Summer 2013 Canning Adventures

I haven't posted awhile. I spent the summer delving into canning, and getting a bit addicted to the practice. It's a lot of work, but very satisfying, and I look forward to enjoying my summer tomatoes and peaches in the winter to come. Here's some bragging pictures I took:

Yes, Worms!

Also new this year: a worm farm, or vermiculture. Red worms are able to eat kitchen wastes and produce from it excellent quality compost, so they reduce the amount of wastes going into the garbage can or down the garbage disposal, as well as making my garden richer and more productive.

Maybe a little disgusting, but they are tiny little workhorses of productivity for the garden.

This is a simple $6 plastic bin from Home Depot, with small holes drilled in it for ventilation. Add dampened strips of newspapers for bedding and some kitchen scraps. They like all kinds of garbage, but don't feed them meat or dairy products, or citrus. They particularly love coffee grounds -- including the paper filter -- which is good news since we love our coffee.

Urban Foraging

Sadly, not everyone uses their garden bounty, and fruit is wasted and allowed to rot on the ground. This is my neighbor's lemon tree. I'll ask if they mind if we pick some.

Strawberries!

We went a little crazy with the strawberries. We've planted several varieties, including Diamante, Sequoia, Loran, and Temptation. Some are June-bearing and some are ever-bearing. Already, we have some ripening berries and soon -- we hope -- we will be inundated and sharing our bounty with our friends and neighbors.

The Seasons Turn and We Begin Again

With a new Spring semester comes the new garden. This year for the first time, I've planted a cool-season garden. In a Southern California cool-season garden, we can grow those crops that would wither and die in the summer heat: lettuces and greens; and cruciferous vegies such as cauliflower, broccoli, and brussels sprouts, that would simply bolt and flower as soon as temperatures rise. Below, we have organic peppermint chard and rainbow chard, the 3 whole boxes of our micro-farm, Lolla Rosa organic red-leaf lettuce, and Red Russian Kale.

Composting!

I'm not for making things complicated in the garden if at all possible. This is a terrific but straightforward explanation of how to build your own compost pile to add natural fertility to your garden soil.

Welcome Back!

I hope you have had a wonderful break and are ready to tackle academic writing once again. One of the first things we will do this semester is to begin constructing group blogs; our first project -- "Project Web" -- will be an exploration of a topic in these small group blogs. You are also encouraged  to build your own individual blog site if you like. If you have never created one before, here is a site for the basics: Getting Started Guide. This is my own blog, with my own focus: gardening and cooking what we garden (except the chickens, of course! We do not eat them!)

This semester we will be focusing on the topic of food. We will examine that broad topic from a number of angles and use as our primary text, Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma.  The course syllabus will soon be posted on our Moodle site. Please print out and bring the syllabus to class on the first day.

For Week One, your first assignment is to read the first chapter of The Omnivore's Dilemma. Come to class prepared to discuss the chapter on Monday the 23rd. Our first Moodle post will be based on the chapter, and there will be a quiz on Wednesday of Week One.

I look forward to seeing you on January 23, 2012!