San Francisco starts mandatory composting this week | MNN - Mother Nature Network

This is a great goal for Dallas - even if it may be hard to sell to those who still rake and bag leaves....


San Francisco starts mandatory composting this week MNN - Mother Nature Network

Marie
Eat Your Food - Naturally!

Rain, Rain, and more RAIN!

Normally, we do nothing but give thanks and praise for the rain we get....but after 20 inches of the wet stuff in the past 30 days with only a few shots of sunshine inbetween, it is making our garden grow very slowly and difficult to finish getting our cool season plants in the ground. The trees are sure happy though and I'm not really complaining, just sayin it is part of farming.

The tomatoes are producing fruits, but they are a ways off from being ripe yet - and I would like to have some to can for the winter! "Farmer-in-Training" Chad, has developed a Charlotte's Web of sorts to support our fall tomatoes - so let's bring 'em on!

Radishes that were planted before the deluge started were intended to harvest with beans, tomatoes, peppers and squash - so much for that idea! That first planting of radishes was harvested, and another round is in - and the recipes are coming for them, too. Radish greens ARE Edible - some use in soups, others stir fry, and yet others saute' with other greens. Share your recipe with us. Here are a few from Liz. The website is getting close to being ready and I'll have a page just for recipes there!

Spicy Stir-Fried Radish Greens and/or Swiss Chard

(Makes 2 servings, can easily be doubled. Recipe created by Kalyn with some chard-cooking inspiration from Vegetables Every Day.)

8-10 ounces radish greens and/or swiss chard,

washed and cut into 1/2 inch slices

2-3 tsp. peanut oil

2 large garlic cloves (for seasoning the oil)

sauce mixture:

1 T soy sauce (I like Kikkomans)

1 tsp. rice vinegar (not seasoned)

1 tsp. Agave nectar

1/4 tsp. (or less) Sriracha sauce or other hot sauce

Wash and dry radish greens and/or swiss chard. (I used a salad spinner.) If desired, soak greens for about 30 minutes in very cold water. (This makes sure they're crisp for the quick stir-frying.) Working in batches, cut greens crosswise into 1/2 inch slices. Mix together sauce ingredients and set aside. Preheat the wok or large, heavy frying pan until it feels very hot when you hold your hand there, then add the oil. When oil looks shimmery, add the garlic cloves and cook about 30 seconds, making sure garlic doesn't start to brown. Remove garlic and discard. Add chopped radish greens and/or swiss chard all at once and immediately begin to stir-fry, turning greens over and over just until they are almost all wilted. (For me this was only one minute, but I have a great gas stove with a burner with really high heat.) When greens are almost all wilted, add sauce ingredients, stir, and cook 30 seconds more. Serve hot.

Potato Salad with Wild Radish Greens
Ingredients: (serves 2-3)

A bunch of wild radish greens

4-5 potatoes

a few spring onions

Dressing:3 tbs olive oil1 ts dijon mustard

1 clove of garlic, minced

1 lemon juice

1)Boil the potates, when cool enough peel and chop them. Transfer them to a salad bowl.2)Throw the wild radish greens in a pan full of boiling water,leave them for about ten minutes.3)Strain them and pour cold water over them to avoid discoloration.4)Then chop the greens, transfer them to the salad bowl.5)Whisk all the ingredients of the dressing, pour it into the salad bowl, mix well and serve.

Over the course of a few work days, our great work share members and volunteers did plant over half of most of the plugs we wanted to, but there are still the strawberry plants and 2 kinds of cabbage that need to get in. Garlic is on the way and it won't be too long before we plant onions and then potatoes - those were soooo good last year!

Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Mesculin Mix, Spinach, Pok Choi, green cutting onions and some of the two varieties of cabbage are in along with seeds of Swiss Chard, more cabbages, turnips, mustard greens, carrots and more radishes. (French Breakfast this time.)

I've also started to get some of the annual herbs going as the basil is fading - being eaten by something is more like it - and will soon succumb to cold temps.

It won't be long before we're flipping pages of seed catalogs for next spring and I'm always looking for more stuff to plant. Send me your ideas.

Stay dry!

Marie
Eat Your Food - Naturally!

Your Family Could be Eating Organic Food for the Same Price as Processed Foods -- or Less

I know we all could use some help in the kitchen budget department. And many of you are probably far better cooks than I am, but when I see an article like this that combines the menu planning with a shopping list, I'm all over it because I think it is great to get new ideas and who can't use a little help planning meals?

Especially I like it when it is an all natural food menu that can show the contrast of the mainstream's thought that eating healthy is more expensive than eating cheap food.

I hope this helps you in your meal planning. Pass it on to a friend. I have many friends, and relatives, who think I'm nuts - but this article proves you CAN eat organic and not go broke.


Your Family Could be Eating Organic Food for the Same Price as Processed Foods -- or Less

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Eat Locally Grown Food All Year

What a great article - even though these folks are up in the north and have basements, we can learn some from them, too. I'm working on a canning class actually for later this year and Herb has given me directions for dehydrating that I've yet to share - my bad.

We all can do many little things to try to eat as local and in season as we can. Those in our CSA are doing tons! Hopefully, the coming rains will be gentle and water in nicely the few plants I have bravely put in. I've held out most, but thought we'd try to get at least one early round in since the rain delayed most of the day. Maybe it will stay north of the farm?

Seeds are covered this time so we shouldn't lose the 2nd seeding of root crops.

Enjoy the article - eat well!


Eat Locally Grown Food All Year

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Wouldn't it be easier if they just stopped feeding cows corn and cow parts?

Release No. 0491.09

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Sometimes, you can have too much of a good thing...

Another two and nearly a half inches of rain since last night, has made the gardens quite the soggy mess again. The good news however, is that I think all of the seeds planted have had enough time to get going before it started coming down and it wasn't coming down too hard, so as long as they don't rot in the excess moisture before they sprout some true leaves - we should be in good shape on cabbages, lettuces and tat soi.

Our plugs should be in this week - but we're not going to get them in the ground if the forecast holds true. Dave from my old job, told me that the plugs should be ok in their pots for about a week or two upon arrival - so we have to hope the soil dries up a bit in that time frame or we'll be potting up plugs into 2 inch plug trays....not a task I want to endure.

Just wanted to put in a bit of a weather update - stay dry!



Marie
Eat Your Food - Naturally!