Micro-Greens for All
The latest post from Mar Vista's Bounty Hunter is ready for your perusal. Find out more about Silver Lake Farms and how they're going "greens": New Vendor Features Organic Micro-greens for Mar Vistans
One of two Cinderella Pumpkins grown in 2012
Making Pumpkin Puree
Did you know that most pumpkin puree sold in a can is not actually pumpkin? It's some other kind of squash masquerading as pumpkin. There's only one way to know for sure that you have the genuine article, and that's to make it yourself. It's easy, and not very time consuming. We harvested 2 pumpkins this year (sad, but still something to show for the season). One of those beauties was massacred in the street on Halloween night. The other…
New home for bees
Bee Hive Rescue – Fascinating Stuff!
Every once in a while, bees find a home at Ocean View Farms organic community garden. Sadly, we can't legally keep them there, but instead of calling the exterminators, a bee rescue team came to relocate them to a new home. I was on hand for said event, and it was thrilling to watch. Here's a play by play. The bees had taken up residence in a storage box. Rob McFarland of HoneyLove.org lit a smoker to start the process.…
Swiss chard is ready for harvest. Cilantro bolts to seed, attracting aphid-destroying parasitic wasps.
Fall Garden in Progress – Part 2
Last week we shared what's growin' on in our Test Garden. Now let's look at what the fall garden looks like over at our community garden plot. In just a few weeks it's transformed from the dry, spent garden of summer to an active cool-weather garden with oodles of potential. Lettuces, broccoli, cabbage, chard, garlic, shallots and root crops are all making way in the garden. Cilantro, parsley, mache (a.k.a. corn salad) and arugula will keep salads interesting this winter.…
Behold the yellow sweet flesh of the Golden Honey
Watermelon in November
Chalk it up to climate change, or just a fluke of nature, but we're harvesting watermelon in November. Not just any watermelon, Golden Honey watermelon. Our other watermelons grew within the appropriate time frame expected from any hot weather crop, but the Golden Honey just whimpered along, producing compact vines but no flowers. Long after we harvested our other watermelons (and just about the time we were planning to pull out the unsuccessful plant) a heat wave came along and…
Do The Math for Climate Change
Earlier this week I attended Do The Math at UCLA with Bill McKibben and 350.org. For those who aren't familiar with Bill McKibben, he is the author of 14 books including Eaarth and The End of Nature. He is an educated voice in the field of climate change and he has a plan to turn things around. As organic gardeners, we're already doing a lot to cut down on carbon emissions. We compost (which captures carbon), we grow our own…
Compostable cutlery, nearly three years later
Compostable Cutlery – Not!
I've been unknowingly conducting an experiment on compostable cutlery over the last three years. Today I report my findings to you, in hopes that it will dispel some of the myths about biodegradable products. I celebrated a landmark birthday in February nearly 3 years ago. In our effort to lower our carbon footprint, we bought compostable/biodegradable cutlery and planned to compost everything from the party, including paper plates and cups (no birthday girl wants to do dishes in a ballgown). …
Frittata fresh from the oven with blobs of goat cheese
Sweet Potato & Kale Frittata with Goat Cheese
As the weather cools down, the urge to turn on the oven increases. This new recipe from Selma Brown Morrow appeared in a recent issue of Vegetarian Times and captures the essence of cold-weather comfort food. It comes together in 30 minutes, but if you choose not to nuke your sweet potatoes as instructed, add about 15 minutes to the process. Sweet Potato and Kale Frittata with Goat Cheese 1 med sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1/2" pieces 8…
Soil builder cover crop
Fall Garden In Progress
Some gardens are shut down for the winter, while others are heading in that direction. In warm-winter climates, however, it's just the beginning of another great growing season. Fall gardens or cool-weather crops are some of the most satisfying to grow (not to mention the easiest). As summer veggies make an exit (or not), we'd like to share with you what's growin' on in our Test Garden this fall: We soak seeds overnight and coat the peas with inoculant before…
Chives in abundance
What to Do with All Those Chives?
I love chives, but let's face it--a little bit goes a long way. If I use more than two or three stems (or scapes) at a time, it's a rarity. So what do we do with this fragrant, romantic herb besides snipping a few stems over baked potatoes? Let's explore. Toss with salads -Mark Bittman suggests using copious amounts in a chive salad, with soy sauce and toasted sesame oil. Chive pesto - make this pesto from Mariquita Farm and…