Eating the front lawn
Thursday, May 08, 2008
Over the weekend I was spinning yarn in the afternoon, and my husband asked for my help outside. “I went a little crazy,” he said “and I need your help cleaning up.”
Nothing could have prepared me for he did: half of our front lawn was completely bare. He ripped up everything.
We do not have a traditional front lawn, all flat with a lovely expanse of green grass. Rather, we have a steep front yard covered in ivy and other ground cover. It often looks messy and sort of overgrown. There’s a 6 feet by 5 feet section to the left of our front steps, and a 15 feet by 5 feet section to the right of our front steps. My husband decimated the smaller section.
As we threw the detritus into lawn bags, we talked about what to do to the plot. My husband wanted to put in some nice, flowering ground cover. Vinca perhaps. Or maybe Phlox. The more I think about it, though, this might be the perfect time to introduce some edible ground cover. It makes perfect sense - I’ve been trying to convert more and more of our lawn into garden space.
And as it turns out, there are a lot of options available.
Perennial herbs are readily available - oregano, chives, mint, thyme, bay, lavender, lemongrass, rosemary, just to name a few. And there are also edible ground covers to choose from. Lingonberry is viable option. This low growing, spreading, evergreen ground cover produces edible berries in late Summer. Cranberries are another interesting option. Cranberries are a low-growing, spreading ground cover that, New Jersey being the cranberry capital, does very well in our area...and a bog is unnecessary.
Alternatively, lowbush blueberries are another option. Lowbush blueberry bushes, also known as Maine blueberries, only get about a foot high at maximum. They are also native to Pennsylvania and tend to spread like crazy.
Coincidentally, I recently discovered three local nurseries that specialize in native plants: Edge of the Woods, Red Bud, and Yellow Springs. All three are a rich source of native edible landscaping!.
What are your suggestions for plants to include in an edible landscape?
To bee or not to bee
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
We’ve been concerned about bee populations for a while now, since the minute the reports of colony collapses began to be reported. Those of us who garden truly understand the benefit of bees, and by now I think most of us appreciate the impact of bees on our food sources. It’s said that Einstein predicted the end of mankind within four years without bees.
A report out yesterday indicates that bee health in commercial colonies has declined even since last year.
A survey of bee health released Tuesday revealed a grim picture, with 36.1 percent of the nation’s commercially managed hives lost since last year.
Last year’s survey commissioned by the Apiary Inspectors of America found losses of about 32 percent.
As beekeepers travel with their hives this spring to pollinate crops around the country, it’s clear the insects are buckling under the weight of new diseases, pesticide drift and old enemies like the parasitic varroa mite, said Dennis vanEngelsdorp, president of the group.
This is the second year the association has measured colony deaths across the country. This means there aren’t enough numbers to show a trend, but clearly bees are dying at unsustainable levels and the situation is not improving, said vanEngelsdorp, also a bee expert with the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture.
Pennsylvania has committed an additional $20,400 into Colony Collapse Disorder research at Penn State, bringing the total funds dedicated to investigating CCD to $86,000. That doesn’t seem like nearly enough money to me to investigate something that could impact us all so radically.
Just last year Pennsylvania apple growers, as well as fruit growers throughout the region, had trouble getting enough bees to pollinate their acreage. The cost of renting commercial bees increased by 60%. With the greater decline, rental prices will likely increase again, and farmers will be forced to pass on the extra costs to consumers.
So what can you and I do? No one really knows exactly what’s killing off the bees, but we can support wild bee habitats. Honeybees are not the only good pollinators - bumblebees and Mason bees are also prized for pollination. To make your yard or patio bee-friendly, grow plants that have plenty of nectar and pollen. Feed the bees! Avoid pesticides and other harsh chemicals. And be sure to give bees a place to live. You can purchase bee habitats, but you can just as easily build your own.
Spring supper
A lovely spring supper with new potatoes, salmon on a bed of local spinach, and New Jersey asparagus. M and I have been sick, and sad that we haven’t cooked as much local stuff lately, so this asparagus was a treat. (I’ll be posting soon about what’s left in our freezer, Emily!)
We got our first CSA box on Monday, which was a joyful occasion. We’ve eaten some of the mushrooms, Asian greens, scallions, lettuce, and spinach. Left is a bag of baby spring greens and a couple of things I’m forgetting. I ate all the radishes standing over the sink as I washed them (M’s not a big fan), which was a zingy, wet, crisp delight!
Pantry Confessional
The tomatoes are gone. The frozen peaches are long gone. Even the carnival acorn squash in this photo are gone- unceremoniously roasted in early March. I know I’m not the only hoarder in the Farm to Philly community, and could you blame us? Other Philadelphians are sipping margaritas on Sunday afternoons in July while we’re sweating over a canning bath. We soldier on like an army of urban, modern-day Laura Ingalls Wilders: oven drying tomatoes, freezing blueberries on sheet trays, and putting up preserves for what sometimes feels like the whole neighborhood. In the spirit of this kind of down and dirty local food heroism- especially since we’ve got so much interest in One Local Summer!- I’m confessing the local foods that have somehow managed to escape my snacking, baking, party-throwing maw.
1 quart bag grated zucchini, frozen
at least a gallon of sour cherries*
2 quarts black raspberries, frozen (a birthday present for my Mom that I’ve been sneaking into for smoothies)
1 pint concord grape puree, frozen
1 dozen jalapenos, frozen
6 pints blueberry jam
5 pints strawberry jam
*which I stupidly froze in one giant plastic container after I nearly had a nervous breakdown pitting them with a paperclip. I treated myself to an OXO cherry-pitter at Foster’s this very week.
Time to ‘fess up, people. What’s in your freezer?
Spring Salad
This beauty has got to be one of my favorite spring meals which, like a tomato salad with basil in August, is a natural fit to spring produce in the Delaware Valley. It has become something of a weekly ritual for Lindsey and I to pick up produce at the Saturday Clark Park Market, followed by a lunch salad paying homage to whatever season we’re in. This one, while firmly rooted in the optimistic green of Spring, keeps the not-so-distant winter in sight with the rich underpinnings of smoky bacon and tangy shallot.
Spring Salad with Asparagus, Bacon and Hard-Cooked Egg
-serves two as a meal, four as an accompanimenttwo good handfuls of lettuce mix, mesclun, or young spinach
one shallot, thinly sliced
one pound asparagus, tough ends snapped off
1/2 pound smoked bacon, sliced
4 eggs
salad dressing- spicy, mustardy vinaigrette is great with this rich salad1. Begin by laying strips of bacon on a rimmed baking sheet. Place bacon in a cold oven and turn on to 350ºF*. Check on your bacon periodically as you prepare your eggs and wash your greens. It is ready to come out when it has little white bubbles on top. Drain bacon slices on paper towels or torn up paper bags.
2. Submerge eggs in water in a small saucepan. Place pan over high heat. Just as water begins to boil, turn off heat and cover pan. Time ten minutes and rinse in cold water to stop cooking.
3. While you wait for your eggs and bacon to cook, wash your salad greens. Fill your salad spinner or a large bowl with cool water and swish the greens around gently to allow any grit to settle to the bottom of the bowl. Drain by pulling handfuls of greens into the basket of your spinner (or into a clean pillowcase). Dump out water (look at all that grit!) and either spin dry, or take your pillowcase outside and swing gently overhead to fling water from the greens. Set aside however many greens your would like for this salad and store the rest in an airtight container in the fridge.
4. Rinse your asparagus and snap off tough stem ends that have a purple or white appearance.
5. Once your bacon is cooked and happily draining away, pour off your expertly rendered bacon fat into a jar for later use. Spread asparagus on the same baking sheet and give it a shake to distribute the residual bacon grease. Pop them back into the oven to roast for 8-10 minutes.
6. Peel and thinly slice your shallot and peel your now-cooled hard-cooked eggs.
7. Remove asparagus from oven and allow to cool slightly on the pan as you finish readying your ingredients.
8. Customize each bowl of greens with a sprinkle of shallot, several stalks of asparagus, crumbled bacon and egg.
*Starting the bacon in a cold oven allows the bacon fat to render instead of sear and you’ll be able to use it as a nice [local] cooking fat later.
Book Festival: Ellie Krieger
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
For those of you interested in low-fat cooking and natural foods, don’t miss Food Network celebu-chef Ellie Krieger‘s appearance at the upcoming Philadelphia Book Festival! Krieger will talk at noon on May 17 at the Skyline Salon.
Healthy eating shouldn’t hurt, argues Food Network star and registered dietician Ellie Krieger. A proponent of good, fresh food prepared simply but deliciously, Krieger eschews the use of supposed “healthy” non-fat food substitutes, because when the fat goes out, the additives go in. The 200 recipes collected in The Food You Crave celebrate natural foods–including butter!–in moderate amounts as the keystone of a healthy lifestyle.
The Philadelphia Book Festival is a free event that runs the weekend of May 17 and May 18. In addition to a long list of author readings, a Book Fair is held with more than 70 literary exhibitors.
One Local Summer - now with buttons!
Monday, May 05, 2008
Wow! The response to One Local Summer has been amazing! From Friday to Sunday, 36 people signed up. Add that to the 20 people who signed up prior to that and we’ve got the makings of an exciting OLS! There are still three weeks until the deadline for signing up - it’s impossible to guess how many participants we’ll have this year!
Over the weekend I got busy and made a couple of buttons for participants to take. There’s on the left hand corner of this post, and the other two will appear at the bottom of the post.
Thanks to everyone who volunteered to coordinate a region. We definitely have enough for the six regions, but we can always use more volunteers in case a region is too big for a single person to coordinate! One Local Summer is very much a volunteer-driven effort and we appreciate your willingness to help out!
Please note: the deadline to sign up for One Local Summer is Sunday, May 25.
Breakfast of Champions
Dear French Toast,
I love you. I know I didn’t always, but now I do. The line of crispiness around your edges, the squashy eggy goodness of your middle, your teamwork with local blueberries (frozen from a pick-your-own place in 2007) and local syrup. I made your bread, and the phenomenal eggs are from a local farm for Winter Shares. You are cozy and cheery and you made my day.
Love,
Eliza
Let them eat cake
Saturday, May 03, 2008
Last Saturday I was waiting in line to buy asparagus from Daryl Rineer at the Clark Park Farmer’s Market. Making it’s shocking debut as the only red in a sea of spring greens, the rhubarb was a popular item on that particular morning. Daryl was weighing out handfuls of it for two little boys in spangled superhero capes. Apparently, a pie was going to grace someone’s dinner table on that particular weekend. They boys handed Daryl their cash and cackled maniacally as they made off with their take, “We have so much RHUBARB!” I smiled at one of my fellow line-waiters and wondered whether I could have identified rhubarb at the age of eight or nine.
The only way I can think to describe springtime is as the ultimate annual relief, a reward for a long winter of chapped lips and turtlenecks. Feeling the warm sunshine and the easy air, and seeing the return of fresh things to the markets is enough to make those among us who have outgrown our sequined capes heft a sigh and breathe easier. Fickle Springtime is also an ideal season for baking. The days are warm but the early hours still call for a pair of socks and a twilight beckons a sweater. Whenever I see a recipe for oven-roasted anything in July or August I can’t help but wonder who these cooks are that they can bear to have a 400 degree oven anywhere near them with insects and air-conditioning units humming outside. Aside from the occasional pie - because what would summer be without pie?- I believe that oven usage should be reserved for the other seasons, which is where this coffee cake comes in.
Please excuse this yellow, slightly blurred photo of rhubarb on cake batter. This rushed shot does not do the finished coffee cake justice so I will refer you instead to Deb’s lovely photos of Melissa Clark’s recipe. My excuse for posting this shoddy photo is one of logistics: by the time I thought to snap a shot of the finished product it had already been devoured as breakfast, snack and dessert.
Cowtipper cheese from Calkins Creamery
Thursday, May 01, 2008
Recently, the Fair Food Farmstand in Reading Terminal Market started carrying cheese from Calkins Creamery. Calkins Creamery is in Honesdale, which is a bit outside the 100 mile radius that many of us use to count as ‘local’. That said, I’m not considering this a cheat - it’s a farm worth supporting. The Bryant family has been farming in Wayne County for 125 years. The current Bryant farming family spent some time in California learning about artisan cheese before returning, and now produce cheese using hormone-free raw milk from their pampered herd of Holstein cows.
You know what they say: happy cows make happy cheese. Or something like that. It’s no joke. I picked up a piece of the Cowtipper cheese the other day and can’t say enough good things about it.
Cowtipper is Calkins’ version of a Gouda-style cheese. It’s soaked in Nevada Pale Ale for 48 hours, encased in wax, and then aged for sixty days or more. I’m pretty sure I must have looked really silly eating the cheese - before eating each slice I felt compelled to take a good long whiff. Because of the beer the cheese smells amazing. And it tastes good, too. It definitely has a Gouda-esque way about it.
I’m not as crazy about Calkins’ 4 Dog Dill, a Havarti-style cheese flavored with dill. The cheese is tasty and all, but I really never got any of the dill flavor.
There are many more Calkins Creamery cheeses to be tried, and they all look really interesting. But the Cowtipper is my early favorite!
Signs of Life
Seedlings are the most optimistic things, don’t you think? They awaken some longing that I think I last felt as an elementary schooler as I headed home with my tiny pine tree on Arbor Day. These wee ones are Buttercup Squash. Please don’t ask me where I plan to plant even one of them, because I hear that they’re likely to take over my little garden patch. I wonder if I could train them to grow up a clothesline? I could have green squash bobbing in the breeze like lumpy paper lanterns…
To Feed Thousands
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Here it is! My very own plot in the Sloan Street Community Garden. I’m delighted to be a new garden member this year as I’ve got big plans to grow sugar and shelling peas, followed by all manner of green beans, peppers, zucchini, cucumbers and (how could you not?) tomatoes. It was a difficult choice, but I’ve narrowed down the finalists to yellow and red ‘jelly bean’ grape tomatoes, beefsteak slicers, and one precious Cherokee Purple. I started my baby seedlings on Good Friday with the intention of sowing them in the back yard. I changed my mind after a few attempts to sink a spade into the compacted clay soil. This decision was confirmed as I unearthed two whole glass bottles, several bricks and brick shards, and some extremely corroded cutlery.
I’m not alone in these, my first attempts at growing my own food. I think that many have taken to heart Michael Pollan’s urging from In Defense of Food to plant a garden. Though the impulse for me may have begun with the desire to wake up to the verdant smell of tomato plants and their August bounty, my garden planning has taken on a more somber tone of late. The headlines about the impending global food crisis are becoming as consistent as my morning coffee. Working in hunger relief means that every day I come face to face with the ramifications of this crisis as the drought plays out in Australia and people in Haiti are eating dirt for dinner, if for only the feeling of fullness that it provides. Every day at work I make phone calls asking for food to feed the working poor of Philadelphia. It’s true that hunger is different here, but the urgency is looming, the Farm Bill stalled, and people in both Haiti and Philadelphia go to bed hungry.
I can’t solicit enough produce, meat or bread to send overseas, but I can do my best to take care of those in my community who would otherwise have to choose between utility bills and groceries. The other thing I can do is exactly this: embrace my little square of dirt, not because it will feed thousands, but because it just might produce enough to feed me.
Making Philadelphia fruity!
Philadelphia is not exactly known for its fantastic foraging, but things are changing thanks to the Philadelphia Orchard Project. POP is out there planting fruit and nut trees and berries - they say doing so “provide[s] healthy food free or at low cost, create[s] jobs, stimulate[s] related business, reduce[s] crime, increase[s] summer cooling, make[s] space for beauty and play.” Whatever the reason, I think it’s a cool idea.
My friend Al was on hand for a recent POP outing to 8th & Poplar. They planted prepped a lot for planting, and planted persimmons and berries and other things.
A new and very cool toy I found on the POP site is this Google map of public fruit! I’ll definitely be adding some locations to the map as I discover new public fruit.
If you’re interested in getting involved with the Philadelphia Orchard Project or want to slip them a gift out of your economic stimulus check, be sure to head over to their website.
Photo with permission from Albert Yee
Eat your weeds
Monday, April 28, 2008
Dandelions are popping up everywhere I look lately. They are the bane of my existence in the garden, mostly because they’re so hard to permanently get rid of. Maybe I shouldn’t try so hard and, instead, use the overabundance of weeds to my advantage. In terms of foraging, the dandelion is useful in a variety of ways - from the leaves to the blossoms.
The most common use of the dandelion are the greens. You’ll pay a small fortune for dandelion greens at the market - if you can even find them. They’re great in salads as a bitter green, or fantastic cooked down in a saute or soup or warm salad. Just walk out to your back yard or where ever dandelions are plentiful and pick the leaves off the plant!
I only recently discovered that you can eat the dandelion blossoms, as well! Try fried dandelion blossoms, dandelion jelly, or dandelion wine. You can even use dandelion root to make coffee.
Dandelions can even be used for home remedies - dandelion oil is used to treat rheumatism.
There’s treasure in those weeds you keep mowing over - be sure to pick those dandelion flowers and leaves before you mow next time!
Other dandelion recipes:
Chocolate Zucchini Cake
Pregnant women have to follow many rules. Some of them, like avoiding smoking, drinking and drug use make sense. Others, like avoiding soft cheeses, deli meats and sushi just seem unfair. This is my second pregnancy so I’m not quite as terrified as I was the first time and I haven’t quite followed all of the rules. I’ve never been a sushi lover so avoiding raw fish hasn’t concerned me. As for my indulgences, knowing that the majority of soft cheeses widely available in the United States are pasteurized I’ve continued my goat cheese and feta habit. And since Philadelphia is the hoagie capital of the world (in my opinion anyway- where else can you get a sandwich this good?) I haven’t exactly avoided lunchmeats.
Yesterday, in a quest to fill my freezer with some foods for when the baby arrives and use up the last of the fruits and vegetables frozen last summer, I spent a good portion of the day cooking. I made pancakes and muffins for breakfasts, a baked ziti with local sausage from Meadow Run Farm for dinners, and chocolate zucchini cake to eat, not freeze, just because I wanted to clear out the rest of last summer’s zucchini from my Red Earth Farm CSA. Of course no recipe calls for enough zucchini to clear out the stash in its entirety, and even after adding more than the recipe called for I still have three cups of frozen shredded zucchini ready to bake later this week, but the cake is just so good that I have to share the recipe.
The cake is so good that I think I may have accidentally eaten more batter than necessary, raw eggs and all, and everyone knows that you shouldn’t eat raw eggs, local or not, especially when you’re pregnant. But should you bake this cake you might want to throw caution to the wind and give the batter a little taste- just a little one because you may not be able to stop once you start. And perhaps by tasting the batter (and licking the bowl clean) you’ll be able to stop yourself from eating entirely too much cake once it’s baked, cooled and glazed.
Chocolate Zucchini Cake
adapted from Simply Recipes
1 1/2 cups regular all-purpose flour, unsifted
1 cup whole wheat flour, unsifted
1/2 cup cocoa
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cup soft butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup packed light brown sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 teaspoons grated orange peel
3 cups coarsely shredded zucchini
1/2 cup milk
Glaze (directions follow)Preheat the oven to 350°F.
1 Combine the flours, cocoa, baking powder, soda, salt, and cinnamon; set aside.
2 With a mixer, beat together the butter and the sugars until they are smoothly blended. Add the eggs to the butter and sugar mixture one at a time, beating well after each addition. With a spoon, stir in the vanilla, orange peel, and zucchini.
3 Alternately stir the dry ingredients and the milk into the zucchini mixture.
4 Pour the batter (the batter will be very thick) into a greased and flour-dusted 10-inch tube pan or bundt pan. Bake in the oven for about 50 minutes (test at 45 minutes!) or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan 15 minutes; turn out on wire rack to cool thoroughly.
5 Drizzle glaze over cake.Glaze: Mix together 1 cup powdered sugar, 1 1/2 Tablespoons milk, and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until smooth. If you really like orange flavoring omit the vanilla and add ½ teaspoon of orange zest.
This cake won’t last long. Now I need to find a good recipe for the last of the sour cherries.
