Dandelion Wine
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
All this sun and rain and sun again left me with a bumper crop of dandelions. Before I covered the lot next door with raised beds and obliterated their yellow-bloomed bliss, I decided to use this bright “weed” for something useful. Crouched in the yard on a 70 degree Saturday, my basket of dandelion blooms garnered a lot of attention. Folks walking by stopped to ask what I was doing. A mini-van of curious neighbors pulled over to discuss my harvest, and turned out to be State Representative and her husband. My elderly neighbor got so excited he dug up a giant ceramic crock from his basement and donated it to my wine making effort. But what exactly is dandelion wine, and how do you make it? I’ve done some internet and word-of-mouth research and this is what I’ve discovered:
1. You only use the buds of newly opened, non-sprayed dandelions. If you want less bitter wine, use only the yellow petals.
2. Many old recipes call for the addition of orange juice and zest, cloves, even ginger to enhance the flavor.
3. Dandelion wine needs a LOT of sugar. Depending on how little you use, you can brew with traditional yeast, but a larger sugar addition needs champagne yeast (available at brewers stores) and will produce a drier, more alcoholic wine.
4. The wine needs to ferment anywhere from three weeks to one year.
I’ve started my first batch, but who knows if it will be a success. Have you ever tried dandelion wine? Ever made your own? Post your tips here and we’ll all benefit from this old recipe for “liquid sunshine” that makes good use of a lovely, if bothersome “weed.”
Mason bee house
Sunday, April 11, 2010
I don’t think my garden suffers from a dearth of bees, but this mason bee nest looked fun. I ordered mine from Miller Nurseries in upstate NY (not so local, but family-owned and has good prices and service—my dwarf cherry and raspberries came form there), but there are lots of places to purchase them. The female bee lays eggs in the tubes (usually holes in trees or in reeds) and walls them up with bits of mud, hence the “mason” part. When somebody moves in, I’ll post an update.
Posted by Allison on 04/11 at 08:38 PM
GRID’s First Birthday Party
Friday, April 09, 2010
Farm to Philly loves Grid magazine, Philadelphia’s awesomely free monthly about sustainable city living. And I’m delighted that in the last year they’ve kept up their amazing stories (some by Farm to Philly folks!) and quality and have even increased in size! Come out to show your love for Grid this Saturday and enjoy a cold one at the brand new Yards Brewing Company tasting room, along with free local snacks from our friends at Mugshots, Lancaster Farm Fresh Co-op and Birchrun Hills Farm. While you’re toasting a year of good work, you can pick up a new Grid T-shirt (printed on organic cotton by Kenny’s Imprintables) and the May issue, hot off the presses!
WHEN: Saturday, April 10, 5 - 8 p.m; no cover
WHERE: Yards Tasting Room, Yards Brewing Company, 901 North Delaware Ave.
Posted by Erin on 04/09 at 02:05 AM
Heat Wave
Thursday, April 08, 2010
The summer-like heat we’ve been getting lately is sending mixed signals to all of my plants. The cool season crops that survived the record-breaking winter have had only a few short weeks to produce and now they are all bolting! The kale, brussels sprouts, cabbage, and broccoli are all reaching for the sky and opening up their yellow flowers. I’m just going to pinch the flowers and hope for the best. The kale I harvested this week is delicious, despite the developing flowers.
Posted by Erica on 04/08 at 02:01 AM
Compost Matters!
Friday, March 26, 2010
Want to learn more about how composting can save the planet and increase your garden yield? Registerd for the “Compost Matters” one-day conference and learn about current and proposed local compost projects, how YOU can start composting (yes, even in the city) and hear from Will Allen - sustainable urban farming promoter who received a MacArthur “Genius Grant” in 2008 for his efforts. And hey, while you’re in the neighborhood, grab a drink or dinner at The White Dog and support a business that supports local farmers!
Register Here
Schedule
April 9, 2010
8:00 – 8:45 Registration
8:45 – 9:00 Welcome
Nancy O’Donnell, PHS and Linda Knapp, ILSR
9:00 – 10:00 Keynote address; Growing Food and Community in the City
Will Allen, Growing Power
10:00 – 10:15 Break
10:15 – 10:45 Food Composting Projects in Pennsylvania
Patti Olenick and Carl Hursh, PA Department of Environmental Protection
10:45 – 11:15 Wilmington Organic Recycling Center: the Region’s Largest Composting Facility
Nelson Widell, Peninsula Compost Group
11:15 – 12:00 From Kitchen to Farm—A Composting Partnership
Ned Foley, Two Particular Acres, and Marvin Dixon, Four Seasons Hotel
12:00 – 12:45 Lunch (provided on site)
12:45 – 1:15 On-Site Commercial Composting
Maurice Sampson II, Niche Recycling, Inc.
1:15 – 1:45 The Journey to Sustainable Landscapes—Let’s go!
Mark Highland, Organic Mechanics Potting Soil
1:45 – 2:00 Break
2:00 – 2:45 Compost Policy Panel Discussion, with audience questions
Mike Giuranna, US Environmental Protection Agency/Region III
Patti Olenick and Carl Hursh, PA Department of Environmental Protection
Katherine Gajewski, Director of Sustainability, City of Philadelphia
Moderator: Nora Goldstein, Editor, BioCycle magazine
2:45 – 3:00 Closing remarks
Katherine Gajewski, Director of Sustainability, City of Philadelphia
4:00 – 5:00 Tour of Moravian Court
University of Pennsylvania campus, 34th & Spruce streets
Crocuses and Pansies!
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
My crocuses are coming up! All my hard work last fall is starting to pay off, and purple and white crocuses has popped their pretty heads up all over my front garden / lawn. Soon, the daffodils and tulips will appear! If you didn’t get to bulb planting before this season, it’s the perfect time to plant pansies, which are hardy and perennial, so not only can you enjoy them this year, they’ll come back for you next spring, too!
Posted by Erin on 03/24 at 04:54 PM
And so it begins . . .
Monday, March 22, 2010
The weather this weekend was perfect for putting shovel to soil, and that I did.
In my plot at The Woodlands Community Garden I planted three rows of seed potatoes (Yukon Gold, Red Pontiac, and Katahdin), chive and leek transplants, and lettuce and arugula seeds. The kale and escarole made it through the winter, along with some sad little carrots that I harvested.
In my plot at the St. Bernard Community Garden I planted Dwarf Grey Sugar peas, Space spinach, and Bloomsdale Longstanding spinach.
Mid- to late-March is also the right time to plant onion sets, garlic, shallots, fava beans, radishes, beets, carrots, turnips, bok choy, parsley, and plants in the cabbage family.
Happy planting!
Posted by Erica on 03/22 at 11:00 PM
What the World Eats
Sunday, March 21, 2010
I love the “What the World Eats,” the photo essay on Time magazines online site. The essay, by Peter Menzel, is part of his book “Hungry Planet.” Food can tell us so much about culture, lifestyle, and economics - it’s fascinating to see these family portraits in the kitchen, tables piled high with all of the food the family eats in a week. Most obviously, family’s in wealthier countries consume significantly more processed food while producing more food-related waste. In less wealthy countries, diets are filled with grains and local produce. They also spend significantly less money on food every week. It’s not exactly pair to directly compare economies, but it seems obvious that if family’s in countries like the United States and Great Britian spent more of their food dollars supporting local farmers, they’d be both healthier, less wasteful, and spend less money.
Posted by Erin on 03/21 at 11:16 PM
“Jersey Fresh” products backstory
A few months ago (12/31/09) I posted about the great Jersey Fresh canned tomatoes I bought at the Fair Food Farmstand at Reading Terminal Market. In today’s Philadelphia Inquirer is a story about what the “Jersey Fresh” is all about. Hope to see more stuff available locally soon!
Posted by Allison on 03/21 at 06:51 PM
Support Mill Creek Farm with Free Local Beer and Food
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Come one, come all, and hurry - today is the last day to RSVP for the Yelp! Philly Homegrown Party. Check-out the architecture at CITYSPACE, enjoy a cocktail and a mini-makeover in the Beauty Parlor room, and if you have a little too much fun, Zipcar will take you home, for free! All donations from this event will benefit Mill Creek Farm. Who else will be there? Supper, National Mechanics, Franklin Mortgage, ROOT, Organic Spirits, Tierra Mia Organic Nail Spa, Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, and more.
Yelp! “Philly Homegrown Party”
Saturday March 20th 8-10pm
CITYSPACE, 2200 Walnut St. Philadelphia
FREE
RSVP and information: Click Here
Free Movie Screening “Dirt”
Interested in learning more about how our farming and development practices are hurting the planet? And want to learn about to fix it? Attend this free movie screening followed by a Dirt Expo featuring hands-on learning projects led by Mill Creek Farm, Weavers Way Coop Farm Education Program, and the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. And may I suggest dinner or drinks at local-food wonder Farmacia before hand?
“Dirt! The Movie”
Wednesday March 24th 7pm
WHYY Civic Space 150 N.6th St, Philadelphia.
FREE screening
RSVP and information:Click Here or call 215-351-0511
ITVS Community Cinema premieres this new documentary. “Dirt!” explores how industrial farming, mining and urban development have led us toward cataclysmic droughts, starvation, floods and climate change.
Posted by Erin on 03/17 at 02:37 PM
Fresh seeds arriving daily
Monday, March 15, 2010
Well, not quite daily. But the first batch came today from a new-to-me source, Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company in Mansfield, MO (where the Laura Ingalls Wilder House is!). The website is www.rareseeds.com, and it delivers. I only wish I had enough sun and space to try out the amazing varieties of fruits, vegetables, herbs, grains (yes, black sesame, quinoa, buckwheat, flax, plus!), and flowers. And with my small order of 6 packets, they threw in a freebie, “Pink Ponderosa” tomato.
Next arrival: Seed Savers Exchange!
Posted by Allison on 03/15 at 11:22 PM
Camden’s Community Gardens at the Philadelphia Flower Show
Tuesday, March 02, 2010
Right across the Delaware River in Camden, NJ, exciting things are happening in the world of community gardening. At the Camden Children’s Garden, staff (including me) and volunteers have worked to build over thirty community gardens in Camden, NJ in 2009 alone!
At the 2010 Philadelphia International Flower Show, we’ve put together an exhibit to show off our work. Soup and Salad: From Camden to the World is an exhibit that’s all about vegetable gardens and healthy eating. Check out the article in the Philadelphia Inquirer! Among other things, the exhibit features a gigantic Campbell’s Soup bowl filled with vegetables that are commonly found in soup, including escarole, kale, cabbage, basil, and tomatoes (of course!).
There is also a huge salad plate that’s planted with lettuce, spinach, and carrot seedlings. Other features of the exhibit include an orchard filled with citrus and fig trees, and a vegetable and herb garden planted in neat rows and tended by a child-like topiary made out of ivy. If you’re going to the show, be sure to check out the Camden Children’s Garden’s exhibit and learn all about the Community Garden Program that brings healthy food to one of the poorest cities in the country.
Posted by Erica on 03/02 at 02:21 AM
Make your own granola!
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Granola can be filled with healthy grains, protiens and dried fruits. But it can also be filled with a lot of saturated fat, oil, and sugar. Make a visit to your local co-op or natural food store (or Reading Terminal Market) and pick up some healthy bulk grains and nuts and make your own! It really only takes about 20 minutes, and you’ll be able to control the amount of fat and sugar. I change-up my granola mix all the time - the latest involves sliced almonds, dried cranberries and goji berries for extra antioxidents. I also always add ground flax for the good omegas and wheat bran and rolled (not quick) oats for fiber. You can make a variation of my recipe here, or search online or in your own cookbook collection. I find in general that fat and sugar can easily be reduced!
DIY Sauerkraut
Hello! My name is Erica and I’m excited to join the Farm to Philly team! I’m a community garden organizer and local food lover from West Philadelphia, check out my bio for more info on the gardens I tend in Philadelphia and Camden, NJ.
For my first post I decided to go with a tried-and-true recipe that I am constantly making in my kitchen; sauerkraut. Cabbage is a great winter staple, I get mine at Mariposa Food Co-op where they’ve recently been selling small cabbages that are perfect for a mini batch of kraut.
The first step is to assemble your equipment: a ceramic crock or (food-grade) plastic bucket and a dish that fits snugly into it. I found my crock at a second-hand store, but you can sometimes buy them at housewares stores. You’ll also need a cutting board, a glass mason jar with lid, a knife, a dish cloth and a large bowl.
Your ingredients are one small cabbage, sea salt, and water. The amounts depend on the size of your crock, but I use one small head of cabbage, ½ cup of water, and 3 or 4 Tbs of salt in my ½ gallon crock.
Thinly shred the cabbage. I find that the best way to do this is to cut it in half and slice thinly from the cut side. When you’ve cut off a handful of cabbage, put it in the bowl and sprinkle it with salt. Keep doing this until you’ve shredded the entire cabbage, layering the cabbage and salt as you go. Put the cabbage in the crock and mash it down with your fist to get it tightly packed. Mix together one teaspoon of salt in a cup of water and pour it over the cabbage until the cabbage is submerged. Put the dish into the crock and put it down so the cabbage is under the salt water. Fill the mason jar with water and use it to weigh the plate down. Cover the entire thing with a dish cloth to keep away flies and dust, and place it in a dark corner of your kitchen.
Taste the sauerkraut daily to observe the fermentation process. When it has reached the perfect amount of “sourness,” take it out of the crock and place it in a mason jar in the fridge. For me, it takes between 1.5 and 2.5 weeks in the winter to reach the perfect point (less time in the summer). To see the original recipe I used and more fermented food recipes, check out wildfermentation.com. Enjoy!
Posted by Erica on 02/23 at 12:42 AM
