Planting Season Begins

Last year was an interesting experiment. I placed starter plants and seeds in the ground in May and by the end of the summer had quite an overrun little deck. My cement garden worked well though I was really concerned that my plants wouldn't get enough sun. I arranged the plants by their need for sunlight and in the end the biggest issue was not having enough soil or big enough containers for the crops I tried planting.

I ambitiously attempted a couple of deep-root requirement plants like zucchini and cucumbers, as well as some serious sun-lovers like Brussels sprouts and peppers and I think I'll need to rethink those for this year. Of course, this year, instead of purchasing our produce weekly from our farmer's market, we will be driving out to our local family farm to pick up our bushel of fresh picked organic vegetables, herbs and flowers for our CSA portion. This alone will drastically reduce what I'll want to plant on my deck, since I know I'll be getting great quality deep-root vegetables, I can have fun planting I-can't-get-enough-of [fill in the blank].

I have so far been at a loss of where I was going to purchase seeds. I already know that I will be purchasing locally produced organic soil from New Earth Farms. In previous years, I purchased starter plants from local gardening shops (like McDonald's Garden Center) or family farms in the area (like Stoney's Produce - they sell really great "standard-items" but also fantastic varietals like lemon balm and eggplant. I love browsing around to get great ideas for the garden!). This year though, I'd love to use up all the unbleached egg cartons I've been saving up and teach Aoife about growing our own plants.

I bought some seeds last year from one of our farmer's markets but really wanted this year to use heirloom seeds only. Fortunately this morning while I was on Etsy, I found a great store that sells heirloom seeds - and I am so excited about it! I love Etsy - it's a great entrepreneurial start-up for home mamas and it's completely homemade, which means my items aren't made in a factory in China (which I love).

On my "for-sure" list to be planted this year are:

• tomatoes: cherry or pear
• summer herbs: basil, dill, Italian parsley, rosemary
• greens: lettuce, Swiss chard, spinach
• herbal flowers: chamomile, echinachea, and Virginia mountain mint

Just browsing around to find seeds makes me excited to get my hands in the dirt - it is always therapeutic! On a closing note, I found this super great remedy from an heirloom seed seller on Etsy, The Bear Foot Shaman:

"Recipe to alleviate almost anything that ails: First get some sunlight - and not behind sunglasses, next drink a big glass of water, and if you are all cooped up reading this, get out and get some fresh air, if when you do go outside the air is not fresh - find a way to get to some fresh air! Last, while you are out getting your fresh air, find a rock that likes you and carry it around for awhile."

Our Local Family Farm

Last year I frequented several farmer's markets. I learned a lot about the need for local family farms after reading Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food and after seeing them week after week, I became rather familiar and friendly with them. It was a really beautiful routine: every Saturday, we would throw Aoife on our back, grab a couple of bags and walk through the farmer's market. Sometimes we would buy a fresh pastry from a local baker or a locally roasted cup of organic coffee, but it almost always included buying our eggs, dairy, (sometimes) beef or chicken, fresh herbs and browsing the farm tables for that week's produce that was picked fresh that morning.

One little stand I particularly liked was that for a goat's milk soap offering. Tasha's Own was the name of the sign in front and week after week I would walk up and smell the really amazing essential oils that came from the neat stacks of bars. One week there was a stack of newspaper articles and following the encouragement of the lady standing at the table, I put one in my bag to read later.

Having located my farmer's market late in the season, I was too late to invest in their CSA, but the article detailed about the goat's milk soap, their goat share, the beginnings of their organic farm and investing the time to teach our children about food and raise a community of people who want to do likewise. I was hooked.

The next week, I put my name on their CSA waiting list. I thought that was the end of it.

The summer ended and fall came, winter came and then my phone rang. Did I still want in? Yes: to the organic CSA, the goat share, and a large stack of really fantastic smelling soap. They had just opened up their CSA list for the season and as Joshua and I had just found out we were expecting, we were only too delighted to know we were going to be getting organic local produce all summer long!

Since we signed our CSA and goat share contracts, we've fallen in love with our local family farm. Joshua went up to hold milk bottles for the newborn sheep and goats, help mend horse fences, and learn about modern homesteading. Aoife loves the animals, especially the dalmatian Great Danes, the guinea hens, the barn kitty and lots of running room! I love the long drive into the country to pick up the creamiest milk imaginable, the warm hospitality and the incredible sense of community.

The hardest part of being connected to our local family farm is driving away. Aoife can't bear the thought of leaving the "puppies" behind, Joshua loves getting his hands dirty and doing work he can actually see the results of and I am still wanting to sit, drink tea and learn all the incredible knowledge that can be gleaned from a mama with eight children who makes her own cheese, homesteads her own farm, homeschools her sweeties and still looks lovely doing it all. (I would move into the barn if they'd let me!)

Don't know where to start finding your local family farm? Check out Local Harvest to jump start your search for farmer's markets, farms, locally-sourced restaurants and co-ops.

Live in Tidewater? Check out Pungo Naturals, Mattawoman Creek Farm, New Earth Farm, and Weeping Radish Eco-Farm for organic favorites!

Green Holiday: Thanksgiving

Trying to continue to make the most of our resources, minimize waste, eat a SOLE food diet and encourage others to have Green Holidays, I've included a little sneak peak into our November festivities. This was my first year hosting Thanksgiving and cooking a turkey without my mom, but we tried our best and made sure we were making tribute to seasonal, local food as well as traditional family favorites!

Grandma Balaban's Holiday Spinach Balls (photo above)

• organic frozen cut spinach
• organic seasoned stuffing mix
• local free-pastured eggs (from Peace and Plenty Farm in NC)
• hormone-free parmesan cheese (from Trader Joe's)
• organic sea-salted butter (from Maine)

Mom's Olive Tapenade

• green olives & black olives
• toasted pecans
• organic omega-3 mayonnaise with flax seed oil
• water crackers

Betty Magill's Cranberry Salad

• fresh organic cranberries (photo above)
• organic grapes, celery, orange and tart apple
• crushed pineapple
• all-natural vegan gelatin
• organic fair-trade white sugar
• organic walnuts
• organic cream cheese

Old-school Mashed Potatoes

• organic local potatoes (from Weeping Radish Eco-Farm in NC)
• organic sea-salted butter
• organic milk

Mom's Sausage Stuffing

• organic celery, onion, apple, fresh sage
• organic seasoned stuffing mix
• fresh nitrate-free venison sausage (gifted to us from our Texan rancher family)
• homemade vegetable stock (photo above)
• organic dried cranberries

Brined Turkey with Cider Gravy

• organic, free-range, heritage turkey
• organic, sea-salted butter
• fresh organic sage & rosemary
• salt brine mix from Williams-Sonoma (photo above)
• unpasteurized, fresh, domestic apple cider
• organic, unbleached, unbromated flour

Drinks

• fresh homemade chai (served both chilled and hot)
• organic, fair-trade, shade-grown coffee
• unpasteurized fresh domestic apple cider

Recipe: Pumpkin Apple Buttermilk Muffins

Ingredients:
Cooking spray
1 cup organic all-purpose (unbleached and unbromated) flour
1 cup organic whole-wheat (stone-ground) flour
1 teaspoon (aluminum-free) baking soda
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3/4 cup packed organic dark brown (fair-trade certified) sugar
3 tablespoons unsulphured blackstrap organic (fair-trade certified) molasses
1/4 cup expeller-pressed safflower oil
2 large local free-pastured eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin

2 medium peeled organic MacIntosh apples (one diced, one shredded)
1 teaspoon organic pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup local cultured buttermilk

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Coat a 12-cup muffin pan with cooking spray.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: flours, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg.
4. In a large bowl, whisk the sugar, molasses, oil and 1 egg until combined.
5. Add the other egg and whisk well.
6. Whisk in the pumpkin, apples and vanilla.
7. Whisk in the flour mixture in 2 batches, alternating with the buttermilk. Whisk just until combined.
8. Pour the batter into the prepared muffin pan and sprinkle with the pumpkin seeds.
9. Tap the pan on the counter a few times to remove any air bubbles.
10. Bake for 20 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center of 1 of the muffins comes out clean.
11. Let cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Run a knife around the muffins to loosen them and unmold. Cool completely on the rack.
12. Eat the yummy muffins!!

Cement Gardening

Joshua and I have a little apartment attached to our collegiate institute. We really like the idea of having a garden and being able to grow our own food. Of course, having a cement deck does not really help our plight. When my mom came to visit in May, she helped me get the ball rolling with getting plants and seeds in the pots and helped me get a system going.
It's been almost two months now and I thought it was definitely high time to show the progress that has been made. Here's our little cement-deck shot. We live facing a youth sized soccer field that is encircled by Virginia's favorite tree: the Crape-myrtle.Already planted at this time (early June) were our tomatoes, herbs: (Italian basil, oregano, chive, sage, mint), lettuce, cucumbers and seeds were in the ground for our spinach, dill, peas and radishes.I don't think I've ever gotten anything to grow successfully from seeds and these little beans were giving me some serious hope for my future as a green thumb. I bought these seeds from the farmer's market from a local farm and I was so tickled when they started sprouting early! Two weeks later, my beans were looking for somewhere to grow:
Somewhere in those two weeks, I was feeling pretty good about seeds, so I also planted Italian flat-leaf parsley. Such sweet little green blooms of life:My mom planted my cherry tomato plant when she visited in May and it has done nothing but flourish. I put it at the end of my walkway and it gets excellent amounts of sun in the morning and throughout the day. I have neighbors who planted inverted tomato pots (I'm still not keen on the idea) and had a rocky start with it, but have finally started forming fruit. I've already been harvesting mine for a couple of weeks. Check out the growth on these tomatoes:After two weeks, it had already grown over the top of the tomato stake and was looking for more room to grow.Then one morning after my walk I noticed it was full of blossoms and one tiny little green tomato! I was so tickled, I had to take a photo for posterity.No sooner have I uploaded the photos from my camera when I find that my tomato plant is really growing and I have a beautiful cluster of fruit beginning to ripen!One week at the farmer's market I noticed they were selling plants, of which I had already planted most of the basics, but I saw they were offering lettuce. I had sown seed for spinach and a spring mix, but I thought perhaps this "deer-tongue" variety might be fun to try. The six-pack of lettuce plants was being sold for $1.50, so I figured if it bombed, I didn't lose much. They were looking a little tender and I was rather apprehensive whether I thought they would actually take root, but about a week later, I was already harvesting leaves for sandwiches and to accompany salads.Shortly thereafter... they really started to take off. I went on a trip for two weeks and a couple of my plants died from the heartbreak of my absence, but the lettuce plants that did survive did really well. Also, the spring mix of micro greens I planted by seed in the center of the pot were progressing way beyond my meager expectation of my cement garden.Below is the photo I took this evening of my crazy lettuce plants. Yes, they have gone to seed because I can't harvest their sweet leaves fast enough. I'm hoping to dry out the seeds after it goes wild so I can try my hand at deer-tongue lettuce again. It was such a wonderfully mild lettuce and for our climate and sun, grew extremely well.






















The cucumber starter plants I bought I thought would never reach maturity...
...but those words were barely out of my mouth, when my cukes were already reaching out of the box. I quickly learned that cucumbers have really extensive root systems that bury themselves at least 18" and I needed to transplant even though they had already begun to flower.The transplant was a success and my plants were quickly covered in pretty yellow blossoms and fantastic looking cukes!As far as herbs are concerned, my oregano, chives and rosemary came back from the years' prior, and we purchased starter plants for the Italian basil, purple sage and grew parsley from seed. Now isn't that a fantastic looking herb pot?
I have this special love for Kentucky Colonel spearmint. Just after I got married, my dad had a layover in Norfolk before he flew to Iraq and as my own husband was deployed elsewhere, I had this really special daughter-daddy time where I made him lots of fresh mint iced tea. Somehow I always associate bright, fresh, huge Kentucky Colonel mint leaves with that memory and I love having it on hand in case he should happen to drop in, I have plenty on reserve for him!

This is my purple-leaved sage as of tonight. Joshua and I really enjoy frying sage leaves as a fantastic amuse-bouche styled appetizer. It's so remarkably fresh and clean on the palate and it's rather unexpected... I can't wait to preserve it for the winter and have on hand for our Thanksgiving turkey. For as long as I can remember, my mom has put sage leaves under the skin of the turkey with stems of chives, to look like growing plants under the skin... it makes a wonderful presentation after the bird is browned.

This is my sweetie rosemary plant. I've had the same plant now for three years and though it never seems to get amazingly large, it has been very resilient to the changes (4 different pots, 3 different locations, droughts, floods...). Rosemary is most certainly Joshua's favorite plant in our garden (just ask our friends), so I make sure to take extra care with this plant!

We planted zucchini and Brussels sprouts as well this year. I think they got a late start and were not potted in enough soil (part of the drawback of having to put everything on a cement deck), they both are rather floundering this year and though the zucchini continues to produce gorgeous orange blossoms, I have yet to see fruit.

We also planted bell peppers and jalapenos. The jalapenos blossomed and produced fruit first and are almost ready for an initial harvest, which tickles me because I have a great recipe for preserved peppers that I'm dying to try out!

Speaking of preserving, after my cucumbers were done, I transplanted my Italian basil to the cuke pot and they have really dug deep and grown large enough to start me thinking about caprese salad and pesto!

Of course no garden is complete without it's wildlife and Aoife and I have been able to see many stunning butterflies, moths and dragonflies frequent our garden space. But this one takes the cake. I only saw it once climbing on my tomato pot and then I didn't see it again (I'm sure metamorphosis is to take credit for that), but I still have no idea what it is. Any clues?

The dipledenia I killed from last year was replaced with this gorgeous beauty which I can see from my kitchen and I absolutely love. My mom and I have this kindred relationship for dipledenia and I don't remember ever not having one... the climbing aspect of this flowering shrub just captivates me.

I have so many blossoms on it now it has been such a refreshing scent on my porch and a wonderful spray of pink for the Davis ladies who desperately need something girly!
Thanks for sitting with us on our porch... if you stay awhile, I'll be sure to mix up a tall frosty glass of rosemary lemonade or minty iced tea!

Farmer's Markets

I love my farmer's market.

Yes, that photo up above are my goodies from a recent trip to the farmer's market, including free-pastured Americana chicken eggs (whose eggs are green, blue or brown), free-pastured duck eggs, raw and unfiltered honey, farmstead cheese (made from the milk produced on that farm), buttermilk and cream, grass-fed Dexter beef, and all sorts of organic lettuces and fresh produce.

Looking for a farmer's market near you? Check out these resources to get connected to your locavore community:

• Local Harvest: A great springboard of information for restaurants that source locally, farmer's markets as well as CSAs offered by your local farm.
• Organic Consumer's Association: Looking for only organic? Check out the OCA's GreenPeople Directory link to find co-ops as well as local farms producing organic grain, meat, dairy and selling and utilizing non-GMO seeds.
• Eat Well Guide: Another great resource for people trying to find local sustainable and organic restaurants, farmer's markets and grocers in their area. This is also great if you are going to be on the road travelling and you want to know where to find SOLE food around you quickly.
• Edible Communities: This has become one of my favorite "insider" resources. Edible Communities highlights regions' local seasonal harvest. I live in the Chesapeake watershed, so my Edible Chesapeake magazine gives me great advertisements on professional restaurants, regionally sourced products as well as articles and recipes. You can buy a subscription or find this publication at your local farmer's market.

Live in the Tidewater area? Check out these markets:

• Five Points Farm Market: Located in Norfolk, this farmer's market is open 5 days a week and is housed in an old warehouse building. Many local farms drop off their produce or products at regular intervals during the week and 5 Points sells them. Saturday morning is when I go purchase my dairy, produce as well as dried legumes and meat.
• Old Beach Farmer's Market: Located in Virginia Beach, OBFM is an open air market only open 8-noon on Saturdays. Beyond the standard fare of veggies, there are vendors who sell fresh granola, bread, croissants, dressings and seafood.

Green Holiday: Easter

In my efforts to start eating more locally, I built a holiday menu that was seasonal, local, organic and almost entirely homemade. In efforts to reduce waste and reduce our carbon footprint, I purchased almost everything at the farmer's market with my reusable grocery bags and produce bags and utilized cloth napkins at the table. Here's a listing of our SOLE food Easter menu:

Eggs Benedict:

• Local chicken eggs (purchased from Peace & Plenty farm in NC)
• organic whole wheat English muffins (from the Organic Food Depot)
• oven roasted turkey slices (I don't eat pork... so this were a substitute from the Fresh Market)
• hollandaise made with cream from a local dairy and organic butter from a company that advertises its sustainable business practices

Crepes Suzette:

• Local duck eggs (also from Peace & Plenty farm in NC)
• Locally produced cream (from Homestead Creamery in Roanoke)
• organic butter
• domestic flour (from King Arthur in VT)

Blanched Asparagus:

• locally grown and harvested asparagus (purchased at the Eastern Market in Capitol Hill)

Chocolate Truffles

• locally made chocolate truffles that are made without additives or preservatives using only seasonal ingredients (bought at 5 Points Community Market from Cocoa Noveau: she recently set up an Etsy store so when she bakes for the farmer's market you can purchase her fantastic European chocolates online!)

My only regret was that I didn't take a photo of us enjoying all this fantastic food!!

Patio Garden

It's almost time to start planting. This weekend I'll start turning my dilapidated deck space into my garden. This year will be a little different since we moved during the winter and our new apartment is completely westward-facing. (Read here: only afternoon/evening sun... almost entirely useless for growing vegetables). I have not yet begun researching plants that will be more accommodating to part-sun and shade since I really just wanted to plant cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots, beans; all of which are sun-lovers. I have half a mind to plant them in my studio on top of my architect's desk, which would ensure that no pests reach my plants but would also inhibit pollination of the fruit later which would likely pose a problem, at least for my tomatoes.

My rosemary, chives and oregano are already back from last year and are excited about this new season. Our new apartment is on the base floor and is completely sheltered from the rain which also poses an issue for growing. Rosemary is from the arid mountainous terrain of Italy and does well in dry soil but chives and oregano do not. I've started running outside when it rains and pushing my little window boxes into the rainfall so they may get some of the free nutrients but my dipledenia and hibiscus from last year aren't even budging.

This year, Joshua and I have talked about planting lettuce and scallions, both of which would go really well in the large pots that are currently hosting my dead (am I already pronouncing that?) dipledenia and hibiscus plants. My mom may be journeying this way next week and perhaps dirt digging will be a quality mother-daughter activity. Last year my mother planted my garden alone. I was nine-months' expecting and we were biding our time until Aoife came, so I kept her company while she planted all my flowers and herbs.

I won't lie: I cannot successfully grow anything from seed. I buy seedlings and small plants because my green thumb was amputated at a young age: I believe in kindergarten I grew marigolds and that may have been my last successful venture.

I am undecided from where I will purchase my plants this year. Traditionally, I buy them from the McDonald Garden Center, but this year I was thinking about purchasing from something a little more "grassroots". Our local community college has a horticulture club that is sponsoring a plant sale, including a nice list of herbs and vegetables, all of which seem to be well researched for hardiness and resistance to disease. The other location is my local farmer's market: Five Points Community Farm Market which is sponsoring the sale of starter plants. Last weekend while in Washington D.C I went to one of my favorite farmer's markets: The Eastern Market at Capitol Hill. The purple Thai basil and lamb's ear sage they were offering made me wish I lived closer!

I'll post before and after pictures of my deck so you can see how I'm transforming the space into something edible, enjoyable and sustainable. In the meanwhile, I'll start resarching a type of tomato that grows in the dark in dry soil...

SOLE Food

No, I didn't spell that wrong. I meant SOLE food: Sustainable-Organic-Local-Ethical.

I have started really jumping into the green food movement. Joshua and I routinely shopped at the local food market and though we have been making a pull away from processed foods for awhile and try primarily to eat whole food sources, I was not making a large distinction as the origin of my food.

Across the street from our previous residence was an organic foods market that offered a really great selection of items both produce and packaged, but I did not capitalize on it since I was buying cheaper items at my local grocer. However, I picked up a book recently I bought for my pregnancy and was instantly compelled by the statistics it offered on the differences between conventional and organic foods. First, let me say that some conventional farmers utilize organic practices but have not invested for the organic conversion and as such these statistics are not hard and fast.

The buzz about eating food locally has even hit the White House, as this week the First Lady begun planting a 1,100 sq ft garden, to help her daughters learn about the importance of eating healthy, fresh and emphasizing locally grown produce.

Saturday, Joshua and I found a great new farmer's market that spring-boarded my research and understanding of SOLE food. I landed a copy of edible Chesapeake, a quarterly magazine that focuses on local food in its season. This concept in itself has been hitting me hard lately. I went to the grocery store last week and in my cart as I was checking out I noticed a couple of things: grapes, pineapple, watermelon, bananas and avocados. I suppose this would not be an issue if it were July and I lived in Central America, but as it stands, these items travelled a long way to end up in my cart Saturday afternoon. The imported grapes are definitely on the worst conventional foods list, aptly named the "Dirty Dozen" as they are the twelve most pesticide-harboring fruits and vegetables. When I visit my parents in Waikiki this October, I'll make sure to load up on tons of fresh pineapple and bananas, as they will be there in abundance and I know I can wait a couple of more months for fresh watermelon at my farmer's market. Avocados will definitely be put on my cereal when I get to Florida next month as my mother in law has recently sparked a new affinity for them. I need to start eating produce in its season.

A girlfriend of mine recently also started me on the ethics of eating meat. I used to think PETA was just a little off-kilter ranting about (what I thought to be) isolated events of harm to animals. Research is pouring in about the wide scale effects of slaughterhouses and factory farms--its detriment to the environment, economy, our health and the welfare of the animals who are living there. An article was recently written on the Muslim butchering method called halal:

In order for meat (except pork, which Muslims don’t eat) to be halal, which
means lawful, a Muslim has to say a blessing, position the animal facing
toward Mecca, and slaughter it with a swift cut across the throat with a
very sharp steel knife. This centuries-old method of slaughter, similar in
many ways to kosher slaughter, is meant to incur the least pain possible
while allowing the carcass to be completely drained of blood... halal rules
include several provisions for minimizing the animal’s stress prior to
slaughter, including ensuring it has been normally fed and watered, and that
it is in good health, and prohibiting any animal from seeing another animal
being slaughtered. And if they have traveled, they are required to be well
rested—at least overnight—before slaughter, according to Egyptian-born Omar
Wali, owner of American Halal Meat in Springfield, Virginia.

Reading these articles really makes me reconsider some of my food choices and
makes me want to take a more conscious approach toward how I consume.