Happiness is a Bountiful Garden

Where It All Began

I've never been a fan of pre-packaged meals. Seems so simple to buy select ingredients, mix 'em together according to instincts developed at my mother's apron, and presto, dinner! But I must admit, I have rarely prepared my own sauces or jams or chutneys from scratch as I've done this summer. Now, halfway through harvest time, I have a new respect for farmers and a new appreciation of the convenience of convenience food - even just a jar of bottled sauce - tomato or apple.

Planning, measuring, hoeing (didn't do the tilling ourselves), marking, planting, weeding, watering, staking & tieing, smacking pesky bugs with one's fingers, creatively discouraging four-legged pests, more weeding, picking, washing, peeling, coring, slicing, chopping, sauteing, blanching, steaming, shelling, baking, grilling, pureeing, wrapping, freezing, canning, labeling - whoa!

Canned peach jam, basil tomato sauce, carrot-pineapple-orange marmalade

Happiness is working with neighbors, learning new self-sufficiency skills, having the health, the resources, and freedom to do it all. Happiness a bountiful garden, a stocked pantry, and a full freezer - to say nothing of having a ready and willing (Willen?) husband/garden partner/sous chef/clean-up-guy with whom to share the whole experience. I am content.

Cherry Tomatoes & Garlic ala FoodFix.com

Gratitude is My Attitude

As I sit here so proud of our garden team, what we've done this season so far and how it was accomplished, I am struck by the difference between our cooperative local efforts and the discord simultaneously occurring in Washington, D.C. 

Yesterday, a small group of gardeners arrived in the fields early in the morning to "Pick for Manna Foodbank." This was a vision set in motion by Joyce Davis and Al Cutter, which they materialized along with Ross Aiken, Nancy Dhom, Jeanne Grasperge, Judy Price, Zeke Mitchell, Laurel & Bob Schmidt, and Mike Willen. In two and half hours a carload (over 100 pounds) of fresh produce were selected, brushed off, and placed in containers to be transported by Al and Joyce to the foodbank in downtown Asheville.

All summer long, each of our gardeners have managed to go about their own business - getting children off to college, spending time with grandchildren, taking out of town vacations, working full and part time jobs, taking care of loved ones and households near and far - and yet they also were able to give their best effort to growing major crops together. Today the harvest that was donated came from our individual parcels as well as the community crops - without a thought to the politics, religions, values or demographics of those who would eat what we produced. 

The land we've worked all summer was generously loaned to us by a nearby "homesteader", who said he would enjoy our company as he tended his own garden along side the creek that runs by his home. Nature provided us with a headstart and some challenges - bugs, blight, pesky critters and the ever-uncontrollable weather variations, but no one seemed to get discouraged. No one took sides on "how to proceed." No one needed credit for work done or the achievements that came along. Now why can't Congress behave a bit more like our group?

Who knows what changes will "trickle down" on us from the decisions being made in Washington this week. Most likely the future will demand something more from us than we've had to give or do (or do without) in the recent past. In Transition Hendersonville and Transition Asheville, we have a slogan about meeting disruptive changes in the environment or economy, "If you wait for the government, it will be too late; if you do it yourself, it may be too little; if we work on it together, we're sure to thrive."

The High Vista Community Garden team has proven without a doubt that we are and have neighbors with a community with a can do, will do attitude. Together we will thrive.

Follow this link to a "Pick for Manna Foodbank" photo album. And please heed the note from Mike Pace that we found on the bulletin board this morning: DO NOT THROW DISCARDED PLANT MATTER IN THE SPACE BETWEEN OUR FARM AND THE CREEK - IT IS UNSIGHTLY, SMELLY, ATTRACTS PESTS. BURY IT OR TOSS IT ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE CREEK. I will call Mike to apologize for our transgressions. I'm glad he has communicated with us on this.

Pickin' Happy, an Invitation, And Recipes

I hesitate to call out the team for group harvesting of beans, since they really do need to eaten quickly after picking and when I put out a call for those I picked recently, they sat on my kitchen counter with no takers for more than a day. (Same thing happened to Lexi when she picked squash for everyone.) So, please, please don't let those plants toil for no reason. Pick and eat at your veggies (see the bean recipe by Joan Neeman and two squash recipes gathered by yours truly at the end of this entry - and keep more recipes coming).

Based on Mary Alice's estimate of production possibilities from the tomatoes as well as what I'm seeing of the crook neck squash and bush beans, we really have to begin serious consideration of donating and/or preserving some of the harvest. I propose a meeting/pot luck on Sunday, July 10, from 5 to 7:30 pm to plan for the future of our harvest. Please let me know if you can make the pot luck. Location to be announced (anyone volunteering their home, please let me know).

I've been forgetting to bring my camera to the garden, ... 'uh, Farm, when I go down to work, but the crops have been totally enjoying the long hot days and generous rain we received this summer, so far. The rain has freed up Peter Steurer and Claude Grasperge, our water barrel keepers, from the daunting task of filling from the stream. Peter was able to get away with Mary Alice to their son Adam's Freshman Orientation at NC State. (Seems like Adam has inherited his parents' values along with their genes; he's entering a multi-disciplinary, inquiry-based program focusing on World Population and Food.) Claude went to Florida and Louisiana, and is probably still wondering why he agreed to travel south in the summer (you're a good man, CG.)

Both men have contributed hugely to the success of our enterprise. Peter has selected and applied several organic pest control approaches to address multiple problems: potato beetles, flea beetles, Japanese beetles, and tomato horn worms, among others. Claude has assured a bountiful harvest with his tender care of over 100 tomato plants. Jim Dhom fought off the "attack of the ground hogs" to plant several successions of corn, which I think are so cute now in their various stages of development. Big brother, little brother is what they look like to me. All our crop leaders and team members have been diligent, even with their many out of town trips. We conquered the weeds, for the most part, and now onto the work of harvesting and preserving - and possibly reseeding.

I did attend the NC Extension Service workshop on Canning and Preserving and came away with tons of information and "The Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving," which has step by step instructions (with pictures) and recipes! I have extra handouts to share and I found out that they will loan pressure canning equipment for free for limited time periods, like a library book.

I'm gratified by the veggies I've already eaten from our field crops and Mike and my personal garden. I was elated to see the first pink/white/purple flowers on the Cherokee Trail of Tear Heritage Black Beans we started from seeds donated by a friend in Transition Hendersonville. I've got two of those plants growing on our back deck at home that have gone beyond the height of the house and are reaching for the sky on fallen branches Mike dragged out of the woods! Last night I made zucchini sweet bars from the field crop that you'd swear were apple crisps. Yum! (recipe at end of blog.)

RECIPE BOX

From Joan Neeman: In case you aren't sure what you'd want to do with beans you harvest, here is a favorite of mine:

 

                                     BEANS IN MUSTARD MARINADE

 

1 lb green beans

1 lb wax beans

3 Tbsp white vinegar

2 Tbsp drained capers

2 Tbsp mustard (either regular yellow or dijun)

2 1/2 tsp sugar

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1/2 cup salad oil

At least 2 1/2 hours before serving, in a 4 qt saucepan over high heat, add beans to one inch boiling water. Return to boil, cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer 5-10 minutes, until beans are tender/crisp, and drain. Mix with remaining ingredients and refrigerate at least 2 hours to blend flavors.

This works well with leftovers, is more like a pickle....and keeps quite a while in the refrigerator.

ZUCCHINI DESSERT BARS

(Note: this is very sweet!)

4 c flour, 2 c sugar, .5 tsp ground cinnamon, .5 tsp salt, 1.5 c cold butter or margarine

FILLING:

8 - 10 c diced, seeded, peeled zucchini (4 - 5 lbs), 2/3 c lemon juice, 1 c sugar, 1 tsp. ground cinnamon, .5 tsp ground nutmeg

Prepare your ingredients before beginning.

Combine flour, sugar, cinnamon and salt in a bowl. Cut in butter until crumbly; reserve 3 cups. Pat remaining crumb mixture into bottom of a 13x9x2" baking pan. Bake at 375 for 12 minutes. Meanwhile, for filling, place zucchini and lemon juice in a saucepan; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and cook for 6-8 minutes or until zucchini is crisp-tender. Stir in sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg; cover and simmer for 5 minutes (mixture will be thin.) Spoon over crust; sprinkle with the reserved crumb mixture. Bake at 375 for 40 - 45 minutes or until golden. Yield: 16-20 squares.

Note: Next time, I think I'll make this using oatmeal instead of flour and way less sugar.

ZUCCHINI CAKES WITH MUSHROOM RAGOUT

(Haven't tried this yet, but it sounds great)

Nonstick cooking spray

1/2 medium zucchini, shredded (1 c)

1 8.5 oz package corn muffin mix

1 c shredded cheddar cheese (4 oz)

1/4 c milk

1 egg

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

12 oz assorted mushrooms, quartered (4.5 c)

1 c drained bottled roasted red sweet peppers

1. Preheat oven to 400. Lightly coat twelve 2.5 inch muffin cups with cooking spray; set aside
2. Combine zucchini, muffin mix, cheese, milk, egg, and cayenne pepper in a bowl; spoon evenly into prepared muffin cups. Bake for 11 - 14 minutes till golden.
3. Meanwhile, heat 1 Tbsp. olive oil in large skillet over med-high heat. Add mushrooms; cook 3 - 4 minutes or till tender, stirring occassionally. Season with salt and pepper. Place roasted peppers in blender, cover; blend until nearly smooth.
4. Arrange 3 cakes on each plate with some of the mushrooms and pepper sauce.

Makes 4 services.

Veggies Anyone?

Recommended Vegetable Recipes by High Vista Gardeners

From Joyce Davis

swiss chard 

Wash, chop into large pieces, stalks and all, then add nuts and cranberries.  Sautee it in garlic. Serve it hot/warm with feta cheese sprinkled on top.  

Note: I would have used pine nuts, but didn't have any so used shopped brazil nuts and almonds, i.e. whatever you have on hand.  It was surprisingly good.

Tomato Plants -- Layout by Variety

Below is a link to a spreadsheet that shows the community garden tomato plants by variety. The Rutgers are on the far end away from the bulletin board.
Mary Alice


https://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?hl=en_US&hl=en_US&key=0Ald9ERJ770scdDY5MnlGYlhUd2JOc0VHNjRrcjRQbkE&output=html

Taking Flight

Thank you, Jim, for planting the first corn today. Thus, our field crops are officially in! Mary Alice and I carefully inspected all the tomato plants and found and eliminated more than one kind of beetle. We also removed the tiny flowers that had appeared as we're told the plants are too small and need to continue to use their strength to grow before producing fruit. We are hoping that they'll shoot up in this warmer weather and thus get ahead of the bugs. Otherwise, we'll have to take more aggressive action.

Mary Alice was kind enough to spray my eggplant with Pyrethrium and it seemed to be a lot more effective against the flea beetles than the Safe Insecticidal Soap.

We thinned out some of the Tenderette bush beans by transplanting some to the empty half row where the Green Dragon beans seemed to have failed to germinate. We decided to wait a bit to see which of the remaining plants to remove for thinning, so we can select those that look scrawniest to throw away. Looks like we didn't really need to plant two beans at a time in each hole, since they've all come up!

Here are some pix from the garden today. Reminders: wear bug spray - the gnats and skeeters are out since there's been rain. Be sure to check for ticks very carefully when you leave the garden - lots of folks have found them on their clothes, bodies and hair. Weed early, weed often - the weeds are very prevalent until they are shaded by the growth of leafy plants. Mike and I took our cue from the Dhoms/Stricklands and others who put down weed control paper and then mulched - hoping that will save us some back breaking work.

I had an amazing experience this morning when Mike and I watched a blue bird fledge from the box for her (?) first flight. She flew directly for the largest structure around, which was our house - and clung to a screened kitchen window while deciding what to make of this big beautiful world. I'm posting a picture of that first bird and video I took of the second (it's shaky and rough - shot thru the screen).

Life is good!

6 Corn Rows Planted

Summer Squash a Growin'

Pole Beans in circles

Tiny tomatoes with flowers

And a blurry video of bluebird leaving the box on his first flight

Lots of Garden Activity

I can't believe how many times I've been to the garden recently sans camera. What a shame, since the climate seems to have been just right for our crops. The beans (all of them) and squash are visibly growing each day, and we have flowers on our tomato plants!! I think the corn is going in sooner than I expected. Expect contact from your crop leaders to keep after planting, thinning, and maintenance tasks.

I'm posting a photo of the terrific bulletin board designed and constructed by Ross and Karen Akin. What a great team we have!

Also posted below is a photo of a beetle I pulled off one of our tomato plants at the garden today (Actually there were 2 of them. I hate to kill anything, so I only sacrificed one to be able to bring it home and take the picture.) Anyone know what it is and whether we need to do something about this alien species?

And while we're on the subject of pests, everyone's eggplants are becoming infested with bugs. If you look carefully on the underside of the leaves, you'll see tiny white larvae, which I believe then become tiny black voracious eaters. You'll see the top of the eggplant leaves already showing a spotted, mottled look. I've been spraying my eggplant since last weekend with a Safe Insecticidal Soap, but I don't know it it's going to work. I have/had the same problem with eggplant on my deck planted in containers, but not till later in the season. The same critters also love bok choi and pansies, apparently, because I've had to spray those like crazy on the deck also. Any suggestions will be welcome.

The weather report is for the rain to end and warm, sunny days ahead, so let's keep ahead of the weeding. See you in the dirt.

Busy Days in the Garden

The garden prior to staking.

On May 6, Jim, Mike, and Pete measured and staked the garden into the community and individual plots. As Sharon commented later, "this looks more like a farm than a garden!" Once again, thanks to Sharon for spearheading the gardening effort and to Zeke for finding the perfect site!










Marking the spot.

Jim and Mike tagging the individual plots.

Zeke checking out the water barrel.

The gardens were labeled with little orange flags.









On bright and sunny Saturday, May 7, a good crew met to erect pole bean supports. Claude's sturdy structures will withstand anything! Just imagine these trellises covered in masses of leaves and beans :) Notice our generous neighbor in the background. We thank Mike Pace for making our garden dream a reality!






Preparing the area for planting. The first pole beans were planted on Saturday, May 7.

Joan, The Happy Gardener!

Monday, May 9 was a beautiful day for planting squash and bush beans. Here a group discusses the progress.

Squash beds planted and watered.

Mike planting his and Sharon's garden.

The garden is off to an exciting start thanks to the enthusiasm and hard work of our gardening friends!

Squash & Bush Bean Planting Time (plus Tomato Plants)

Hi Gardening Friends,

The target date for planting squash and bush beans is Monday, May 9 starting at 9:30 A.M. All are welcome. We will plant a variety of bush beans and the following squash: yellow crookneck (Gentry), zucchini (Plato), acorn (Honey Bear) and butternut.

Squash seeds ready to plant.

The community garden tomato plants are being acclimated to the outdoors! The varieties already purchased are: Early Girl, Cherokee Purple, Rutgers and Sweet Millions.




















Here are some pics of the Steurer spring garden behind our house.
We are excited about getting started with the community garden in a few days! See you in the garden. Mary Alice

Radishes

Lettuce and arugula with garlic behind.

Lettuce

Almost Ready to Plant

Tomorrow is May 1 and we're getting ready to plant. Twenty one families will be represented in our High Vista Community Garden, including newly registered Dick and Pam Moody, Gary and Joan Neeman, and Natacha and Christopher Jones (just moved in next door to Lexie and John Kiefer). Welcome one and all. More than half the individual beds are accounted for with some folks sharing individual units and some requesting more than one. Thanks to everyone for getting their checks in on a timely basis. Mike Willen set up a bank account at Asheville Savings and will keep track of expenditures.

Jim and Nancy Dhom staked out and flagged the field rows and supervised the first tilling. Because of the amount of rain last week, the field and gardens still need to be disked and tilled again, so they won't be ready for planting until the second week in May. Team leaders will contact you when your help is needed to get the corn and subsequent plantings in the ground. Mary Alice and others are already buying seeds and seedlings and nurturing them indoors until the time is right. I'll be sending a spread sheet with everyone's contact info, team affiliations, allotments, and "away dates"to everyone with the link to this update.

I hope you're all as eager as Mike and I are. We bought plants at Valley Ag (on Rte. 280 in Mills River) last week and others at the Herb Festival at the Mills River Farmer's Market this weekend. Here's a peek: some already in containers and others still in flats and pots.

We've Got Plans

A solid group of "would be gardeners" met today to discuss our organizational first year plans. A draft garden plan, drawn up by Knox Crowell, a friend and fellow Transition Hendersonville volunteer with Sharon, served as a jumping off point.

After discussion generating lots of ideas and enthusiasm, we went to the garden site, met with Mike Pace who owns the property with his wife, Patricia, and reached consensus on a garden design.

Consensus items, plans and next steps:

Consensus Items:

• Start "small", take some risks, learn, have fun
• Everyone will chip in some funds for tilling, mulch, supplies and plant stock/seeds for row beds
• We have enough families involved to split the work on maintaining the row beds and will share the crops
• Additional "individual allotments" will be available as requested/as available
• A "standard plot" will be approximately 4' x 20' 
• People may share or request portions (half) or more than one plot
• We encourage newbies and experienced gardeners to team up
• We will look out for the gardens of people on vacation/traveling as a community, as needed/requested
• Our row crops will be "staples" including: corn, tomatoes, beans (yellow, string), squash (summer, zucchini, yellow, spaghetti, acorn), potatoes (various types)
• We will attempt to trellis peas and cucumbers
• The individual beds will be used for "other plants" mentioned such as peppers, eggplants, root veggies, possibly asparagus, broccoli.
• We will learn about timing of plantings, fertilizing and soil amendments, pruning, fighting pests, when to harvest, how to preserve food for winter and beyond
• Some plants are best grown "closer to home" including greens and herbs
• We will do our best to garden organically and only turn to synthetic pesticides after exhausting all other options
• The top soil is excellent, we will garden near the creek on the same side of the drive as Mike's garden

We will not garden on Sundays, to respect Mike Pace's wishes.

Plans:

• We will have a row garden 75' x 100' tilled and pitch in $20 per family to cover the cost
• Next to the row garden will be the deep bed allotment area: a 4' grassy path and then three 100' x 4' deep bed tilled rows separated by 3' grassy paths (allowing for a maximum of 15 4' x 20' individual garden beds)
• Paul Knott will provide us with drafts of letters of agreement between community gardens and homeowners, which we'll use to draw up something to present to Mike Pace. 

Next Steps:

• Jim and Nancy Dhom will meet with Al Cutter and Joyce Davis to draft the garden design for the plow man" and let us know how much of each of our "staple" plants we can expect to grow in the row garden.
• Jim will contact Mike Angel and guide him in not over-tilling the soil in our garden areas.
• We will decide later how to address and reassign abandoned plots, if that occurs
• We will take an inventory of garden tools, etc. that we possess and which can be stored in Zeke's buildings on site
• Mike Pace says it's cooler in the ground in that spot than some other places and his experience says don't put seeds in till June 1. That gives us some breathing room.
• Melanie Timberlake and Laurel Schmidt have volunteered their homes for any upcoming meetings
• Bob and Laurel Schmidt, Sharon Bonnville, Catherine Jordan and Sharon Willen are planning to visit the Black Mountain Community Garden next Friday, April 8. (If you want to join them, let Sharon know by email and meet in the upper parking lot at High Vista at 2 pm)
• Sharon will develop a way for us to stay in touch moving forward via the blog/Google, etc. If you plan to continue as a gardener, please subscribe to this blog to make it easier for Sharon to keep you up to date.

If there are any key items missing from this summary, please include in your comments below.

Aerial View of Garden Site

Here's another look at "our garden" site, taken from Google Maps. There's an arrow in the top right hand corner of the column describing the Anglican Church. If you click it that column will disappear to the left giving you a better look at the Pace property. Use the < > ^ v keys to move your view to the left/right and up/down; see the Pace house (grey roof, long driveway), Zeke's building (purple roof), Brevard Road, etc. You can even take a long view using the minus sign at the bottom of the slider below the "little man" and see how close the property is to McDowell and High Vista Drive.

So far Sharon Bonnville, Jim and Nancy Dhom, Susan Marlan (new neighbor on Sourwood; moves in May 2011), Zeke and Faye Mitchell, Bob and Laurel Schmidt, David and Mary Turner, and Mike and Sharon Willen (seven families) have expressed their firm interest. We are meeting next Saturday, April 2, at 1 pm at Mike and Sharon's home to discuss. I'd love to hear from more people, whether or not you plan to continue with the garden project and whether you want to continue receiving garden news.

• will we each take an allotment and garden that area or will we decide jointly what crops to plant and tend and share the harvest?

• are there tools we own and can share or do we want to purchase some materials, tools together

• are there any fruit and/or nut trees/shrubs we want to put in this year so they will provide food in the future?

• do we want to add any features to the garden such as a mulch pit, a bench, a trellis? Can we build them?

• are we each willing to contribute an agreed upon amount of $$ to get the garden started (e.g. plowing and soil amendment costs)

• if we want to garden separately together, how much space do each of us want/need? If you're not sure how much space you might need to grow what you want to grow on your own, here's a neat online garden planner from Gardener's Supply Company. It's free and tells you how many of each type of veggie can be planted in one square foot of land, plus tips on the growing needs for each.

• if we are planting together,  how will we organize workdays/tasks?

• Any other ideas, questions/concerns

We Have Seeds

I attended a meeting of the Food Resilience Working Group of Transition Hendersonville last night and came away with loads of seeds from the seed swap that started things off.

I've got acorn squash, sweet basil, shiny black beans broccoli, green dragon bush beans, brussel sprouts, cucumber, leeks, mesclun greens, yellow summer squash, red cherry tomatoes, orange cherry tomatoes, and rich sweetness asian melon. I've got a couple of ways to plot and apportion the garden area - but so far only a couple of folks who've said they're interested. Please RSVP ASAP that you want to share in the garden and whether you are available to begin planning either this Saturday March 26, 3 pm or next Saturday, April 2 at 1 pm. I don't expect that we'll have many meetings, but we must organize somewhat to get started in the right direction. Now is the time to turn the soil so the grass that's there will die before it's time to plant.

Here are pictures of the seedlings I started in my sun room about ten days ago. So far only the sweet peas have popped - and I have more than I need. If you want some, give me a call. I've also already planted some heirloom tomatoes from last year and spinach. Oh, and a sweet onion that I bought at market that began to sprout roots and shoots on its own, so I stuck it in a pot to see what develops.

We Have An Opportunity

Zeke Mitchell has lived in High Vista since its early days. In addition to his 9 - 5 worklife, Zeke takes on landscaping projects in our community, so he knows how to garden. The building where Zeke stores his equipment is .5 miles down Brevard Road, toward Rte. 280 and behind it is the home of Mike Pace. Zeke asked Mike about the possibility of establishing our group garden on his 11 acres and Mike agreed.

I'm posting pictures, but when you walk the property you'll really get excited. See the pictures here:  Imagine your veggies growing strong.

Let's get together to talk about how much land you each want, what resources we can use cooperatively, and any other organizational topics I'm proposing Saturday March 26,  3 - 4:30  pm
or Saturday, April 2, 1 - 2:30 pm

Please rsvp to highvistagardeners@gmail.com  to say whether you are available either of those days.