Sellwood Garden Club

For those of you who tend your own little lawn garden, the Urban Farmers want to hook you up w/ seed for life.

All you do is let a few go to seed and bring it back to us — we give you packets of new seed for the next year. OMG, this might be my second best idea of the year.

• You get free seed in perpetuity with minimal effort
• Urban Farmers get through the winter and bring in new germplasm for evaluation
• I finally get to be a plant breeder and maybe a plant cowboy for real someday
• Farmers get their seed increased and first eval generation of F2 crosses doesn’t impact main crop harvest
• Distributes grow out effort and shares benefits
• Home grown veggie are more likely to be eaten before going to rot in the fridge, encouraging healthier eating
• Increases local seed stocks in case of emergency or spike in oil prices
• Everyone benefits from Ultra-local seed development and genetic abundance as weather changes select
• More yards are turned up, encouraging even more yards to be turned up by homeowners or in cooperation w/ a professional grower such as your humble neighbourhood Urban Farmer
• Encourages more young Urban Farmers.
• More plants going to seed in those yards changes the perception of what a “tidy” yard looks like

All this for only $20!

Read more about it all on the SE Portland Seedbank website: http://sepdxseedbank.wordpress.com/seed-kit/

Check it out, and help us to help you keep SE Portland the coolest town around.

I’m surprised no one asked me what the orange round things were, in that mountain of tomatoes that came in the baskets this week.  Well, they’re eggplants — very good in stir fry and other Asian dishes.

Weekly Produce Basket for 30 Sept.

Your basket should include:

• chard OR kale
• big mix of tomatoes
• round, orange eggplants
• jalapeno peppers
• sweet banana peppers
• peperoncini (long, yellow) mild peppers
• cherry bomb peppers
• Herbs (much basil, some thyme and marjoram)

A few oddball items were handed out to folks who’d requested to not receive a few things, or just for the heck of it, such as:

• plums
• kohlrabi
• beets
• long, purple asian eggplants (and lime basil)
• bell peppers
• old man peppers
• golden turnip

I’ve p’bly forgotten something, so do ask if you have any questions about anything.  I do hope everyone is enjoying the produce — less than two months left, but plenty of cooler weather between now and then.

As always, to tell me how much you love or hate anything, just drop me an email.

Hey Everybody!

I’m looking for an intern who wants to know about how to put food gardens down for the winter.  I have veggies to trade in exchange for help w/ the work.

I even put up an ad on Craig’sList

It reads, in part:

It’s quite the crash course — way beyond Master Gardening — all the useful crops are represented in this club.

and

We pretty much do it all on this wee-tiny distributed network of a farm. I could really use the help, the hauling capacity and the company.

Please do pass this info along to anyone you know who is interested in doing some barter work for veggies and teaching.  Emailing Marie is the best way to accomplish this.

I whippped this September Market Breakfast together on Monday after the first Hawthorne Market (aka cooking morning) I did all by myself, and thought it was worthy enough to share.

• 3 bartered market eggs
• 1 Tbs yoghurt
• dash water
• 3 banana peppers
• 2 fushimi peppers (old man peppers would work well here, too)
• 1/2 a leftover, grade-B beefsteak tomato
• 1/4 tsp cumin seed, crushed
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp corriander seed, crushed
• 1 tsp dill
• 1 big leaf of chard

Chop the peppers into small pieces and toss into a hot skillet and toss w/ cumin and salt.  Add diced tomatoes and corriander and turn heat down to med.

Whip up eggs w/ a dollup of yoghurt and just enough water so the consistancy seems loose and light.  Add dill.  Pour on the skillet.

Pull leaves off the midrib of the chard and cut into small ribbons.  cover the top of the half-way set eggs and cover.

Check and pull when the leaves are still bright green but wilted all the way down.

Drain any excess water. Pull out of pan in two pieces and eat while well warm.  top w/ black pepper if you like that sort of thing.

Yum.

Monday Madness for 15 August

Available ’til Tuesday night — first come first serve!

Half-off market prices on all items remaining from the Hawthorne Urban Farmers’ Market.

Still quite fresh from this lovely market - wholesale organic and still only 1 day old!

Herbs and Spices

Spearmint ≈ 1.3 oz avail.
Thyme, Mediterranean wide-leaf ≈ 1 oz avail.
Marjoram, Za’atar ≈ .5 oz avail.
Papaloquelite / summer cilantro ≈ .8 oz avail.
Sweet Marjoram ≈ 2 oz avail.
Basil, red and green lettuce leaf mix ≈ 5 oz avail.
Basil, pesto-type ≈ 4 oz avail.
Basil, lime ≈ 2 oz avail.
Veggies

Leeks, small summer ≈ 0.5# avail.
Scallions ≈ 1# avail.
Kohlrabi 2 avail.
Raddicchio (tiny) 1 avail.
Tomatillo ≈ 1.5# avail.
Tomato, red roma ≈ 5# avail.
Tomato, black prince small roma ≈ 3# avail.
Tomato, large yellow pear ≈ 3# avail.
Tomato, green zebra ≈ 0.5# avail.
Tomato, brandywine ≈ 1.5# avail.
Tomato, red slicing med heirloom ≈ 5# avail.
Tomato, russian purple roma ≈ 0.5# avail.
Pepper, jalapeño ≈ 3# avail.
Pepper, hot banana ≈ .5# avail.
Pepper, anaheim ≈ .5# avail.
Pepper, cherry bomb (hot) ≈ .75# avail.
Pepper, red bull’s horn ≈ .5# avail.
Pepper, green bell 7 avail.
Pepper, sweet banana ≈ 1.5# avail.
Baby Corn 18 avail.
Eggplant, Asian purple ≈ 6 avail.
Eggplant, Orange globe ≈ 5# avail.
Cucumber, lemon ≈ 6# avail.
Summer squash, green and yellow zucchini ≈ 1# avail.

Greens

Chard, Swiss rainbow ≈ 2# avail.

Send an email to Friday to arrange delivery any time Monday or Tuesday.  But, do it fast - they are gone as fast as I can pilot the Metro around, and I once deliverd pizza.

Portland’s tiniest farm truck is always happy to visit.

-Friday, SGC

Here’s a recipe that a customer from the Hawthorne Market sent me.  Someone recommended it to her from the NY Times, and she sez you’re gonna love it.

Raw Tuscan Kale Salad With Pecorino Time: 20 minutes

Time: 20 minutes

• 1 bunch Tuscan kale (also known as black or dinosaur or lacinato kale)
• 1 thin slice country bread (part whole-wheat or rye is nice), or 1/4 cup homemade bread crumbs (coarse)
• 1/2 garlic clove, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup finely grated pecorino cheese, more for garnish
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, more for garnish
• Freshly squeezed juice of 1 lemon
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• Freshly ground black pepper, to taste.

1. Trim bottom 2 inches off kale stems and discard. Slice kale, including ribs, into 3/4-inch-wide ribbons. You should have 4 to 5 cups. Place kale in a large bowl.

2. If using bread, toast it until golden on both sides. Tear it into small pieces and grind in a food processor until mixture forms coarse crumbs.

3. Using a mortar and pestle, or with the back of a knife, pound garlic into a paste. Transfer garlic to a small bowl. Add 1/4 cup cheese, 3 tablespoons oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper flakes and black pepper, and whisk to combine. Pour dressing over kale and toss very well to thoroughly combine (dressing will be thick and need lots of tossing to coat leaves).

4. Let salad sit for 5 minutes, then serve topped with bread crumbs, additional cheese and a drizzle of oil.

Yield: 2 to 4 servings.

SGC Produce Basket for 23 September

See how pretty?  Fruits and vegetables.  This is “typical” basket, though they tend to vary a bit due to availability and tastes.

Clockwise from top: lacinato kale, fresh sage, plums, asian pear, zucchini, jalapeno peppers, bell pepper, cherry bomb hot pepper, old man peppers, banana peppers, assorted heirloom tomatoes, parsley

Baskets may also include beets, celery, other herbs (sorry, didn’t write down what each is this week - includes basil, lemon/lime basil, oregano, tarragon or mint), eggplant, tiny green cabbages, melons and I can’t remember what else.

Please post me if you have any questions.

The Final Till Over @ Clinton 6 - as recorded for the radio

Listen to the story at: http://indemand.nwpr.wsu.edu/NWPR/HomepageArticles/audio/091709UrbanFarms.mp3

“Again?” you say.

It’s true.  The Washington State Radio station was the first to pick up the story.  You can read all about us, the Portland Burau of Planning and Sustainability and the Portland Fruit Tree Project by clicking here.

However, I’m told such stories from the Northwest News Network routinely run on NPR’s Morning Edition — if so, that’s pretty darn huge — it’d just be nice to not sound so…”spacy” for a change.  Oh well.

Helping you keep Portland just weird enough, one yard at a time,

-Marie and Kat

Your basket this week will include:

• kale or chard
• eggplant or broccolli
• purple and green snap beans
• small and large tomato mix
• lemon or slicing cucumbers

Depending upon your preferences, they may also include:

• baby cabbage
• baby corn (yes, they’re supposed to be tiny - eat in a stir fry like their pickled bretheren)
• peppers
• red beets
• european pears
• cauliflower
• summer leeks
• kincho individual japanese melon

Share and enjoy,

Marie and Kat, SGC

The produce basket this week is full of easily recognizable goodness!

Even a crummy picture like this is still pretty when the produce is really coming in.  Isn’t summer wonderful?

Your basket this week will include:

• broccoli
• lacinato kale
• bag of 3-snap bean mix
• tomato sampler
• jalapeno peppers
• hot and mild banana peppers
• flat-leaf parsley
• slicing cucumber
• lemon cucumber

You may also find some interesting things in there such as summer leeks, tomatillos, eggplant and more that I can’t even remember.

Enjoy!

-Marie and Kat, SGC