Sustainable Gardens Backyard Tour

On Sunday, June 26th Home-Eco (our neighborhood eco-friendly store) partnered with The Gateway Gardner and Native Pollinator to host a sustainable gardens backyard tour. We had four homes that were close enough for us to walk from our house.  June and I felt this was fitting to check out the ones in walking distance first.  There were some interesting homes that were further away but we just ran out of time and I got sun burnt on my shoulders anyway for forgetting to put on sun block.  Darn it!  June was on the Home-Eco list and that's how we found out about the houses on the tour.

Four of us set out to tour the neighborhood --my brother in law Tim, June, & Derrick who is a co-worker & friend of Tim's that lives nearby.  Each house was a little different and showed the personalities of the owners.  Our first stop had a large, sprawling garden with all sorts of veggies growing.  The couple has been gardening for a few years now and they also compost.  They showed us their worms in the basement and the husband explained that he started with only 2,000 worms and now has 7,000 (I think) and that the container they have them in is open but they have never had them escape.  The wife admitted she was not the hugest fan of the worm composting idea at first, but has been really happy with how it's worked out and that the worms have never left their container in the basement.  They also had a more traditional compost bin outside which she said they just pitched their scraps into.  Super friendly and inspiring us to continue on the tour.

Stop number two had a beautiful house, yard, and garden.  He wasn't really there to talk about or showcase his garden, he was showcasing his chickens and beautiful chicken coop.  He had 4 chickens (which is the maximum allowed per house in the city of St. Louis) of varying ages and a great looking coop.  He told us that he only spends about 1-1 1/2 hours a week with the chickens and that they yield about a dozen eggs/week.  He said he fed them scraps (much like you'd use for compost -- potato peels, fruit, etc) for the chicken's diet.  He gave me a blueberry -- my favorite fruit ;-) not -- to let the chicken take out of my hand as a snack/treat.  The yard was well-manicured and it looked like his garden beds were beautifully maintained.  He said that he built his coop himself, that it wasn't too time consuming, and that the chickens really do a great job.  He only has to change the water once or twice a week and put his yard clippings in a certain spot so that the chickens can scratch and peck.  The chickens were a bit noisy... but June was excited at the potential to get some chickens.

Stop number three was a large garden.  The ladies here had clearly been gardening for several years.  They had made sun tea and were offering it in those cool compostable plastic cups.  They were certainly on board with being earth friendly!  She told us about how to get your soil tested and really had transformed most of the backyard into a garden.  This idea is very appealing to us because we are not huge fans of mowing the lawn.  Thankfully, we have 'lawn boy' Warren right now and he is doing a magnificent job of keeping the lawn in order. The garden at stop number three was large and very orderly.  She had neat rows of all different types of veggies in back as well as some flowers around the side.  The front yard looked great as you approached -- very manicured and orderly.  She had two different compost bins and explained to us that one was new.  The first time she had tried composting, she hadn't broken the items into smaller pieces and had not been careful about seeds contaminating the compost.  She showed us the newer batch (with a compost bin recently purchased from Home Eco) and explained that she was making it more like soup.  Make sure that some water gets in it, the pieces are small, and that you mix it all together.  She also told us that we need to look for a community calendar that an organization (now I can't remember the name) offers free classes to help you get started with composting and that you don't have to have a fancy & expensive bin.  June and I will be watching for that class and try to make it a priority to be there.



Our last stop on the tour was a very interesting and eclectic couple.  They had a sprawling garden, 3 chickens, 2 dogs, & a partially painted hot pink garage. They had a wine barrel on the side, as you approached, that was a cool decoration but didn't appear to have much of a use.  They grew all sorts of veggies and had the chickens running around.  The wife did let us know that they had a little bit of trouble getting started with the chickens as they had a few of them die but now know what to do.  They have a 1/2 built chicken coop outside and currently keep the chickens underneath the house.  They had all sorts of veggies and both work in kitchens so I'm confident they know how to use them.  They had barrels he was working on setting up to collect rain water for the gardens.  The lady let us know that the chickens to peck and scratch all over and that was why the yard didn't look so stellar.  She felt like once they finished the coop, they'd mostly be on that side of the garage and that would help to keep the rest of the yard looking better and the vegetables beds from being "under attack."  She did say that the chickens aren't afraid to jump in and scratch around anywhere.  They were very friendly and very progressive with things that they were trying to do in their yard.

For us... I think there is still time to get a garden going and to investigate getting chickens.  We are lucky enough that if we purchase materials, Warren will be able to assist us in building a coop.  I am certainly feeling motivated to make some changes and invest in restructuring our yard.  I know June and I are ready to get the ball rolling with compost and make a decision about what else we'd like to do in our backyard.  Overall, a great experience and we look forward to the next tour to learn even more.  A great idea and a great motivation to get us going!

CSA Week 4

Another week has flown by!  We are always excited to find out what is in the cooler and see what surprises and new things there are for us to try.  I'm really enjoying seeing what we have and come up with new ways to use it.  For week 3, we got our first shipment of beets, something I have to admit to not eaten a lot of.  June had a fabulous recipe from her newlywed cookbook that worked wonderfully.  We will be able to make it again this week with our goodies, if we want..... Maybe you will get lucky and she will post it for you.  :)

We were able to enjoy strawberry shortcake again for Father's day with our week three goodies.  We also made the beets, fresh potatoes, and got our first batch of goats cheese from the farm.  Overall, a very farmer's dinner inspired Father's Day meal.  Sorry week 3 post was missed.  I'm going to work harder at staying on top of it.

Now, onto week 4!  We didn't get any fruit this week, which was crushing.  We were hoping for raspberries, but it rained too hard out in Silex, MO.  Boo!!  We did get several great new additions: zucchini, carrots & green beans.  From our newsletter "This week we have, Red potatoes, Green beans, Beets, Carrots, Lettuce, Cabbage, Kale, Zucchini, Soft Wheat Flour, Herb-Italian flat leaf parsley or chives, and a dozen eggs." 


We love the eggs and we are finding that we can use them all up fast enough.  We still have some wheat berries from week 2 that I'm hoping to make into a veggie chili for our Meatless Monday.  We have 2 weeks worth of green cabbage -- Timmy is promising to make it into soup.  I like cabbage and from the beginning information that I have about my Type 1 diabetes, cabbage is good for you.

As we get headed into the work week, I am working hard at managing my new diabetes with eating lots of good veggies and fresh fruit.  I'm saddened that we didn't get fruit, but happy with what we have been able to get so far.  I hope to update you about our exciting City Sustainable Backyard (aka garden) Tours that June and I went on today. 

1st week recipes and fun :)

So far we’ve really enjoyed all our deliveries and we’re learning a lot about different vegetables. It’s quite exciting as Thursday approaches we almost feel like we’ve got a little Christmas present every week! I will admit of the group of us sharing I’m by far the most pickiest, it’s just the way I am and I don’t feel that I will change that however maybe I will make a promise to try at least one of everything (with the exception of onions because I just don’t like them…)

I was going to share a few of the recipes that we’ve made from the spoils :)

For the first week of course we made some simple salads using the radishes in them, quite a nice crunch. We also added radishes in our meatless Monday (add link) breakfast for dinner omelets that we had. Surprisingly great as well! In addition for that Meatless Monday addition we made wheat crepes (from site says low carb and diabetic friendly?) from scratch, which are so simple it’s crazy!http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

Basic Crepe Recipe:

1 Cup wholewheat flour
1 1/3 cup nonfat milk
2 egg whites
1 egg yolk

Combine ingredients with a hand beater to make batter. Spray a 6" skillet with nonstick cooking spray. Heat the skillet, then remove from heat. Spoon 2 Tbsp batter into skillet -- tilt skillet to spread batter evenly. Return skillet to heat and brown one side of crepe. Invert pan over a paper towel to remove crepe. These can be made 24 to 48 hours ahead of time and refrigerated until needed.

Yield: 16 Crepes

Each Crepe provides: 45 calories, 7 grams Carbohydrate, 0.4 grams Fat

For the delish strawberries we made a somewhat diabetic friendly shortcake (we’re meeting w/ the nutritionist today, so to our best knowledge this is the best we could do…) The shortcake turned out perfectly and the mix of everything ended up being perfect. I believe that the light biscuit mix can be used for other items as well. Here’s the recipe below, I adapted from the website subbing Splenda for all parts where it said sugar and used greek yogurt instead of light sour cream-

Recipe to cook Diabetic Friendly Strawberry Shortcake. Diabetic cooking guru Marilyn Helton took this classic summer dessert, lightened it, and made it diabetic friendly.

Ingredients

Light Biscuit Mix:

6 cups unbleached white flour
3 tablespoons baking powder
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
2/3 cup unsalted stick margarine

Shortcake:

2 cups light biscuit Mix (**please note that you won’t use all of the light biscuit mix, I almost messed the whole thing up that way!)
1/3 cup splenda
3/4 cup nonfat plain yogurt
1/4 cup skim milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
Strawberries and Cream Filling:
4 tablespoons splenda
3 cups fresh strawberries, sliced
1 cup lowfat vanilla yogurt
1/4 cup light greek yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons splenda

Directions

Light Biscuit Mix - Yield: 6-1/2 cups mix
In a large bowl with a wire whisk, mix together flour, baking powder and salt. Cut in margarine with pastry blender until crumbly. Store in refrigerator in an airtight container for up to four weeks. The nutrient analysis is included with the shortcake recipe.
Strawberry Shortcake Preheat oven to 425° F. Place shortcake ingredients in large bowl and stir until just combined. Pour into two greased and floured 8-inch round cake pans. Bake in oven for 20 minutes, or until cake tester inserted in center comes out clean.
Sprinkle 4 tablespoons sugar over strawberries in one bowl. Combine yogurt, sour cream, vanilla, and 2 teaspoons sugar in another bowl.
Remove shortcake from pan by running a knife around the edge and inverting. Spread half of the strawberry mixture on one layer of shortcake. Place the other shortcake layer on top. Top with remaining mixture. Before serving, top with yogurt and sour cream mixture.

Per Serving (made with sugar and without whipped topping):

173 Cal

4g Fat

30g Carb

4g Protein

2mg Cholesterol

Diabetic Exchanges: 1 Fruit 1 Starch 1 Fat

Week 2: What's in the cooler??

I can't believe it's already Thursday! Yeah!! wooo hooo!  We have not even had a chance to eat everything from week 1 and already we are getting our second delivery.  The strawberries we received last week were gone before Saturday, I assure you, but we have wheat berries to try, a spicy green that we are not exactly sure what it is, not to mention green (or young) garlic, and more.

Did I mention our CSA delivers?  It almost magically appears on our doorstep and is chock full of goodness.  It has a reusable freezer pack in the cooler to keep our produce from wilting in this impossible hotness that we are excited to have here in St. Louis.

This week our cooler is again packed with delicious stuff to try.  In our newsletter from the farm, they give us a heads up on what we've got in case we see something new. 
"What's in the Cooler? This week we have Leaf Lettuce, Green Onions, Pac Choi, Broccoli,  Beets, Japanese Turnips, Swiss Chard,(you received either Mustard or Collards). Green Garlic, Strawberries,wheat berries and a dozen eggs.

Some of you may not be familiar with Pac Choi or Swiss Chard.  The greens recipe from last week works good with the Swiss Chard and you could also use it for your beet tops. .  Pac Choi can be sliced up and added to stir frys or I take it slice it in half place it in an oil based marinade for 30 minutes and then I place it on the grill.  Then when it has good grill marks I remove it and to serve give it a splash of Balsamic vinegar. "

We have all the fixin's for a good veggie stir fry..... so Meatless Monday will be a great way for us to incorporate some of these newer veggies for us.  June is also thinking the wheat berries with soy sauce are going to go great with our stir fry. 


Click for Pictures!

CSA Week 2

CSA Week 1

WE HAVE GOT IT!!  Round 1 has been delivered.  We actually received it last Thursday.... we got all sorts of delicious stuff!  So far, it's a hit.  We do have one item we're not sure what it is -- we are guessing collard greens.

This post is authored by Liz.  A little bit about me:  I have recently found out that I am a diabetic.  (Don't know which kind yet..., that's how new.)  One thing that we know is that I need to be on a low-carb, low-fat, no-sugar diet.  What does that leave?  Lots of green things: veggies of course!  We had signed up for the CSA before my diagnosis.  Now we are working on utilizing our CSA to help my diet and eat healthy.  I am looking forward to the new challenge.


So far.... we have grilled some veggies, I've had at least two salads, and we were able to make a low sugar diabetic friendly Strawberry Shortcake.  June was able to execute it on Friday and we got to eat more on Saturday.

Timmy will hopefully posting soon about what came in the cooler.