East Garden Club in the news!

At our last garden club meeting, a reporter from the Grand Rapids Press came to check out our garden and meet the members of Garden Club. We are featured in today's (September 20) newspaper. Check it out online http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2009/09/planting_harvesting_eating_par.html

Week 14: Tomatoes and Basil

Italian Caprese Salad

Slice tomatoes.
Slice a ball of fresh Mozarella.
Arrange the tomatoes and Mozarella on a plate. Drizzle olive oil and Balsamic Vinegar over top. Sprinkle chopped basil on top. Salt and pepper to taste.

Week 14: Kale

Kale Chips

Remove stems from kale and tear into 2 inch pieces. Place on a cookie sheet. Spray or brush with olive oil. Use your fingers to rub it into each piece. Salt with sea salt or kosher salt. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until crunchy, but not brown. Eat like chips or crumble into soup or on top of pizza.

Week 14: A Celebration Feast

Wow! What a fun time we had today! Everyone brought treats to share. We had zucchini bread, carrot-raisin cinnamon muffins, applesauce, strawberries, italian caprese salad, salsa, dilly beans and kale chips. We had a delicious feast! Thanks everyone for bringing something to share! Send in your recipes and I'll post them!

Week 13: Believe it or not, beets!

Beets were a big hit, in the form of chocolate cake that Mrs. Holland-Anderson baked! Mrs. Rettler brought sweet and sour beets. We enjoyed tasting them. Here is the cake recipe as well as another recipe that we enjoy at home.

Beet Chocolate Cake (great topped with cream cheese frosting or hot fudge)
from Asparagus to Zucchini

2 c. sugar
2 c. flour
1/4 c. baking cocoa
1/2 t. salt
2 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
1/4 c. oil
3-4 ounces, unsweetened chocolate
4 eggs
3 cups shredded beets

Combine dry ingredients. Melt chocolate slowly over low heat. Allow chocolate to cool, then blend in eggs and oil. Combine flour mixture with chocolate mixture, alternating with the beets. Pour into 2 greased 9 inch cake pans. Bake at 325 degrees for 40-50 minutes or until a fork can be removed from the center cleanly.

Carrot-Beet Burgers
Farmer John's Cookbook

1/2 c. toasted sesame seeds
1 c. toasted sunflower seeds
2 c. shredded beets
2 c. shredded carrots
1/2 c. minced onion
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 c. cooked brown rice
1 c. shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 c. vegetable oil
1/2 c. finely chopped parsley
3 T. flour
2 T. soy sauce or tamari
1 clove garlic, minced


Combine all ingredients, it works well to use your hands to mix. Shape the mixture into 12 patties and arrange them on a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Serve alone or on buns.

Harvesting is so much fun!

Another day of rain, but we were still able to harvest. We found some beautiful tomatoes, onions, potatoes, more beans and peppers, kohlrabi and even a baby eggplant! Everyone enjoyed dividing the harvest to enjoy at home.

Next week is our last summer club meeting. Please bring a treat to share (hopefully made from a seasonal fruit or vegetable). We will plan to meet once in September and October to see the garden and prepare it for winter.

Week 12: Rain

It was a rainy morning, but a few fearless gardeners came to check out the garden. We found some Asparagus Beans and a good looking tomato. Our corn grew tassels, we can't wait for the mini-corns to grow! Our featured vegetables were cucumbers. Mrs. Rettler brought some spicy refrigerator pickles and dilly beans.

Crunchy Fridge Pickles
from: Steve & Kelly (Wellman)

2 cups white vinegar
5 cups warm water
4 heads dill
4 cloves garlic, halved
2 tsp. alum
1 TBS. pickle spice
1/4 cup pickly salt
2 tsp. Frank's Red Hot
4 jalapenos, halved

Divide equally between 4 quart jars, then fill with sliced cucumbers and cover with the water/vinegar mixture. Ready in about one week.



Dilly Beans
from: Steve & Kelly (Wellman)

2 lb. green beans, divided between 4 pint jars.
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper per pint
1 clove garlic per pint
1 head dill per jar

Boil 2 1/2 cups water. Add 2 1/2 cups white vinegar & 1/4 cup pickling salt. Add to jars. Refrigerate. Ready in about one week.

Week 11: Summer Squash

This week we discussed summer bounty. We discussed a chapter from the book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barabara Kingsolver. She titled a chapter, Zucchini Larceny, because they had so many zucchinis that they were leaving them in people's mailboxes!

We tried a pasta dish with shredded summer squash and everyone begged for seconds. We got the thyme from the school garden and Mrs. Rettler brought fresh oregano from her own garden. Yum. Click here to find the recipe for Disappearing Zucchini Orzo (we used summer squash) and try these yummy cookies with either zucchinni or summer squash!

Check out the picture of this week's harvest!

Week 10: Purple Beans!

Under the leaves of our bean plants we found beautiful beans! Purple, Yellow with purple stripes (dragon tongue beans) and long thin green beans! Everyone tasted them and took some home. We trimmed the lettuce for a spicy lettuce salad and harvested a beautiful head of broccoli. We even found a potato bursting through the soil.

Week 9: Field Trip to Groundswell CSA Farm

We left our small school garden and visited a working CSA Farm, Groundswell Farm. We toured the grounds with the farmers, Anna and Katie. We helped them weed a cabbage patch and we harvested some carrots and washed them on the veggie merry-go-round. What a fun experience!

Directions to Groundswell CSA Farm

Our field trip is next week, Thursday, 9:30-11 am. Call Mrs. Holland-Anderson or Mrs. Rettler if you are interested in carpooling. See the previous post for information about what to bring.

Groundswell Community Farm

6527 Quincy Street

Zeeland, MI 49464

616-885-7776 Katie

(616) 635-7978 Anna

groundswellfarmer@gmail.com

Week 8: Basil

This week we tried pesto made with basil. Basil can be found in abundance in gardens and the farmer's market for the next month or so. Pesto can be spread on bread or used as a sauce for pasta. It even tastes great on pizza.

	BASIL WALNUT PESTO 1 bunch fresh basil (large handful or 2 cups packed) 1/4 cup romano or parmesan cheese (freshly grated if possible) 1/4 cup walnuts 1 clove garlic, minced kosher salt to taste - shouldn't need much 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil Process first 4 ingr. in food processor. Drizzle oil while processing. This can also be frozen.

Field Trip to Groundswell CSA July 30

We have the opportunity to visit a real working CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) Farm. Plan to arrive there by 9:30. Directions can be found at Groundwell's website. We will be there until 11.

Come dressed to get DIRTY (boots, old clothes)! Bring:

• a sun hat
• a water bottle
• sunscreen
• a snack

We will have a tour of the farm and hear from the farmers. We will do some work in the fields and have a great time.

Parents are welcome! Please call Mrs. Holland-Anderson or Mrs. Rettler if you need a ride or have any questions.

Sunflowers

Look at the progression of the sunflowers as they grow. It is interesting to see each step. We also took a group photo next to them. Watch future posts to see how much the flowers grow.

Week 7: Radishes

This week we tried radishes. We tried a delicious sandwich that we found at http://24boxes.blogspot.com/2009/05/radish-chive-sandwich-with-cream-cheese.html

Everyone agreed that it was quite delicious. This is a first for me (Mrs. Holland-Anderson) because even though I have tried many times, I have not found a recipe that I like. I even thought it was delicious and made it several times at home! It is also good with cucumbers.

Week 7: Look at our beautiful sandwiches!

Week 6: Fresh Fruit

Today we encouraged everyone to bring something from their garden or to find something from the farmer's market. Everyone brought delicious fruit! We made our own creations and topped them off with yogurt or whipped cream. YUM!

Week 5: Adding a butterfly garden

We added some plants to the garden at the front of the school. We chose butterfly friendly plants to encourage butterflies to visit. It is fun to find worms in the soil. Look how dirty our hands are!