zucchini success

So what is the key to my success? Want some gardening tips? I wish I knew. Maybe it’s in a sunnier spot, maybe I am watering more consistently, maybe it’s because they are planted right next to pollinator-attracting flowers. Random gardeners like me seldom have any definitive answers.

We like the very small zucchini, sliced raw in our green salads. Of course I have discovered that you don’t always catch these squash in the small stage. You experienced growers know that somehow a huge zucchini can be very sneaky and hide in plain sight.

easily missed and growing fast…..

Here’s a good use for a giant zucchini. This is just a carrot cake recipe with one key ingredient substitution. I made this for a family birthday party a couple of weeks ago, and those who were not in the know (I won’t mention any names) just assumed it was carrot cake. This is really a delicious cake, and I don’t even really like cake.

Zucchini “carrot” cake

Combine in large bowl and mix thoroughly with whisk:
2 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (you can use regular whole wheat, but whole wheat pastry flour is finer grain, and better for cakes and cookies)
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp nutmeg

Beat with whisk until light and fluffy:
4 eggs
2 cups sugar

Gradually beat in until thoroughly combined:
1 cup oil

Add dry ingredients, stirring until well blended.

Stir in 2 1/2 cups coarsely grated zucchini (peel and remove seeds before grating)

Bake at 375 in well-greased tube or Bundt pan for about an hour, or in a 13×9 pan for about 40 – 50 minutes. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pan.

Make your own frosting; it really only takes a few minutes. Canned ones have tons of additives and are packaged in plastic–not sustainable. It’s easy to make homemade:

Blend 1/2 of a 8-oz package of softened low-fat cream cheese, 1 tablespoon of milk, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Gradually beat in a 1-pound box of powdered sugar and a little more milk. I am not exact about amounts; I just add powdered sugar and milk till it’s the consistency I want. See…wasn’t that simple?

How did these sunflowers get so tall?

A friend gave me some sunflower seeds, and I planted them around the peach tree, thinking that they would pollinate the squash plants below. I got back from vacation and they had grown about 4 feet in 3 weeks, and haven’t stopped yet. My second-grade neighbor asked me if I had planted magic seeds. I don’t know what kind of sunflowers they are….a local bank give-a-way, not much label info. One problem….no flowers. A bit of yellow FINALLY appeared on August 28, and now on September 3 I have two flowers, with a third one about to bloom. Truly, they look ridiculous, but they are entertaining. How did they get so tall? Will they every bloom? Are those bees just too far away to pollinate the squash? And what about those magic seeds?

I have had fun with the nasturtiums, too. I’ve made a lot of green salads this summer, with nasturtiums included (yes, they are edible and tasty), and everyone always comments on how pretty the salads are. Easy, pretty, simple to grow, and they are good at filling in gaps in the garden. Why is this the first year I have grown them? Cheap entertainment.

Front-yard blueberries

And what could be more fun than walking out the front door to pick blueberries for your breakfast cereal?

We recently returned from a three-week road trip covering a lot of the United States. Pacific Northwest to Colorado, to the midwest, to part of the south (well, I think of Tennessee and Arkansas as the south anyway….), and back across. I LOVE traveling through the U.S., wonderful people everywhere, and geography covering everything from mountains to plains. And I was so encouraged to see that the local foods movement is prevalent everywhere we went.

My first surprise was the fantastic farmer’s market in Lincoln, Nebraska. And there were farmer’s markets everywhere, small towns, large cities, filled with friendly farmers and much more interesting produce that you can find in the grocery store. I wasn’t even really searching for farmer’s markets, but they were advertised and obvious.

Farmer’s market in Little Rock, Arkansas

And here’s a unique roadside vegetable stand in Wisconsin. Total trust with this unmanned stand; just put your money in the pay slot. Love the midwest.

Vegetable stand near Baldwin, Wisconsin

And there was even a community garden in Baldwin, Wisconsin, my husband’s very small hometown.

Love these community gardens showing up everywhere

I saw lots of restaurants featuring local foods, and I already wrote about local foods at the ballpark in Little Rock, Arkansas.

But I don’t want to paint too rosy a picture here. In spite of all of these hopeful signs, the industrial food system is still alive and well. Every large town freeway exit has several fast food restaurants. As I pondered this depressing fact, I realized that really a once-or-twice weekly farmer’s market, even if it is very crowded, can’t really compete with all-day every-day fast food. Sigh. And yet….we are making progress. In 2012, there were 7864 farmer’s markets in the U.S., a 9.6 % increase from 2011 when there were 7175. And that year was a 17% increase from 2010. Thank you, farmers, market organizers, community gardeners, and everyone else helping us build a healthy food community.

Healthy and sustainable food is not the first thing you think of when going a ball game. But I found it in Little Rock.  Laurie Harrison has a Le Pops stand at the ballpark. These “gourmet ice lollies” are frozen fruit bars in various flavors, made from local fruit. Delicious, and perfect for a hot summer evening. And only $3 a bar. Local, relatively healthy, and inexpensive. The friendly owner Laurie, who is selling at the ballpark for the first time this year, also has a shop in downtown Little Rock.

Dickey-Stephens Park also had a stand with lemonade that came with a sugar-free option. Not precisely healthy, but lemonade is ideal for a hot night–did I mention that the temperature in Little Rock hit over 100 that day? I’ve never seen fresh sugar-free lemonade at a ballpark before, so much better than getting a few hundred unnecessary sugar calories.

Minor league team owners, take note! I rarely buy food at the ballpark, but I was enticed with local and healthy vendors. I go to a lot of baseball games, and I’m sure I’m not the only one who wants healthy food that’s still fun.

Now back to Little Rock……. we got into town in the early afternoon and headed for the Little Rock Nine museum, which was SO interesting that we spent twice as much time as we had planned. I highly recommend the museum, small but packed with interesting information and insights, and it’s free. We were lucky enough to start talking to a couple (there with their grandchildren) who lived in Little Rock at the time, and heard their perspectives. The next morning we went to the Clinton presidential library–also interesting–and then to the farmer’s market. Another nice farmer’s market. Not often you can find a farmer’s market on a Tuesday morning, but this one is open Tuesdays and Saturdays, 7 – 3, with a nice variety of produce. Hmmm……guess this post wandered a bit beyond ballpark food. But Little Rock is a great town–yet another place that exceeded my expectations.

I admit–this was what came to my mind.  And yes, there are plenty of corn fields in Nebraska. But there is more to the story.  On a road trip, we checked into a motel in Lincoln, Nebraska, and asked about places to eat. We were directed to the Haymarket area as a fun place–it was–and also advised about the Haymarket farmer’s market the next morning. It’s awesome, both motel clerks assured us.

Haymarket Farmer’s Market. Lincoln, Nebraska

And it was. A few streets worth of booths. Very reasonably priced vegetables. Very few fruits, though–my husband had to remind me that fruit trees don’t grow well in Nebraska. Oh, yeah, they are known for corn, not peach trees. There were the usual crafts, bakery items, and musical performances. Even a young juggler was entertaining the crowds. This was one popular market–throngs of people were carrying out huge bags of beautiful produce.

I loved knowing that the local foods movement is popular in many areas of the country. And what a great community event. I had envisioned Lincoln, Nebraska, as kind of a boring city–sorry, sorry. But Haymarket is not only lively on market morning; there is a thriving nightlife as well. I would definitely recommend a stop here if you are driving across the U.S.

In the Haymarket district

Baker City Farmer’s Market

“Stop……!! Farmer’s Market!” On a road trip. Got off the road in Baker City, Oregon, one of my favorite small towns. We were here last summer on the way home from Arizona, and we enjoyed our evening there eating at the lovely Geiser Grand Hotel and walking on the Leo Adler Memorial Parkway along the Powder River. So it seemed like a logical spot to get off the road and get an ice cream cone. As we drove by the park, I spotted the Wednesday afternoon farmer’s market, and my husband pulled off across the street.

It was a lovely small town farmer’s market. Not a lot of vendors, but a nice variety of friendly farmers with good produce. And it seemed to be a popular hangout–everyone was having fun.  Here is a copy of their mission statement: To enhance the quality of our lives by promoting and encouraging the development of high quality local produce and provide an outlet for farmers, artisans and other producers to sell directly to the public. To foster our sense of community and sustain small-scale agriculture.

I love every part of that mission. And from what I saw, they are accomplishing it. We bought some marionberries and cherries from friendly vendors–yum. I would have bought more, but that was all we had room for in the cooler. It always seems like it’s hard to eat healthfully and sustainably on the road–look for farmer’s markets to help solve that problem.

Our trees are Montmorencies–and not only are the cherries great for pies, but they are pretty trees. We finally gave up on our Bing cherry tree, because the birds ate them all. Except the year we tamed and adopted a feral cat–she spent the whole summer in the crook of the tree scaring off birds. But then she decided “I’m in” and retired from useful work to a life of being waited on by her humans. So out with the Bing cherry and in with another pie cherry tree. Birds don’t bother these–except the ones I can’t reach that get overripe and ferment; then they will eat them.

Unbaked frozen pie

Fresh Cherry Pie

Combine in bowl:
1 1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/8 tsp salt.

Add:
4 cups pitted pie cherries (will probably take about 6 – 7 cups unpitted)
1/8 tsp almond cherries
Toss with sugar mixture, mixing thoroughly.

Make pastry for a 2-crust pie. Roll out 1/2 of dough pie and fit in 9″ pan. Add cherry mixture. Cut remaining dough into strips and make a lattice on top of pie. (I have always wondered why this seems to be essential for cherry pies, and not others, but I am an obediant type and always put lattice crusts on my cherry pies). Flute edges of pie crust, and cover edges with foil so they don’t burn. Bake at 425 for about 40 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Enjoy! If you don’t want to eat it right away, I freeze these unbaked and bake them frozen–it just takes a little extra time.

Millwood parking lot farmer’s market

Craig Goodwin, at the Millwood Farmer’s Market

I was in Spokane recently to visit family and timed my arrival to stop at the Millwood (just outside of Spokane, WA) farmer’s market on a Wednesday afternoon. I was familiar with this market from reading “Year of Plenty“, by Craig Goodwin, pastor of the church that started the farmer’s market in their parking lot. I absolutely loved the book, and wanted to see the market and maybe be lucky enough to talk to him. I did get to meet Pastor Goodwin (after confessing that I felt kind of like a groupie seeking him out), and he was extremely friendly and nice, and took some time to chat with me about our shared interest in sustainable food.

What I loved about this market, besides the small-town feel and the variety of good food, was that it showed that you don’t have to be an expert to do something very positive to promote local and healthy foods–the farmer’s market actually came into being thanks to an eighth-grade parishioner who thought there was a need for some interesting activities in her small town.  Her parents and Pastor Goodwin listened, and now there is a thriving farmer’s market in Millwood. The church also started a community garden. The lesson to me is that we don’t have to wait for the industrial food system to change itself; we can get together with our local church or community group and start mapping out alternatives. And have fun doing it.

Friendliest produce vendor ever–and great food

The rain barrel idea started with our friend John, one of the faithful brew crew. As he was heading home after brewing one night, I noticed he had an empty malt barrel in his trunk. Turns out he had been collecting them to make rain barrels at home. I didn’t really know anything about rain barrels, but water conservation has always appealed to me, so it seemed like a great idea. The basic plan is to direct water from a drainpipe into the barrel, and then save it to water plants during the drier weeks of the summer. Yes, in spite of Seattle’s well-deserved rain reputation, western Washington is actually mostly dry during the summer months.

My husband got intrigued, went online to get directions, and set up our first rain barrel, pictured above. (If you want other ideas for rain barrels, there are lots of videos on youTube). But one rain barrel didn’t supply enough water, so we begged for a couple more malt barrels. My husband really had fun with this project, settting up a rain barrel series, which last year collected enough water to make a significant dent in our water needs. I realize that these aren’t the most attractive hardscapes in my garden. They are in an out-of-the-way side yard across from a raspberry patch.

Since you are collecting rain from the roof, it will contain contaminents like bird poop, so even though we have a screen at the bottom of the pipe, I don’t use this water to water my vegetables. It’s fine for watering your flowers, lawn, shrubs, or trees.

Now, for those of you more interested in beer-making, my husband and his brew crew go to Gallagher’s-Where-U-Brew. They have all of the equipment and supplies, and you can make just about any type of beer you are interested in. And no mess at home, or trying to find a room with the correct fermention temperature. Gallagher’s has a group of regulars, but there are always new people there as well. It’s a fun place, with a lot of camraderie among regulars, employees, and newbies. Don’t go there for malt barrels, though; their supply has been tapped out! See the rain barrel links above for ideas on where you can get a free or low-cost barrel.

Eric is just as friendly and nice as he looks in his picture. I like doing business with people who care about their customers and their community, and Eric is a model of that. He also owns two other businesses, a sawmill and a lumber business, so I asked him why he decided to start an organic farm. His reply was that he thought it was important to have local food. Even though we live in a traditional agricultural area, many local farms have to depend on agri-tourism to make a living. He wanted to focus on the food. His farm operates a CSA, and they also sell at the Everett Farmer’s Market, and sometimes at the Snohomish Farmer’s Market. His produce is also featured at a Seattle hotel restaurant.

Solar-heated hoophouse with tomato starts

With a CSA, you might get some vegetable that you haven’t even eaten and get a chance to try it and learn some cooking skills. I always said it was like Christmas, getting unexpected presents in my weekly box. I hadn’t eaten eggplant for years, and have to admit I wasn’t too enthusiastic about that particular vegetable at first. But I learned that it was much better than I remembered it tasting–that’s the beauty of fresh-picked local foods. Plus I got my favorite Swiss chard recipe from Eric’s wife Sharon. If you live in Snohomish county, look for Chinook Farms at the farmer’s markets. If not–find your own local farmer. Supporting local farms is a good way to support the local economy, to preserve farmland, and to encourage a sustainable way of farming.