Friday, 29 June 2012

Be Strong like Popeye and Knock Pluto to Kingdom Come!%* #

 

Spinach Recipes

Sauteed Spinach

1 Cut off the thick stems of the spinach and discard. Clean the spinach by filling up your sink with water and soaking the spinach to loosen any sand or dirt. Drain the spinach and then repeat soaking and draining. Put the spinach in a salad spinner to remove any excess moisture.

2 Heat 2 Tbsp olive oil in a large skillet on medium high heat. Add the garlic and sauté for about 1 minute, until the garlic is just beginning to brown.

3 Add the spinach to the pan, packing it down a bit if you need to with your hand. Use a couple spatulas to lift the spinach and turn it over in the pan so that you coat more of it with the olive oil and garlic. Do this a couple of times. Cover the pan and cook for 1 minute. Uncover and turn the spinach over again. Cover the pan and cook for an additional minute.

4 After 2 minutes of covered cooking the spinach should be completely wilted. Remove from heat. Drain any excess moisture from the pan. Add a little more olive oil, sprinkle with salt to taste. Serve immediately.


Spinach with Chickpeas (Eating Well Magazine)

 

  1. Rinse spinach and let drain in a colander. With water still clinging to it, place half the spinach in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Cook, tossing with tongs and adding the remaining spinach by the handful until all is added and wilted, 6 to 8 minutes. Drain in the colander. Let cool slightly, then coarsely chop.
  2. Carefully wipe out the pan, then heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and cook, stirring, until the onion is tender and lightly browned, 8 to 10 minutes. Stir in chickpeas, thyme, oregano, cumin, salt and paprika. Using a potato masher, mash some of the chickpeas, then cook, stirring, for 3 minutes. Stir in raisins and broth, scraping up any browned bits. Add the chopped spinach and stir gently to combine. Remove from the heat and let stand 10 minutes. Drizzle with the remaining 2 tablespoons oil just before serving.

TIPS & NOTES

  • Make Ahead Tip: Cover and refrigerate for up to 2 days. Bring to room temperature or reheat on medium-low heat before serving.

 

 

"To be a Weed or not to be a Weed"

"To be A Weed or Not to be A Weed"

Thank you again to everyone who came out Wednesday evening, it was a late night but we certainly made an impression, and welcome to Randy who put in some good time in the weeds, and then helped me do some gorilla flower planting. Even our little gnomes helped plant and water our new additions. Strawberry patch is looking ship shape and i aim to keep them burdoch free once and for all; some beautiful juicy strawberries were certainly inspiration enough. We would love to see some extra hands out this Saturday to help hand-weed out the corn patch, peas, beets, raspberry patch.  Its awful hard work but certainly more pleasurable with someone working at your side : D  

Also this is the last Saturday of the month so if anyone would like to bring some home baked goods to share in the spirit of community farming, it would most certainly be appreciated and welcome.  Thank you to Jeannie who has consistently brought fresh baked goodies every Saturday, love love love : )

see you Saturday

Elvira

Monday, 18 June 2012

Pea "trellis" confession

Just want to confess that the creative fencing for the first row of peas by the tomotoes is my handiwork. I had some sticks and some twine and no plan and that's what happened. But my intentions were good---to keep the peas from entertwining the tomatoes.

I'll pull it out just as soon as the first nice harvest of peas is finished, so the tomatoes can get full sun.

Vicky

Thursday, 14 June 2012

Does Anyone Know HTML?

Looking for someone who could build a chart in posterous that we could all edit.

Tuesday, 12 June 2012

Untitled

Thinking Ahead to Distribution

In his president's report last year, Travis wrote:

This upcoming year we need to streamline the distribution process of our produce. On a day to day harvest schedule we do fine, but when we have thousands of pounds of produce (think Corn or Potatoes this year) I think we need to have a common understanding how large yields should be distributed and to whom. The better understanding we all have up front the few misunderstandings we will have when the forks hit the hills. 

Since we have a bit of breathing time now that everything is in the ground, are there a few of you who are interested in brainstorming some distribution principles that we could present to the group for feedback?

Anyone have examples from other communal groups on how they handle this "problem" of plenty?

Reply here or to me at vickybe@mac.com

Vicky

2000 linear feet of potatoes in the Ground. Orchard planted before the rain #yeggarden

Hi Folks,

Saturday was very productive with a smaller than usual contigent of folks out on the farm. After enjoying some wonderful apple danishes baked by Jeannie, we went hard at it with roughly 5 people planting fruit trees and 7 people planting potatoes in the new south plot.

In 1.5 hours we had completed both tasks. We did not re-align the orchard and hope that the groupings of trees and their proximity to one another are ok in the long run.

Now that everything is in the ground, the task of maintenance and weeding has begun. We have tonnes of vegetables seeded and out of the ground. This is going to be an epic year. Thanks for all of you in the past month or so who have really been hitting it hard. The rest of the summer should have a little less frantic pace. 

On a personal note, now that the spring rush is subsiding, I'll be taking a few weeks off from the farm. But I will be back mid July.

PS: Salad greens are being harvested at the farm! They look great for cut and come again salads! Let's get the spinach before the miners do!

Happy growing.

Travis

 

Thursday, 7 June 2012

Travis Kennedy: Westmount's Urban Farmer #yeggarden #yegfood

Hi Gang,

I've been keeping this relatively quiet, but I've been piloting a for profit venture this spring in my back yard. Its a salad green endeavor, and there is a little bit of press around it right now. I wanted to share it with you folks. There will be a CBC news piece tonight at 5:20pm and 6:05pm. 

P5306620

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=3602166530359&set=vb.118434788198374&type=2&theater

And there is an online article about the production here:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/story/2012/06/06/edmonton-backyard-garden-market-vendor.html

Of course you can always visit me @ the 124grandmarket Thursday Evenings between 5 and 9 (though I sell out quickly, you are better off banking on EOGGs greens;)

Finally I've set up a how to site for the business www.lactuca.ca, check it out for salad green production pointers.

See you folks on Saturday morning (weather permitting) we will at least get our fruit trees in the ground.

Keep it green,

Travis

Friday, 1 June 2012

Tree Planting and Seeding a 1/4 Acre of Vegetables @growersguild #yeggarden #yegfood

Hi Folks,

If you've been waiting for a reason to come to the guild. Your reason has arrived. We've got a ton of work tomorrow. (Not hard work) just lots of it. So come on out. Let's get our seeds in and fruit trees planted watered and mulched and next week nature will do the rest (with a lot of rain in the forecast).

See you in the morning,

Travis