Sprouting
Up in Your Garden
Vol. 1, Issue 9 Newsletter
Monday, November 30, 2009
Farm News:
Awesome!
We had our first rain of the fall season, and loved it! As we approach
winter, I am certainly hoping for more (as are we all). I hope the temperatures
follow suit soon. I don't know about you all, but I am finding it confusing to
know which plants to really bother planting right now. I am heading into winter
plants, only because the nighttime temperatures seem to be holding steady.
Well, it has been a bumpy couple of
months, and I wanted to thank you all for being so patient. Now that we seem to
have a handle
on school work, and hopefully any and all ER visits done and over with, I hope
that we can move forward on a more even keel and keep these newsletters
rolling.
There is so much out there to write about that I am having a hard time knowing where to aim my focus. I would love to, and need to, hear about any and all subject matter that you would like to know more about. Click here and send me anything you can think of off the top of your head. That way I can be sure that I am helping you on your journey forward in organic gardening. In the meantime, while I am waiting to hear from you all, I figured that we would start with the rest of the permaculture ideas.
Topic of the Week:
Permaculture, cont'd
Last time, we left off talking about the zones around your home. Since most of us only have the first couple of zones, I thought I would focus on ways to use those zones more efficiently. There were a couple of ways to structure each zone to assist in insect control, water conservation, and energy conservation that really cropped up and said "Ah ha!" to me while I was reading. Two of these concepts were the keyhole bed and the herb spiral, both of which I am eager to try in my own garden.
First up is the keyhole garden bed.
Our Favorites:
Recipes:
Roasted Baby Red Potatoes
2 - 3 pounds baby red potatoes (or white), cut into quarters
1/4 - 1/3 cup olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 425°. Bring a pot of water up to boil. Cut the baby potatoes into quarters or thirds depending on their size. Boil in the water for 7 minutes. Remove from the heat and drain. Put potatoes in a bowl big enough to be able to toss the potatoes in. Salt and pepper the potatoes to taste. Then pour over the olive oil and toss. Lay the potatoes out on a cookie sheet or two, lined with parchment paper or another nonstick option. Roast in the oven until tender and nicely brown.
Up and Coming:
I will be
continuing to update articles
on our website and our blog, and have updated the list of plant varieties
on our website. The t-shirts and reusable bags project has been put on hold
temporarily, aiming for a spring debut. We will be adding a short-run-only plant tag business to our
already crazy plate (happily!), so be sure to look for links to that before the
end of the year. Make sure to check back and see what's new!
We now have a second store under our belts: Lassen's in Santa Barbara! Also, we are still looking into going back to the Ojai Farmer's Market for a short run; stay tuned for more developments in that area.