Cultivating Community's "Kitchen Favorites" Plant Sale Fundraiser!

Join us for Cultivating Community's "Kitchen Favorites" Plant Sale Fundraiser this spring (part of a series of plant sales at the Matthaei Botanical Gardens!)

May 21 and May 22, 2011, 10 am to 4 pm, Matthaei Botanical Gardens

Help support student gardeners and stock up on some great heirloom vegetables and herbs grown by Cultivating Community! Also, on May 21 only, the Herb Study Group will be hosting its Herbfest, with herbal information, free herbal samples and recipes, items for sale such as used books about herbs, and more.

Below is the list of plants that will be available at the sale. Want to get involved in Cultivating Community and help prepare for the sale? We love new volunteers! Email mbgna.cc@umich.edu!

Vegetables and Fruits

Artichoke- Imperial Star

Broccoli- Belstar

Cabbage- Famosa

Cauliflower- Cheddar

Cauliflower- Skywalker

Cucumber- Little Leaf

Cucumber- Marketmore

Edible flowers-Trailing Nasturtium

Eggplant- Orient Express

Eggplant- Rosa Bianca

Kale- Red Russian

Kale- Toscano

Kohlrabi- Korridor

Melon, Cantaloupe- Sweet Granite

Pac Choi- Mei Qing Choi

Pepper, yellow bell- Flavorburst

Pepper, red bell Red Knight

Pepper, hot cayenne- Andy

Pepper, hot jalapeno- El Jefe

Pepper, hot- Ancho

Pumpkin- Dill’s Atlantic Giant

Strawberry - Ozark

Tomato, paste - Granadero

Tomato, plum - Monica

Tomato, grape - Red Pearl

Tomato, grape - Solid Gold

Tomato, cherry- Sun Cherry

Tomato, pear- Yellow Pear

Tomato, heirloom - Japanese Black Trifele

Tomato, heirloom- Beefsteak

Tomato, heirloom- Black Cherry

Tomato, heirloom- Brandywine

Tomato, heirloom- Cherokee Green

Tomato, heirloom- Cherokee Purple

Tomato, heirloom- Green Zebra

Tomato, heirloom- Mortgage Lifter

Tomato, heirloom- Striped German

Tomato, heirloom- Yellow Brandywine

Tomato, heirloom-Great White

Tomato, heirloom-Pruden's Purple

Watermelon- Sweet Favorite

Winter squash- Organic Waltham Butternut

Zucchini, green- Raven

Zucchini, yellow- Soleil

Herbs

Basil- Genovese

Basil- Nufar

Basil- Red Rubin

Basil- Sweet Thai

Chives - Common

Chives - Garlic

Dill- Bouquet

Chocolate Peppermint

Lavender - Hidcote

Lavender - Munstead

Marjoram, Sweet

Oregano- Greek

Parsley- Giant of Italy

Parsley - Forest Green

Peppermint

Rosemary - common

Sage- Beggarten

Sage- Grower's Friend

Sage- Icterina

Sage- Purpurascens

Spearmint

Tarragon- French

Thyme - Doone Valley

Thyme - English

Thyme - Golden Lemon

Thyme - Lemon

Cultivating Community hosts workshop at Know Your Foodshed Conference

Cultivating Community members leading DIY Herb Window Farm Workshop on February 17th @ Know Your Foodshed conference hosted by EnviroDems in partnership with the Michigan Sustainable Food Initiative. What a wonderful event and wonderful day! Interested in making your own herb window farm? The instructions we used are right here

I SMELL a Cultivating Community Workshop :)

Here is a great link with instructions on how to make your own homemade deodorant. Not only do the ingredients smell pretty, but they also serve their purpose. I learned that sage oil, for instance, is an antiperspirant (can reduce ~ 50%). Check it out!! http://www.a1-natural-beauty.com/Herbal_Deodorant.html

Butternut squash recipe!

Hello! Here is the link to the butternut squash recipe I used for our last Garden to your Plate workshop:
http://www.all-creatures.org/recipes/rice-bas-bnsqraiscur.html

Happy cooking (and EATING!) :D

From the Garden to Your Plate: August

From the Garden to Your Plate was a success yet again! On August 10th, eight Cultivating Community volunteers gathered at the Ginsberg garden for a cooking demonstration and tasting with fresh ingredients from the garden. 

First, we made fried-green tomatoes, served with fresh mozzarella, basil, and a balsamic vinegar dressing. 

Many volunteers had never even tasted fried-green tomatoes before, let alone prepared them. Frying them on a camp stove was a great learning experience, and it was also a delicious way to utilized what the garden was offering. 

Next, we prepared an eggplant and couscous stir-fry, abundant with fresh zucchini, carrots, tomatoes, peppers, onion, garlic, and of course, eggplant. 

In addition to garden fresh veggies, this stir-fry featured couscous, an alternative to rice or pasta with a ton more protein. We also threw in some cashews, which added a crunchy and salty twist, and raisins for a final sweet touch. 

We finished the meal and demonstration with peach shortcake cookies. Though I prepared the cookies ahead of time, we made delicious homemade whipped cream to adorn them. 

These cookies are proof that it's easy and cost-effective to incorporate seasonal ingredients into every dish. So strawberries aren't in season any more but shortcake is as tempting as ever. It's okay! In many desserts, ingredients can be adjusted to suit your seasonal needs! 

Here's a link to the Cultivating Community's August Newsletter:  https://ctools.umich.edu/access/content/group/1102366804842-3971381/Monthly%20Newsletters/August%20Newsletter.pdf  Read! And enjoy!

Pumpkin (aka Henry) as of last week

What our pumpkin is aspiring to become...

These pumpkins are huge! These are Dill's Atlantic Giant Pumpkins. They are around 1700 pounds, amazing! In fact this variety produces the largest pumpkins in the world. The world record for the largest pumpkin is 1725 lbs (as of 2009). These giants are huge, and quite a culture surrounding them.

My personal favorite thing in the garden this year is our Dill's Atlantic Giant pumpkin, affectionately named Henry. Henry is not quite as large as the photos above, but he is perhaps getting close...he's 2-3ft in diameter, and he has to be at least 50 lbs, it's only July. My dream for growing a giant pumpkin began as a small child, I used to grow patches of pumpkins, and this year as an intern with the Cultivating Community, I decided to continue the tradition. The pumpkin seeds were started in late March, and were grown inside until being transplanted outside halfway through May. The pumpkin plant took some time to adjust to conditions in the outdoors, but soon enough Henry was ready to grow. And grow he did!

Henry grew many vines, and many baby pumpkins took shape. It gave me great pain, but I sacrificed all but one of those baby pumpkins, leaving just Henry to be the only child of the pumpkin plant. The reasoning behind killing all the pumpkin babies was so that all the nutrients that the plant creates/uses can be focused solely on growing one pumpkin, Henry. Doing this is rumored to lead to larger pumpkins.

So far Henry has fared well in this growing season. After doing some research I am going to try some more tactics to help henry grow even more. I have read that pumpkins in late July need potassium, so I am either going to make a baked banana peel organic fertilizer or simply place some banana peels around the stem base to decay in the sun. Also, I have read that pumpkins require shade from the sun so they don't crack, I am going to look into some sort of covering for Henry to protect his skin!