Tomatoes, Tomatoes, Tomatoes
It's harvest time for tomatoes, whether they be determinate or indeterminate. These orbs of delight are the quintessential summer fruit and we're picking them daily. We planted early this year (quite possibly a mistake since we now have blight...but then again, we get blight every year, so I give up). We grew 18 different varieties this year, all heirlooms, all gorgeous. Here's a little tomato parade for 2014: Our first time growing these successfully. Can't wait to make sauce. Jaune…
Harvesting Black Dakota Popping Corn
This spring we experimented with growing heirloom Black Dakota popping corn. It's a beautiful, deep red, pointy popping corn that pops white. We couldn't resist the opportunity to plant this ancestral corn and load up on one of our favorite snacks. Growing popcorn is easy because you don't have to time it out to pick it during the milk stage. You just grow it and let it dry on the stalk. That's it. To learn more details about growing popcorn…
Recipe: Garden-Fresh Fruit Leather
Preserving the harvest was never so fun as when making fruit leather. It's simple and easy and is far better for you than the sugar-laden stuff you get from the store. Kids love it, and grown ups do it. Here's our first attempt at making two different kinds. We use our solar food dryer as much as possible during the summer, and this was the perfect experiment to try outdoors. If you don't have one, you can make fruit leather…
Recipe: Provolone & Leek Grilled Cheese Sandwich
We're up to our ears in leeks right now. We've made the giant vat of potato leek soup. We've dehydrated 3 jars worth of leeks for use in eggs and soups later on. Now what? Well, when we found this recipe for Provolone and Leek Greens on Country Sourdough, our inner 4-year-old jumped up and said, "YES!" We strive for extravagance here at Gardenerd, so we went full tilt on the melted butter and went a step above country sourdough…
Recipe: Indian Summer Succotash
It's zucchini time, and if your garden is "overproducing" zucchini like ours is, this one is for you. It's a quick dish that takes 30 minutes or fewer, and uses home grown ingredients. Succotash is traditionally something that features corn and a type of bean, but this one is bean-free, and highlights the fresh-tasting flavors of the summer garden. We used zucchini, garlic, lemon juice, mint and tomatoes from the garden. The rest of the ingredients came from the store.…
Growing Food in Growing Cities
Every once in a while, we get to promote projects we think bring awareness to subjects we cover here at Gardenerd. Today's guest blogger has created a documentary film that explores one of our favorite subjects: urban farming. Meet Dan Susman, Director of Growing Cities. Dan has lived, breathed, and eaten urban agriculture over the past three years making Growing Cities. He has visited countless urban farms and food projects across the country, and worked with many leaders in the…
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