Try coloring eggs naturally

Use about a handfull of dye materials of your choice. Cover dye materials with water in a pan. Bring to boil and then let simmer for 15 minutes to up to an hour. Remove from heat and strain the liquid. Add 2 to 3 teaspoons of white vinegar for each cup of liquid. Let the eggs soak. The longer the eggs soak, the deeper the color. Try overnight soaking in the fridge for even darker colors. In the morning, you'll have a colorful breakfast.

 

Color	Items To Dye With
Blue	Canned Blueberries Red Cabbage Leaves (boiled) Purple Grape Juice
Brown or Beige	Strong Coffee Instant Coffee Black Walnut Shells (boiled) Black Tea
Brown Gold	Dill Seeds
Brown Orange	Chili Powder
Gold	Turmeric
Green	Spinach Leaves (boiled) Liquid Chlorophyll
Greenish Yellow	Yellow Delicious Apple Peels (boiled)
Grey	Purple or red grape juice or beet juice
Lavender	Small Quantity of Purple Grape Juice Violet Blossoms plus 2 tsp Lemon Juice Red Zinger Tea
Orange	Yellow Onion Skins (boiled) Carrots Paprika
Pink	Beets Cranberries or Juice Raspberries Red Grape Juice Juice from Pickled Beets
Red	Pomegranate juice Canned Cherries (with syrup) Raspberries Cranberries Lots of Red Onions Skins (boiled)
Violet or Purple	Violet Blossoms Hibiscus tea Small Quantity of Red Onions Skins (boiled) Red Wine
Yellow	Orange or Lemon Peels (boiled) Carrot Tops (boiled) Chamomile Tea Celery Seed (boiled) Green tea Ground Cumin (boiled) Ground Turmeric (boiled) or Saffron

Keeping our cool




Happy St. Patty's Day!!!



Peas were soaked overnight to help speed up germination



Often, Memorial Day weekend is thought of as the time to start planting veggies outside.  That's true for some crops.  Heat-loving plants like tomatoes, peppers, squash and eggplants thrive in the summer heat and hate the cold. There is still the fear of frost in the Pittsburgh area until mid-to-late May.  The weather is unusually warm this year, but don't be tempted to plant heat-loving crops.  The frost will kill those seedlings.  





Instead, cool season crops are the perfect choice for planting this time of year. St. Patrick’s Day is a good time to plant greens, peas, carrots, beets and radishes.  These plants tolerate the cooler weather and taste sweeter after a frost.  We planted seven lucky varieties of peas, even a yellow variety called "Golden Sweet." 



Pea ready to be planted









Just a reminder, it  snowed last year on March 31, the same day as the public garden kick-off meeting. 





Wormy workers

We have started preparing the beds for spring crops.  The in-ground beds and garden paths between the rows need a bit of re-grading.  Thanks to the earthworms, the soil is loose, even on the paths which were walked on over and over last year.  The soil temperature is getting warmer and the earthworms are making their appearance above ground.  This guy was found next to some of the lettuce that overwintered.  Earthworms are quite the workers and a delight to see in the garden.  They aerate the soil, breaking down organic matter and help make nutrients and minerals available to plants.  Our harvests of summer crops, like tomatoes, are months away, but our earthworms are hard at work already. 

Delicious delicata

It's a new year and we are nearly a month into winter.  The first year of the garden produced 3000 pounds of food including zucchini, pumpkins, cucumbers, string beans, radishes, carrots, cabbage, kale, potatoes, lettuce, onions, stem and cherry tomatoes, peppers, swiss chard, basil, parsley and delicata squash, pictured above. 

Delicata squash is a winter squash.  Winter squashes are called so because they keep til winter without any special requirements.  We picked the mature delicatas in September and offered them at pantry.  Some pantry clients were hesitant to take one.  But these small striped fruits are delicious and sometimes called the sweet potoato squash.  Plus they can be left on the kitchen counter for several months without spoiling.  The hard outer skin is a natural preservation.  Summer squash, like zucchinis,  are picked while the skin is still soft and the fruit is immature.  Summer squash should be eaten within a week of picking and often served raw while winter squash are usually cooked.  Other varieties of winter squash include acorn, spaghetti and butternut.   

The planting beds were put to bed last month, but we are already preparing for the 2012 growing season.  Winter is an exciting time for gardeners, planning for warmer months and ordering seeds and seedlings during these cold days of winter.  The first day of spring is only 2 months away!   

Giving thanks to a growing garden

Produce harvest 11/16/2011



Thanksgiving is here. We are so very thankful to be harvesting roots and shoots from the garden in November.   Produce includes lettuce, carrots, radishes, parsley, kale collards and swiss chard.  The fresh produce is very popular at pantry, especially this time of year.  Row covers have been installed to help keep things cozy.    

Our garden is expanding!  NHCO has purchased the adjacent lot.  Final plans are not yet determined, but the additional parcel will help us keep growing!

Lettuce, under row cover on 11/23/2011



Adjacent lot to the garden. 

The Fried Green Tomatoes Experiment

NHCO's garden coordinator here.  We have picked the last of the tomatoes for the season.  It is sad to see them go.  By August, they were in their prime and grew over 6 feet tall.   Fall is here and the first frost is nearing.  The tomato plants were dying back more and more with the cooler nights and shorter days.  And now, hardly any green on the plants remain.  The tomatoes however are beautiful shades of green.  They were picked green to ensure that they would not wither and shrivel up on the dead stems. 

The pantry clients are hesitant to take green tomatoes.  Can you blame them? I have never even eaten one.  I have taken the green ones home to ripen on my kitchen counter and then bring them in for pantry the following week.  We have a volunteer working on simple recipes for the common and not so common produce from the garden.  I have done some research on how to eat green tomatoes and ever since the movie "Fried Green Tomatoes," came out, I have always wondered what they taste like.  And, I think it is important to try recipes to see if they actually work.  Which leads me to.....

                                                                     

                                          The Fried Green Tomatoes Experiment

I am by no means a cook and never claim to be.  This is a very easy recipe.  Prep and cook time, 30 minutes.

Ingredients:

·         green tomatoes, sliced 1/4-inch thick; for cherry tomatoes, cut in half

·         salt and pepper

·         flour for dusting

·         2 eggs, beaten

·         cornmeal or bread crumbs

·         vegetable oil

Preparation:

Salt and pepper the tomato slices before frying; dust lightly with flour. Dip slices in beaten egg, letting excess drip off, then coat well with meal or crumbs.  Fry in oil until browned, turning gently (about 3 minutes each side).

Welcome Fall

Bean flower

Friday was the official start of Fall.  We are still quite busy at the garden.  The beans, tomatoes and peppers continue to grow and produce fruit because of regular harvesting.  



Carrots



Heirloom Tomato









 

Delicata squash





  
 

Cherry Tomatoes

  

Winterbor Kale



Kale planted in August is yielding  a good crop. The carrots are just about ready to be yanked out of the ground.  The pumpkins are still producing.  We have harvested several growing outside the fence and the bigger varieties are ripening.  Winter squashes, which store quite well for months, will be making their appearance at pantry soon.  

This morning we found out who has been stealing the sunflower seeds...the crazy squirrels that like to perform back flips off of the walnut trees.

Garden Spider update: We have not seen the garden spider, which we named Aura, from the latin name Argiope aurantia, in a few weeks.   

Pumpkin ripening