Garden Fuss

Hubs Appreciation Event 10/17/2013 Food, future, family & fun! Door prizes too! It seems like just yesterday when the family and I with other hubs members came together to pack seeds for this past growing season [ in chilly January brrrr ].  Autumn has now kicked into gear and as you know we've been in the thick of the harvest. That means we've come full circle in this process and it's time to come together with our new found friends and community for the 3rd Annual Fall Gathering, and guess what? You are invited to attend too!  Come out, celebrate, & reflect on the 2013 growing season while providing vital input to Gardening Matters for the 2014 season.  Seriously, even though I'm still a little stir crazy from picking the last cherry tomatoes and long beans; I have a few ideas about plant varieties I'd like to try out next year. How about you all? Are there any new trellising ideas you have for your veggies that climb? What are your weed control i

It all started off so easy.... Our 1st Indigo Rose  I mean, look at the blush on that Indigo Rose for God's sake! I never expected to come across such a beautiful specimen in my garden. This is truly an unusual piece of fruit. Seriously, if it has access to full sun its skin is like a marble made of onyx. Can you tell that, I am totally procrastinating by getting into the nuances of the Indigo Rose? That's because basically I came to the realization that I may be a glutton for punishment. Just whispering the word easy around this place is just crazy talk, let alone trying to fool myself by writing it. What am I not remembering? Oh yeah, this spring was far from easy. It was a wet / cold / feverishly busy / sweat filled mess ! [ could have just been me ] Starting with my bright idea of downgrading to a one bin compost system from two and expanding out my garden. From that experience I ended up overworked and with my beautiful helpers [ sis-inlaw, son, and daughter ] a

I recently responded to a post on Facebook about how I felt about the first official day of Autumn. Here is a excerpt for you: ~    "Feeling stir crazy! So much to do... Help me understand, why do I love tomatoes so much? Do I really need to let the volunteer ground cherries continue on this way? Is this Swiss chard too large for a salad? Why is the basil acting so crazy? What's up with this asparagus bed? Will the Jerusalem melons make it through another cold spell? Okra? Why did I plant Okra again? Will I remember to shade the cilantro again next year like I did this year? ..... I could go on and on some more but I won't. Feel free to chime in and remind me to be thankful and/or schedule a time to save me from my self imposed garden madness."    ~ Whether you refer to this time of year as Fall or Autumn, for me it is a symbol of the hardest work I have to do all year. I have tons of ideas on food preservation and putting food by for the seemingly perpetual wint

The Southside Local Food Resource Hub will be joining the very warm and welcoming folks at Transition Longfellow for their monthly movie night. [ new movie every 3rd Friday of the month ] This month's movie will be The Power of Community . I have had the opportunity to watch this before and I must say that there are some great take-away points for all. I can't wait to experience this with a group such as this! If you are planning on joining us there will be a potluck which will include a tomato tasting!  So please bring a dish to share and get ready for some tomato talk. When:  Friday, September 20, 2013 What: Potluck at 6:30 PM, movie at 7:15 PM Where : Bethany Church, 3901 36th Ave S. Minneapolis, MN 55406 For more information on Transition Longfellow click here or visit: https://sites.google.com/site/transitionlongfellow For more information on the Local Food Resource Hubs please visit the Gardening Matters website at  http://www.gardeningmatters.org/ Spe

Then it was September As a blogger there can be a little bit of guilt for not posting as regular as one would like... Speaking for myself that is. If there was a way to upload directly from my mind to this page you would experience all of the beautiful images and stories from past events I've attended starting with Community Garden day, to Open Streets Minneapolis, Food Truck Tuesdays & Movie in the Parks, the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington, and then to the Minnesota State Fair. Besides these events children around the country have gone back to school including my own which has given me more or less " the time " to grab a few moments to recap and catch you all up on my urban Ag Adventures. So I'll give it a go and start where I left off with my Community Garden Day 2013 experience and in between my food preservation efforts you will get a glimpse into some of the ways Minneapolis grows together.... COMMUNITY GARDEN DAY 2013 John Ghizoni, Ajan

I have been talking about Community Garden day for a couple of months now. [ previous post here ]  Today I wanted to share with you all, that Minneapolis has passed a resolution declaring August 10th Community Garden Day .  How exciting?   That means you can check out a map of participating gardens for tours and activity information on the Gardening Matters website and plan which tour(s) to go on  this Saturday .   Each garden will be celebrating in their own unique way with activities that range from: Collard Green Cook-off, Tomato testing, kids activities, art projects, story telling, and African drumming .   I hope you can find one or more gardens to visit through out the day. Maybe I'll bump into you and your family there!   For more info please visit: http:// www.gardeningmatters.org/   Happy Planting, Harvesting, and Garden Touring,   Tina

Backyard Foraged Salad Foraging was a topic my elderly neighbor who was also a retired science teacher and botanist spoke about constantly. Friends thought my brother and I were crazy when we stopped mid game (football) to pick and eat a juicy looking patch of wood sorrel we spotted on the other side of the fence. I can't remember all of the lessons she taught but I remember her passion for eating local and not overlooking the simplest of plants. It's because of her that I jumped at an opportunity to learn some foraging here in the city. I've participated in some monthly classes that have helped me and by proxy my family, become more of an adventurous eaters. Below is a  picture of a salad foraged from our backyard. We paired it with our baked chicken [no pictured] and this meal was more than a hit!  The greens included lambs quarters, Orach (purple mountain spinach), Plantain, Egyptian walking onions, Wood Sorrel, Flat leaf Parsley, Raspberries, and Purslane. All b

Have you ever driven by a garden space in the city and seen multiple people digging, pulling weeds while socializing and wondered; "What's up with that?". Community Gardens are popping up a to feed individuals and families and as a way to build community all over the Twin Cities. If you have an interest in or have ever had questions about community gardens check out the map of gardens participating in Community Garden Day Saturday August 10th. Get all of your questions answered and participate in various activities ranging from skill shares, children's activities, tastings, and even live music. You never know you may even sign up for your own space for next year!   More information can be found at http:// www.gardeningmatters.org/ events/cgday2013

In may we dug up 190 bare root strawberry plants. The majority of them were for a friend of mine who is getting rid of the grass in the front and sides of his home and putting in an edible landscape. I have nothing against strawberries they are one of my most favorite fruits ever; but there were four varieties battling it out in the space I needed for the blueberry plants I had pined for all winter (then received from the Friends School Plant Sale). I kept thirty of the plants my beautiful assistant dug up with the help of her brother. I then soaked, wrapped, and bundled them so that they would be so overwhelming to plant in their new homes. After dropping off the bountiful berry root stock we were gifted with two types of cherry trees. One is a Balaton Cherry and the other is a Dogwood called a Cornelian Cherry. If you live in the state you know that this spring was cold and hella wet... That being said after putting it in it's new home the Balaton developed a b

Spring sprung after winter went out like a lion... Fighting and roaring all the way. I have so many updates for you all I don't know where to begin. Back tracking a little I am several steps closer to having my technology up to date so that I can do this blog. An integral piece to my work in the past has been my cell phone a what I thought was a decent camera, and a pretty reliable PC. The camera started to develop issues first, taking a while to come on then after a battery change refusing to come on at all. The PC developed so many problems it had to be re-imaged and every program restored which required way too much time.  This spring was not just hard on my technology it was also hard on my body. I was able to teach a couple classes and then able to get a bit of my own winter sowing done; but not hardly enough. There are still blank spots in my garden today but I'll get to that later. I can't remember if I posted about my bum knee or not, but a December knee injury ke

Spicy Italian Polish From Tollefson Family Pork - MPLS Farmers Market It's officially spring when the  Farmers Markets  start opening one by one. Each market around the city has their own distinctive personality. The treats, treasures, and specialties vary so widely that you have to visit more than just one to find your staple vendor(s). Minnesotans by and large are a hardy bunch. We have our own brand of crazy and creative. If there is something new to experience we will come out en  masse  rain or shine, sleet or snow with shovel in hand to support the arts, good food, community, and a plethora of causes.  I've gotten so caught up in trying to do it all that I have not left enough time in the day to update you all on the going- ons  around town. That is until now....  For starters, today the Midtown Farmers Market opened up and I have to say that the food trucks are a very welcome sight to my near-sighted eyes. Two of the vendors that helped fill my and my so

Slowly but surely I am getting caught up on all things green here at home and around town. Today I want to again promote and spread the word about the Local Food Resource Hubs , an initiative of Gardening Matters, the Minneapolis Health Department, Homegrown Minneapolis and many other neighborhood and gardening organizations throughout Minneapolis and St. Paul. Here’s how it works:   Hubs are organized by neighborhoods. You sign up as a member of your neighborhood (southside, northside, st.paul, etc.) and select a small, medium, or large garden package . There is a sliding scale for each size, and scholarships are available.  You get seeds and starter plants of your choice, free gardening classes and (starting this year) potential access to a tool lending library. Starting this year, it is also possible to purchase strawberry and raspberry plants at a steep discoun t. Seeds are purchased in bulk from Johnny’s Selected Seeds (non GMO!) and repackaged by voluntee

2013 Tank Garden I have put off using this method for a few years because of the success I've had with winter sowing  my plants. Then around Christmas I started having conversations about the 2013 gardening season and what my plans were. The topic of onions came up and I quickly threw out the fact that I wasn't an authority on growing them successfully. In the past I have shared onion sets with my sister in-law and we just couldn't figure out why we only end up with tiny bulbs. However, after some research and further discussions with professionals [ie.. a Master Gardener and the U of Minnesota extension service] I found out that onions in a zone 4a can be grown from sets successfully and we should have pre-ordered because we were getting and planting them too late. Also, there may have been an issue of not providing enough high phosphorus fertilizer and something about side dressing with urea. So far this year the onions look great! I've started them indoors

Already I am full on into my 2013 garden planning. I have sketches in no less than (3) notebooks and random scratch paper that I will undoubtedly lose just before I need them the most (Early to mid May). I'm trying to not repeat this cycle from years past but life has a way of taking over and gremlins have a way of moving my cherished plans before I can put them into action.... So besides my nutty professor gardening planning antics I have been watching the previously full freezer decline in all things summer veggie and fruit related. Including our stores of: raspberries, strawberries, collards, kale , Swiss chard , green tomatoes, tomato sauce, edamame, pesto, and so on and so forth. Besides surmising our vanishing nom noms, a fellow bloggers pondering kale post jump started me on a kale talk today. Inspired would be more accurate! There are few vegetables that both intimidate and give mental pause to so called adventurous eaters than greens. Everyone has an o

My mother, brother, husband, children, best friend, and anyone else who spends a little time with me know full well how much I love yogurt, cheese, fermented foods and drinks. I try not to be pushy with it, but sometimes I just get so darn excited about a "new" (to me) find that I just want to pass on something good. Just so you know, today is one of those days! My daughter and I have had all out stomp down arguments because previous attempts at making the aforementioned yogurt failed big time. We bought the fancy "starters", we tried crock pots, pricey milks, and heating pads. We searched for the best yogurt machines which only led to more arguing resulting in creating a loose smelly mess.  I now know that the problem we had is a problem many others have; we over think things. Yogurt has been made and consumed for eons, or at least as far back as 2000 BCE [according to Wikipedia]. Yogurt or Yoghurt is a Turkish word meaning " curdled or coagulated; to thi