Hope for the Hungry

The Third Hope for the Hungry conference will be held on Saturday, November 12, 2011 at Trinity United Methodist

Church, 1548 8th Street, Des Moines.  Doors open at 8 a.m., and the conference runs from 8:30 to 4 p.m.  The "go-forth" goal of the conference is to end childhood hunger in the Greater Des Moines area by 2015.  In addition to hearing great speakers, registrants may choose one morning and one afternoon workshop to learn how we can all take part in building a strong local foods system to end hunger for children and their families.  Workshop titles are How to Garden, Urban Farms Beyond Yards, Starting a School Garden, Starting a Faith Garden, Preparing Nutritious Meals, Joining Food Rescue Programs, Raising Urban Chickens, Starting Farm to School Programs, Food Policy and Action -- Iowans Making a Difference, and Preserving Foods.  Have a look at the registration form; you'll see several familiar names from DMARC and the Greater Des Moines faith community among the presenters. The conference is hosted by DMARC and Healthy Urban Food and Farming (HUFF). To register click here and scroll to middle of page. 11/12

I will be sharing along with representatives from Faith and Grace Garden, West Des Moines and Agape Garden in Ankeny.

This and that

Things are still growing strong at Urban Harvest.   Sunday we picked a bumper crop of “ugly” tomatoes.  The hot, cold and  dryness have them not so attractive but they taste great! The peppers are finally going to town and we will be picking until frost. After curing the sweet potatoes for 10 days we bagged them and they are hanging in the shed to cure to November.  Lettuce ,swiss chard and spinach are bountiful and we are going to do some extra cutting during the week ,  I keep watching the weather forecast for frost and It looks like we are safe this week.  Join us Sunday and Wednesday at 6 to continue harvesting.  Watch for  more details when frost is forecast.

Green Beans!

After a very slow start the green beans are finally producing.  The tomatoes keep ripening and we are getting into the rhythm of harvesting on Sunday and Wednesday evenings.  I thought I would share some favorite green bean recipes,although nothing beats fresh steamed beans.  Here is a family favorite.  ( this recipe was also featured on the food channel.) Not an everynight dish but definately a treat!

                                                   Green Beans with Carmelized Onions

• 8 ounces bacon, chopped into 1 inch pieces
• 1/2 onion, sliced thinly
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 12 ounces green beans

Preparation

1. Cook bacon until crisp in skillet, drain bacon, and set aside, reserving bacon grease.
2. In skillet with bacon grease, sauté onions with sugar, salt, pepper, and apple cider vinegar until tender. Set aside.
3. Steam or blanch green beans until tender, and toss with onion mixture and reserved bacon pieces. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Remember you can also follow us on Facebook!  Or go to desmoineschurch.org for a link to the page.

Many hands make light work!

Sunday night was a great night in the garden.   We had a great turn out for the potluck and then moved out to the garden to harvest and plant.  The green beans are finally producing and looks like there will be more over the next weeks.  Barb picked some tomatoes that were as big as two fists.  ( Ok I have little hands, but they were huge)  The rabbits are attacking the cabbage so out came the rest of them!  Bruce was able to make fast work of the planting and put in spinach, lettuce and swiss chard.  The beets we planted last Wednesday are already popping through the ground!

John Kopal continues perfecting his rain barrel project.  We have adjusted the sprinklers and added some more posts. Hopefully we will have better coverage and be able to give the beans a much needed drink!

Come join us on Wednesday night at 7.  We will be planting  the last of our fall plantings and probably harvesting a few acorn squash in addition to tomatoes. 

And last but not least  a big thanks to Tim Goldman who took time out from Faith and Grace Garden(sorry Mark!) to come work with us.

Look for us on Facebook @ Urban Harvest.  There are several but we are the only one in Urbandale!

Potluck on Sunday !

The Urban Harvest Potluck is this Sunday, August 21,

at Urban Heights Covenant Church at 6:00pm.

Meat, drink, and table service will be provided. 

Please bring 1-2 dishes to share depending on the size of your family.

Then after you’ve eaten, plan to help in the garden with the weeding

or picking of fresh produce (unless it is too wet).

If you are unable to work in the garden, still feel free

to come to the potluck and enjoy watching the garden grow.

Contact: 515-278-1371

You are welcome to come and weed in the garden at anytime

that it fits in your schedule but if you’d like to work together

with others come every Wednesday evening at around 7:00pm.

Hopefully, fall planting will be done this week.

I Spy Tomatoes!

Last Wednesday night we played "I Spy" in the garden.  Savannah and Avery found tomatoes,zucchini and potatoes.  They were amazed to discover that potatoes grow underground in the dirt! 

This week we plan to plant fall crops. The seed should be here in the next day or so I hope! We are planting more of the fantastic salad bowl mixed greens, beets, Swiss chard and spinach.  The ground is pretty well ready after the Moving On Up kids cleared the old crop off.

Join us Sunday afternoon at 6 for a little more harvesting and Wednesday night at 7 to begin planting.  Come check out the rain barrel project that is underway to provide supplemental water.

We now have a Facebook  fan page were you can check for garden updates too!  There are other Urban Harvest's in facebook world so be sure to join the one with the correct address. We are hoping to get pictures uploaded today.  The beauty of a fan page is that you can check it even if you don't have your own account.  Check us out!

Questions? Call Beth at 314-2114

This and That

Back to the garden and the blog after surgery for a torn rotar cuff!  I picked beets with my left hand and all is well.  In the mean time a wonderful group of volunteers  kept things looking great.

This week the garden hosted students transitioning to the middle school.  They tore out the old,worn out peas and our lettuce that produced an incredible 5 crops before bolting in the heat last week.

The food pantry has been supplied with beets,spinach,onions,cucumbers,zuchini,and some acorn squash. We also have started picking tomatoes and by  the looks of things will have enough to keep the pantry well supplied.

Come check out the sweet potatoes.  These little tiny slips have grown into big,beautiful vines.  The women of the Congolese fellowship group which meets at Urban Heights has been picking small quantities of the leaves for a wonderful taste of home!

John Kopal will begin this week in his Eagle project. His rain barrel project will bring supplemental water to the garden.(Wednesday and Thursday evening)

Garden T-Shirts will be available soon.  The shirt will feature the garden logo on the front and a list of the friends of the garden on the back. Cost will be between $10-12. If you would like a shirt call the office at 278-1371.

Harvesting continues on Wednesdays and Sundays weather permitting.  Weeders welcome anytime.Questions ? Call Beth at 314-2114

Join us in the Garden!

 Just a brief update on the garden potlucks.  More news of what's growing to come soon!

The dates for the Urban Harvest Potlucks are being switched from Friday evenings to Sunday evenings.  In doing so, we can pick produce on Sundays and have it at the Urbandale Food Pantry by Monday mornings…much fresher than doing it on Friday nights. 

The first time change will be this week—the Urban Harvest Potluck will be on Sunday, July 24 with work in the garden starting at 4:00pm and the meal to be served at 6:00pm.    Meat, drink, and table service will be provided.  Please bring 1-2 dishes to share depending on the size of your family.    Next potluck dates will be Sundays, August 7^th and 21^st.

Again, this potluck is open to everyone so please pass this message on to other garden lovers that may not be on thie email list or afollower of the blog.  

Contact: 515-278-1371 for more information

Wild and Woolly Weather!

Wild and Woolly weather kept us out of the garden last night.  No not here but the wild weather that kept me sitting on the tarmac in the middle of nowhere Texas while a storm blew through Dallas.  We will plan again on tonight at 6:30.  Please bring a hoe or trowel if you have one.

Remember to mark you calendar for the first garden open house on Friday, May 27.  Potluck at 6 if you would like join us!

Eat your peas and Carrots PLEASE!

Last night we plannted 300 ft of carrots and 200 feet of collard greens.  Seems like a lot!  Hope that they grow.  I will definately be looking up some recipes!

 Rain is predicted for late Thursday , Friday and into Saturday morning.  We will plan to plant again on Monday night at 6:30.  Hope you can join us.

Mark your calendar for our potluck/open house, May 27 at 6 pm.

Parsley ,Sage,Rosemary and Thyme....

.............And chives and stevia and few more herbs.  The herb bed is full of wonderful smelling herbs.  I love cooking with fresh herbs and have dried dill before to use all winter. The chives are starting to bloom  so I thought I would include a recipe for chive blossom vinegar

                                                     Chive Blossom Vinegar

2 cups white vinegar
2 cups fresh packed chive blossoms

Bring vinegar just to boil, but do not boil. Pour over chive blossoms. Let stand in crock or large glass bowl or bottle in cool, dark place one week.

Strain vinegar, discard blossoms.

Transfer to bottles and add sprig of fresh chive blossom to each bottle.

© Copyright 2004-2011 Gifts From Your Kitchen

Tomorrow night we will focus on squash,cucumbers and zucchini.  Work will begin at 6:30.

Rain,Rain go AWAY!

I know I talked about how garden perfection could be attained if it would just rain but maybe I should have clarified that a little more.  A garden perfection type of rain would have been a nice gentle shower of about an inch-not days of rain that include near freezing temperatures again tonight.  Ah the life of farmer!

Saturday we worked with volunteers from Troop 98 and Dowling.  They took the tops off from all the collected milk jugs and laid a newspaper path in the back half of the garden.  We also took a chance and planted some more herbs.

This week we will try to work on Tuesday and Wednesday night to get some more planting in.  If you are not sure if it seems dry enough, give me a call at 314-2114. Please bring a trowel or a hoe if you have one.

In other Urban Harvest news, mark your calendar for our first open house on Friday night May 27.  We have been working on getting the word out to those in our community and would love to have a chance to meet fellow garden fans.  We will be working on fliers and  signage to get the word out.  We will also have posters.  If you would like copies that you can print and distribute, please email me at  brydberg@mchsi.com

And It Really, Really Works!

Last Friday night we tried out the garden seeder and guess what ? It works great!  After John and his dad put it together he planted a hundred feet of beans in about 20 minutes. 

We also planted green onions and big slicer onions.  With all of this heat things should be popping up soon! If it would rain it be garden perfection.  Now on for the big push!

This weekend we will plant tomatoes, peppers, squash, cucumbers and whatever other fun things can find in the seed box.  Plans are to work from 10 -2 on Saturday.  Bring a hoe,trowel and a lunch if you want. 

We are also planning on taking down some dead trees in anticipation of  establishing a section of prairie so there is plenty to do.  Invite a friend!

Questions please call Beth at 314-2114

Watch for information on the Urban-Harvest open house coming soon.

Boys and Their Toys

I have watched with fascination over the last few weeks as the men working on the garden have worked with chain saws and power tools to build the raised beds and then operate.......the roto-tillers.  In the meantime I have crawled along in the dirt,  planting one seed at a time and saying a little prayer over each.

And then I saw it... a seed planter! 

Plant a variety of vegetable and flower seeds with one continuous operation of opening the soil, planting the seed, covering, and marking the next row. The Precision Garden Seeder takes the guess work out of planting row crops at the proper depth and spacing, making

your garden the envy of all!

Sounds a little like a Red Ryder BB Gun doesn't it?

Now this is a tool that could make me very excited! After crawling on my knees the last few weekends trying to plant lettuce seeds (Do you know how tiny they are?) I am thinking that there is potential in the promises of this contraption.

Join us Friday night from 6-8 or Saturday from 10-2 to see if this thing really works.  We will be planting the last of our cool weather crop and may even start some beans.

Please bring a hoe if you have one (in case the seeder doesn’t work) a lunch if you are staying over the dinner hour and a bottle of water.

Please park in the back of the parking lot on Saturday because there is a service at the church. 

If you talk nice to me I might let you use my seed planter!

Garden Geek

geek: A person with a devotion to something in a way that places him or her outside the mainstream.

I grew up on a farm and helped in the garden( mostly under duress) as I was growing up.  I learned how to weed and cook and weed and can and weed and harvest.  But I never really  had to figure it out from the beginning.  That's why, when 10 lbs. of Yukon Gold potatoes were delivered to my doorstep, I knew I had to figure out the steps to turning out a bountiful crop of potatoes in the fall.  I remember sitting at the picnic table with my grandma , cut pototoes curing in the sun but beyond that I was clueless.  So I did what any good garden geek would do. I googled " how do you plant potatoes " and found this great set of videos on, you guessed it,You Tube!

     



Traditionally,potatoes are planted on Good Friday but the rain kept us from planting.  Join us Saturday April 30, 10-2.  We will also be planting the rest of the cool weather crops.  You can also check out the great raised bed built with the help of the Scouts from Troop 98 last weekend.  Watch for details of Urban- Garden's open house coming soon!                                                                                                             



Pass the Peas Please!

Time to put in some cool weather crops before the SNOW(!?) predicted for later in the week.  Join us Wednesday, April 13 at 6 P.M. Please bring a hoe if you have one. We will be planting lettuce and peas.  We are waiting for our big order to come from the seed company so we will plant what we have!

If you have a hoe please bring it.  We  also need to finish raking so there are plenty of things to do. 

We are looking for new paint stirs to use as row markers. If you are at your favorite paint or hardware store ask if they would donate towards the cause.  (We need between 50-60.) 

 We look forward to seeing you in the garden

Question call Beth at 314-2114

He who plants the seed.............

Tonight I am home instead of at the garden  and I am trying to finalize the seed order.  We did get tomatoes,peppers and herbs started on Sunday and Linda is peeking under their little green blanket to make sure they are staying warm and toasty. 

Such decisions! Pole beans or bush ( pole I think so less bending over) Russets or Yukon gold, full or half carrots ( who knew there was a difference).

I am also trying to get ready for an Urban Harvest Garden meeting.  There are lots of jobs and not all require physical labor.  Looking forward to our weekly Friday night potluck with garden volunteers beginning sometime in May.

If you would like to help with something, contact me at the email listed at the side or come to the meeting on Tuesday April 19, 7pm ,Urban Heights,7605 Aurora.

He who plants the seed beneath the sod and waits believes in God



Rabbit Free Zone

Tonight we did a little critter fencing with fence donated by our friends from the St. Timothy's garden in West Des Moines and posts from Ken Rydberg.  A lot of muscle was provided by Pam and Dick, Bruce, Doug,  Eric and Mike.  We also raked a lot of the grass and piled it in a compost pile at the back of the garden.  If you have some time to do a little raking you can pile the grass at the back.  The tiller should be in this weekend and if weather allows we may plant some cool weather crops. Come join us and see if Dick figures out how to attach BOTH a flashlight and MP3 player to his rake.

No Turning Back!

Ray Meylor, Isaac Walton League, came and tilled the garden today. ( I will tell you more in a later posting about his work with urban prairies)  It was truly amazing as we watched him turn under and till a 75x75 foot plot. We then stacked sod along the west side ( Mike commented that it felt a little like medieval wall building) 

These 3 foot high piles will become the bases for the raised beds of flowers and herbs. Isaac Walton volunteers will add an area of native prairie flowers at one end that will be labeled and mulched.  I hope to have a garden diagram up soon so we can start to get a feeling of the space.

We also did a little raking and started a compost pile in the middle of the east side. Thanks to our first garden volunteers,  Mike, Bruce and Eric and from Troop 98, John, Aaron and their dad Craig, who all manned shovels, rakes and wheelbarrows.  Tomorrow night we will be fencing and raking. Come join the fun beginning at 6.

"Till" we meet again ......

You're going to do what?

'Why in the world would we tear up a 75x75 plot in the back and plant potatoes and beans and squash?

Did you know that there are kids in Des Moines that go to bed hungry every night? Doesn’t seem right does it? Local groups are banding together to help. Urban Heights and a host of others are planning a Food Pantry Garden. The produce from the garden will be donated to help local families in need. This will be done through existing food pantry programs.

 The garden will be seeking volunteers from the community. We have already extended an invitation to Scouts and their families to be a part. The response has been overwhelmingly positive. It will be a wonderful way for families to work together to give back to their community.

Assisting in the garden will be John Turner , Master Gardener,  Beth Rydberg,volunteer coordination and Linda Gaulter,flowers and herbs.

There will be ways for all to be a part of this project. Join with us to help eradicate childhood hunger in Des Moines by 2015.