We had a wonderful day yesterday planting garlic! It was so beautiful out- the sun was shining, and the air had that delightful autumn crisp. We planted the garlic at Candy Lane Elementary where it will be safe from flooding and compacted soil. While weeding and making the beds, it was great to see so much life in the soil. Plenty of worms!
We planted garlic from seed we saved from this years harvest. It is a hardneck variety called “Persian Star.” We couldn’t have asked for nicer seed garlic- the heads were big and every clove plantable.
We hope you love garlic as much as we do, because we will be eating lots of it next year in our 2011 Summer CSA Shares!
Well well, It has been a long time since we have posted – must be farming season!
We are in week 7 of what has been a VERY challenging garden season. We’ve faced slugs and snails and aphids and incessant cold and rain and now heat and drought and even deer damage… what’s an urban farmer to do?
July is generally a month where it starts to get easier – where we move into simply harvesting, weeding, and watering, but we have still been replanting many of our failed crops and planting many many more successions in order to have a super bountiful fall.
We are close to caught up though and the gardens are finally looking lush and beautiful. Check out the photos below to see what’s growing in our hoods:
Jacob, Jessica, and Mo will be teaching a new course: the 300-square-foot Garden in May and June. Participants can get their hands dirty by actually planting a garden in a backyard in SE Portland. Starting a garden can be daunting, but this two hour class will provide participants the know-how to plant a veggie garden this year! Participants will work alongside professional urban growers and be able to ask questions and get the hands-on experience necesary to grow their own produce. Plant starts and plans will be available for purchase.
Participants should be prepared to get dirty. Rain or Shine!
Choose Your Garden Type:
Full Sun Garden: Sunday, May 9th from 1 p.m. until 3 p.m. in the Foster-Powell neighborhood of SE PDX
Partial Shade Garden: Saturday, June 5th from 1 p.m. until 3 p.m. in the Sunnyside neighborhood of SE PDX
Cost is $30 per participant
Limit of 15 participants per class
Call (503) 729-0954 for more information or e-mail mo@singerhillgardens.org
Please contact Mo if you want to be added to the wait list. mo@singerhillgardens.org
We have set the dates for the 2010 festivals! Mark your calendars because these events are fun for the whole family. All our festivals are free for our members and their families. More information to come as each festival date approaches.
Annual Garden Tour and Member Potluck: June 26th, 2010 at 3 pm
Last year we had tons of members, friends, and families attend. We got our hands dirty digging carrots, toured all the garden plots and had a great potluck that extended late into the evening – what fun!
U-pick tomato festival: September 11th, 2010 at 11 am
This event is rain or shine and in 2009 we had rain, rain, rain. Fortunately, 2009 was a great year for tomatoes so we also had buckets, buckets, buckets of tomatoes being hauled out of the field. Each member gets 5 lbs. and $1.00/lb. of tomatoes beyond that amount.
Second u-pick tomato festival tbd
Pumpkin Pick: October 9th, 2010 at 2 pm
This will be our first annual pumpkin pick! Bring the whole family because the Catlin property will have plenty of pumpkins and flowers!
Jessica and Mo will be giving a two-session course on organic vegetable garden planning for the home gardener. By the end of the course, participants will have the tools to create a garden plan that will utilize the space you have at home to feed your family.
Format:
2 sessions with 2 hours of classroom time followed by 1 and a half hours (optional) of workshop time with experts on hand to answer questions and guide your planning.
Session one:
Brief intro to organic gardening
Brief intro to intensive vegetable gardening
Resource introduction
Site selection and soil prep
Materials list
Eating in season
How to get the most out of your space
Measuring how your family eats and how your space can best be used to stretch your food dollar
workshop time: focused on creating a list of crops that the participant wants to grow, a materials list, and a harvest schedule of seasonal veggies.
Session two:
Propagation 101
Methods for propagating at home
Direct seeding vs. transplanting
Which crops should you purchase? Which should you try to grow at home?
Creating a greenhouse schedule
Variety selection
resources for determining yield
workshop time: focused on selecting varieties, deciding where and how to buy different crops and laying out the beginnings of a planting calendar.
Where: Class at Artemis Cafe, corner of 12th and Division in SE Portland.
When: Session 1 will be on Saturday, January 9th from 11 AM to 3 PM. Session 2 will be on Saturday, January 16th from 11 AM to 3 PM.
Cost: $75 per participant. Organic lunch for both sessions included in the cost of the course. We are happy to accomodate unique dietary needs.
Limit: 15 participants
Please contact Mo at (503) 729-0954 or mo@singerhillgardens.org in order to sign up for the class.
I have learned so much this season that is beyond farming — running a small business, marketing, Quickbooks, and now blogging! Big thanks to everyone who helped get us so tech savvy: Ryan Johnson for building our site, creating this blog, and taking all our beautiful photos, Tiffany Brown and Josh Berger of Plazm for designing our website and creating a lot of other great marketing materials for us, and Tom Hopkins of Sustainable Today for making a fantastic video of our organization. You can also follow us on facebook now too. Look at us — farmers getting on-line and loving it!
We wanted to finish the year off with a bang, and with two buckets this week – I think we’ve achieved our goal. Thank you for allowing our food to nurture you and your family. We hope you’ll join us again next year.
Winter Squash variety “Waltham Butternut”
These butternut squash have been curing in my living room for the last week. They should be sweet and ready to eat.
To store: all winter squash should be stored at about 70 degrees in a dry, dark place.
Arugula variety “Roquette”
Remember that if the flavor of arugula is just too much for you (or your kids) that it can be layered onto a pizza, tossed into pasta, or simply mixed with other greens.
Spinach variety “Olympia”
We finally have a nice, big bag of spinach for you this week.
Chinese Cabbage variety “Bilko”
This is also called Napa Cabbage in the U.S. This cabbage was admittedly harvested just a bit under mature because we wanted you to try this before next year. We have a great recipe in the notes this week focused on Chinese cabbage.
Carrots variety “Napoli”
These little babies are delicious.
Mustard Greens variety “Wild Garden”
Last time we got these mustards, I chopped them up and threw them in a stir-fry. It is an easy way to pack a lot of iron, calcium, and vitamin C into a quick meal.
Radish variety “Red Meat”
There has been a lot of confusion about whether these are beets or radishes, but one bite and you’ll know – radish!
Scallions variety “White Spear”
These scallions had very uneven production so we harvested quite a few small ones in order to make a good bunch.
Beets variety “Kestrel”
These red beets are much sweeter than the last deliveries of beets. The cool weather sweetens them up, just like spinach.
Chinese Cabbage Salad
(From Asparagus to Zucchini)
5 cups (or so) chopped Chinese cabbage
3/4 cup kohlrabi, grated; or winter radish, grated (optional)
1 1/2 cups chow mein noodles (the crunchy ones)
1 cup crushed peanuts
1/4 cup sesame seeds (black, if available)
2 T. rice vinegar
4 T. sesame oil
3 T. soy sauce
1 T. honey
1/2-1 t. dry mustard
Combine cabbage, chow mein noodles, kohlrabi, radish, peanuts, and sesame seeds. Mix remaining ingredients. Toss with cabbage, using just enough dressing to suit your taste. Makes 6-8 servings.
Winter Squash variety “Mesa Queen Acorn”
Acorn squash are a pretty familiar squash variety. We have a great acorn squash recipe at the end of this week’s notes.
Celery variety “Tango”
Celery is infamously hard to grow. It takes forever…150 days from seed to stalk, but it can be sped up enormously by over-watering it (which we, of course, refrain from doing). So, this celery has taken a long time to grow and is going to taste a lot differently than the grocery store variety grown in California.
To use: You may prefer this celery cooked or in soups because we Americans are not used to eating pungent celery. Our recipe this week calls for celery.
Salad Mix
I think this is it for the season, next week we’ll have spinach and arugula again.
Edible Flower Bouquet – Calendula variety “Flash Back”
These beauties are edible. You could garnish a cake, a drink, or a stir-fry. You could also just put them in a vase J.
Red and Green Peppers variety “North Star” and Hot Pepper variety “Black Hungarian”
Jessica harvested all the green and red peppers. They have had a good run and we will pull the plants out on Saturday.
Collard Greens variety “Flash”
These collards have gotten gigantic! They will cook down a lot though, so look at this bunch as one meal.
Daikon Radish variety “Minowase”
Daikons are so mild and sweet they make a great salad topping.
Leeks variety “Lincoln”
We bring you another bunch of these delectable little leeks.
Parsley variety “Italian Flat Leaf”
The parsley has been happily growing away at the Asher’s.
Carrots varieties “Bolero” and “Napoli”
We will likely have a small carrot delivery next week to finish out the season.
Tomatoes variety “Roma” and “San Marzano”
We hope that these end-of-the-season sauce tomatoes can make their way into some yummy soup.
Hardy Kiwis (gleaned from Tom Hopkins)
Hardy kiwis are native to Northern China and Siberia so they do wonderfully in the Pacific Northwest. They grow on 25 ft. vines and require both male and female plants for fertilization. Most of us farmers had never tried these little beauties and love the ylang ylang-like flavor that is present in the really ripe ones.
To use: pop them in your mouth!
To store: hardy kiwis do not store well, so eat these up.
RECIPE
Moroccan-Style Stuffed Acorn Squash
Vegetables, garbanzos, raisins and couscous in a lovely Moroccan broth taste delicious inside butter and brown sugar-brushed acorn squash. You can experiment with different vegetables, or add diced chicken. Feel free to be creative with your amounts – I usually freestyle and end up with leftover stuffing mixture, which tastes great on its own the next day. For vegetarians, substitute vegetable broth for the chicken broth.
INGREDIENTS
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon butter, melted
2 large acorn squash, halved and seeded
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
1 cup garbanzo beans, drained
1/2 cup raisins
1 1/2 tablespoons ground cumin
Salt and pepper to taste
1 (14 ounce) can chicken broth
1 cup uncooked couscous
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Arrange squash halves cut side down on a baking sheet. Bake 30 minutes, or until tender. Dissolve the sugar in the melted butter. Brush squash with the butter mixture, and keep squash warm while preparing the stuffing.
Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Stir in the garlic, celery, and carrots, and cook 5 minutes. Mix in the garbanzo beans and raisins. Season with cumin, salt, and pepper, and continue to cook and stir until vegetables are tender.
Pour the chicken broth into the skillet, and mix in the couscous. Cover skillet, and turn off heat. Allow couscous to absorb liquid for 5 minutes. Stuff squash halves with the skillet mixture to serve.
There are figs at your pick-up site. Grab some if you wish.
Quince (the tree is right behind Singer Hill Café)
Quince is a little known fruit that is very old. It is so old, it is Biblical in fact. It is most closely related to apples and pears, but you MUST cook them to eat them. They are kind of like rubarb in that they do best in dessert dishes or jams. The word marmalade actually comes from the Portuguese word for quince. These are “gleaned” fruits –we can’t take credit for anything but the harvest, but what fun to try something new.
To use: We have a great recipe in this week’s notes.
Leek variety “King Richard”
We have been waiting for these leeks for a long time. Jessica, especially, has wanted to harvest these beauties for weeks and she gleamed when we decided that THIS was the week.
To store: leeks can be cut in half and put in a plastic bag and stored for weeks in the crisper, but really, why would you?
To use: leeks are “hilled” like potatoes. We plant ‘em in a ditch and as they grow we pull the soil up around the stem – this process blanches the leeks, but it also pulls soil into their leaves. So, you will want to chop the leeks first, then soak them in a bowl of water and then rinse them well in a colander. You can use leeks just like you would use onions – caramelize them, fry them, or put them in soups and stews.
Salad Mix
We added edible flowers, spinach leaves, arugula and radicchio to your salad mix this week.
Tomatoes, Cherry Tomatoes, and Tomatillos
It is nearing the end of tomato season and the plants are beginning to wane – thank goodness! We should still have a couple weeks left though.
Carrots variety “Bolero”
This is the last of the Bolero variety. “Napoli” will be ready in about two weeks.
Hot Pepper variety “Hungarian Black”
These peppers have kept ripening despite low nighttime temperatures, which usually stop them dead in their tracks.
To store: Hot peppers will keep for weeks in the crisper if you put them in a plastic bag.
Red or Orange Peppers variety “North Star”
I like sweet peppers chopped in my morning eggs. The five minute egg scramble is the best way to use up a lot of those random veggies that never seem to make it to dinner.
Cucumber and Zucchini
The plants are holding on still, so we’ll keep picking!
Fresh Herbs: basil, sage and thyme
Recipe
Poached Quince (From Earthbound Organic)
Serves 4
Quince is an under-rated fruit despite a long, illustrious history. Believed to be the forbidden fruit from the Garden of Eden, quince is one of the earliest-known fruits. It retains much of its original wild character in spite of thousands of years of cultivation; the fruit is lumpy with a sticky fuzzy coating, and unlike its cousin, the apple, it’s rock hard, not sweet, and needs to be cooked rather than eaten out of hand.
That said, ripe quince has a distinctive fragrance that perfumes a room beautifully, with notes of pineapple, pear, and guava. It’s delicious when cooked and adds a subtle tart note to pies, chutneys, and cakes.
This recipe needs to be prepared at least a day in advance of serving to allow the flavors to develop. The poached quinces can be served hot or cold.
4 medium ripe (yellow) quinces
3 cups water
1 cup sugar
Peel of 1 lemon
2 whole star anise pods
1 cinnamon stick
10 peppercorns
2-inch piece of ginger, sliced
1/4 cup sliced crystallized ginger, as garnish (optional)
Wash the quinces thoroughly. Remove the peels with a vegetable parer.
Combine the remaining ingredients in a pan that will hold all the quinces comfortably. Bring to a boil and add the quinces. Lower the heat and simmer until the quinces are very tender, about 45 minutes. Cooking time will vary depending on the size of the fruit.
Allow the quinces to cool in the pan, then refrigerate in the liquid, covered, at least overnight or up to 3 days.
Before serving, remove the quinces from the liquid and set aside. Reduce the poaching liquid to 1 cup over medium-high heat. Strain and discard the solids.
Carefully remove the cores from the bottom of the quinces with a small knife, if desired. Place each quince on a small plate or in a small bowl and add 1/4 cup syrup to each fruit. Serve with a garnish of sliced crystallized ginger, if desired.
Note: If you’re serving the poached quinces as a hot dessert, reheat the chilled quinces in the poaching liquid until hot. Remove the fruit from the pan and set aside, covered loosely with foil. Reduce the liquid to 1 cup, then pour the hot syrup over the warm quinces.
