STARworks Garden

The diggin' in the dirt has begun.

2012-02-09T12:06:00.000-08:00

Hi folks, It's been a long time since I posted here. Sorry for leaving y'all hanging, but occasionally one needs to spend more time in "real reality"as opposed to the virtual reality.
Life HAS BEEN going on at STARworks Garden despite the lack of posts here. As a matter of fact, Adam recently said:" Blogging is so passé..." - that in comparison to tweeting, face-booking, pinging etc.
What do you all think?!
Our second season of the CSA was small, but it did continue almost into December. The winter has been exceptionally mild, and there has been something green and blooming in the garden throughout the winter. Kind of eerie.

So - what are the things happening there now?
I pruned the beauty-berry bushes, rose bush, apple and pear tree about 2 weeks ago. The peach/nectarine/apricot/plum - tree still needs to be pruned - but it is quite full and beautiful - I find it hard figuring out where to start with it...
I've started cleaning out the neglected compost piles. There is a lot of woody brown matter on top of each of the three bins, and some composted goodness on the bottom. The goal is to get everything out, to use the compost in greenhouse and veggie beds, to get some horse manure, and layer the woody stuff with horse manure back in the compost pile, cross the fingers, maybe mix it at some point, and hope for the best.

I do have some photographic evidence of happenings in the Annex, which is out garden extension on Eddie and Angela's land. The biggest plan this year is to fence in this garden, to protect it from deer (they did plenty of damage last year) and to run some drip irrigation on the beds, from the rainwater collector (the standing with the hose was painful...).
Here we go:

Garlic got planted in mid-october, which is the best time in our region, as I'm told by people in the know. It is looking mighty purty! The smaller green stuff growing there is wheat, I think - from the straw bales. I did get around to mulching:) And it has made a major difference with weeds. The wheat can be pulled out, and laid right back there - for additional mulch and nitrogen.

I was in the garden on Tuesday, digging and sweating in the 65˚F something degrees, and a few spuds came out - they had over-wintered from the late fall crop. I'm thinking... maybe it would make sense - for the purpose of stretching out the seed potatoes - to plant a crop in late august, say, for the sole purpose of growing some more seed for the next spring? Plant them, let them do their multiplying underground - and in February - dig 'em up? Prep your land - then plant them again?

Does anybody have experience with it?

Well I'm trying it. I planted those puppies.

These are onions. Now, this may come back and bite me in the tail, but I figured - it's been warm enough, that the earth is toasty, even if we have a surface freeze... I'll be planting at least some of the onion sets. I plant them in diamond pattern, up to about the second knuckle of my index finger, and about 3" apart. This may be a bit tight, but I hate to waste land - and it has worked out fine for me so far.

This little section of a bed ended up with about 12" depth of soil - so I couldn't resist and sowed some carrot seed in 4 rows, and stuck yellow onion sets between each row.

Tomorrow is the time to order the Shiitake spawn for our upcoming Annual Mushroom Workshop.

Sign up - and come have fun with Greg, Hugh, me and a bunch of participants - drilling, dripping hot wax and inoculating logs with sawdust spawn. It's a fun day, and you'll get to pick some beautiful edible incredible mushrooms a year later from your own back yard.

We are trying something new this year - a tasting of some mushroom dishes, and a quick cooking lesson.

There are lots of exciting foodie things happening around Star this year! Farmers markets are gearing up - I'm going to a MCFMA meeting this evening! We'll be discussing how to get the freshest local food to y'all, and how to do it in a fun way.

Sweetness and blooms!

Mushroom Cultivation Workshop

2012-01-26T10:40:00.000-08:00

GROWYOUR OWN SHIITAKE MUSHROOMS!

withinstructors Greg Benderand Hugh Martin.

Date& Time:

March3. 9AM- 12PM

LOCATION:back of STARworks Building, 100 Russell Drive, Star, NC 27356

Fordirections go: http://www.starworksnc.org/contact.html

Priceof the workshop: $20.-

Theprice covers the use of tools, wax and spawn. Participants arestrongly encouraged to bring their own logs, maximum 3 logs perperson.

Logshave to be cut no longer than 3 weeks prior to the inoculation.Please do not bring logs that have fallen due to disease and havebeen found on forest floor! Size of logs should be 3” - 4” indiameter and about 2 feet long. If possible, bring your own electricdrill, cordless drills are not powerful enough.

Typesof wood: white or red oak, sweet-gum.

Toregister,please contact Anne Pärtna: #336 653 9551 or email:anne@starworksnc.org

Spacewill be filled on first-come-first-serve basis. Payment optionsinclude: cash, check, credit card. For credit card payment call: 910428 9001

SPECIALthis year: we will be doing alittle cooking demonstration!

Midsummer heat...

2011-07-19T09:01:00.000-07:00

I can't believe how fast this past month has flown... It's almost the end of July, and our first season of the CSA is coming to an end in another week. I feel like we had a fairly successful season, with more variety than I've been able to provide in previous years. It takes a while to figure it all out, you know, and there is always room for improvement. And of course, there is the weather to be taken into account...

Salad greens were short lived this spring, while carrots and beets grew beautifully.

RIght now it's the time for cucumbers - I like to trellis them up on like that:

The sunflowers, planted by first graders, have grown so tall!

Harvested some gigantic one-clove garlic this year! I wish I could dedicate a big plot to garlic only - it's so rewarding to pull them out in June - and use them all year round!

I managed to make a few jars of pickles with some leftover cukes and garlic from the CSA. Dill seed came from the garden as well.

Potatoes did quite well this year - and hoping for even better crop next year, when the soil is better prepared. In my experience it takes about 3-4 years to get a garden established and the soil worked to a good consistency. For instance - we're having a lot of pesky blossom end rot on the tomatoes this year, because they are in the new garden, and we didn't add any lime (which needs to go in the ground months before planting). So now I've had to attempt to fix this problem with watering with epsom salt- and Tums solution, and will be also watering with compost tea later today. The tomatoes always seem to get a second wind here in September, and I'm hoping the plants will be recovered by then, and reward us with some beautiful fruit.

But here are the pretty Red Pontiac potatoes.

The grape vine is full of fruit! It's trellis has been knocked over a few times unfortunately, and I've lost some fruit due to that. But maybe next week there will be a bit in your last shares...

And here are a few of the Gladiolas that miraculously came back this year! I thought surely I had lost them all last year, when they seemed to just rot off the bulb when we had a kind of a wet spell... I do need to do a better job at staking them up next year.

With these pretty blooms I bid you all farewell - I'm taking my family to the other side of the world for a month to visit my folks and friends and get away from the NC heat! See you back in September!

Popping in...

2011-06-21T07:06:00.000-07:00

I need to begin with apology - we had to cancel the Wild Edibles workshop last weekend, due to the lack of people signing up.

I have consulted with Alan Muskat, and our new dates for the

Wild Edibles and Mushrooms workshop is SEPTEMBER 24.

More detailed information coming soon!

Otherwise - things are going well in the garden! Lots of blooms.

This is one of my favorite combinations - Russian Sage with day-lilies.

Beets have grown really well this year! I have planted seeds about every 3 weeks this spring, and we have harvested plenty of beets for the CSA! Here is the last planting of Cylindra variety of beet which I am really digging this year! Pun totally intended.

I ran out of space in the veggie beds, so those beets are growing in one of the flower beds instead!

Butterfly weed, started last year from seed - is doing well!

White coneflower, also started from seed last year. It's cousin purple Coneflower is about 3 times as tall, and blooming like crazy this year!

I picked the first potatoes for the CSA and Farmer's Markets last week! They were so tender and fresh!

However, there were still a lot of tiny spuds on the roots, so I decided to give the rest of them a few more weeks.

Below is a picture of how we like to tie up tomatoes. This trellis system goes up fairly easily, and once the plants get heavier, it's also fairly sturdy. The occasional heavy storm winds do blow these tripods down occasionally, but no system is perfect. My Finnish friend Anna helped me with this project. She also took a bunch of suckers to root, and plant in a few weeks - it's a great way to start new tomato plants in the middle of the growing season.

Eggplants are under the row - cover, hiding from flea beetles.

I now need to plant some okra, winter squash and melons on any land that got freed up from potatoes.

Remember to come to the Farmer's Markets at Troy and Star, and put your money where your mouth is!

Forage For Wild Edibles & Mushrooms

2011-05-23T11:24:00.000-07:00

July 18, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

With Alan Muskat, The Mushroom Man

Join Asheville's epicure of the

obscure, Alan Muskat, on a quest for

the edible and incredible wild

mushroom!

Alan really knows

how to pick ‘em. Since

1995, he’s sold hundreds of

punds of wild mushrooms a

year to restaurants & hotels

including The Biltmore

Estate & The Grove Park

Inn.

Author of Wild Mushrooms:

A Taste of Enchantment, this

stand-up comedian has

popped up in The New

Yorker and in Country

Living. He even appeared

on the Travel Channel’s

Bizarre Foods with celebrity

epicure Andrew Zimmern.

During the workshop we will sample “exotic” local wild fruit, ants

and other extreme cuisine. Learn how to safely find, identify,

appreciate — maybe even eat — these

elusive delights!

Workshop will be held at

Tom Gray’s Pottery

1480 Fork Creek Mill in Seagrove

Fee: $45

Includes 40 pg

introductory

E-book

Deadline for

Registration

is June 15

To Register, call Anne Pärtna at (910) 428-9001

Or visit STARworks at

100 Russell Drive in Star

Space is Limited. Register Early!

For more information visit

www.starworksnc.org

Summer heat is here.

2011-05-23T10:39:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update on what's up in the garden. As you see the rose bush has been putting out some beautiful blooms!

We had another Star Elementary School first grade class in the garden a few weeks ago.

They had a lot of fun painting pictures of what they saw and experienced in the garden - we tasted strawberries and peas for instance:)

I put their stories and pictures together into a book and delivered it to their classroom last week. The same kids came to the garden in April and planted sunflower seeds, and this time they got to see how much their plants had grown. Those flowers have again doubled since...

The "other" STARworks Garden complex is looking pretty good too. Potatoes are in bloom and I expect to start pulling some taters out in mid June, to add to the CSA shares. I have also planted nearly 60 tomato plants there - all of which need pruning and cages by now!!!

The pear tree by the greenhouse is loaded with fruit and the branches really need support... I hope to get to it this week. There may be enough pears for every CSA share to get one to taste...

And since I have already mentioned CSA - here's some of what goes out with the shares this week:
I pulled the first red onions and garlic, there are greens (not pictured) and carrots and some beets and beet greens. Quite a variety of herbs also: dill, parsley, sage, oregano, green onion, thyme, cat mint, rosemary.

And last but not least - the lily bulbs I planted last year came back strong and are in full bloom now! That deep red is gorgeous!

Spring is in full bloom!

2011-05-02T11:36:00.000-07:00

Today was the first day or STARworks Garden CSA first session which runs from the beginning of May through the end of July.

Asian greens, lettuce, kale and cool weather herbs are available for a few weeks. Hopefully soon we can pull the first beets - they are looking great right now.

The week before last (last week was a SPring Break for Montgomery county kids) we had 2 first grade classes from Star Elementary in the garden, planting seeds, and painting labels to take home for their own little garden patches.

Everybody had a good time, and will be back this week, to draw, paint and write a story about plants and bugs and growing good things!
Below is a picture of a bed that 3'rd graders planted 3 years ago - the poppies they planted have settled in well, and come back every year!

What's new?

2011-04-06T07:22:00.000-07:00

I think all of my posts should be titled "Catching Up"... So much happens, so little time to blog!!!

Let's see... We planted potatoes last Friday morning:) Gloria and Anna came out to help me. Keep your fingers crossed that they will grow and sometime in midsummer we will harvest a ton of potatoes!!!

Here's a tater in it's hole:) I had bought seed of Red Pontiac, and Irish Cobbler from Weston's Feed and Seed , cut them up in halves or quarters and let them dry for almost a week before planting. As a daughter of a potato farmer (among other things my dad grew) it has taken me a while to learn to grow potatoes this way... We always saved our own seed (just the right size, smallish blemish free potatoes), they never got cut up, and the fields were prepared with a tractor. It usually took us a few days to plant the taters. Here, in NC, I learned that to stretch the $ you can buy the seed, and cut the potatoes, to double or maybe even triple the amount of seed you have. And instead of planting in hilled rows, you can dig a hole, and throughout the growing season add more soil around the plant. Actually, last summer I neglected to hill at all, and still harvested a nice size crop.

Another fun thing I tried this year, was to grow oyster mushrooms in a toilet paper roll... During one of our mushroom workshops I grabbed a roll of toilet paper, and filled it with spawn, wet it and wrapped it in plastic. You're supposed to sterilize the roll first, and take out center, so all you have is soft tissue. Well. I did neither of those things.
After about 3 weeks the toilet paper roll started looking funky inside the plastic - shriveled up a bit, and got covered with white mycelium. I was antsy and put it in the fridge for 2 days, then took it out and uncovered, and waited... nothing happened. Well, except that the mycelium kept growing and eating up the cellulose in the toilet paper roll. I watered it... waited... then put it in the fridge again...
took it out... waited, still nothing.
So finally about 4 days ago I decided that it was too dry. I placed it on a plate and poured some water on the plate. It was thirsty! I had to fill it back up a few times.
And what do you know! The next day I saw a tiny, almost unnoticeable gray spot in the center - like a cluster of pin cushion needles... SO EXCITING! I'm telling you - it's like having a pet! Sometimes I just stand there for a few minutes looking at this miracle - and I swear I can see them grow in front of my eyes!
Here's the evidence:

Aren't they just perfect? There is 19 or 20 individual mushrooms in that cluster. Can you see the mycelium web between the cardboard and tissue paper? Totally awesome! I'll keep you updated with the progress, and the recipe they end up in:)

One more thing!
Troy Farmer's Market is opening this Thursday, the 7th of April at 3PM. (till 6PM)
It is promising to be a great event, so come by after work, or after getting the kids from school, meet your local farmers and get some goodies for your family's dinner table, or garden! STARworks Garden will be there this Thursday!

Catching up!

2011-03-24T14:01:00.000-07:00

My apologies for not blogging for a while. Plenty has been going on, and I will try to give a little overview of more important happenings.

For the third year in a row STARworks Garden, with the help of Greg Bender and Hugh Martin, held Shiitake and Oyster mushroom cultivation workshops.

Hugh first guided us through some basics via Power Point presentation.

Then it was time to roll up the sleeves and get to work.

Alice Clemens here, having fun drilling the logs.

Women with power tools!

Looks like these guys could be at home in the kitchen!

Waxing the logs, after inoculation.

It's easy enough for kids! Hugh's youngest son, Daniel helping Jeff Boothby inoculate the logs.

I have mentioned before that Eddie and Angela, the owners of Wet Dog Glass, offered us a piece of their land to turn into a garden for STARworks. Adam named it "the East College Street Garden Complex". Adam and I went last Friday, and started to spread out the big pile of cow manure compost we had ordered from Mr. Brown.

One wheelbarrow load at a time...

After a few hours of shoveling and hauling we had about half of the pile spread, and decided it had been enough for the day.

On Saturday we got going about 9 am. Eddie, Angela and Nancy all shoveled and raked.

Santiago brought his two tillers, but we soon discovered - those were not going to help us much. Luckily Eddie has a great neighbor Kenneth, who owns a tractor (or 2) and farm equipment! Thanks Kenneth! Power tools can be very nice, when used well... and not abused. For instance - after the initial plowing and tilling, if you mulch well - you really shouldn't need to use a tractor, or a tiller again!
Being able to use a tractor really helped us to get a lot of work done at no time!

And Andreas, who had a birthday that day - got to ride the tractor back to Kenneth's house.

I don't have a final picture of the new garden complex yet. We ended up using up all the cardboard that needed to be recycled at Wet Dog Glass, to mulch over some of the beds. Once more cardboard piles up, we can mulch between the beds as well, and finish mulching all the beds.
Between plowing and tilling, Eddie put up a rain water catchment system with the help of Adam, Everett, Zack; and Phil helped build the platforms to raise the cisterns up.

Huge thanks to Eddie, who is always ready to lend a hand, and has great ideas of how to get things done!
This morning, for instance, he helped me prune and train the fruit trees in the garden. They ended up looking real nice!
Also Great Thanks to: Adam, Phil, Santiago, Everett, Zack, Angela, Nancy, Anna for all the help!

Plants for sale

2011-03-14T10:41:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update to let you all know that I have a small amount of cold weather veggies plants for sale.

Here's the list:

Swiss Chard "Ruby Red" 4pack $1.20 3pack $1.-

Tatsoi 4pack $1.20

Lettuce: Buttercrunch 4pk $1.20

Rouge D'Hiver 6pk $2.-

Napa Cabbage "Aichi" 4pk $1.20

Broccoli Raab 3pk $1.-

There is also some Yarow plants in an assortment of pastel colors 2,5"pot $2.-

Chocolate Mint in 2,5" pot $2.- and 3.5" pot $3.-

There will be more plants and varieties in coming weeks. Please make an appointment to come by the greenhouse if you wish to purchase some plants! My cell #336 653 9551.

I am usually either in the garden or in the office every weekday from 10am to 2:30pm

On top of the world:)

2011-03-08T08:52:00.000-08:00

This morning, when checking my email I had a nice surprise:) STARworks Garden Blog has been featured in an online article about organic gardening: Growing Green At Home: The Top 35 Organic Gardening Blogs. The blog is listed in top 5 in Farming category.

That's pretty cool! And a bit funny to me... When we first started to bounce around this idea to build a garden in the back of the STARworks building, the former sock mill, I was overall very skeptical about online presence. To tell you the truth, I wanted nothing to do with blogs, or Facebook or whatever else was out there.
My life was already full, or so I thought, and blogging seemed like utterly too much to do on top of everything else... Plus - you sort of have to be open enough to "journal"... you know - discuss things in writing - but publicly...
I kept pushing back at first, when Nancy suggested I take up blogging about the garden.
But finally, oh so very reluctantly, I signed up for Blogger account, and started feeling my way around that whole new realm.
Little did I know I would enjoy the process so much that I currently keep up with 3 blogs, have become slightly addicted to Facebook, and have even sniffed Twitter a bit.

So - cheers to all the bloggers of this world. This new media has taken "freedom of speech" to a new level.

Now, getting back to more mundane (or muddy?) matters... Here are a few proofs that I have been busy in the garden, getting my fingers dirty, as well as clicking the keyboard keys!

The list of seedlings started in the greenhouse is pretty long. Mostly cool weather crops, as we are not out of the possible freezing time quite yet. Last few nights there has been some frost on my car window.

A new plant I have started this spring is Sorrel - such a delightful leafy green/herb - it could go either way. In the foreground of this picture are some Chinese cabbages.

This is an Apricot (one of my most favorite fruits) branch on our dwarf "fruit medley tree" in the garden. It was the first to bloom.

Jim Joyce donated 3 fruit trees to STARworks Garden last year. We have a pear and apple tree with 3 different varieties on each, crafted on dwarf rootstock.

And a tree with apricot, peach, nectarine and plum.

It's pretty crazy that something like this can even be done!

The apricot branch actually bore 2 delicious fruits last summer!

Just a reminder: this year's last Mushroom workshop is on SATURDAY, from 9-12.

Sure signs of spring.

2011-02-25T09:37:00.000-08:00

I worry about the possibility of another freeze, but really - it's been very nice and springy out there for a few weeks now.

Things in the greenhouse are coming along great. I'm transplanting lots of seedlings, and starting new seeds - both for CSA and to sell.

Here are some evidence of spring weather effects on plants at STARworks Garden.

Pear tree is about to bust!

We got some fresh cow manure compost delivered this week from Mr. Brown, who has supplied us since we started building the first beds. We're trying to expand the growing space this year. Eddie and Angela Bernard, the owners of Wet Dog Glass have offered to use a part of their lawn (less to mow!) to turn it into a garden patch for summer crops! That should make it easier to overcome the small space syndrome. I won't have to rush, to plant summer crops on top of greens, or wait too long to get fall crops in - as I'm always reluctant to pull out tomato plants in September... they always seem to get a second wind by then.

Some interesting reads from this week:

Farm-raised kids are less prone to asthma. Who gets the credit? Germs, researchers say.

How to Make Oatmeal . . . Wrong

Speaking of oatmeal - my family eats it salty, with a dab of butter. Goes great with some bacon from Whipowill Hill Farm and eggs from Hope Farms.

Eat Real, folks!

Sunshiny day!

2011-02-18T10:43:00.000-08:00

This wonderful teasing weather has definitely brought on a Spring Fever for me.

I've spent a few hours each day in the garden, clearing beds from dead plants, pruning, weeding, loosening soil in the beds where I direct sow, and starting seeds in the greenhouse.

Crocuses are blooming and last year's parsley is coming back strong.

One great thing I did last fall - was to mulch the beds better than in previous years. On most of the beds I added a thick layer of leaves. I've peeked under the leaves, and the earth worms have been having a blast - the soil is moist, soft and crumbly, and with very few weeds.
I also mulched the kale and garlic I planted in the fall - with sheets of newspaper, and shredded office paper. The newspaper has done a good job keeping the weeds down, and where the weeds did grow among the shredded paper - they were super easy to pull out!

(before weeding)

Mulching well in the fall is really the best gift you can give yourself and the garden!

(after weeding)

I've kept the kale and garlic covered with row cover, to protect them from hard frosts.

Some of the plants started in the greenhouse include: savoy and regular head cabbage, kale, Chinese kale, Bok Choy, mesclun mix, lettuces, spinach, Swiss Chard of different colors, arugula, sorrel.

Outside I've planted the first round of peas, carrots and beets.

Lets hope for a good growing year!

GROW YOUR OWN GOURMET MUSHROOMS!

2011-02-04T07:14:00.000-08:00

with instructors Greg Bender and Hugh Martin.

Dates & Times:

Shiitake and Oyster mushrooms. Log cultivation: February 26. 9AM – 12PM

Shiitake and Oyster mushrooms. Log cultivation: March 12. 9AM- 12PM

LOCATION: back of STARworks Building, 100 Russell Drive, Star, NC 27356

For directions go: http://www.starworksnc.org/contact.html

Price of the workshop: $18.- per person or $20.- on the day of the workshop (if space is available). The price covers the use of tools, wax and spawn. Participants are strongly encouraged to bring their own logs, maximum 3 logs per person.

Logs have to be cut no longer than 3 weeks prior to the inoculation. Please do not bring logs that have fallen due to disease and have been found on forest floor! Size of logs should be 3” - 4” in diameter and about 2 feet long. If possible, bring your own electric drill, cordless drills are not powerful enough.

Types of wood: For Shiitake – white or red oak is the best, sweetgum will work

For Oyster – cottonwood, oak, alder, maple, aspen, ash, beech, birch, elm, willow, poplar

To register, please contact Anne Pärtna: #336 653 9551 or email: anne@starworksnc.org

Space will be filled on first-come-first-serve basis. Payment options include: cash, check, credit card. For credit card payment call :910 428 9001

Gearing up for the summer!

2011-02-03T07:12:00.000-08:00

Yesterday gave us all some hope! Seemed like spring is just around the corner. It was amazing to be outside in the middle of the winter, wearing but a t-shirt, weeding and cleaning out the garden beds. I saw tons of fat wriggly earth worms happily doing their job. To think that just a few years ago this was a patch of gravel where even weeds barely grew! And now it's a playground for worms, frogs, toads, lizards, butterflies etc. And me:) And occasionally some kids:)

To get the year going, I've started getting the greenhouse ready, cleared the beds, except for some parsley, cilantro, celery and flowers and perennial herbs. I will be ordering some seed to grow more carrots, green beans, beets and pak choi for the CSA. Some of the Mushroom workshops are lined up for the end of this month, March and June. I will post all that info somewhere on the blog ASAP.

Stay tuned!

Thoughts on food. Calories - or so much more?

2011-01-10T11:20:00.000-08:00

Last week I joined the Montgomery County Health Advisory Board again. I went to a few of their meetings last year, and got frustrated with how little got accomplished. This year the leadership has changed a bit, and the Board seems to be geared up to see some real changes happen.
One of the things that used to frustrate me to no end at last years meetings was the fact that the amount of calories seemed to be the only criteria to determine the quality of food in our school cafeterias and vending machines.

Following are some thoughts I've articulated about that matter.
.........................................

We seem to look at nutrition labels as our only criteria for healthy food, but seem to forget to look at where this nutrition and the calories, our children and we are consuming, come from.

I think as species we have become too concerned with numbers and requirements. We take a scientific approach to something that is so fundamental and so common sense…

We buy processed, prepackaged food, because it seems more convenient in our busy lives, and also because we trust that the Food Industry has done it’s homework and offers us what is best for our bodies – colorful packages of food like substances, neatly labeled with a list of ingredients, suggested serving sizes and counted calories. (While the Food Industry’s main concern is to cheaply redistribute all the cheap corn that is being produced by conventional farming as a monoculture; and make the biggest profit while doing so.)

We trust the labels blindly, partly because it takes too much effort to learn to think for ourselves, and to learn to cook for ourselves again.

And we forget, or choose not to think about other aspects of food – other than the required daily amount of calories.

Is food just chemistry or is it more?

Should we keep counting the calories or should we put more effort into bringing forth the aspects of food that cannot be charted and measured?

For instance – the aspect of food as nourishment, rather than fuel, and beyond that – as nourishment for our souls as well as our bodies.

The aspect of food as shared experience – especially in school cafeterias, where hundreds of kids sit down together and take a moment (too brief in my opinion) to slow down, to nourish their bodies and souls and to connect with:

*each other and their teachers at a more personal, less structured way.

*people who prepare their meals

*a PLACE

When Food Industries cheap surplus food comes in cans, is presented on Styrofoam trays and are served conveyor belt style; eaten hurriedly – the sense of belonging and understanding of a place can not happen.

When you know that the potatoes, chicken and salad greens that you are eating come from a farm(s) in your community or at least within your state, you feel connected to a place, it’s people and resources. You develop pride in belonging and become invested in the community that sustains you.

And when this food is fresh, and lovingly prepared – will you still count the calories?

A few links to follow these thoughts.

Three basic recipes. (I would add SOUP to that list - so versatile, can be made in big batches with little effort of cost!)

Eating invasive species. (In troubled times people become creative! There is plenty of kudzu around the south to feed the hungry!)

How eating at home can save your life. (Cooking at home is not rocket science! With average american spending 32 hours watching TV - some of that time spent on watching cooking shows - every household should be able to cook at least a few meals at home by cutting out some TV time!)

Allright. I could (and will in the future) rant more on this topic, but will leave you with these words today: We are indeed much more than what we eat, but what we eat can nevertheless help us to be much more than what we are. —-Adelle Davis

Happy 2011!

2011-01-05T10:23:00.000-08:00

A happy sunny picture to warm the chilly winter day:)

Every year about this time I realize how much did not get done in the year before... Maybe it's because I tend to set unrealistic expectations for myself - or maybe I just procrastinate too much. Maybe it's a little bit of both.
We did grow a load of veggies in our small garden, and shared them with about 14- 16 families throughout the season - 32 weeks of picking, sorting and bagging. We did grow more flowers than last year - and I'm hoping they will be more abundant in the coming season, as the perennials are getting established. We had great mushroom cultivation workshops and wild mushroom workshops and harvested first big flushes of mushrooms. We had a few workshops with kids and partnered with Star Library on a summer program.

But we didn't get the rainwater catchment system built, as there are just too many variables to think through, lack of materials, and manpower... We didn't get our bees, because the winter of 2009/2010 was really hard for bees and killed many... I didn't get the 2 more flower/herb beds built since our Bobcat was always in use or broken...

It's good to look back to a year and assess what worked, what didn't and how to do things better.
Happy 2011 everyone - let's make this a year to remember!

I owe y'all big time

2010-12-13T09:06:00.000-08:00

It's been a long time since I last reported on the happenings at the Garden. And it's not because nothing has happened. Quite the opposite.

The last BIG thing that needs to be mentioned was Central Park's Annual Gathering in October. STARworks Ceramics has talked about it on their blog, so I won't repeat everything. I would like to say that it was inspiring to hear Joel Salatin, and many other folks who are LIVING and BREATHING the change in American food ways. Who ARE the change. Those of you who attended the workshop - I know - went away with a positive feeling and the urge to help local food movement along - whether raising/growing local, volunteering with an organization, or buying at least a fraction of your food from local farmers.

STARworks Garden CSA has wrapped up it's season for now. We stretched our luck until the end of November. And what a year this was! Tomatoes as late as mid November! That of course meant I (and many other growers) had a heck of a hard time getting fall greens going with the incredible late heat and drought we had. I wish I could have included more salad greens for all of you, CSA customers this fall, but I just could not get the greens to germinate!

This is what we had to offer in the beginning of November, and below is what we had at the end of October:

Roses - just a few weeks ago!

By now, of course, the freezing temperatures have done their job (hopefully have killed some bad bugs as well!)

I have pulled up most of the summer crops, there is still plenty to do to tidy up the garden and make plans for next year.

Merry Christmas Everyone, and a Happy New Growing Year!

First Annual STARworks Glass Pumpkin Patch - a success!!!

2010-10-19T13:04:00.000-07:00

The last Saturday's early morning sunlight really brought the glass pumpkins, that Nick and his helpers had made - to life. I couldn't stop taking pictures! Here are some of my favorites.

As we set everything up, I wondered, how many people would come out to Star, on their Saturday morning, to splurge on Halloween and Thanksgiving decorations...

...even if they were enticing...

Well. Little did I know, and to all of our surprise - we had people lined up, guarding the treasures they had chosen, before 9 am, the official opening time! It's lucky no fights broke out:)

Before we knew it - meaning - before noon the pumpkins were SOLD OUT!

HUGE thanks to everyone who came out and supported STARworks this weekend - the proceeds from the Glass Pumpkin Patch sales will go to support our Highschool Glass Program! Thanks Nick, Suzie, Tim, Eddie, Steve, Drew and Robbin - who have been sweating and blowing their heads off making the pumpkins!

The Second Annual STARworks Glass Pumpkin Patch will be even bigger and better - Save the date - October 1 2011!

Shiitakes anyone?

2010-10-05T09:10:00.000-07:00

The cooler weather and rain we finally had, has made the Shiitake mushrooms pop out of logs like never before in our garden! Such a beautiful sight to see! Adam and I have been watering them yesterday and today, and I will be picking some tomorrow.

This is the second year for these logs, and the first time they have bloomed so well!

Seeds go in, fruits come out

2010-09-23T07:22:00.000-07:00

How nice it is to step outside early in the morning and feel the cool fresh air! The midday heat is no longer relentless. We do desperately need rain though! I have tried to start lettuce in the STARworks garden twice now, and can't keep up with the watering - resulting in only a few plants coming up. However, my garden at home receives some shade and retains water better, so I'm putting my bets on those beds to give us the first taste of some tender greens. Carrots, bunching onions and some radishes and lettuces have already sprouted. I spent this morning turning the last available beds and sowing more lettuce, spinach and arugula. Keeping fingers crossed - and watering the garden overnight with drip hoses every other week or so...

Eggplants are still producing good at STARworks garden, they seem to especially love the bed I planted them in - full sun, and no competition from tomatoes or other crops. There is a problem with pests, mostly lacebugs. Those buggers had just covered lots of the more tender top leaves. I mostly avoid using chemicals for pest control, but this time decided that the small cap full of Pyrethrin, sold for use in home gardens, was worth trying. So, I sprayed them early last week, being careful not to get the solution anywhere where it was not needed. Inspection this week shows, that it helped reduce the bug populations to where hand picking and squishing the bugs will now be possible.

Our Oil Seed Garden is starting to look rather ragged... I decided to take down the gigantic sunflowers this week and had to use a saw to cut through the stems that were almost as thick as my 11 year olds arms...

Some of the seed heads were huge and heavy too.

Under the sunflowers there were a few cotton plants that had grown quite beautifully! I had thought we lost them - they were so slow to grow and did not look promising in the spring. But whaddayaknow:) Cotton has beautiful shy blooms - we have an old timey variety that blooms in shades of creamy yellow and purplish pink.

The pods that later pop open to reveal a fluffy cotton ball are beautiful too - they remind me of hazelnuts.

Another oil seed plant that I started on a whim is sesame. I'd never seen a sesame plant, and I LOOOOOOOVE the seeds, so I decided to throw a handful of brown sesame seeds from Grand Asia Market in our oilseed bed - and wow. The plants have grown taller than me, and are full of pods, which are full of seeds (I've checked!). The plants are so long and gangly (and still keep blooming) that I have to figure out a way to support them until the pods ripen. By the way, the plants smell wonderful if brushed against!

As we are gearing up for another Annual Gathering here at STARworks - there is plenty to do in the garden to get it ready...

Now, if only we'd get some rain!

Old debts and great news

2010-09-07T05:19:00.000-07:00

Let's start with great news!

Montgomery county elementary schools are getting more fresh fruits and veggies to our kids!

Old debt...

This past summer STARworks Garden hosted a Star Library Reading program, where we explored the garden and tried to draw and paint from nature. Adam blogged about it here.

I'll add more pictures:)

Time for fall!

2010-08-25T08:42:00.000-07:00

Ahhhh, the mornings are crisp and cool! Fall is definitely in the air, and summer lingers during the days... I think this is my favorite time of the year in this part of the world.

I did find myself, just for a moment today, feeling sad for the summer almost being gone again.

Where did it go?! I guess it evaporated mostly through the airconditioning... the 90 + degrees are just too much to handle for a northerner.

Anyways - look what we picked today:) Tomatoes are on their last leg - we had couple of intense weeks when they were coming in strong, and now they're just splitting and rotting, and getting attacked by caterpillars. There is still enough for a few to be included in the shares.

Peppers however seem to be doing better this year - they were late to get going, but it's steady picking now. And eggplants have finally started putting out lots of fruit.

And basil has just flourished all summer!

Here's my little helper Anna:) She comes about once a week and helps me pick and bag stuff while we discuss life's persistent questions:) I have two other major helpers this year - Tony, our biodiesel boss, who cuts grass and helps with website stuff, and Gloria who also helps with picking and bagging. THANK YOU ALL!

I started some lettuce seed last week, and some of it is coming up. Keep our fingers crossed!

Also started a batch of carrots and more lettuce at home for the CSA. Trying to keep a few irons in fire in case of disasters.

Here's to fall!

Mushrooms, Mushrooms Everywhere

2010-08-10T08:43:00.000-07:00

It's quite true, mushrooms are popping up everywhere this time of the year. A good soaking of rain, and they appear seemingly from nowhere. People tend to feel strongly about mushrooms - they either love them, or hate them. But most of us don't know enough about them either way.

And it is not easy to know something about the kingdom of mushrooms, those quiet recyclers whose bodies of mycelia weave immense nets all over our planet, invisible to most.

To educate the people about the fruits of fungus that occasionally are visible, and also edible, we invited in an expert...

(Boletes and a medicinal reishi mushroom)

This past weekend STARworks Garden hosted two Wild Mushroom Hunts, with Asheville's Alan Muskat, The Mushroom Man.

On Saturday we gathered by Low Water Bridge, in Montgomery county, and walked in the woods that are protected by Land Trust for Central NC. Crystal Cockman from the Land Trust came out and introduced the mission of Land Trust for Central NC and joined the mushroom walk. Thank you Crystal for all your help, and to Land Trust for trusting us with your woods!

(Alan Muskat hearing the stories of modern hunter gatherers)

The Saturday workshop went by so fast. Following a lecture, a short walk and mushroom gathering, Alan cooked up the goods with a bit of garlic and olive oil. I think we all learned to identify the Leatherback Milkcaps and Honey Mushrooms. We also tasted some Boletes.

(Alan Muskat introducing characteristics of different types of mushrooms)

The Sunday group convened in my back yard:) Huge thanks to Carolyn McDermott and Fred Shucker for allowing 18 people to roam their woods! The mushroom loot gathered from a relatively small piece of land was amazing! (Lucky for my family now, that I know how many edible mushrooms are practically in my back yard!)

(Alan talking about the forest community, the symbiotic relationship between mushrooms and plants in relation to human community, and the symbiotic relationship we humans should strive to nurture with our natural environment)

(More pontificating)

After learning about some of the edibility identification methods, and how to handle mushrooms, it was time to pick out the edibles, and do a taste test.

I had two cast iron skillets going in the kitchen cooking the ELEVEN different edibles we found that day. Cauliflower mushroom, Old Man of the Woods, Boletes, and Common Fiber Vase are some that come to mind.

(Humans from the mushroom level)

Alan finished our Sunday workshop with his "Fist Full of Fungus" rap song :) He's a Fun guy. Get it?

We hope he will be coming back to teach us some more.

THANK YOU ALAN!

Among the Hmong

2010-07-21T06:08:00.000-07:00

Great article in todays Charlotte Observer.

Check it out!

Midsummer Blues

2010-07-20T06:33:00.000-07:00

I find myself longing for cool rainy fall days in mid-summer.

Most of the flowers are done blooming in the garden, except for the sunflowers that the Star Elementary First graders planted this spring. Those are HUGE!!!!

Here's our this years tomato "cage" solution. The teepee system seems to be working great - it's stable and sturdy, and can be installed with minimal effort. Bamboo poles and some twine - and the monsters can grow wild! I've been trying to keep pruning the bottom parts of the plants better this year - cutting off the leaves close to ground and some of the suckers.

Tomatoes look much happier this year, for sure.

Cucumber plants look like their on their last leg, so will be pulled up soon.

I planted some last minute okra at the garden at home and a second batch of zucchini and beans - the bunny that lives in the STARworks garden now has eaten up all the bean plants... and I found a teeny baby snake in the greenhouse the other day - yikes.

Happy summer days ya'll!

Long time no blogging

2010-06-29T07:32:00.001-07:00

It's been HOOOOOOOOTTTTTTTTT!

Isn't this usually like, August weather? Oh boy.

Anyways, all the green springy veggies are gone by now from the garden. But tomatoes are starting to ripen a few fruits, peppers are growing some fruits... basil is doing good... cucumbers are abundant!

I'm happy about all the garlic - it grew so well this year - I wonder if it was the well aged horse manure from Chad Brown that I added to the soil in October, when the garlic got planted. Some heads were big enough to hold in two hands!

The rest are pictures of flowers and color combinations in the garden this year. My main plan was to expand the garden with flower beds, and it's worked out:) I wish the first graders who planted all the sunflower seeds could have come back to see the fruits of their labor! The sunflowers are probably 3 times as tall as the kids by now!

Anyways - I'm hoping for a cooler weather! Don't forget about the mushroom workshop coming up!

WIld Mushroom Foraging Workshop coming up!

2010-06-01T07:45:00.000-07:00

Wild

Mushrooms:

Lookin' and Cookin'

Saturday, August 7th, 10am-2pm

Join America's troubadour of the toadstool on a quest for the edible and incredible wild mushroom: fragrant chanterelles and sumptuous morels; giant puffballs and purple fairy fans… You’ll learn how to safely find, identify, appreciate, maybe even eat these elusive delights. You’ll also learn about medicinal mushrooms, dyeing with mushrooms (that’s D-Y-E) and more, all with The Mushroom Man’s unique blend of poetry, stories, wit & wisdom. Short, easy walk; all ages welcome. Wild mushroom tasting, 42-page introductory e-book and wild mushroom identification program included. Space is limited and pre-registration is required.

To register, email Anne Pärtna anne@starworksnc.org, or call (336) 356 9551; send a check for $45 made payable to Central Park NC, to the address: P.O Box 159, Star, NC 27356 or

call Beth Throneburg # 910 428 9001 to pay via credit card.

Registration deadline is July 26^th.

Bloom Extravaganza

2010-05-20T09:00:00.000-07:00

I walked around the garden a few days ago and here's what I saw:

Hollihocks blooming!

Snapdragons... this is my favorite color variation from all that have bloomed this spring.

Yarrow and Hollihocks in the background...The Hollyhock "column" creates an optical illusion on this image - looks like I just put 2 pictures together...

Lavender almost blooming, lilies, violas and Swiss Chard in the background.

First tomatoes ripening in the greenhouse.

Some of the Monkey-flowers have started blooming. I double checked and yes, they are called monkey-flowers.

Grape vine is LOADED with grapes this year. Can't wait to see what kind of grapes these are. It desperately needs an arbor to climb on, which would also form an entryway to the garden...

Savoy cabbages forming heads. I was late getting them in, but ya never know, we may just get a few heads!

Swiss Chard - always charming!

Lettuce mix.

Nasturtiums are among my favorites - beautiful and useful. The flowers and leaves can be added to salads.

A black Japanese tomato variety. Those got tied up and pruned yesterday.

Picknic tables in the back - we now have cool new space to hang out! Those will be useful also for workshops!

It's amazing how much on can get done on a cool overcast day in the garden! I pulled out some seed plants, cleaned the beds, transplanted more cukes, peppers and tomatoes, basil, flowers, celery and repotted more peppers ant tomatoes into bigger pots, tied up and pruned tomatoes, weeded beds and walkways and can't even remember what else...

Try and keep up...

2010-05-18T05:43:00.000-07:00

I try to keep up but always seem to end up playing catch up. There is more planting to do... Always, it seems. Weeding is something that can be done in little bits daily - raised beds are nice from that point of view, as they tend to not be overly weedy.

I was happy to see these lilies starting to bloom last week! Love that deep, almost black red.

Here's our corn farmer Evan:)

We recently planted another batch of corn by his house. The earlier plantings are doing great.

This rain we are having now should make them all 'oh s0 happy!' The variety is called "Country Gentleman" - it's a shoe-peg corn... ? I'm curious about it. We also planted a craziness of melons and winter squashes on the rest of the land - in no particular order, as they crawl everywhere anyway. And to challenge my need for order:)

Foxglove is almost done blooming. So pretty!

Here's a view of the CSA mornings - on Wednesdays and Fridays my wheelbarrow gets loaded up - sometimes twice, then all the produce is divvied up, sometimes washed and then bagged.

I don't USUALLY wash the produce, since we don't have adequate refrigeration, and tender greens don't keep too well when they get soggy and are not refrigerated.

There are some green tomatoes on the vines outside already, even though the plants are still pretty small. Peppers are starting to bloom...

Our CSA may end up having a week here and there with only tiny offerings between the abundance of greens, tomatoes, then greens again. I hope ya'll don't mind.

Happy rains:)

Planting ideas...

2010-05-05T13:36:00.000-07:00

Last Friday STARworks Garden hosted a planting workshop for Star Elementary First graders!

Oh boy, the energy, questions and enthusiasm!

Huge thanks to Adam and Tony for helping me out. Adam has posted a great blog entry about all we did and more HERE.

There had to be lots of "wiggle releasing" in addition to planting flowers and herbs that I started in the greenhouse, and cotton and sunflower seeds...

After planting we had a little arts and crafts session, where every kid painted a little sign for their garden at home. Yesterday I dropped their dried signs along with a "mystery seed" packet at the elementary school and received lots of hugs!

As always we talked a little bit about recycling, composting, growing your own food and eating vegetables! We identified carrots, onions, cooking greens and some herbs, like basil and chamomile.

We love having kids in the garden!

Plant Sale and more

2010-04-27T11:22:00.000-07:00

I also wanted to mention that Jim Joyce donated some fruit trees to STARworks Garden! There are some peaches and Nectarines on them already!

Plant Sale on Friday went well! Hugh has a sweet set up for selling his plants - a LOT of work has gone into labeling everything and thinking it through! Hugh will be selling his heirloom tomato plants at Asheboro Farmers Market some weekends, so please consider visiting him there and purchasing some of his plants!
STARworks garden still has more plants left - lots of cucumbers, some tomatoes, basil and perennial flowers - contact me and I will hook you up!

And just for the contrast - update from the garden at home - everything has at least doubled! (and that picture was taken last week...)

Time is Chugging Along...

2010-04-27T11:12:00.000-07:00

So much to do - so little time!

Just a quick update on what's growing in the garden...

Chamomile is blooming like crazy - I keep picking the flowers to dry them for winter teas, but can barely keep up with it!

Borage and Yarrow next to each other. Love this color combination - that happened by accident.

First strawberries - picked yesterday. We only have a few plants, so not enough to go around...

My kids ate those for dessert last night.

Foxglove is blooming! I love Foxglove! The few plants that are in the garden this year were started from a tiny seed last spring - and they made it!!! Unfortunately they're pretty much in full sun, so probably will not reach their fullest potential, but I'm happy to see just a few blooms! More Chamomile on the left, and bunch of garlic in the background.

STARworks Garden Open house and Plant sale

2010-04-14T06:16:00.001-07:00

STARworks Garden invites folks for an open house, plant sale and enjoyable afternoon outdoors on April 23, from 2 to 6 p.m. Light refreshments will be available.

STARworks Garden plants for sale will include perennial flowers, basil, cucumbers and more.There will also be a selection of potted herbs in pots produced by local potters. Proceeds from the plant sale will benefit the programs at STARworks.

Hugh Martin of Uwharrie Heirlooms in Biscoe will join us for this event. He has an assortment of heirloom tomato, herb and flower plants.

Spring is coming along

2010-04-13T10:03:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to give you all a glimpse of my garden at home - it will hopefully supply the beets, carrots, lettuce and few other things for the CSA this spring. You can see the cilantro on the foreground and pea trellis in the background.

If you remember I talked a while ago about starting beets from seed in flats and transplanting them - well - they transplanted wonderfully! Behind the beets are 2 rows of Red Pontiac potatoes. I don't know if it will yield enough to add in your shares - I mostly planted them for next years seed...

CLose up of those transplanted beets.

Adam helped me Sunday night to haul several wheelbarrow loads of homemade compost to top-dress the beds. We didn't have quite enough for all the beds, but the rest will get leaf mulch from the woods later...

A bit of color.

2010-03-30T08:03:00.000-07:00

Busy times here in the STARworks Garden! Starting seeds, transplanting, weeding... looks like I need to mow the grass already! Compost piles have been neglected through winter and need to be turned... Selling some first Kale and Cilantro this week! I added a bit of cilantro to a vegetable soup last night - and it was just the touch it needed.

First blooms have burst, and some are already done blooming...

Need to add more leaf mould to most of the beds...

Started some perennial flowers from seed - like Gaillardia and Lupine and some others. We will hold a plant/flowerpot sale on April the 23'rd, hope you consider coming out and supporting STARworks Garden!

Spring has sprung...

2010-03-23T05:53:00.000-07:00

...there is no doubt about it now. Therefore the lack of blogging. This is the time of the year, when weeks fly by, and I'm constantly playing "catch up"!

Well. To update ya'll on what's been happening I'll start with the Oyster mushroom workshop.

Just briefly, since the process of inoculating logs is the same as for Shiitakes. The workshop went great! We had 22 people attending, everyone was excited and happy, and took home about 3 inoculated logs and a bunch of knowledge.

Below are our mushroom heroes and experts Greg Bender on the left and Hugh Martin on the right. Thank you guys for doing such a great job!

Alice Clemens and her husband Jack here busy "plugging away".

In the greenhouse - I'm running out of starter pots!

Lots of greens have been started and lots have been transplanted. Beets, radishes and peas are coming up, a few varieties of lettuces have been transplanted, along with broccoli raab, few different asian greens, etc.

Last year's Kale is looking beautiful now! I'll be ready to sell some soon!

Here's last years Hon Tsai Tai blooming. Hopefully that will become seed for next year:)

Happy spring! Enjoy the sun!

Spring fever!

2010-03-09T05:21:00.000-08:00

Thought I'd give ya'll a quick update on what's been happening in the gardens!

Since the last snow melted, it's been so nice, and I've been spending a lot of time in the gardens - both the STARworks Garden and greenhouse, and the garden at home - which will serve as an extension to STARworks garden. My back is starting to adjust to all the digging:)

So far in the ground: few different types of carrots and beets, some radishes, cilantro and parsley, spinach, scallions, red yellow and white onions, garlic that was planted last october looks good, kale and collards are making a nice comeback, and a few mizuna plants survived the winter without any protection. Started a bunch of edible pod peas at home and will do more of those at STARworks - so that our school groups can have something to munch on:)

In the greenhouse: different varieties of pak choi, cabbages, broccoli, more parsley, a red stalked celery, lettuces, about 10 different varieties of flowers - some of those seeds I brought back from Estonia. It's good to see that Chamomile is establishing itself in the garden and finding places to grow, same with some poppy plants, hollihocks and other flowers. Strawberries look good, daylilies are poking out their heads... Spring is showing itself everywhere! Lets hope the cold is gone for good!

Shiitake Workshop a success!

2010-03-02T09:52:00.000-08:00

This past Saturday, Feb. 27'th, STARworks Garden hosted a Shiitake Cultivation Workshop, with instructors Greg Bender and Hugh Martin. 33 people came, eager to learn. Some people confessed they had wanted to do this for many years, and finally had an opportunity to try it out with help from experienced mushroom growers before making an investment in tools and materials and embarking on a new journey.

Workshop started out with a "lecture" -an inspirational video by Paul Stamets, a presentation from Hugh Martin about Shiitake mushrooms and a question/answer session.

We had a quick lunch of homemade soup and bread that Adam and I were busy making the night before...

And then it was time to "get on it"!

Greg Bender did a demonstration on the "how to" and answered more questions, and for about an hour after that the STARworks Glass Hot Shop was buzzing like a beehive!

Here's our Glass Instructor Nick Fruin, drilling the oak logs - which is the first step to log inoculation process. Thank you Nick, for so graciously opening up your hot shop for out messy workshop, AND for fixing our technical problem with computers!!! You rock!

Next is the plugging... These plungers work great! I can't imagine having to stuff the drilled holes by hand! This time we used a warm weather variety spawn, WW70, which is described as: A real eye pleaser, this strain produces large, flat but dense dark brown caps in summers’ heat and humidity. A reliable strain for force fruiting for summer farmers market, it will also fruit naturally with the change of the seasons. (from Field and Forest Products)

We got all of our tools and spawn from Field and Forest. They have been growing mushrooms for the past 27 years and can offer great products and expertise.

Below is a picture of the process of waxing the holes after they're stuffed with spawn.

Here's a group shot of people waxing their logs. Greg and Hugh were busy running around, assisting people, so I didn't catch them with my camera - maybe next time:)

Now we just have to sit back and wait for the mushrooms to grow! Right?

Before that though - we'll have another workshop - this time about Oyster mushrooms, on Saturday, March the 13'th. Oyster mushrooms have not yet gained the same lever of popularity

as the Shiitakes, but as I have had the opportunity to gather and eat some wild, native oyster strains from the woods at my home, I can tell you - they are absolutely delicious!

Pushing for the spring

2010-02-22T09:26:00.000-08:00

This weekend was gorgeous, wouldn't you agree?

On Sunday I transplanted some white sweet onion plants that I got from Weston's Feed and Seed in Asheboro.

I know that their seed is not all local and organic, but in our attempts to sustainability there are some heavy decisions to be weighed - do you buy seed from miles away because it's organic? - or do you support your local small business, because you want to see the local small businesses strive? I try to do a little bit of both, as I believe in diversity.

On Friday we had our first spring group of kids from the Family Worship Ministries Christian Academy come, and get a tour of the STARworks building, the Garden and a demonstration in the Glass Lab. Over 40 kids from third graders up through highschool! In the garden we talked about the importance of choosing local food, looked at worms eating our garbage, and learned about mushroom logs.

Here we are talking about worms.

Speaking of Mushrooms though, our Shiitake mushroom cultivation workshop is coming up this Saturday, at 10 am. Our tools and spawn has already arrived from the Field and Forest Products. Field and Forest Products is a family operated company in Wisconsin. This is the second year I have ordered from them, and have been very happy with their service and expertise! Highly recommend them!

Can't wait to plug away this weekend, and enjoy some wonderful mushrooms in the fall or next spring.

Despite feeling icky still (seems like most of us here, at STARworks have been plagued with some sort of cold) I went out to the greenhouse today, and started seeds. I think I'm a bit late this year, but it has been so darn cold...

SO today I started: Senposai, Broccoli Raab, a variety of asian Pac Choi's, swiss chard and beets.

I've never tired to start beets in pots before, so this may not work out... but worth the try.

Later this week I will start carrots, more beets, some chinese celery, spinach etc. in the garden at home. I'm waiting a few more weeks to start herbs and summer veggies.

In previous years I have sometimes started plants too early, only to lose them to frost, or have had to watch them sit in the ground for a loooooong time, before they start really growing.

So - the longer winter this year has pushed me to be more patient. Each year is a new challenge.

Winter lingers

2010-02-15T06:19:00.000-08:00

Well. The seed swap just did not want to happen this year... at least not in the way I envisioned it.

We had snow AGAIN friday night, and saturday. It was beautiful - soft, fluffy, fairy-tale snow...

But any snow in the south raises people's stress level out the roof, and makes them highly suspicious and extremely domesticated:) So, it ended up being just me and Suzie - the two who grew up in the snow - here on Saturday, swapping what we had... Suzie brought some delish bisquits and strawberry jam she had made!

So folks. I have some lettuce, arugula, tomato and pepper seeds that I saved last year, if anyone is interested in getting a bit to try...

I think that we'll try the seed swapping again, maybe late fall this time? The chances of snow are less likely before Christmas in our neck of the woods... Keep that in mind, and try saving some seed from your garden this year so we can all add to the biodiversity in our region!

Potluck Seed Swap is Postponed

2010-02-02T09:38:00.000-08:00

Due to prediction of another Saturday with icy roads and "wintery mix" we're postponing our Potluck Seed Swap to Saturday, February the 13'th at noon. Hope everyone can make it!

POTLUCK SEED SWAP

2010-01-27T09:59:00.000-08:00

Have any interesting seeds to share with fellow gardeners or looking to diversify your own collection? Want to meet other plant nuts in our central NC area?

Then come to our POTLUCK SEED SWAP event at STARworks, February 6'th, at noon. Bring a dish, seeds and other seed-swapping essentials to share. Please RSVP to anne@starworksnc.org

Grow Your Own Gourmet Mushrooms

2010-01-26T08:40:00.000-08:00

NC wild Oyster Mushrooms

Come and learn how to grow your own gourmet mushrooms for your personal use, or for small - scale commercial production.

Shiitake Mushrooms at STARworks Garden

Dates & Times:

Growing Shiitake Mushrooms: February 27. 10AM – 1PM

Growing Oyster Mushrooms: March 13. 10AM- 1PM

Price of the workshop: $15.- per person or $ 20.- on the day of the workshop (if space is available). The price covers the use of tools, wax and spawn. Participants are strongly encouraged to bring their own logs, maximum 3 logs per person.

Log requirements – logs have to be cut no longer than 3 weeks prior to the inoculation, the fresher the better. Please do not bring logs that have fallen due to disease and have been found on forest floor! Size of logs should be 3” - 4” in diameter and about 2 feet long. Anything bigger than that will be difficult to maneuver. If possible, bring your own electric or fully-charged cordless drill.

Types of wood:

For Shiitake – white oak is the best, but oher types of oak and sweetgum will work.

For Oyster – cottonwood, oak, alder, maple, aspen, ash, beech, birch, elm, willow, poplar

Lunch will be provided for additional $5.- (soup and sandwich) or bring your own lunch.

Workshop size is limited to 35 people.

To register, please contact Anne Pärtna: #336 653 9551 or email: anne@starworksnc.org

Space will be filled on first-come-first-serve basis. Payment is expected at the time of registration.

Paranoia - or are "they" controlling "us"?

2010-01-08T07:01:00.000-08:00

"troopers"

I have watched the "Food INC" twice in the past week.

While I've been aware of many things presented to the public in this film, thanks to the hard work of Michael Pollan mostly, but also some others, like Joel Salatin and Barbara Kingsolver, I think what disturbed me the most were - the way meat industry treats it's workers... and how the growers of crops are being controlled by Monsanto, by taking away the right to save seed... Even more disturbing is how the right for freedom of speech has been taken away from many people of this country. (see veggie-libel laws)

I found a few links to articles in my mailbox this morning and wanted to share them with you.

The Gardening Game

Most Treasured Heirlooms

Seed Savers Exchange

I strongly recommend you watch Food INC - it's available through Netflix. We need to become more aware about not only how to eat better to be healthier but also where our food comes from, how does the system work, and what/who is behind the most basic/important part of our lives...

Everybody eats.

What do you eat?

Do you realize the impact you have with each bite you take?

And if you do - are you making any changes?

Happy New Year

2010-01-04T11:04:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a great turn of the years a few days ago! I had a good break, and feel refreshed and ready to tackle the new year head first:)

I'm finding myself plowing through the seed catalogues and organic growing magazines again. That's a good thing. At the end of the growing season I usually feel fed up with it all - the battling of bugs and diseases, the planting and the picking... but a few weeks of "no-thinking-about-gardening" usually cures that. Today, to curb the itch to order every single variety of vegetable -herb - and flower seed available I inventoried my seed "collection". Let me tell you. I have about half of one of those reusable Mother Earth grocery bags (a gift from Adam:) full of seeds. Plus some that I forgot at home today.

That's about 160 varieties of veggies, mostly annual flowers and some herbs. I think I'm pretty set for a year. Or two... However, for those of you who partake in our CSA endeavor - I may get some fancy carrots and onion seed (which is viable only for about a year) to add to the collection. This is the first year that I really tried to save a bunch of seed myself. Mostly for the fun of it, and to try and keep some varieties that performed particularly well, or were just darn pretty...

Tomorrow I'm going there: (they may still have space if you wanna join me!)

Moore County Cooperative Extension presents a CSA workshop for Growers

Featuring results from the Sustainable Sandhills Local Food Consumer Survey.

CSA's: Community Supported Agriculture

Where: Moore County Agriculture Center, PO Box 1149 707 Pinehurst Avenue, Carthage, NC 28327

When: Tuesday, January 5, 12 Noon-3 p.m.

What: Market your fruits and vegetables by pre-sold subscription. Learn from growers who have done it. Schedule planting for continuous harvest, and receive software to help you plan. Hear from a cooperative of growers selling shares for the coming season. Sustainable Sandhills has conducted a consumer survey of residents across the region and the results will be presented at the workshop. These results will include valuable information for the grower including buying preferences, what consumers are willing to pay and a contact list of interested buyers.

Cost: $10 (Please make checks payable to Coop. Ext. Advisory Council)

Speakers: John Parsons, Sustainable Sandhills; Judy Lessler, Harland Creek Farm; Paige Burns, Richmond County Extension; Jan Leitschuh, Sandhills Farm to Table; and Taylor Williams, Moore County Extension.

Pre-registration is required by December 31. A light meal, will be served. $10 fee to cover meal and materials (Notebook & CD).

RSVP: Please call the Moore County Cooperative Extension office to register, get directions, or for more information at 910.947-3188

Winter

2009-12-17T08:39:00.000-08:00

Well. It is officially winter now. We' can't fool ourselves any longer.

Kale, collards, some raddiccio, and a few other hardy plants are still hanging in there. I wonder if the snow we're supposed to have this weekend will kill those too... We really have been lucky this year - I just harvested a bunch yesterday - in the middle of December!

I struggle with this... the urge to grow things beyond their normal growing time. The urge to start plants early and keep them going under artificial conditions...

We built this hoop-house precisely for those reasons - to start plants early, and keep them growing over winter. Well. We've since learned, that hoop-house design is not the best for greenhouses. It takes a lot of "life support" like heaters, coolers, fans, shade cloths etc. to make that design work for you. Hoop-houses heat up very fast in the sun, but there is nothing to retain the heat, so in the absence of sun it cools down rapidly and the temps stay only a few degrees higher than outside. When your outside temps are around 25 F it is not much help.

I think that all the plants I have tried to over-winter in our hoop-house will die. And I will just have to accept that death is a natural annual thing in the life of a garden. Maybe this is the time to stop worrying about keeping plants alive. Take a deep breath, and start looking forward to spring? After all... The break will be brief in our climate. As early as mid February I will be poking some seeds into the ground...

I'll leave you with a small reminder of last spring.

Thai Pumpkin Soup

2009-12-09T10:07:00.000-08:00

I promised to spread this recipe around! This soup was a hit at our Thanksgiving.

 2 tablespoons vegetable oil 
1 onion, finely chopped 
1 tablespoon brown sugar 
2 cloves garlic, crushed 
1 small pumpkin, skinned and chopped into 1-inch chunks
 2 1/4 cups water 
1 2/3 cups canned coconut cream 
1 tablespoon hot sweet Thai chili sauce  
1 tablespoon lemon grass, finely chopped* 
1 tablespoon fish sauce  
freshly ground pepper 
1/4 cup fresh cilantro chopped cilantro leaves, for garnish 
 In a large pot, heat oil and gently cook onion with brown sugar and garlic over low heat until softened (8-10 minutes). Add chopped pumpkin, water, coconut cream, chili, lemongrass or rind and fish sauce. Season with freshly ground pepper.  Simmer for about 25 minutes until tender. Remove and puree until smooth. Just before serving, adjust seasoning to taste. Mix in chopped coriander. Ladle soup into bowls and garnish with a fresh coriander leaf.
*The same amount of grated lemon peel can be substituted.

I used butternut squash, which I had previously baked, and frozen. Instead of Coconut cream I used one can of Coconut Milk, some homemade hot sauce, and added about 3 tablespoons of smooth peanut butter to this. Also some salt to taste.

If you're anywhere near Durham - check this out!

2009-12-08T06:02:00.000-08:00

Breeze Farm Stakeholder Meeting & Potluck flyer

December 9, 2009 - 6 PM

Schley Grange Hall

3416 Schley Road, Hillsborough

Optional Farm Twilight Tour

December 9, 2009 - 4:30 pm

4909 Walnut Grove Church Rd, Hurdle Mills

PLANT @ Breeze Farm Enterprise Incubator

WC Breeze Family Farm Extension & Research Center

Breeze Farm Master Plan

Read about the 2009 Farm to Fork Picnic in this article.

2009-12-03T08:18:00.000-08:00

Food Co-op Now Accepting Charter Members

(see press release below)

Stronger, more resilient communities,

farmland preservation,
local dollars staying home to generate local revenues,
new jobs and youth involvement,
the freshest produce from nearby farms,
better diet and health, TASTE and quality.
Eating well.
Connecting with our neighbors.
We all want these, and we all want to see this area prosper, especially during these rougher economic seas.

As a Moore County resident, you're already a piece of what may become a new economy here.
We think the new Sandhills Farm to Table Cooperative will become a vital part of it as well.

With that in mind, we'd like your help in spreading the word. Join us on the new Sandhills Farm to Table Cooperative Facebook page!

Until the website up and running, this is how we will pass along news of the Coop, a new weekly Moore County delivery service of fresh fruits and vegetables from local farmers.

Check it out and sign on as a "fan" to get updates. You do not have to be a Facebook member to check the page, only to get updates.

Here's the direct link:

http://tinyurl.com/ydar6yz

Charter Subscriptions will be accepted for two weeks in December, with many benefits offered to the early supporters. Watch this space for further updates.

Thanks, and pass this along to your friends. Help us reach as many local folk as possible. Let's make it viral throughout the county.
Because, as neighbors, we're all connected.

The Sandhills Farm to Table Cooperative

Getting ready for Winter

2009-12-01T08:07:00.000-08:00

We had an unbelievable fall this year - a few freeze threats - but nothing serious until last week.

Next 3 pictures are from a few weeks ago when pepper plants were still laden with fruit (green) and basil provided some season's last nectar to the bees.

Here's the former mound that grew all our watermelons last summer. I made it a bit more appealing with edging recycled from the front of the building and a few rocks that came out of the ground when we built the beds on the hill... Some snapdragons are still blooming there.

Here is a partial view of the hill with two flowerbeds - you can see them right next to the greenhouse. In the spring those beds will be filled with perennials, aromatic herbs, annuals and oil seed plants. We will have our own bee hive in the spring so anything flowering will be greatly appreciated by the bees!

This picture was taken yesterday, after the frost and after Adam and I pulled up all the dead basil and pepper plants and a few tomatoes which were still full of green fruit... Our greenhouse is stuffed with plants - potted perennials we're trying to over-winter, my lime tree, 2 banana trees, a pot of hop rhizomes to be planted along the deck in the spring... Adam found me 2 metal barrels yesterday that we can roll in the greenhouse and fill with water for "heat tanks". Hopefully they will help to collect solar heat throughout the day and release it slowly during the cold nights... 2 barrels may not be enough though, so if you have any laying around that you are not using - we will gladly accept donations!

I also have 2 raised beds in there to fill up with topsoil, compost mix - so we can start growing greens all year round! My worms are there too, all snug and cozy.

Right now kale, chard, parsley, senposai (a new cooking green variety developed by farmer Doug who runs the Piedmont Biofarm), dill and mizuna are still growing. I'll be selling those greens as long as they are available - until our season starts again.

Winters here are really fortunate for us, the leafy green eaters.

This is truly inspiring!

2009-11-24T05:05:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I found out about a man named Tim Will. It was one of those serendipitous times, where two people at the same day asked me - "Have you heard about this?!" So I started my day by reading about Tim and Farmers Fresh Market. Tim has enabled and inspired over 90 farmers, third of them newcomers to farming, in Rutherford County, NC, to take up small scale sustainable farming (again) and connected the growers to Charlotte restaurants.

Way cool!

Last week was busy!

2009-11-23T06:10:00.000-08:00

Last week was busy for STARworks in general - we had 3 groups coming for tours!

Garden was hosting another vermiculture workshop on Friday. This time it was Melanie Lamonds' 4'th grade from Star Elementary. Melanie had a worm bin in her classroom last year, and decided to do it again with this years students. Kids were eager and full of energy, and clearly had fun exploring the garden and worms on a beautiful fall day. They picked eagerly some cherry tomatoes that are still hanging on (IN NOVEMBER!) in our garden, which made me decide to plant more of those yummy fruits for next year.

After learning about worms, and preparing a new bin for them, everybody ran a few laps on our walking trail.

Can't wait for those kids to come back!

My grandmothers garden

2009-11-12T06:46:00.000-08:00

I miss this place. Somehow my heartstrings are tied to this little piece of land, and the buildings on it, even though they are falling apart, and nature is starting to take over...

My grandpa did all the farm-work here by hand or with a horse. I have such fond memories of the days I spent there during my childhood... and I can still smell and taste grandma's cooking!

Annual Gathering...

2009-11-06T06:06:00.000-08:00

...is behind us for this year. Every year it gets bigger and better! I am so proud to be a part of our STARworks family! Every year before the big day I relearn what awesome people work around me, as they pick up the pick axes, shovels, wrenches and any other tools I can't even begin to name, climb ladders, dig in, run around, work overtime and on the weekends and generally pitch in where ever a pair of hands is needed - and we get SO MUCH done in a matter of few weeks!

HUGE THANKS to EVERYONE who helped landscape around the deck, and clean out the garden!

You guys rock!

HUGE THANKS to EVERYONE who prepared delicious food to feed our crowd of around 200 people!

And HUGE THANKS to the LOCAL FARMERS, who keep growing the food stuffs in sustainable way in our region, a few samples of what we all got to enjoy at the STARworks Annual Gathering.

Cotton stays in Carolinas

2009-11-06T05:52:00.000-08:00

Please take a look at what our good friends at TS Designs are doing in Burlington NC!

THUMBS UP, ERIC HENRY!

Container Gardens

2009-10-22T05:26:00.000-07:00

Great way to recycle your old boots maybe?

Rethinking "What's For Dinner?"

2009-10-21T05:45:00.000-07:00

Rethinking "What's For Dinner?"

In this inspiring and interactive workshop, Christy Shi will share anecdotes and advice that will help you make a shift in your eating habits. You will come away with (1) ideas for transforming your food relationships, (2) strategies for planning local, seasonal meals, and (3) sourcing options for a locally-produced diet.

Saturday, October 24, 2009 from 2pm to 3:30pm

Suggested Donation: $15 PER PERSON
Register: 704-237-3635 OR INFO@THEBINDU.COM

Location: THE BINDU
Street: 11138-C TREYNORTH DRIVE
City/Town: CORNELIUS

Worms and kids go together!

2009-10-16T05:12:00.000-07:00

We were so lucky to have a wonderful weather on Tuesday! Perfect day to have 64 Star Elementary School second graders in the garden!

What were they doing here?
They were here to learn all about vermicomposting!

I love to see the bright yellow school bus roll up

and chattering kids pour out of it.

Adam explained the rules, and read the "Diary of a Worm" to the kids. They were great listeners!

Everybody got to look at worms and the bin I've had going since last fall a bit closer, before preparing a bin to take into their classrooms. They shredded a bunch of newspaper for the bedding, we wetted it, and dropped the worms in. The bins will be housed in all the second grade classrooms during the school year, and returned to STARworks Garden in the spring, when we can harvest the castings!

Michael Shuman coming to STARworks!

2009-10-06T11:26:00.000-07:00

LOCAL WORKS:

A WORKSHOP WITH MICHAEL SHUMAN

When: OCTOBER 29, 2009 2:00-4:30PM

Where: STARWORKS CENTER FOR CREATIVE ENTERPRISES

STAR, NC

Michael Shuman, economist, attorney, entrepreneur and author of The Small Mart

Revolution: How Local Businesses Are Beating the Global Competition (Berrett-

Koehler, 2006) and Going Local: Creating Self-Reliant Communities in the Global Age

(Free Press, 1998) will present an afternoon workshop that lays out the principles of his

approach to economic development, which contends that small, locally-owned businesses

are the key to a healthy and dynamic economy. Followed by question and answer.

Followed by the Central Park NC ANNUAL GATHERING 5:30 pm -8:00 pm

Join Central Park NC as we celebrate with local food and music, a year of

accomplishments and progress in our eight-county region. This year's theme “Local Works”

is designed to help us create a regional community where local, independent businesses

thrive and help small town economies.

Registration includes evening Central Park NC Gathering event.

$15 for Central Park Stewards/ $25 for general public.

REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED. Please register at www.centralparknc.org or by calling

(910) 428-9001.

Garden Makeover

2009-09-14T10:28:00.001-07:00

Starworks Garden is

getting a bit of a makeover these days.

Besides pulling up the plants that are past their prime, and making space for fall planting, I've started some general tidying up. Tony and his dad brought me a truckload of pine chips and shavings that I am using between the beds to suppress weeds. All summer I had cardboard and hay down there, which worked pretty good too, and killed most of the weeds, but had mostly been turned into compost by now. I want to put chips down between all the pathways. (It's all about control really.) What do ya'll think - doesn't it look pretty nice? It remains to be seen what happens when it rains - as we have not had a drop fall from the sky in weeks...
Here's one of the brave lettuces that made it from seed to a plant. About half the plants I started have been devoured... by slugs I suspect. So today I did another sprinkling of DE (Diatomaceous Earth). Last weeks sowing of lettuce in raised beds did not yield any results. I think it's just too hot still for the seeds to germinate. So today I also started a new batch of greens (lettuces, spinach, rukola, a mesclun mix and kale) under the deck. Most likely they will be coming up in 2 days, and since Maarja and I have prepped more space for planting - they will be able to go in the ground faster this time - and be covered with row cover immediately.

Watermelons were eaten

2009-09-09T09:43:00.000-07:00

I just got back from Star Elementary. If ya'll remember, STARworks Garden had a mess of kids planting some watermelon seeds, herbs and flowers in the spring. Well, many of our CSA members have enjoyed a sweet treat in form of a watermelon this summer, and now that school is back in, I decided to take the last fruits to the kids who planted them. Unfortunately I completely forgot to take pictures, as there was plenty of excitement and I was busy cutting up the melons.

Kids were happy to eat the fruits of their labor, and promised to come back to plant some more!

It's Mushroom Time.

2009-09-08T08:25:00.000-07:00

It wasn't all for nothing!

Aren't they beautiful? I remember thinking, when drilling these 40 logs, that it may all be for nothing since I didn't get to plugging the logs until April and the spore, although stored in the fridge, was sort of old... but I still went for it, and plugged some sweet gum and white oak logs, stacked them in one big pile, and hoped for the best.
Well, last week at some point Maarja and I looked at the logs, and saw 2 small mushrooms poking out. I took that as a sign, that it was time to reconfigure the pile, so I stacked the logs like that:
The three piles in the back are in the most shade, and the very last ones (being the smaller sweet gum logs) are producing some Shiitakes. There are a few small mushrooms on oak and thicker sweet gum logs. We've been watering them twice a day now for the past 3 days or so, and their growth is amazingly fast. The first dibs on mushrooms will go to Eddie and Angela, as Eddie came out with his chainsaw in the spring and helped Adam and I cut the sweet gums off our wooded part of the property here at STARworks. From then on I'll be adding shrooms to our CSA shares for those who will eat them:)

EXCITING!

PS! I'd love to hear from the workshop participants how their logs are doing!

Central Park NC on UNCTV

2009-09-01T10:57:00.000-07:00

We're all very busy here, getting geared up for our Annual Meeting. Yes folks, it's almost that time again! Save the date for October 29'th and RSVP about your attendance.

UNCTV has also been busy putting together a story about Central Park NC and STARworks NC,

so check it out!

White House has also put out a video about the kitchen garden of the first family. The video takes a while to upload, so those with better connections are in luck.

French farmers are banking in cows these days! You can find a short article about it HERE.

Something is chomping on my freshly started plants already... there is no relief... gardening / farming is really a man's feeble attempt in submitting chaos to order... I'm tired of bugs. They're everywhere. I want to give up.

Fall garden goes in

2009-08-27T08:24:00.000-07:00

Whew (wiping sweat from the brow). Just got done planting some lettuce, kale and chard in the available beds in the garden. Red Russian Kale, Bright Lights Chard, Seoul Ruby lettuce, Rouge D'Houvre lettuce... I think that was it for today. Yesterday I bought a bunch of galvanized wire from Seagrove Hardware store while I was picking up some veggies, meat and eggs from Green Acres Ranch and Edge of the World Farm; and today I used the wire to make hoops for row cover.

It seems to be working great - inexpensive way to keep the row covers off the plants, yet sturdy enough, and will be easy to store when not in use. I prepped the land by pulling out some basil and tomato plants that were on their last leg, loosened up the soil with a pitch fork and added a layer of composted cow manure. A sprinkling of wood ash and DE on top is supposed to keep the bugs in check. Hopefully. The row cover is supposed to help with that too. Previous experience shows that row cover is quite effective. Eventually some bugs and slugs will get under and live there, but the quantities are far less. Wood ash has to be used sparingly and DE has to be applied frequently. I have not noticed Neem Oil to be very helpful, and as it is harmful to bees, as well as pests, I will stay away from it from now on, I think.

Since the Habanero peppers are not popular with my CSA members - I end up taking them all home, as I can't stand waste. Last week the huge bowl full of cleaned Habaneros, Jalapenos and some other hot peppers boiled down along with some sweet bell's, tomato sauce, garlic and a mango and turned into delicious spicy hot sauce. So far the reviews have been 100% positive.

My eggplants have just not been happy this year. I don't quite know what the deal is. I've heard similar accounts from other gardeners this year. Must not be eggplant year. The peak in tomato production is over by now also. We'll keep getting them, but the biggest juiciest fruits are gone.

Well. More ground to prep for fall, more seeds to start and seedlings to transplant.

Markets of Estonia. Part 2. Farm Days

2009-08-25T10:46:00.000-07:00

During the past few months I have had a chance to visit "Farm Days" twice. Robbins Farm Days in Robbins NC, and Jäneda Talupäevad in Jäneda, Estonia. While there were many differences - Estonians stay away from parades (most likely due to soviet times) while Americans love to show off their horses, tractors and cars... the main setup was similar: food vendors, people selling handicrafts, some musicians playing on the street, show of farm equipment etc. However - Estonians were showing the newest high tech big machinery available to farmers, while Americans seemed to dwell nostalgically in the past. (that is not qualitative statement just an observation).

I do have to say that food in Estonia was better. We ate boiled potatoes with gravy, black rye bread, a salad and something we call "kotlet" (basically meat loaf in small patties, fried in the skillet) off of ceramic plates, and had juice diluted with water ("morss") to chase it from glass cups, all of this was very "pocket friendly"; while in Robbins I treated my sister and kids to corn dogs and a plate of butterfly chips and 1 super sweet lemonade which cost us about 16 bucks... our food was on styrofoam plates, and a plastic cup... the alternatives were not much different.

The band we saw in Robbins was pretty good though!

Anyway, here are a few images from the event in Jäneda, Estonia.

Something exotic! We were excited to see those guys, until Maarja said:"Oh, I see them in Tartu all the time... they are not REALLY playing..."
Dried fish and onions! Yeah! Estonians eat a LOT of fish - dried, smoked, marinated, fried, salted...
This was a small company that offers an alternative to regular store bought bread, which is also of high quality. (Although, gone are the days when you could go to your local small store and buy fresh, warm, made-the-same-morning bread with crunchy crust and intoxicating aroma - and it was packaged right there in paper, not in plastic at the factory...)

All and all - we need more opportunities for moving food straight from the grower, baker or canner to the table, without the middlemen...

Markets of Estonia 1. Tartu.

2009-08-20T10:08:00.001-07:00

If you lived in Estonia, you could not ignore the marketplaces in the summer time. They are in every bigger town. Most summer meals for city people come from the market place, which are preferred over grocery stores. Below is a picture of "mustikad" - wild blueberries, which were abundant in July and sold in each marketplace. Elen, my friend who we were visiting in Tartu, where this particular marketplace was, reminded me that when we were kids, we once took a long and arduous bicycle ride to the faraway woods from Elen's family's summerhouse, to pick wild blueberries. I only remember riding trough pouring rain for a long long time... but evidently we picked some blueberries and sold them to the "kokkuost" - an entity that bought up wild gathered berries and mushrooms to be sold later at the stores and markets.

Fresh local honey in many different flavors...
Wild Chanterelles were also abundant. Gorgeous mushroom, and oh so good just fried up with butter and a pinch of salt... eaten with some fresh new potatoes boiled and sprinkled with dill...

YUMMMMMMYYYY! Estonia DOES TOO have a cuisine!
Here are all the goodies next to each other - Chanterelles, blueberries, and fresh peas in the pod. The last were a hit with all the kids.
Overall view of all the goodness.
I was impressed with Tartu's marketplace. Clean, well organized, very well stocked. My friend Elen also buys organic produce straight from farmers , who come to Tartu once every 2 weeks or so. CSA's as such have not found their way to Estonia yet, but organic farmers seemed to be well organized and pulled together.

Oh what fun!

2009-08-20T08:47:00.000-07:00

This is the time to be starting fall vegetable seeds. Actually, I think I could have pushed it and started a few weeks ago, but I played it safer. It's still very hot, and cool weather veggies may not survive the heat, once transplanted.

Our new deck in the back of the building is proving to be a wonderfully multifunctional space! Besides giving wheelchair accessibility to the building and providing a shaded outdoor "meeting" space it also has great cool shade underneath where seedlings have nearly ideal place for germinating! I sowed lettuce, spinach and chard seeds 2 days ago, and lettuces have already sprouted!!! In the spring it took at least a week, if I remember correctly. It may also have helped, that I kept the seeds in the freezer, and took them out just the night before.

Today I planted many different types of Brassicas - cabbages, broccoli, asian greens etc. Can't wait to eat 'em!

My Mother's Garden; Part 2

2009-08-17T10:09:00.000-07:00

As promised - more pictures of Estonian gardens. I didn't have my camera handy all the time, to record how much Estonians still garden. Most people have carved out a plot somewhere next to their house, to grow some veggies and flowers. Most housing developments (remnants of the soviet time) have a community garden plot, available to anyone wishing to grow fresh produce.

People living in the city usually have some land in the countryside, where they spend most of their time in the summer, weeding and sweating, canning and preserving.

Next few pictures are of my mom's "across the creek" vegetable garden. As far as I can remember - this is the third location for the veggie garden. It has moved farther away from the house in the years, for various reasons, but still provides the family with all the needed veggies.

When we were there zucchini plants were still tiny, but already starting to produce. And lucky for Estonians - there are no Squash bugs!

Potatoes were not too happy this year. Same time (mid July) in NC farmers were picking potatoes already.

In Estonia they were just starting to bloom, and the long cold and wet spring had not been kind to young potato plants.
Cabbages, carrots, onions, beans - all sorts of cool weather vegetables... Neighbors from across the field also use a few rows of my parents land to grow their food.
Here's the view from the house towards the vegetable garden and fields. The wooden structure in the foreground is "kiik" - a sledge swing, a type of swing original to Estonia. In the olden days young people used to gather during the long summer nights around the "kiigeplats" - "swinging grounds" to swing, sing and dance and eye suitable marriage partners... my dad was the first in the village to build one of those swings after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The original kiik had to be replaced at one point as the beams eventually rotted. But we had many fun times swinging with other village kids, or gathering with family for summer solstice or other summer holidays on that particular "swinging ground".

We all love tomatoes!!!

2009-08-10T06:03:00.000-07:00

Interesting ARTICLE in NYTimes about tomatoes, late blight, some choices we as growers make, and call to be more inclusive and diverse, as gardeners...

On another note - TONY my pal and our Biodiesel guru - fixed my USB ports last week! Yepeeee!

Apparently, on MAC's, if you take out the battery, it sort of reboots or resets everything... or something like that... anyway. I was finally able to put all the 600 photos on my I-Photo last week, and will start sharing our Estonia experiences soon:)

I would like to thank again the people who helped me out during this 3 weeks of vacation and enabled me to visit my family!!! Thanks Nancy for being such a flexible boss, and for understanding the need to recharge batteries! Thank you Tony, Gloria and Evan, for looking after the garden, and dealing with the mess I left behind! (The tomatoes got the better of me this year, and grew into a tangled mess, before I left...) Thanks for helping Rick and Henrietta, and Bill and Dianna to keep selling their produce and eggs. Thanks for picking, pruning, weed eating, killing the squash bugs etc. YA'll rock!

Local - food bill up for House vote

2009-08-06T08:39:00.000-07:00

He doesn't know what the purpose of it is????!??!??!??!!

Click on the title to get to the article.

Can you guys help him out here?

Changing foodways

2009-08-05T09:43:00.000-07:00

Another article highlighting Local meat becoming more mainstream through CSA's.

Youtube is quite a source for information, as well as entertainment - here is Michael Pollan talking about his book "Omnivore's Dilemma".

I Still have not been able to put pictures on my computer :((((( Hopefully sooner than later, as I have some delicious shots from Estonian farmers markets. While we were there - Chanterelles were being picked all over Estonia, and sold in markets - as well as grocery stores, alongside with local wild blueberries and wild strawberries. I am proud to see the foraging still going strong in Estonian mainstream, and people being very selective about locally grown (Since Estonia is so small - potatoes from southern counties are still relatively local in northern Estonia, compared to fruits and veggies coming from Spain or Ukraine)

Occasionally, however, you can see oddities like "Estonian" bananas being sold in the marketplace... Since local sells - people sometimes bypass reason... After all - we tend to trust labels more than our eyes or common knowledge...

Back in the South

2009-07-31T08:22:00.000-07:00

Hi guys,

just a quick note to let you all know we got back safe and sound. We're still a bit tired, but overall - getting back in the groove.

I picked produce in the garden today, and got flooded with tomatoes... many were splitting and rotting on the vine... Eggplants have tons of flies of some sort on them - I think I will have to spray them with neem oil... maybe early monday morning, if it's not gonna be extremely hot that day.

I still have a LOT of pictures I want to share with you, but have not gotten my computer fixed yet.

It's a bummer.

More to come, as I settle back in:)

Computer trouble

2009-07-19T05:30:00.001-07:00

Sorry Folks for not posting much here lately. Besides having a lot to do and finding very little time to sit down to write - my computers USB ports are not working any more. For a while I was able to still download pictures even though memory sticks didn't work in the ports, but now my little photo transfer gadget doesn't work in them either. Such a bummer. I suppose it is time to do something about it...

until then - enjoy the summer and any goodies you can get from your gardens, or your local farmers market. I have some great pix from Farmers market in Tartu, Estonia I'd like to share with you eventually... we've had some fresh salted/pickled cucumbers, chanterells, wild blueberries, fresh peas and strawberries from there... first early local potatoes are out in the markets, and we've eaten ourselves silly with black bread and hazelnut yogurt...

See you all soon!

Sweet Home Estonia: My Mother's Garden

2009-07-13T12:50:00.000-07:00

So we made it to my homeland safe and sound. We almost missed a flight... but lets not think about that again:) We spent a few days in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, had some good times with my friends, but Tallinn is waaayyyyy too busy for me... well, we all concluded that.

As soon as we got off the train in Püssi, the town near my home village, the peace and quiet was such a sweet reward to all the travel troubles. My dad picked us up, and brought us home where mom had cooked up some hot boiled potatoes, and pork. Yummy!!!! Of course, there was plenty of beer and vodka for the grownups.

Our email is semi working - we are able to receive emails but not send them, so please bear with us.

For right now I wanted to share some pictures of my parents home and my mom's garden. Mom and I spent half a day weeding and dead heading flower beds. We have a big family reunion coming up, so there is a lot to do.

The summer has been rainy and cold. vegetables are not doing the best they could... more pictures of those later.

This is the view towards the creek where we loved to play in as kids. There are still two old apple trees - great climbing trees for Lyza and Andreas, marking a time when the vegetable garden used to be covering most of this lawn. I remember this place as a wonderful jungle! Our play house used to be there, pea trellises, tulip and daffodil beds... I remember picking cabbage worms off cabbages as a form of pest control... now it's a place for family gatherings and grilling out.
The house on the right is the house I grew up in. The house on the left is my brothers new home. The flag pole is in the center, surrounded by flowers.
Ain't it purty?!
And of course, a very important feature of an Estonian country life -the outhouse. In this case - it's next to the garage/dad's work room/root cellar. The outhouse has moved more than once also during my lifetime.
Well, another day has passed. The sun is setting behind the church tower in the village, it's almost midnight.

What the World Eats

2009-06-22T13:06:00.000-07:00

Check this out!

What the World Eats

Do people REALLY drink that much bottled stuff in a week?!?!?!?

And the amount of prepackaged foods on the tables is astonishing to me...

What would YOUR weekly spread look like?

MORE WORMS

2009-06-18T08:18:00.002-07:00

On June 4th, STARworks Garden hosted another worm workshop on STARworks premises.

2 groups of fourth graders gathered under the shade of the big oak trees in front of STARworks building. 44 children!

Mrs. Lamonds had kept a worm bin in the classroom all year and her students had taken care of the worms - feeding them and learning about their behavior. Now it was time to harvest the castings, or "vermicompost". Kids took turns separating worms from castings and walking on our brand new walking trail. One of the boys said that he ran 16 laps - that's 2 miles!
Here is Melanie Lamonds with a group of fourth graders sorting out the worms.
After harvesting the castings, Mrs. Lamonds' and Mrs. Comer's classes each started a new bin - with shredded newspaper, some compost from the old bins, and a bunch of worms. We also went to check on the flower bed that the kids planted a little more than a month ago. They recognized some plants, marveled over the height of the sunflowers, and checked the little watermelons that had started to form. Yesterday when I looked at the plants - the sunflowers were blooming, and some of the watermelons are about 4 inches in diameter! I can't wait for those kids to come back to the garden when school starts, to taste the fruits of their seeds!

BALLE Memoirs

2009-06-12T10:55:00.000-07:00

BALLE.

This is going to be some serious blog entry. I mean... where do I even start?! There is no way I can convey it all...

Maybe I should start with the fun stuff?!

Below are Nancy, our Big Brain and the Heart and Soul of Central Park NC, and Eric Henry, the TS Desings Mastermind, coming up with some serious "business plan on a napkin" - the annual BALLE creative business plan endeavor...

And here is the rest of the creative crew. Jane Norton and I were the support group.

I drew up this very complicated map of how it all would work out...

And Nancy put it in the right "language"... You never know. This just might be the next big thing that happens at STARworks in cooperation with TS Designs... Sorry the pictures are sideways. I strategically positioned them so it would be harder for you to copy this brilliant plan!

Among other fun things, we went to the "Tattered Cover"the largest independently owned bookstore in the USA. I bought "COOP", Michael Perry's wonderfully written and funny book about life on a farm, which I am now reading and laughing out loud most of the time.

We checked out some local places to eat, like breakfast at the "Delectable Egg"which was a perfect choice for two chicken lovers like Nancy and I. The omelet was awesome!

The Curtis Hotel, where we staid at was cool too!

While sitting at the key note's and lectures I couldn't help but feel a certain satisfaction - there is a revolution taking place in America. I guess it could be summed up as the "Small Mart Revolution" , a term coined by Michael Shuman, who by the way is a wonderful speaker besides being a good writer and revolutionary thinker. Another man who fits that description would be David Korten. I will list some of their books at the end of this blog entry, so you can do further "deep reading" on your own. Those two men left a lasting impression on me, and seemed to be the driving force behind Local Living Economies movement.

BALLE conference could be summed up as a call to arms for distributing the idea of economies being driven by small local businesses, people standing up against the current corrupt corporate model of economy and taking more in their own hands in their own communities.

We saw an inspiring presentation by "Biofuel Oasis" from Berkley, California, where 5 women came together some years ago, and formed a worker owned business after brewing bio-diesel in their back yards. Today they have a successful business, faithful following and a newly renovated site for making and selling recycled vegetable oil.

Another presentation which was possibly the highlight of my conference experience, was by Free Range Studios the creators of the "Story of Stuff", "Meatrix", "Store Wars" and other great educational films:) Erica Priggen, who is the producer at Free Range Studios was giving us the ABC's of how to make a "viral" video, and I bet we're going to be making some movies of our own here at STARworks in the future...

Soooo... Next year BALLE will be taking place at Charleston SC - practically over the fence from here, so we should all hop over and learn what we can do at our own hometowns, or even at our homes - to make the future a bit brighter...

Some links for your own homework:

Websites: GOODWORK , Southwest Creations Collaborative , Transition Town

Slow Money, Natural Capitalism Solutions, New Voice of Business, Green Building Council,

Beginning Farmer Program, Healthy Communities, Redefining Progress , Alliance for Climate Education, 350, The Good Life Parable

books: The World is Flat, The Chalice and the Blade, Agenda for a New Economy, Small is Beautiful, Twilight in the Desert, Small Mart Revolution, The Economics of Happiness, The end of Money and the Future of Civilization, Made to Stick

Click away! It is encouraging to see all this information out there, so many individuals and groups doing some good work!

DELICIOUSNESS

2009-06-05T05:02:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note for ya'll before I head out to the garden to pick the produce for this Friday's shares. As I was driving to work this morning I listened to the NPR - as I usually do - and they had on another story of their "Farmers Market Finds" series. This time Adam Hochberg was in Ayden NC, talking to the owners of "The Collard Shack".

You can find that story HERE. I suggest to listen to the story, to get the real southern flavor:)

As with many other things - Adam and I were introduced to The Collard Shack a few years ago by our friend, teacher and mentor Seo. That was before I knew anything about BALLE.

Now, talk about Local Living Economies. The Collard Shack is a great example of a smart small local business run by Benny and Vicky Cox. When asked if they have thought about expanding their business the answer was - they have their hands full just tending the roadside stand. I bet ya. That's what sustainability is all about in my opinion. Take a bite that you can chew, and leave the rest of the pie for others, instead of flooding the market and the culture overall with mediocre "good for all" stuff, and making a ----load of money in the process... allright. I won't get started here. I'll just leave you with an "Old Estonian Saying" - "Tee järele, või maksa kinni!" roughly translated as: "Do it by their example, or pay for it!"

HEAT OVERLOAD

2009-06-02T12:01:00.003-07:00

Oh my goodness.

I came from the greenhouse about an hour ago... it was 110 degrees F in there. The plan was to move all the plants outside, as I'm not interested in frying them... but had to get out as I didn't want to fry myself either. So maybe I'll sneak back in there under the cover of the night, when it is a bit cooler. Here is the first onion I pulled last week - a beauty! kind of smallish still, but maybe also extra sweet?

Jalapenó's are starting to take shape. Yesterday I also discovered a few eggplants already on the plants! That's way earlier than I thought.
Here's a view to the greenhouse. There are plenty of little Pistou basil bushes to sell at our Flowerpot Fundraiser coming up this Saturday, June 6th, during the Star Heritage Day.
I have sooooo much more to blog about! As I have mentioned in the newsletters - Nancy and I went to Denver, Colorado to a BALLE conference - I can't believe its already been 2 weeks since we went?! Anyway, we had a great time, and I will dedicate a separate blog entry to that. I also have several pages of notes and information to share with ya'll... so, please be patient with me - as I try to juggle working in the garden, coordinating sales, keeping up with blogs and home life.

The Myths that have taken REAL food off our tables.

2009-05-17T14:06:00.000-07:00

I listened to " The People's Pharmacy" on NPR today. They had a GREAT show about foods that have been demonized in our culture by the processed food industry. Like RAW milk. That's right. How many people reading this blog think of raw milk and shudder in fear?!

I grew up on this stuff. We drank it with breakfast, lunch and dinner. We made our own butter and something we call "kohupiim" - a type of cottage/ricotta cheese. My mom usually had a 3 liter jar of milk on the cool end of the wood stove sitting out, on room temperature, until it curdled and turned sour. Oh boy, there is nothing better than "hapupiim" ("sour milk") on a hot summer's day...

We also cooked with lard, and believe me, LOTS of meals were fried. Fried potatoes, fried eggs, fried bread, fried fat back, fried macaroni... pancakes... yet very few people in Estonia were overweight or had heart problems, until we started importing lots of processed, prepackaged foods from outside of the country. Same with allergies. Disease followed the change in diet from traditional to "politically correct".

"The People's Pharmacy" discussed REAL food with Sally Fallon, the president of Weston A. Price Foundation and an author of a book "Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats."

You can listen to the proadcast on "The People's Pharmacy" website, and HERE. (I hope it works - let me know if it doesn't!)

I am not going to repeat all that they discussed today, I strongly suggest you listen to this broadcast. It is crucial that we start thinking for ourselves and making some better decisions for our families.

I have preached RAW MILK for years, and am glad to see science (and media) starting to come around and back up this common sense knowledge that people lived with for thousands of years... before the processed food industry started brainwashing us and controlling the lives of our farmers.

What's up in the garden.

2009-05-14T11:57:00.000-07:00

Lots of weeds first of all!!! I spent a few hours going over the garden with a weed eater. Got most of the mess, but The eater ran out of string and I was overheated, so I gave up for today. I saw at least 3 toads while weedeating, so that's cool!

CSA has gotten off to a good start I would say. The time of the greens is almost over, so we may hit a low point in a week... unless Chard carries us over. I have some red russian kale growing at home too, which looks pretty healthy. We'll see.

I've planted most of the tomato, pepper and basil plants. Lots of Marygolds, some sweet alyssum, some squashes, parsley, cilantro... radishes... Radicchio looks good - it's been cool enough this spring, and we may tease a few carrots out of this weather too! Andreas insisted in planting carrots, and I'm not gonna stand in the way of a kid wanting to plant anything!

Still waiting to fill the Wonky Doo #2. I have a plan to plant eggplants under a row cover in that bed, along with more basil and second batch of cucumbers or something... We have lots of flea beetles in the garden. They have even sneaked in to the greenhouse, so I'm hoping that by using the row cover the plants will get chance to get established better before the beetles feast on them. I found a few jalapeno peppers on the 3 plants we have in the garden... the pepper and tomato time! Can't wait!

I also started potting some herbs for our planter fundraiser which is coming up June 6'th. There's this tiny basil that grows into a neat, pretty round bush called "Pistou" that I started this spring... Perfect for a pot.

I hope you will find the "Vegetable of the Week" to be an informative new addition to our blog. I'm still working out the format... It may end up in the right side bar, along with other info on this blog, although I don't think there is a way to archive entries in the Gadget Text block.?

Also, I may not get to post a NEW vegetable EVERY week, but most weeks... I hope...

Adam and I are going to check out the Tour D'Coop this weekend in Raleigh also - there'll be plenty to relate! And we really need inspiration to build the coop for our girls at home - they are getting too big!

Wegetable of the week. Pak Choi.

2009-05-14T11:51:00.000-07:00

Bok Choy (Pak Choi)

This graceful vegetable with Chinese origins has spread throughout Asia and beyond, developing a wide range of varieties. The most typical Pak Choi features dark green leaves atop white spoon-shaped upright stems. Stems vary considerably in thickness and shape, and in some varieties they are green. One variety produces a rosette of dark green leaves close to the ground. There are specialty pak chois that have frilly leaves to light yellow-green color. The slight mustardy flavor of Pak Choi makes it a delightful addition to stir-fries, soups, noodle and meat dishes, and salads, if the young leaves are used. In China, the coarser leaves are often pickled. Some Chinese cooks also dip the leaves in boiling water and hang them out to dry in the sun for several days. Drying enables this highly perishable vegetable to be stored for winter months. Asian cooks use the entire plant at many stages of development.

Information from Kitazawaseed.com

Vegetable of the Week. MIZUNA.

2009-05-08T14:55:00.000-07:00

Mizuna

Elegant, deep green and saw-toothed leaves have a mild yet tangy flavor. This tender green leaf lettuce makes an excellent mix for salads, stir fries and soups.

Serving Ideas

Mizuna is generally mixed with other lettuces to enhance the appearance, flavor, and nutritional value of salad. The leaves can be added to soups at the end of cooking; the heat of the broth will cook them sufficiently.

This information came from EVERGREENHERBS.

First week of CSA

2009-05-07T05:32:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was our first veggie day of STARworks Garden CSA.

There was a LOT to give out - lettuce, mizuna, collards, bak choi, some spinach, arugula and cilantro. The first batch of radishes was already too big last week... carrots are still too small...

and lettuce is on it's last leg.

I have learned something this year - we could have started our distribution about 2-3 weeks earlier with young lettuce, considering when I started the seeds. Growing vegetables is not rocket science, but it does take a few years of building up the experience. I have grown vegetables for my family for quite some years now, and I grew up on a farm... but growing food for other people is a little bit different. Planning the dates for starting seeds to transplanting to harvesting has to be a little more accurate. When I grow for myself I don't really care if I'm a few weeks early or late, and I can pick whenever I fancy, instead of set deadlines - so there is considerably less stress involved.

Anyway, aside from being stressed about overgrown lettuce and my lack of planning experience

the garden looks great, stuff is growing, I'm planting peppers, tomatoes and basil in every space that becomes available from leafy greens... there is Swiss Chard ready to be picked at next week, yellow wax beans are starting to bloom, peas are forming a few pods...

All is good!

Wonky Doo # 2 and other stories

2009-05-01T11:00:00.003-07:00

This Sunday Adam, the kids and I came to work - as the week days are not usually enough to get everything done... Adam graded the ground with Bobby (Bobcat). We think this site used to be a dump at some point - we're always unearthing various pieces of metal, glass, bricks and whatnot. There also seems to be a layer of concrete poured on top , under a thin layer of gravel and dirt... when we grade the concrete breaks into chunks. I am using all those chunks to edge

flower beds...

So anyway. Back to sunday. We built Wonky Doo # 2 right next to the original Wonky Doo. The grading work for our front yard walking trail will start next week, and we will use any topsoil from that project to dump it in the new bed, mix it with composted cow manure - and it will be ready to go!!! I have plenty of tomato, eggplant and pepper plants that are practically jumping out of their pots to get out of the greenhouse and into some open air.

This morning I built a lasagna bed on the north end of Wonky Doo # 2 to mach the one on the end of Wonky Doo # 1. I planted some Hollihocks, German Chamomile, Bee Balm in there.

I'm sort of experimenting with this lasagna method - using whatever we have available. I start with a layer of cardboard which is an abundant waste product in our building. I use it mainly to block the weeds. Today I laid a thick layer of spoiled hay on top of the cardboard and topped the lasagna off with about 4 -5 inches of composted cow manure. Eventually the hay will compost and add plenty of organic matter to the bed.
These pansies are in the flowerbed at the end of Wonky Doo #1. I gathered the seed from my grandmothers garden in Estonia few years ago and started the seeds in a flat last fall, not sure if anything would come up - as I am bad about freezing the seeds... about 8 plants made it through winter, and now they will be an abundant source of seed for next year! They are especially vigorous plants, in deep shade of purple - and fragrant.
So here is a little sampler of what you can expect in your next weeks share! I may flood you with lettuce... I still have a lot of learning to do about planning ahead...

Workshop pictures

2009-04-28T13:47:00.001-07:00

Following are some pictures of the 4'th graders planting workshop that Hugh Martin from The Post sent me recently. I've no energy left today to write more... been outside all day building another bed around some beauty berry bushes. I planted some basil, borage and calendula in there, and scattered zinnia seeds. We need to grow more flowers in the garden:)

Where to start from...

2009-04-22T12:27:00.000-07:00

oh boy. I have so much to do, it is hard to keep it all straight in my head! Yesterday we had a group of fourth graders in the garden planting flowers and herbs and scattering wildflower seed. I was so busy that I completely forgot to take pictures but we had two photographers in the garden, so hopefully they will share some pictures with us to put up here soon!

Last week I Finally finished working on the rosemary bed. one of the rosemary plants died with the last frost we had, and few others were damaged, so I pulled out the dead one, replaced it with a lavender pant, pruned all the others and planted a Lantana at the end of the row. Then I used layers of cardboard that have been on the greenhouse floor to help soak up some of the water that collects there, to smother the weeds.

Then I added a good amount of composted cow manure that we had delivered here recently by Barry Brown, and edged the bed with rocks. The rock part of it is still not finished...
I also cut the grass with a weed eater last week and planted the last of the lettuce plants. They really should have gone in the garden much faster than they did, I'm afraid some of them will bolt. I'll try to keep successive sowings of greens going until the end of may... we'll see how that goes this year. The plan is to build another raised bed in the garden on Sunday... I need more hoops for the row covers - as they REALLY help to control the micro climate under the covers - and keep the bugs out. The difference between the arugula grown out in the open compared to the the ones under row covers is like day and night... Also, the lettuce I planted under the row cover is about twice the size of that grown out in the open... That is one "artificial" application in the garden I recommend using!

Worm Workshops

2009-03-30T12:03:00.001-07:00

We had our first vermiculture workshop today with Mrs. Dawkins' third grade class. Kids were wired up - you could tell the long rain last week was too much for them! We learned a little bit about Red Wrigglers anatomy and behavior, their habitat, and what they like to eat. Kids got to get up close and "personal" with a worm, and observed them closely.

Later we shredded newspaper, and started a new worm bin with a handful of worms from the bin I've had since going to the vermiculture workshop at Piedmont Biofuels.
I think everyone had fun today and learned a thing or two. Kids are very observant and ask so many questions! Sometimes I don't have the answers...

My worm-bin is looking really good right now - I've moved it into the greenhouse for next few months - or until it gets too hot in there. There are TONS of cocoons in there, and plenty of worms. After the workshops are over I will try to collect all the castings (and record and post the process) and give the worms a semi fresh start...

Stay tuned:)

Fresh from the Greenhouse

2009-03-25T11:08:00.000-07:00

Took these pictures in the greenhouse today after transplanting a bunch of lettuces from cardboard "flats" to paper pots - they were getting too crowded. A bunch is already transplanted in the garden. Some of these are just gorgeous - especially those that got planted outside a few weeks ago - brilliant reds, speckled and spotted leaves... such eye candy!

You can also see some cherry tomatoes poking their noses up despite it being relatively cold still... I'm planning to plant those in pots in greenhouse - to add a few handfuls to salads.

This is called "Violetta Pak Choi" - you can tell I am especially drawn to red/purple varieties of almost any leafy plant - they just make me smile:) I also have two varieties of red okra this year that I hope to plant SOMEWHERE...

This particular Pak Choi has been growing well so far - better than some other varieties I have tried to grow before. I still have a LOT of paper pots to make and a LOT of transplanting to do - and a LOT of bed building so that eventually there is somewhere to transplant all those beautiful plants.

I also bought 2 different black tomato plant seeds, 2 yellow tomato seeds, 3 different eggplant seeds on top of all the great seeds that Tom gave me and what I still have from previous years. It's amazing how long some seeds stay viable!

Well, that's it for today!

Organic Growers School

2009-03-24T06:34:00.000-07:00

This Sunday, I went to the Organic Growers School.

It is held once a year in Flat Rock NC, at the Blue Ridge Community College. This year they had organized a 2 day event - it's great to know that more and more people are starting to grow organically and sustainably and that means - one day of classes is not enough to accommodate everyone! Classes were spread out all over the campus, after an hour and half class it was nice to step outside and walk to your next class, stopping by to see the vendors. I bought a wild mushroom field guide, some homemade soap, and seeds... yes. more seeds. I usually can't stop myself from buying more seeds. This time I got some hot thai basil, chamomile and something else I can't remember right now... who cares if I don't have enough space to plant?

Anyway.

I learned a few things about drip irrigation, passive solar greenhouses, making potting mix and how to use cover crops on garden scale. I also learned that I already know quite a bit! And that I am more hard core on sustainability than most... For instance... comes out that some people use drip tape - made of plastic, and use it only one season, after which they either throw it out, or find other uses for it, since drip tapes require an acid rinse and thorough cleaning before storing... now, does using less water with these drip tapes justify all that goes into making the plastic for the tapes in the first place if you end up NOT reusing them????

Still - Organic Growers School is a great thing. I strongly recommend checking out their website - most of this years lectures should appear on their "resources" section within next couple of weeks. Currently they still have last years lectures up - some in "word" document and some in other formats. You can always learn more!

Making Vegetable Stock

2009-03-20T07:09:00.001-07:00

To all of you, who will be getting vegetables from STARgarden CSA this summer - it may be worth your while to check out ASTROGIRL's blog, to deal with any leftover veggies you have!

I know, sometimes it's hard to get through the pile of veggies in a week. Freezing is an option for some things, but not everything. However, if you make soup stock - you can stretch the "life of your veggies" by using the stock a few days later, or by freezing it.

Can You Believe This?!

2009-03-20T05:57:00.000-07:00

I opened up my e-mail this morning and this made my day!

WHITE HOUSE GARDEN

New additions and more links.

2009-03-16T08:24:00.000-07:00

I am so proud of our new additions to the garden, that I wanted to share pictures! Adam is behind both inventions. Here's our new bird feeder! Nancy donated the bird feeder, and Adam

used some PVC pipes that worked perfectly, to make a post for it. I checked it today, and it has been discovered! - Some of the sunflower seed is gone. My hope is to attract more birds to the garden to deal with bugs, and enliven the ecosystem in general.

And here is the new 3 compartment compost bin. In the center section is a nice pile that the third graders from Star Elementary started last week. It's so cheery and goes great with our "post industrial garden" - conceptually as well as visually:)
Also, I just updated our links and blogs section on this blog. On Friday I was searching for accessible information about pasture raised meats, to compose some sort of info sheet that I can use for educational purposes for general public, and ran across all these great websites. Samantha from Bulldog Pottery sent me a link to the Slow Food in Piedmont and Triad.

There is a lot of great info on all these sites, so check them out!

Star Elementary Kids are Composting:)

2009-03-11T05:37:00.001-07:00

Star Elementary third graders are learning about composting this week. They are full of energy and eager to get their hands dirty - which is so wonderful for me to see! Kids are learning about all the things that can go into compost bin instead of becoming stinky garbage, and why compost is better for gardens and our ecosystem than chemical fertilizers.

We also look at some of the other ways of reusing cardboard and newspaper as seed starter containers in the greenhouse. The kids feel and smell our last years compost, and so far the general consensus has been: "Hei! All that yucky stuff we put in that pile turns into clean, fresh smelling food for plants!"

Some of these kids are going home, asking their parents to start a compost pile, I bet.

A week from now we'll have the same kids back in the garden learning about vermicomposting.

Now, THAT'll be fun!

Flowerpot Making Last Friday

2009-03-06T05:59:00.000-08:00

This blogging thing really helps me realize how fast time goes by!

On Friday the 27'th, before the Mushroom Madness we had another Flowerpot Workout here in STARworks. It was great fun to have all the people together, making pots for a good cause, eating and talking... A lot of good energy in the studio.

Thank you, David, Mike, Mark and Meredith, Kacy, Santiago and Kacy's parents, Evan, Gloria,

Tim and Robin, Hitomi, Takuro and Ken, Crystal - for coming to make pots!

Mushroom Madness

2009-03-05T13:04:00.000-08:00

Sorry folks! I know I am behind with blogging - and I will try to make up, as there is quite a bit

to blog about. So let me start with the Shiitake Workshop which we held here at STARworks.

It was cold and pouring rain outside, but that didn't stop about 45 people showing up for the workshop. Greg Bender and Mr. Iyobar Osagie from NCA&T ran the workshop, and Hugh Martin helped them out. Greg has grown mushrooms for 7 some years now, and we sold his Shiitakes through our CSA last season. NC A&T supplies free spore to those workshop participants who want to start a small 200 log Shiitake operation. If you are interested, contact your local Agriculture Agent and inquire about NC A&T workshops or about getting the spawn.

I was extremely pleased with the crowd that we drew on such a dreary day.

It looked like everyone had fun learning something new, inoculating a log or two to take home, and making a few new contacts. Some of the participants seemed eager to try and start the 200 log mushroom production this spring. I am still on the fence, as time is running out, and there are soooooo many things in the works in the garden, still...

Here we're all patiently waiting

for the workshop to start.

Demo on drilling and plugging.

Oh yes, there was a lot of drilling.

Filling the holes with mushroom spawn.

Spawn is sawdust inoculated with spore.

NC A&T is working with many different

strains of Shiitake's and Oyster mushrooms.

After the holes are filled they have

to be covered with wax to keep out

any invasive mushroom species.

Then the logs have to be kept in a dappled sunlight, semi shade. They don't require a lot of work after the initial plugging, just an occasional watering when there is drought. If you plug at the right time - which is preferably February, early March, you can expect your first "blooming" - or mushroom crop in the fall. Once the mushrooms are poking out from the logs it's a matter of picking them in timely manner. Sometimes it's a matter of few hours...

Good luck to everyone who came!

Thanks Greg for giving up your Saturday, for bringing tools, conducting the workshop and assisting everyone!

Thanks Hugh for dropping in and helping out big time!

Thanks to STARworks Glass Studio for lending space - and everyone who jumped in to clean up afterwards!

Looks like we may be doing this again next year!

Spring is in the air...

2009-02-25T07:42:00.001-08:00

It happens every year... yet it is always new...

So much is going on in and around the garden (and in my head) right now in preparation for our growing and educational season.

I have started some lettuce seeds in the greenhouse. It's probably too early, as we still get some really cold nights and the greenhouse is not heated, but it's worth the try I thought...

We are getting ready to have children's workshops in March and I'm preparing for that...

There is quite a bit of cleaning to do, some digging, raking and - the list goes on.

Our Shiitake workshop has nearly 40 people signed up - we will see the actual turnout this saturday, and I will post plenty of pictures :)

I wanted to share some pictures from our Friday Flower Pot Extravaganza here:)

Huge thanks goes out to Hitomi for organizing this event and to Takuro for opening up the clay studio so graciously and for donating clay!!! Thanks guys!

We had a nice turnout of people, and they all turned out some great pots!

Here are Crystal and Kacy hard at work and having fun:)

Gloria getting instruction from Hitomi:)

And Takuro, with little Ken:)

There were also Bruce from Bulldog Pottery, Evan and Mike and Weezy from Wet Dog Glass,

Santiago the do-it--all man, Adam the Ad-Hoc, and Andreas. Well. I was there too.

On Sunday Adam and I went back to trim the bottoms, drill the holes, and throw plates to go under pots...

We will repeat the extravaganza again this friday, from 4:30 to ...

I will start herbs, and flowers suitable for pots, or garden soon, and STARgarden will have the

Flowerpot Fundraiser in the beginning of May.

Come join us!

Flowerpots

2009-02-17T12:37:00.000-08:00

STARworks Ceramics is hosting a flowerpot making extravaganza on Feb. 20'th at 4:30 pm and Feb. 27'th at 4:30 pm. Bruce and Samantha did a great job at posting more info about this on their BLOG, so check it out! Hope to see you!

Shiitake growing workshop

2009-02-12T06:57:00.000-08:00

STARgarden is hosting a Shiitake growing workshop on February 28, (Saturday) from 10 am to 12 pm. Workshop instructor is Greg Bender who has grown Shiitake's for 7 years. We are partnering with NC A&T to make this workshop possible. Participation is free. Bring your own 2 oak logs. We can provide some logs for a small fee. For more information and to register, please contact Anne Pärtna: anne@starworksnc.org or #(336) 653 9551