CANNING MARATHON FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 9th

I will lead a Canning Bee at a location TBD on Friday September 9th from 5-10pm for those of you interested in making some pickled beets, pickled carrots, zucchini relish etc.  There will be a Harvesting Bee on Wednesday the 7th to harvest and possibly clean all the ingredients that we need for the Canning Bee.  EOGG is supplying the jars and ingredients like salt that we don't grow ourselves and pizza (or other dinner option).  I will organize the location, "the plan", the people, the supplies, "the Bee" and supper.

If you want to want to get in on this great free canning session you must contact me by Tuesday September 6th at cgue@shaw.ca so I can do "The Plan".  If there is something in particular you would like to make, or have a favorite recipe that you would like to share let me know.  If you are willing to pick up some of the supplies (to be reimbursed) including supper, please let me know.  If you have any other questions please ask.

If anyone has extra rhubarb please bring it on Wednesday September 7th to the garden and we will also make carrot+rhubarb jam.

It should be lots of fun and delish!

ps. After Wednesday the 7th I'll confirm with all interested parties and send more detailed info.

Cheers!

 

 

 

2nd Place overall and 1st place Community Garden at Show what You Grow. $300 in prize money!

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Marshall Promised and Marshall and Dyle delivered. What a crazy Friday night. Marshall and Dyle began preparing for the show at 5:00 and we finished our submissions a little after 9:00pm down at Fort Edmonton. Who knew getting vegetables ready for a show was so much work? If you are wondering why it took so long, have a quick peak at the video of Marshall demonstrating this forgotten art.

VIDEO0047.3gp Watch on Posterous

We swept a number of categories and finished first overall in the vegetable competition as well as the community garden category. A special thanks to Rodney and Megan for making this event happen! 

I've had a tough time getting folks from our garden involved in this competion of the last couple of years. A quick question to you all:

Why doesn't this type of event appeal to most of you? What would make this event more appealing to you guys? 

Is it simply because most of you don't have spare toothbrushes? 

Saturday was a scorcher! 

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We had a good productive time and a great turnout. Ann, Shirley and Dyle have really been stepping it up by watering our crops.The weeds are making their last stand, so good work everyone getting things back under control. There are a few areas still needing attention, but nothing we can't handle on Wednesday and Saturday. We will continue to harvest potatoes among other crops this week. Things are really sizing up nicely now.

See you out there!

Travis

Harvest Season

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Thanks to the gang that showed up to help us clean and process the Garlic. We selected the best of the bulbs for planting this October 1st. There is still quite a bit of garlic remaining, if you show up Wednesday or Saturday we'll make sure you get some. The harvest is in full swing with everything from basil to potatoes ready to roll!

Travis

cabbage anyone

Hi, everyone. Anyone still interested in taking green cabbage.? My dad has offered to harvest all remaining green cabbage for the Mustard Seed, which makes soup every night for a hundred people. I'll give him the go ahead to harvest the rest of cabbage on Sunday, unless I hear otherwise from anyone. Thanks.
Vicky Busch
vickybe@mac.com

Green cabbage, anyone?

Hi, everyone. Anyone still interested in taking green cabbage.? My dad has offered to harvest all remaining green cabbage for the Mustard Seed, which makes soup every night for a hundred people. I'll give him the go ahead to harvest the rest of cabbage on Sunday, unless I hear otherwise from anyone. Thanks.

Vicky Busch

vickybe@mac.com

Building a Compost Bin, Installing our New Sign, and Recipe submission added to EOGG.org

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A couple of cool things worthy of mention and part 2 in the ongoing of series of Gardening with Jay and Jill.

1. Tomorrow we will be building a compost bin on the South concrete pads. This will be the first of two composting bins we will build this fall. Rodney is working furiously to build an app that will build the second recycled pallet bin for him. Let's all wish him luck!

2. Our sign needs to be installed on our entrance gate. Thanks to sign making crew for sticking with this project, it looks great!

3. We've added a recipe submission form to the website. You will see a couple new tabs near the top of the Page. There is a submit tab that will take you to the form and a recipes page that will build itself as we submit recipes through the form. So don't be shy! Jeannette, we would love to see that muffin recipe!

4. There is a ton of food to harvest, so don't be shy, if you've helped out you are entitled to eat. Come out and enjoy!

Travis

Hoop houses

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Many thanks to everyone who made a Saturday morning at the garden into one darn good time.

The national judges for Communities in Bloom stopped by and were really impressed. They mentioned the produce, the plants, bit also the people. Heck of a thing to see >20 gardeners together from age 2 to 72.

It's true what they say: gardens grow good people.

PS. Thanks to everyone looking for the lost wallet. We found it.

The gentle art of Norland Red rustling.

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Check out Jay and Jill gently wrangle a few taters from an unyielding hill. See you at the BBQ Saturday.

Travis

Baby red potatoes tonight and on Saturday. Communities in Bloom Judges visit, quick hoops get built and potluck barbeque on Saturday.

Don't hide yourself in a water barrel!

The moment you seeders and hillers have been waiting for has arrived. Tonight we are going to start a limited harvest of the Norland Red potatoes! So if you broke your back out there with the gang, please come and share in the early harvest tonight! We want to keep this harvest under control because the other varieties are still putting on some size. Please only harvest on the set nights so we can make sure we maximize the yield of our hard work and only harvest plants that are ready!

On saturday the Home Depot is sending out a small army of volunteers to help us install our hoop houses. We will also be having a casual barbeque. If you have something you would like to make and share with the crowd that's wonderful, if you don't come out anyway, EOGG will be suppliying buns, sausages, and a vegetarian alternative. We may also see the national communities in bloom judges for a brief visit. 

Its a busy week and we need hands on site to help!

Travis

Garlic galore

We had yesterday a good day and plenty of garlic.

Harvested, washed, bundled ... and tasted.

Set hoop houses into the garden

The Home Depot has donated funds towards hoop greenhouses. Yeah.

Come on out, Saturday, August 13, to make and install ten.

Parking and Garlic

Hi folks,

For those of you not attending folk fest tomorrow, Dyle will be guiding the annual garlic harvest. We will need to hang the crop for a week or so to let it dry down before braiding / separating the large cloves out for next year etc...

We've been asked to not park on any of the soil around the barn while the university seeds the grass, so let's park across the road on the pavement near the potato field.

Thanks everyone,

Travis

Kevin Kossowan checks out EOGG

Hi Folks,

If you were out last Saturday, you might have noticed a fellow with a video camera poking around. Kevin Kossowan was filming a quick clip about our group,

I highly recommend his blog http://www.kevinkossowan.com/. I'm particularly fond of it because he's local to Edmonton! Have a gander at the video and check out his site. 

Travis