Categories
Urban Farming

Community Gardens Boom in New Jersey

tomatoes
Susy Morris/Flickr

In the summer of 2009, the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Public Health Initiatives funded a research study of community gardens in Camden, N.J., measuring the amount of food produced and the ways in which the produce is distributed to people in the community.

Over the past two years, Camden residents have expanded community gardening at a rate that outpaces most, perhaps all, U.S. cities, according to the Harvest Report. By visiting a varied sampling of 44 gardens, interviewing 100 gardeners and weighing the crops the gardens produced, the University of Pennsylvania researchers estimated that crops harvested in these Camden gardens during the summer of 2009 yielded nearly 139,000 servings of fresh vegetables for these gardeners.

“Undoubtedly, food production in Camden gardens is expanding the options, availability and interest in fresh, healthy, local vegetables” in this urban community, the study concluded. “Children and new adult gardeners … are learning to grow their own [vegetables] and appreciate how carrots taste when pulled straight from the ground.”

The research aims to help clarify the relationship between community gardening and community food security in Camden. This report is part of a three-city, multi-year study that also included Philadelphia and Trenton, N.J., to measure vegetable production and trace food distribution and other impacts of community gardens and urban farms.

The research for “Harvest Report: Summer 2009” was conducted in partnership with the Camden City Garden Club, Inc. and its subsidiary, the Camden Children’s Garden, which coordinate Camden’s Community Gardening Program and maintain more than 80 food-producing gardens. In 2010 alone, 15 new gardens (four of which measure 1/3 to 1/2 acre) have been created to help meet the food needs of a community that has been deemed a “food desert.” Several of the new plots are substantially larger than most of the 31 gardens created in 2009.

In the Harvest Report, community gardens in Camden help illustrate how people living in a small, very poor city employ gardening in diverse ways to address issues of hunger, health, youth, aging, and other social, ecological and economic challenges. In Camden, community gardening’s emphasis on food production is a viable strategy to address food security.

Below are some of the study’s key findings:

  • Camden consistently ranks among the poorest and most violent cities in the United States, a stark example of urban decline, social and political economic crisis, and consequently, food insecurity. Both because of this and despite this, it’s also a leading center of community gardening.
  • Many gardeners and Garden Club leaders explain community-garden growth in terms of Camden residents’ sensitivity to recent upswings in food prices and to longer-term issues of public health and hunger.
  • For most Camden gardeners, community gardening is one strategy among many to improve health and food access for themselves, their families and their neighbors.
  • The City Public Works Department’s Adopt-a-Lot program and the Camden City Garden Club are two of the relatively few public and citywide nonprofit organizations that people seem to agree work well and consistently improve people’s quality of life.
  • Camden has roughly 12,000 abandoned lots, about 4,000 of which are city-owned, according to Deborah Hirsch’s “Caring residents transform vacant lots into urban oases,” Courier Post (Oct. 5, 2008).
  • Almost 95 percent of Camden’s community gardens are located in census tracts where the average household lives 200 percent below the federal poverty line.
Categories
Urban Farming

Mystery of the Unripe Grapes

Unripe grapes

Photo by Rick Gush

The majority of my grapes this year look like this—unripe—and I can’t figure out why.

I’m throwing in the towel: My grapes are not going to ripen this year. The vine is loaded, and there were hundreds of bunches hanging in the sunshine, but only about 5 percent or less of the bunches are ripe. I’ve trimmed away a lot of the foliage now, and there are large masses of clusters hanging all over the big vine. It looks like a great crop, but in fact, as I’m finally admitting, it’s all fodder for the compost pile.

The grape vine is a Concord type, and the value comes in the wonderful dusky sweetness that developes in the ripe grapes. The unripe grapes aren’t really tart—they just have no flavor. We’ve tried to eat the unripened grapes, but they aren’t enjoyable. Phooey! We will get a few bunches of ripe grapes here and there, but I think that 5 percent is really too generous an estimate.

Ripe grapes

Photo by Rick Gush

I wish more of my grapes were ripe like this bunch.

The weather hasn’t been particularly odd in the past few months. August was hot, September was also mostly hot, and we’ve had a few rainstorms in October. I can’t think of any particular cultural events that might explain it. This grape gets minimal care, mostly just a good pruning each winter.  There have been no visible pests to note and no noticeable leaf damage or other signs.  I’ve looked around at other people’s grape crops this year and haven’t noticed anyone else having a similar problem.

I’ve been a horticultural consultant for a fair amount of time, but I’ve never seen this happen to a grape crop before. If there’s anyone out there with a similar story or an educated guess, I’d love to hear it. Actually, this is one of the things I love about growing plants. A garden is always full of surprises, even for someone who has been working in that garden for many years. As I get older and the breadth of my horticultural experience increases, the less certain I become. 

It’s a real tragedy to throw all this fruit away. I was thinking of making some verjus, which is the classic unripe-grape juice, but actually, I’m not crazy for that beverage. I do think the grapes might have still made acceptable raisins, but I just don’t have the time this year to do all that cleaning and drying and turning. Too bad. I could have made 50 pounds of raisins with all those grapes.

Read more of Digging Italy »

Categories
Crops & Gardening

Garlic Experiments

Garlic scapes
Photo by Jessica Walliser
I planted this year’s garlic by the “dark of the moon.” We’ll find out at harvest time what difference it makes.

Garlic! I’m strangely excited by the idea introduced to me by a gardening friend: He says to plant your garlic bulbs “under the dark of the moon.” 

I first thought that meant I had to go out in the middle of the night to plant it but then, but then he explained it to me. It means you should plant the bulbs during the dark (or new) moon in the month of October. I’m not sure what difference it will make, but I gave it a try. 

He also told me that no matter how deep you plant each garlic clove (2 inches, 4 inches or 6 inches), if you plant it during the dark moon, come summer when you dig them all up, each and every bulb will be exactly 4 inches deep. Needless to say, I’m a sucker for an experiment so I tried it. As I was planting, I set some garlic bulbs shallow and some deep. I’ve never gardened with a ruler in my hand, but, by golly I’m gonna have one come July when the garlic is ripe for the diggin’! I’m so curious about it.

I found a local garlic farm (Enon Valley Garlic Farm) at our town farmers’ market and bought some varieties I haven’t tried yet. I split each head with my Mom so we could both experiment (though I didn’t share the “dark of the moon” tip with her lest she think I’ve officially gone garden batty). I bought Spanish Roja, Symphony, Bogatyr and Silver Rose.  The garlic varieties range from mild to spicy (though I don’t remember which is which). I thought it would be fun to try the different flavors in different recipes and find out more about the diversity of garlic. I have always grown Music, which I love and will always grow, but I’m looking forward to adding new favorites to my list. 

Oh, and Happy Halloween everyone! I guess I won’t have to worry about those pesky vampires this year—that’s always good news.     

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Categories
News

Equine Identification Technology Unveiled

eyeD premiered at the World Equestrian Games a new to identify horses
According to eyeD’s manufacturer, users will benefit from the efficiency of iris scanning and the security of electronic records storage.

Recent attendees to the World Equestrian Games, in Lexington, Ky., were introduced to a new method of equine identification that uses iris-scan technology to identify horses.

Although the iris-scan technology, called eyeD, won’t be commercially available until June 2011, its manufacturer seized the opportunity to unveil its innovation in front of members of the equine community from around the world.

“We want horse owners to understand and become familiar with the differences between noninvasive equine identification and more traditional equine identification methods,” says David Knupp, marketing manager for Global Animal Management, the company that created the technology.

According to its manufacturers, eyeD technology works because no two animals—including cloned animals—have the same iris pattern. To capture the image of iris patterns, the eyeD operator uses a special camera to take a picture of each of the horse’s eyes. The camera converts the iris images into what are called eyePrints, which are then linked to a unique 15-digit identification number. 

The identification number, “eyePrint and other information about your horse can be stored in the eyeD processor for retrieval at any time,” Knupp says.

The GAM presentation at WEG touted eyeD for its noninvasiveness. While methods like micro-chipping, ear-tagging and branding require alterations to the horse’s body, eyeD photos are taken with infrared illumination and can be captured without restraining the horse.

EyeD is also more secure than many other horse identification methods that are linked to hard copies.

“The system is completely secure, and information cannot be lost or stolen, unlike traditional paperwork,” Knupp says.

While eyeD promises to be especially useful for equine industry professionals and horse-show managers, it may also benefit small-scale farmers or hobby farmers who have access to the technology through their veterinarians or local animal-control agencies.

Equine identification isn’t on the minds of many small farmers—even though it should be, says Ann Swinker, extension horse specialist at Penn State University.

As part of Penn State’s Equine Identification Project, Swinker and her research team surveyed horse owners on their knowledge of and attitudes about animal identification. Most of the survey’s respondents identified themselves as farmers who owned horses for pleasure rather than business.

Swinker says the survey revealed that many farmers don’t expect the unexpected. Of the 2,783 horse owners surveyed, 75 percent admitted they didn’t have a plan in place for confronting horse theft, and 55.5 percent said they did not have an emergency preparedness plan for their farm.

Equine identification technologies can also be used to manage horses’ health. When eyeD goes on the market in summer 2011, horse owners will be able to link their horses’ veterinary records to their identification numbers and store this data on the eyeD processor.

Swinker says that in addition to enabling better storage of individual horse records, equine identification technology can help track disease outbreaks. This is vital because even small-scale farmers’ horses don’t always stay close to home, and thus are exposed to other horses and the diseases they may be carrying while trail riding or at horse shows. According to the Penn State survey, 48.1 percent of horse owners say their animals leave the premises of their farm at least once per year, while 25 percent reported their horses left the premises at least once per month.

“Even hobbyists move [their] horses around,” says Swinker.

People interested in eyeD will be able to visit the product website when it goes live on Oct. 29, 2010.

 

Categories
Homesteading

Jelly Day!

Jellies
Photo by Cherie Langlois
Making herbal jellies was the perfect way to spend a dreary, drizzly day.

I woke up to gloom and drizzle this morning, a sight that would usually make me feel like ducking back underneath the covers to hibernate. (I can’t, of course, because the animals will be demanding their breakfast.) But today is different because a gloomy, drizzly day is perfect for staying indoors to make herbal jellies, and that’s exactly what I have planned: a long-overdue jelly day with my sunny friend and jelly buddy, Linda.

This has been our kids-are-back-to-school tradition for about four years now—gathering handfuls of fragrant herbs from my garden before they wither away and turning them into jewel-like jellies to share with family and friends, plus savor ourselves as sweet reminders of summer past. Linda, my jelly mentor, taught me the basics of water-bath canning, and I’m always a little in awe of her because she’s fiendishly creative, especially when it comes to jellies. While I’m apt to go tamely with our tried and true recipes using only a few ingredients—red wine and rosemary, for instance, or mint-apple—she’ll throw just about anything into a batch of jelly but the kitchen sink.

Making herbal jelly
Photo by Cherie Langlois
My friend, Linda, is my jelly mentor.

Consider one of today’s concoctions, which Linda names Sangria Jelly: It contains orange, lemon and grapefruit juices; lemon balm and ginger; then, at the last minute, she tosses in a little red wine. There might be something else in the mix, too, but I can’t remember and, unfortunately, Linda and I are terribly lax about recording the ingredients we use when inventing a new jelly.

With a friend to help and provide laughs and inspiration, what could easily be slow jelly-making drudgery transforms into a speedily passing day of creative fun and camaraderie. (Linda’s joke of the day: “We both have degrees from University of Washington, which means we don’t make a lot of money.  But, hey, we make a lot of jellies!”) Before we know it, we’re sitting down to sample a record seven delicious jellies on slices of baguette, from my beloved Chianti-Rosemary to Linda’s new Mint with Lemon Pepper and Allspice. I know—sounds kind of strange, but it’s good!

If you grow herbs but have never made jelly before, why not try it?  I wrote a story on herbal jelly-making in the July/August 2010 Hobby Farm Home, called “Summer in a Jar,” and you’ll find jelly recipes and great canning advice in that canner’s bible, the Ball Blue Book of Preserving.

~ Cherie

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Categories
Equipment

Battle of the Fallen Leaf

Leaf gathering is nearly over for us in the Northland. Recognizing the value of leaf mulch, we stockpile ours for late-fall shredding. When the leaves aren’t heavy enough to rake, my wife (and official lawn mower for the household—she likes it, what can I say?) will bag the grass and leaves. They go directly into the compost bins.

Heavier leaf falls get the royal treatment with rakes, scoops and tarp. There’s no end of options for rakes, leaf scoops that fit over hands and leaf hauling gear. Scoops of any design are great for picking up piles of leaves behind plants and in tight places. Don’t overuse them, however, or you could damage your wrist to elbow tendons like I did a year ago.

The tarp is my favorite leaf tool. We used to use carts to haul away leaves. Now, we simply rake them on a 10- by 12-foot (lightweight) tarp, grab the four corners and carry a large pile at a time to the holding area. It’s quick and easy. Here again, there are fancy alternatives with spring-loaded sides and hefty handholds, but for me, a simple plastic tarp works fine.

Of course, there are also plenty of tools for use on riding lawn mowers to shred and haul leaves, as well as hand-held vacs and blowers. A new twist on an old farm tool is the yard-sized rotary leaf rake from Graetz Manufacturing. The Graetz Yard and Trail Rake sweeps leaves into a windrow for handling.

Now, if only we had a leaf baler, we’d be all set.

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Categories
Homesteading

Pressure Cooker Safety Tips

Follow these 10 steps from Hobby Farms to make sure your pressure cooker is safe
Modern pressure cookers don’t have the scare-factor they once had.

Spitting and sputtering, the pressure cooker rattled and hissed on the stove while it worked away. When I heard it going, I stayed out of the kitchen. I found pressure cookers intimidating with all their gauges, vents and gadgets—I preferred a pan with a lid. The stories of pressure cookers exploding confirmed my thoughts that they were too scary to use.

Luckily, times have changed. Today’s pressure cookers are safer than their older counterparts, plus, they have many advantages. They cook food up to 70 percent faster than traditional cooking methods, which means food retains more nutrients; are energy-efficient; and keep your kitchen cooler.

When cooking with your pressure cooker, store the instruction manual in a place where you can easily find it. If you lose the manual, visit the manufacturer’s website to download the instructions you need. Also keep these safety tips in mind:

1. Don’t buy a pressure cooker at a flea market or auction.
Bargain pressure cookers or older models  might have cracked lids or gaskets that don’t fit properly.

2. Keep the rubber gasket clean and in good shape.
The gasket is the ring of rubber that lines the lid of the pressure cooker. If the gasket looks cracked or broken, replace it immediately. You might need to order the gasket online if you can’t find it locally. Use parts that come from the pressure cooker’s manufacturer to ensure the proper seal. 

3. Follow the instruction manual.
Read the instructions several times before diving into a recipe.

4. Measure liquids precisely.
This is critical to increase the cooker’s pressure. Follow a recipe to make sure the amount of liquid is correct.

5. Don’t overfill the pressure cooker.
Careful measuring is a must. Some foods, such as beans, expand when they cook, and you need to allow room for this.

6. Be careful with frothy foods.
Frothy foods can block the steam valves and the pressure-release vents on your pressure cooker. Foods that froth include pasta, rhubarb, split peas, oatmeal, applesauce and cranberries. When cooking these foods, follow a trusted recipe and make sure the quantity in the pot is well below the recommended maximum-fill line.

7. Release the pressure safely.
Typically, pressure is released by removing the pressure cooker from the stove and letting it cool until the pressure drops to the safe range. The cold water release is another way to release pressure by running cold water over the lid of the cooker. Each pressure cooker operates differently, so consult your instruction manual.

8. Watch out for steam.
When you open the pressure cooker, plenty of steam will escape. Have dry pot holders on hand—if the holder is wet, you may burn your hand. Open the pan with the lid facing away from you. Don’t let condensation drip on you. 

9. Always inspect your pressure cooker before using it.
Check the lid for cracks, and make sure the vent is open and clean. Check the handles: A loose handle screw could spell disaster when moving a hot pressure cooker. Even new pressure cookers can have problems, so don’t make assumptions based on its age.

10. Properly clean your pressure cooker after each use.
Remove the gasket and wash it , the pot and the lid. Don’t store the cooker with the lid locked in place. Simply place the lid upside-down on the pot.

Don’t be fearful of today’s pressure cookers. Just follow a few safety tips, and get ready to enjoy quick, nutritious meals.

About the Author: Jean M. Fogle is the author of Tricks for Treats (BowTie Press, 2010) and Salty Dogs (Wiley Publishing, 2007) and Tricks for Treats. She lives in Fort Valley, Va.

Categories
Crops & Gardening

Butterfly Puddling

Butterflies puddle to extract minerals from puddles or moist soil.
Butterflies puddle to extract minerals from puddles or moist soil.

When thinking about how to attract wildlife to your farm garden, a great place to start the planning process is with butterflies. Butterflies are attracted to many different plants that you can put in your garden, but another way to host butterflies is by giving them opportunities to puddle.

When you see butterflies gathered around a mud puddle, they are drinking and taking in minerals. There are two easy ways to make a puddle.

For a small garden, simply use a large plastic plant saucer to hold your puddle. Dig a hole to bury the saucer so the rim is level with the ground. Fill the bottom half of the saucer with your native soil and top it off with rocks, not gravel. Pour water over the rocks, and wait for butterflies to converge. If you find an area of your garden often has butterflies, put your puddle there.

Another puddling feature you can add to your garden is a shallow creek bed. Achieve this by meandering a fake stream through a corner of your garden. Outline the area where you want the creek, then dig a shallow trench and line it with rubber pond liner. Fill the trench with a variety of different sized rocks to simulate a real stream, and fill it with water. The liner holds the water and makes it available to all wildlife, including butterflies.

About the Author: Jean M. Fogle is the author of Tricks for Treats (BowTie Press, 2010) and Salty Dogs (Wiley Publishing, 2007) and Tricks for Treats. 

Categories
Recipes

Tofu Cheesecake

Ingredients

Create your own Tofu Cheesecake with Hobby Farms

Crust

 

  • 1 cup low-fat graham cracker crumbs
  • 1/2 cup finely ground almonds
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 4 T. butter, softened

Filling 

  • 16 ounces silken tofu
  • 16 ounces tofu cream cheese
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 4 T. grated lemon zest
  • 2 T. fresh lemon juice
  • 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 2 T. cornstarch

Preparation

Crust
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a bowl, combine the graham cracker crumbs, ground almonds and sugar. Add softened butter and mix with a fork until the butter is evenly distributed among the crumbs. Turn half the mixture into a lightly greased 7-inch springform pan.

Spread and pat the crust to cover the bottom of the pan. Spoon the remaining crust mixture around the sides of the pan, and with your fingers, press up the sides to a height of about 2 inches, leaving it thicker around the bottom edge where the sides and bottom of the pan meet. Make the crust thinner around the top edge. Chill in the refrigerator while you make the filling.

Filling
In a large bowl, combine tofu and cream cheese, and mix well with an electric mixer. Add sugar and eggs, and mix to incorporate them completely. Add lemon zest, lemon juice and vanilla; mix well. Then blend in cornstarch.

Pour filling into prepared crust, filling it within 1/2 inch of the top.

Bake in center of oven for 50 to 60 minutes. The cake will be lightly browned around the edges, and should jiggle slightly in the center. Turn off the heat but leave the cake sitting in the oven for another 60 minutes. The top of the warm cake should be lightly golden-brown and just soft to the touch in the center. Set the cake on a cooling rack and let it cool to room temperature. Cover the cake with foil and refrigerate in the pan overnight before serving.

Serves 8.