Week of June 24th-30th
Louay and Lamees Tliba have been helping out this week in the garden. After their hard work of weeding, they harvested cilantro, parsley, purple basil and peas. Their mother made Orzo soup with the cilantro and peas. She added the parsley and purple basil to her Chicken with Vegetable soup. She says the kids loved the Orzo soup because of the fresh smell of the cilantro.
Thank you Tliba family for adopting the garden this week and sharing your experiences!
Mrs. Gilbert
Thank you Tliba family for adopting the garden this week and sharing your experiences!
Mrs. Gilbert
Week of July 1-7
It was a very hot week! Thanks to the Chen,Jaiser, and Laub family for making sure the garden was watered and weeded. The Jasier family harvested cabbage, broccoli, and herbs. The Laub family harvested arugula and beets. Here is a recipe from Joanne Laub:
Orange, Roasted Beet, and Arugula Salad
Ingredients:
5 beets from PAS garden
2 naval oranges
2 tablespoons of olive oil
2 teaspooons of Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons white-wine vinegar
Coarse salt and freshly ground peper
3 bunches arugula, washed well and dried
5 ounces fresh goat cheese, crumbled
Directions:
Step 1
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Wrap beets in parchment paper-lined aluminum foil; place on baking sheet. Cook 45 minutes or till knife can piece through beets.Let cool enough to handle, cut into wedges. (remember to put paper towel on hands so don't stain from beets)
Step 2
Meanwhile, in bowl squeeze juice from oranges, add oil, vinegar, and mustard:season with salt pepper and whisk together.
Step 3
Toss the arugula in dressing. Top with beet wedges, orange segments, and goat cheese.
Orange, Roasted Beet, and Arugula Salad
Ingredients:
5 beets from PAS garden
2 naval oranges
2 tablespoons of olive oil
2 teaspooons of Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons white-wine vinegar
Coarse salt and freshly ground peper
3 bunches arugula, washed well and dried
5 ounces fresh goat cheese, crumbled
Directions:
Step 1
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Wrap beets in parchment paper-lined aluminum foil; place on baking sheet. Cook 45 minutes or till knife can piece through beets.Let cool enough to handle, cut into wedges. (remember to put paper towel on hands so don't stain from beets)
Step 2
Meanwhile, in bowl squeeze juice from oranges, add oil, vinegar, and mustard:season with salt pepper and whisk together.
Step 3
Toss the arugula in dressing. Top with beet wedges, orange segments, and goat cheese.
Week of July 8-14
Hi Mrs Gilbert, and fellow gardeners!
Well, it was a scorcher out there this morning so we didn't stay long. No watering necessary (I'm sure one of the other volunteers must have done it recently!), but TONS of weeding.
There is a NEW WEED that I have never seen in the garden before and that is just about one of the worst weeds I've ever experienced. It's like thistle, (probably is a thistle but no flower), and has really got to be pulled wearing gloves and possibly long sleeved shirt. It is growing all over the place. I think everyone gardening this summer has got to be asked to pull at least a few every time they can.
Besides that, we did quite a harvest. Everyone should go grab some arugula before it is too old. The carrots are small, and could probably still use a bit more time (the ones we picked were bitter... and white—did you know that?). The carrot greens can be used in salad (sparingly, like parsley, due to strong flavor). The brocoli is entirely bolted. The cabbage is almost ready (green is gone, though I didn't really think it was ready). The eggplant and squash are in bloom (and I bet some of you have picked plenty.) I'm going back in a couple days to see if I can snag some! The weedy looking things between the beets and the cabbage are radishes. They are ready to pick but tough—the greens are really good (nice and peppery) sauteed with olive oil (or butter), lemon and salt. The beets are tiny but ready. Of course the beet greens are wonderful too, in the opposite sweet way.
River and I had to drink about a gallon of water after we came home! But worth it. Salad tonight!
Sylvia
Well, it was a scorcher out there this morning so we didn't stay long. No watering necessary (I'm sure one of the other volunteers must have done it recently!), but TONS of weeding.
There is a NEW WEED that I have never seen in the garden before and that is just about one of the worst weeds I've ever experienced. It's like thistle, (probably is a thistle but no flower), and has really got to be pulled wearing gloves and possibly long sleeved shirt. It is growing all over the place. I think everyone gardening this summer has got to be asked to pull at least a few every time they can.
Besides that, we did quite a harvest. Everyone should go grab some arugula before it is too old. The carrots are small, and could probably still use a bit more time (the ones we picked were bitter... and white—did you know that?). The carrot greens can be used in salad (sparingly, like parsley, due to strong flavor). The brocoli is entirely bolted. The cabbage is almost ready (green is gone, though I didn't really think it was ready). The eggplant and squash are in bloom (and I bet some of you have picked plenty.) I'm going back in a couple days to see if I can snag some! The weedy looking things between the beets and the cabbage are radishes. They are ready to pick but tough—the greens are really good (nice and peppery) sauteed with olive oil (or butter), lemon and salt. The beets are tiny but ready. Of course the beet greens are wonderful too, in the opposite sweet way.
River and I had to drink about a gallon of water after we came home! But worth it. Salad tonight!
Sylvia
July 15-21
Hi all,
I was in the garden around noon, I removed some weeds, the garden is full of weeds, like Sylvia said, you need to have long sleeves with the gloves to do the job, and I watered most if the garden except the lower part .
Best
Samira, Louay and lamees (7/15)
I was in the garden around noon, I removed some weeds, the garden is full of weeds, like Sylvia said, you need to have long sleeves with the gloves to do the job, and I watered most if the garden except the lower part .
Best
Samira, Louay and lamees (7/15)
July 22-28
Harlequin beetle. Natalie picked them off, I squished them. I know they love the brassica family vegetables. From Clemson Cooperative Extension site:
"The harlequin bug can cause serious damage to crucifers and other vegetable crops. Both the adult and nymph suck sap from the collard/cabbage plant, causing it to wilt, turn brown and die. Younger plants are more susceptible to the feeding. Larger plants can withstand higher populations but show reduced growth and yellowing."
Nita Jay and Natalie Margasak have fun with roly-poly bugs, or pillbugs.
Links to hilarious facts about pillbugs http://insects.about.com/od/isopods/a/10-facts-pillbugs.htm
Looking for caterpillars on the roses- you can see what they chewed.
Luscious garden!
Neil Jay picked an eggplant
Malcolm Margasak clearly loves to weed.
"The harlequin bug can cause serious damage to crucifers and other vegetable crops. Both the adult and nymph suck sap from the collard/cabbage plant, causing it to wilt, turn brown and die. Younger plants are more susceptible to the feeding. Larger plants can withstand higher populations but show reduced growth and yellowing."
Nita Jay and Natalie Margasak have fun with roly-poly bugs, or pillbugs.
Links to hilarious facts about pillbugs http://insects.about.com/od/isopods/a/10-facts-pillbugs.htm
Looking for caterpillars on the roses- you can see what they chewed.
Luscious garden!
Neil Jay picked an eggplant
Malcolm Margasak clearly loves to weed.
July 29-August 4
General Recipe for Soba Noodle and Tofu Stir Fry with Penn Alexander Garden Vegetables!
From Karen Wagner
This is a great way to use up odds and ends of vegetables in the refridgerator, we made it with tofu, but it would also be great with shrimp or chicken. You could also serve the stir-fry over rice.
Marinaded Baked tofu:
2 x12 ounce packages of extra firm tofu
1-2 Tablespoon Hoisin sauce (if you do not have Hoisin, you can reasonably substitute 1 T soy sauce and ~ 1 teaspoon brown sugar)
1 Tablespoon oil
1-2 teaspoons rice wine vinegar
Slice each block of tofu across the broad plane into three large rectagular pieces. I drained the tofu by placing it on a 3-4 paper towels, putting a couple more paper towels on top and then a cutting board on top of the paper towels. Then, I weight the cutting board down with a full Britta pitcher and get a lot of the water out. This helps it absorb more marinade and seems to help it crisp up a bit more when baked, but this step can probably be skipped. After you drain the tofu for ~ 5 – 10 minutes put it in one layer in a baking pan. I used a 13 x 9 sheet pan.
Mix the Hoisin sauce, oil and vinegar together and pour it over the tofu in the baking pan. Let the tofu marinade in the refridgerator for at least on hour or up to 24 hours. (It will get saltier as it marinades for longer, so if you are going to marinade it for a long time, use a smaller amout of Hoisin or soy sauce. Try to remember to turn the tofu over in the pan once to get the sauce more evenly distributed
Preheat oven to 425 degrees and bake tofu for ~ 30 -45 minutes until it looks a little dried out at the egdes and crispy. If you want to turn the tofu over once during baking it will help it cook more evenly.
Take it out of the oven and let in cool off for a little but and cut it up into cubes. This part can be done up to 2 days in advance. The baked tofu keeps well in the fridge.
Soba Noodles:
Just cook according to package (boil in water for 8-10 minutes and drain).
Vegetables:
Sauce (adapted from Cook’s Illustrated Quick Recipe – Stir-fry eggplant)
~ 1 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce
1-2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
1 teaspoon sugar
1-2 teasoons fresh grated ginger
1-2 cloves finely chopped garlic
2-3 green onions, white part only, sliced thin
Mix all the ingredietns together in a small bowl and set aside
Vegetables:
This is where you use whatever you have on hand! From the PAS garden, we used
2 japanese eggplants , peeled and sliced into half moons
2 carrots diced
2 watermelon radishes peeled and diced (radishes would also be good grated up and added as a garnish at the end of cooking)
Lots of broccoli florets, cut up small
~ 5- 10 pieces of arugula, sliced very thin
I also had some other vegetable in the fridge that needed to get used and those included:
1/3 of a green pepper, diced
½ a very small head of green cabbage sliced thin
6 green beans
~ ¼ cup frozen peas
Altogether we had ~ 3-4 cups of chopped fresh vegetables
Other veggies that would be great would be summer squash, other sweet or mildly spicy peppers, fresh peas, mushrooms, celery, most green leafy veggies including spinach or bok choy, corn or asparagus.
After you cut up the vegetables, heat 1-2 Tablespoons of oil over medium-high heat in a LARGE pan. When the oil is hot, but not smoking add all the vegetables at once and cook and stip frequently for ~ 10 -12 minutes. If the vegetables threaten to burn up, add a little water or vegetable stock. After the vegetables are mostly cooked, but not mushy push the vegetables out of the middle and add the sauce and diced tofu top the middle of the pan and then stir it all together. We also added the cooked noodles to the pan and tossed them around with the sauce, tofu and veggies. If you are not using noodles, the tofu and veggies can be served over rice. You could also garnish this with basil or cilantro, or grated radish, or fresh diced cucumber or chopped peanuts or chopped jalepeno. My husband used some Siracha to add a bit of a kick.
From Karen Wagner
This is a great way to use up odds and ends of vegetables in the refridgerator, we made it with tofu, but it would also be great with shrimp or chicken. You could also serve the stir-fry over rice.
Marinaded Baked tofu:
2 x12 ounce packages of extra firm tofu
1-2 Tablespoon Hoisin sauce (if you do not have Hoisin, you can reasonably substitute 1 T soy sauce and ~ 1 teaspoon brown sugar)
1 Tablespoon oil
1-2 teaspoons rice wine vinegar
Slice each block of tofu across the broad plane into three large rectagular pieces. I drained the tofu by placing it on a 3-4 paper towels, putting a couple more paper towels on top and then a cutting board on top of the paper towels. Then, I weight the cutting board down with a full Britta pitcher and get a lot of the water out. This helps it absorb more marinade and seems to help it crisp up a bit more when baked, but this step can probably be skipped. After you drain the tofu for ~ 5 – 10 minutes put it in one layer in a baking pan. I used a 13 x 9 sheet pan.
Mix the Hoisin sauce, oil and vinegar together and pour it over the tofu in the baking pan. Let the tofu marinade in the refridgerator for at least on hour or up to 24 hours. (It will get saltier as it marinades for longer, so if you are going to marinade it for a long time, use a smaller amout of Hoisin or soy sauce. Try to remember to turn the tofu over in the pan once to get the sauce more evenly distributed
Preheat oven to 425 degrees and bake tofu for ~ 30 -45 minutes until it looks a little dried out at the egdes and crispy. If you want to turn the tofu over once during baking it will help it cook more evenly.
Take it out of the oven and let in cool off for a little but and cut it up into cubes. This part can be done up to 2 days in advance. The baked tofu keeps well in the fridge.
Soba Noodles:
Just cook according to package (boil in water for 8-10 minutes and drain).
Vegetables:
Sauce (adapted from Cook’s Illustrated Quick Recipe – Stir-fry eggplant)
~ 1 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce
1-2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
1 teaspoon sugar
1-2 teasoons fresh grated ginger
1-2 cloves finely chopped garlic
2-3 green onions, white part only, sliced thin
Mix all the ingredietns together in a small bowl and set aside
Vegetables:
This is where you use whatever you have on hand! From the PAS garden, we used
2 japanese eggplants , peeled and sliced into half moons
2 carrots diced
2 watermelon radishes peeled and diced (radishes would also be good grated up and added as a garnish at the end of cooking)
Lots of broccoli florets, cut up small
~ 5- 10 pieces of arugula, sliced very thin
I also had some other vegetable in the fridge that needed to get used and those included:
1/3 of a green pepper, diced
½ a very small head of green cabbage sliced thin
6 green beans
~ ¼ cup frozen peas
Altogether we had ~ 3-4 cups of chopped fresh vegetables
Other veggies that would be great would be summer squash, other sweet or mildly spicy peppers, fresh peas, mushrooms, celery, most green leafy veggies including spinach or bok choy, corn or asparagus.
After you cut up the vegetables, heat 1-2 Tablespoons of oil over medium-high heat in a LARGE pan. When the oil is hot, but not smoking add all the vegetables at once and cook and stip frequently for ~ 10 -12 minutes. If the vegetables threaten to burn up, add a little water or vegetable stock. After the vegetables are mostly cooked, but not mushy push the vegetables out of the middle and add the sauce and diced tofu top the middle of the pan and then stir it all together. We also added the cooked noodles to the pan and tossed them around with the sauce, tofu and veggies. If you are not using noodles, the tofu and veggies can be served over rice. You could also garnish this with basil or cilantro, or grated radish, or fresh diced cucumber or chopped peanuts or chopped jalepeno. My husband used some Siracha to add a bit of a kick.
Week of August 5-11
Mrs. Gilbert asked my family to fill in this week at the garden due to a schedule change. We were at the beach with family, but got to the garden today (Friday, August 9th) in time to do a little bit of weeding, watering, and mostly harvesting. Thankfully, it was a good week to leave the garden untended because it rained several times. I have been shy to take on garden duty because I perceive myself as a terrible gardener and I believe I am being generous to myself with that assessment. Lucky for me, I had a PAS student with me who has spent the past three years in Mrs. Gilbert's room learning and talking about gardening. Lily knew just what to do and got very excited about having the opportunity to visit the PAS garden.
We were overwhelmed by the amount of arugula available and brought home enough for our two neighbors, the Ardent's and the Moosebrugger's. There is more that needs to be harvested. We tried to get all flowering plants. The smell while picking made my mouth water. I love the bitterness of the arugula leaf. I use it as a topping for grilled chicken burgers and love it in salads. Fresh lemon juice, olive oil and garlic make a great dressing that cuts the bitter some and compliments the greens. We also harvested four eggplants, one small green pepper, a handful of carrots and a red cabbage. We added tomatoes from our garden in the front of our house and made a side salad to share for dinner. The rest of the harvest is going back to the beach with us tomorrow to get grilled and reinvented.
The nicest part about participating today was thinking about how the energy we were using to care for the garden, pick the produce, and clean and prepare the produce for eating, subtracted from the energy used to farm arugula industrially, wash it commercially, package it in plastic, and ship it to Whole Foods. (We called Whole Foods and they had no fresh arugula bunches available for sale, but several packaged containers ranging from $1.99 to $5.99.) We were also happy to be outside, in close contact with our food (although I am not sure that Lily can be persuaded to eat more vegetables), staying active and working together to complete a task.
A big "thank you" to all the families and staff that made our harvest possible by helping earlier in the planting and growing season. Thank you to Mrs. Gilbert for being the big push behind this wonderful, grant funded venture. The garden boxes are beautiful and the soil looks dark and plentiful in nutrients.
Hope you enjoy the rest of your summer!
From the Soslau-Johnson Family
Mrs. Gilbert asked my family to fill in this week at the garden due to a schedule change. We were at the beach with family, but got to the garden today (Friday, August 9th) in time to do a little bit of weeding, watering, and mostly harvesting. Thankfully, it was a good week to leave the garden untended because it rained several times. I have been shy to take on garden duty because I perceive myself as a terrible gardener and I believe I am being generous to myself with that assessment. Lucky for me, I had a PAS student with me who has spent the past three years in Mrs. Gilbert's room learning and talking about gardening. Lily knew just what to do and got very excited about having the opportunity to visit the PAS garden.
We were overwhelmed by the amount of arugula available and brought home enough for our two neighbors, the Ardent's and the Moosebrugger's. There is more that needs to be harvested. We tried to get all flowering plants. The smell while picking made my mouth water. I love the bitterness of the arugula leaf. I use it as a topping for grilled chicken burgers and love it in salads. Fresh lemon juice, olive oil and garlic make a great dressing that cuts the bitter some and compliments the greens. We also harvested four eggplants, one small green pepper, a handful of carrots and a red cabbage. We added tomatoes from our garden in the front of our house and made a side salad to share for dinner. The rest of the harvest is going back to the beach with us tomorrow to get grilled and reinvented.
The nicest part about participating today was thinking about how the energy we were using to care for the garden, pick the produce, and clean and prepare the produce for eating, subtracted from the energy used to farm arugula industrially, wash it commercially, package it in plastic, and ship it to Whole Foods. (We called Whole Foods and they had no fresh arugula bunches available for sale, but several packaged containers ranging from $1.99 to $5.99.) We were also happy to be outside, in close contact with our food (although I am not sure that Lily can be persuaded to eat more vegetables), staying active and working together to complete a task.
A big "thank you" to all the families and staff that made our harvest possible by helping earlier in the planting and growing season. Thank you to Mrs. Gilbert for being the big push behind this wonderful, grant funded venture. The garden boxes are beautiful and the soil looks dark and plentiful in nutrients.
Hope you enjoy the rest of your summer!
From the Soslau-Johnson Family
Week of August 19-25
Red Cabbage Salad
1 head of red cabbage, shredded
3 ounces gorgonzola or other blue cheese, crumbled
1/2 cup chopped walnuts, toasted in skillet
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup Trader Joe's orange muscat champagne vinegar (or substitute juice of sweet orange with vinegar of choice)
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp. Dijon mustard
Salt and pepper to taste
Combine vinegar, oils and mustard to make dressing. Toss with shredded cabbage and let sit at least 30 minutes; toss with cheese, toasted walnuts and raisins just before serving.
Arugula Pesto
1 large bunch of arugula
1/2 cup chopped walnuts, toasted in skillet
6 cloves of garlic, pan roasted in skins while toasting walnuts
1/2 cup aged cheese (parmesan, romano, gorgonzola)
1/2-1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Sea salt to taste
Combine toasted walnuts, roasted garlic (peeled and cut in half), cheese and 1/2 cup olive oil in food processor, adding olive oil until pesto consistency.
Red Cabbage Salad
1 head of red cabbage, shredded
3 ounces gorgonzola or other blue cheese, crumbled
1/2 cup chopped walnuts, toasted in skillet
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup Trader Joe's orange muscat champagne vinegar (or substitute juice of sweet orange with vinegar of choice)
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp. Dijon mustard
Salt and pepper to taste
Combine vinegar, oils and mustard to make dressing. Toss with shredded cabbage and let sit at least 30 minutes; toss with cheese, toasted walnuts and raisins just before serving.
Arugula Pesto
1 large bunch of arugula
1/2 cup chopped walnuts, toasted in skillet
6 cloves of garlic, pan roasted in skins while toasting walnuts
1/2 cup aged cheese (parmesan, romano, gorgonzola)
1/2-1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Sea salt to taste
Combine toasted walnuts, roasted garlic (peeled and cut in half), cheese and 1/2 cup olive oil in food processor, adding olive oil until pesto consistency.