillars devour the gooseberries or slugs bore holes in the radishes, but there is always something to be gained from gardening. Even when other areas of life prove disappointing or don't live up to my high expectations, I can go out into the garden to turn soil, pull weeds, water, or simply look and find renewal, hope, and encouragement. It is a place where hard work pays and surprises abound.

Gardens are a form of autobiography. ~Sydney Eddison, Horticulture magazine, August/September 1993

spinach rows | arugula in foreground, grape trellis at rock wall, strawberries in background

It takes a while to grasp that not all failures are self-imposed, the result of ignorance, carelessness or inexperience. It takes a while to grasp that a garden isn't a testing ground for character and to stop asking, what did I do wrong? Maybe nothing. ~Eleanor Perényi, Green Thoughts, 1981

stawberries & broccoli starts in foreground | echinacea and herb starts

If you've never experienced the joy of accomplishing more than you can imagine, plant a garden. ~Robert Brault

on gardening in a community

my first experience tending a garden was in a community garden. when we moved to minneapolis just over four years ago, we were lucky to rent an apartment owned by two ladies who had helped to found one of the longest-running community gardens in this city- and it was right across the street from our apartment. there are so many reasons why i couldn't be happier that my gardening journey began in this community, and today i'm going to share just a few of those reasons.

:: education. when i joined our community garden in 2007, i had never gardened before and knew almost nothing about how to grow anything. it's safe to say that almost everything i've learned about gardening has come from the folks with whom i share a bit of land (and a few incredible resources). i have learned so much from other gardeners that i never would have discovered had i been gardening alone in my own yard. i've discovered different ways of trellising plants, gotten advice on what might be wrong with my plants, and been given countless ideas of new things to plant. last year, just as i was about to place my seed order, a fellow gardener told me that she would be growing dry beans. at the last minute, i added them to my order and they ended up being one of my favorite things that i grew last year. this year, dry beans will make up almost half of what i'm growing.

:: space. even though i was lucky enough to have a yard at our first apartment, and was allowed to garden a bit of that space, we were just renters and i never felt the desire to put a lot of effort into building a garden that i would eventually leave behind. many folks who participate in community gardens do so because they do not have any space, or have very limited space, to garden at their homes. even though i now have a backyard garden at my home, i'm delighted to still have the additional space just a few blocks away.

:: community. i feel lucky to have moved into a neighborhood that has a very strong sense of community. despite that, this garden has been one of the main ways that i have met my neighbors. having an excuse to spend time outdoors in the middle of the community gives me the opportunity to see what's going on around me, say hi to people who walk by, and get to know the other gardeners, who are all my neighbors.

:: creating a positive, safe space. the lot on which this garden sits used to have a home, which burned down in the late '80s.  it sat vacant and charred for years before some of the neighbors got together and decided to grow something positive amidst the tragedy of the fire, as well as some of the other struggles that the neighborhood had faced. although things have drastically improved over the past 20 years, there continues to be violence and tragedy all around. it brings hope for the entire community to have a space where neighbors and community members can come together and build something positive.

:: partnership. as i've been writing this post, i've realized that over the past few years, at least, our garden has partnered with many other community organizations to improve the garden or provide additional services to the community.  some of these groups include: a traveling puppet show who performed in the empty lot next door, a youth summer welding class who created our gate, a sustainable architecture class who built our shed out of reclaimed materials, and a neighborhood artist who created our new sign (to name just a few).

for all of these reasons, and many more, i continue to tend my community garden plot even though i have moved a few blocks farther away, and have my own gardening space at my home. community gardening is something i highly recommend, whether or not you need the extra space.  even if you don't want more garden (who doesn't?!), i would encourage anyone to find out if there is a community garden nearby, and get to know the gardeners and what's going on in the garden.  you won't regret it.