Three Pounds of Asparagus Equivalency

Joan went to the garden this morning to plant some peppers.  She also harvested and delivered our spring asparagus to Open Door. She estimates it weighed about 3 pounds, about the same as her current foster kittens (pictured below for comparison purposes).

Joan's favorite asparagus recipe is an easy roasted dish: Heat oven to 400 degrees. Place asparagus on a cookie sheet or jelly roll pan and drizzle with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Roast in the oven for about 15 minutes.

2020 Planting - The Garden is back!

Friday was a beautiful day to be out in the garden!  

 We've taken care to create extra space and pathways in our garden map this year so all our gardeners can be safe and healthy while they work.  

 We're wearing our masks and gloves while we get these seeds and plants in the ground.

 It's going to be a productive year!

 Thank you, gardeners!

2020 Garden - A new day and a new way!

Well, the rules have changed and we will wear masks and gloves and limit the number of gardeners in the space at one time . . .

but by golly we are still going to grow beautiful fresh produce this year like we have over the last 12 years!

It's a new season - let's garden!

The Giving Garden - Twelve Years!

We're celebrating the beginning of our Giving Garden's 12th year - planting, harvesting and donating fresh produce.  Snow is finally melted, tilling is planned and seeds will be in the ground soon. 

Though first harvest is a couple of months out, we are already imagining our deliveries.  Looking forward to another year of fun in the garden and food on the shelf!

CCS Gardeners Deliver!

The CCS team has harvested and delivered about 70 pounds of produce to the Department of Indian Work in St. Paul.  The raised beds are a beautiful component of the CCS side of the garden.

 Thanks, CCS Gardeners!

More Vegetables From the Giving Garden

Another beautiful day in the garden!

And what a harvest.  Those green beans keep producing - and our summer crops are thriving under all the care from our garden team.

One of our favorite easy recipes - Roasted Kohlrabi:  Preheat oven to 450. Cut the kohlrabi into slices 1/4 inch thick, about french fry size.  Roll the kohlrabi slices in a mixture of olive oil, coarsely ground garlic salt (or just plain sea salt if you don't like garlic) and pepper.  Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring once or twice till they are evenly browned.  Enjoy!

A big THANK YOU to Amy, Caitlin, and Omar for all of the hard work in the garden this morning! 

 They did an awesome job harvesting veggies, weeding and laying down straw. The garden is thriving thanks to everyone’s efforts.

 Magda delivered the veggies to Open Door food shelf – 32 pounds of green beans, (massive) zucchini, eggplants, peppers, chard, herbs and rhubarb!

Your support makes all the difference!

Thanks, Xe, for sending the pictures of yesterday's harvest of bunches of Swiss chard and a bucket of green beans!

We went searching for recipes and found several similar to this:



Saute chopped Swiss chard and sliced green beans for about five minutes in olive oil, adding sea salt and pepper to taste.  Toss with more fresh uncooked green beans and some basil, maybe a little red wine vinegar.  You'll get that mixture of crisp texture and fresh flavor that makes us love summer salads!

More crops and fewer weeds!

Thanks Kerry, Emily, Amy, Renee and Jacob for coming out to help in the garden last Friday! They put in some major effort to uncover the carpet of weeds in the chard and melon rows. 

And thanks Joan for the garden mentorship!

 

What a glorious day to be out in the garden! A big thank you to Xe, Melody, Katie, and Chris for helping to finish off planting our remaining plants and seeds. Also, thank you to Victoria for picking up the straw bales to help keep the weeds down. Danielle and Drew were out with the CCS crew working on their side of the garden, too. So fun to have so many people in the garden! It is going to be a great year!

 

 

 

It's been a long time since our last post, but we'll catch up now that we've planted our 2016 Giving Garden!

Yesterday a team of planters put our initial crops in the ground.  Tomatoes, carrots, greens, cucumbers, melons and squash are in, with more to come.

We've already delivered asparagus and rhubarb to the food shelf, and will have early greens, onions and strawberries soon.  It's going to be a good year!

Eight Pounds of Strawberries!

Thanks to multiple volunteers who cleaned and harvested this week, today we delivered these scrumptious strawberries to Open Door Pantry.  Delightful to the eye, sweet to the taste and healthy for a treat.

That is why we love our gardens!

Another beautiful day for a walk over to the garden to plant lettuce and tomatoes.

Passed by the turtles sunning and the swallows patrolling for insects. 

 Then a big turkey marched out of the woods and announced himself.

This garden!