End of the Season

The leaves have turned color, the air has a chill in it and the garden is done for the year. A few tomatoes are clinging to the vines, and I hope they have a chance to ripen before the first frost.

It was not a good year for my garden. The intense heat and heavy rains burned up leaves and rotted carrots and onions. The Thai eggplant only got about as big as a golf ball and then stopped growing. I did get some nice cucumbers, bell peppers and hot peppers. The heirloom tomatoes were delicious, but I didn't get as many as I would have liked. One pumpkin grew, a little larger than a softball. It was cute!

In spite of the unfriendly weather, I'm still happy with my little garden. I'm looking forward to next year! Happy Autumn!

Arsenic in Apple Juice

You may have heard recently that some apple juice brands in the U.S. contain arsenic. Yesterday, I watched a segment on the Dr. Oz Show about this issue. The FDA does not currently have a safe level of arsenic set for apple juice. Some testing is revealing levels much higher than the the safety level set for drinking water.

So how is arsenic getting in the apple juice? Some American companies purchase apple juice concentrate from China, Argentina and Brazil. In these countries, pesticides containing arsenic are used. To avoid the chance that arsenic is in your children's juice, you need to buy organic or read the labels carefully and only buy juice made from apples grown in the U.S. It can be hard to find the country of origin on labels. In one spot the labeling may say it is an American product, and in another spot it may say that the apple juice concentrate used was made in China. At the grocery store this morning, I found a bottle of apple juice that said the country of origin was printed on the bottle neck, but the information was not there.

It is also important to realize that apple juice concentrate is not only used in juice. It can also be found as a sweetening agent in other products. In these products, there is no way to know where the juice concentrate comes from. We need to press the FDA to change its policies. Until then, I will only buy organic apple juice. I encourage you to Google this issue and/or read the links below and make your own informed decision.

Testing Finds Arsenic in Apple Juice - from Food and Water Watch

Dr. Oz Investigates: Arsenic in Apple Juice

Wealthy Chinese begin growing their own food

This is a link to an interesting BBC article about recent food safety issues in China and how these issues are prompting some to grow their own food. The food scares are strange: glow-in-the-dark meat, exploding watermelons, melamine-tainted baby formula. What I found sad is that only those with the time and money can grow their own food. Poorer citizens are at the mercy of the food industry producing the unsafe food.
BBC: Wealthy Chinese begin farming after food-safety scares

My Garden in August

Things are going well in my little garden, even with the intense summer heat. I've been getting lots of ripe Yellow Pear tomatoes and Juliet tomatoes, a small Roma variety. Now some of the larger varieties are starting to ripen. I've had several hot peppers and bell peppers ripen and some cucumbers are coming on. The lettuce and sugar snap peas wilted long ago in the 90+ degree weather we've been having all summer.

One of the plants that I started from seed that survived was a Thai eggplant. The seed came free as a thank you gift from the heirloom seed company I ordered from this spring. I didn't know if the plant would survive, but I planted it outside anyway. Recently it shot up in size and put on buds. This morning I found this pretty little bloom.

I'm curious to try this eggplant variety and I hope the bloom produces an eggplant!

Stay cool!

Progress on Frankenfish Ban

In an earlier post, I explained the issues surrounding genetically-engineered salmon. The House of Representatives passed a ban on these "frankenfish." Recently, a bi-partisan appeal has been made to the FDA by both members of the House and members of the Senate to end the FDA's plans to approve the genetically-engineered salmon. A draft of the same ban is being drawn up for the Senate's vote. This bi-partisan appeal is a good sign! Hopefully, our lawmakers won't let us down on this issue!
Lawmakers Tell FDA to Back Off on GE Salmon - article

First Tomato of the Season

I found the first ripe tomato in my garden this weekend. It was one of the Yellow Pear variety. It's small, like a cherry tomato, but pear-shaped and yellow. They taste great in a salad! I have a lot of green tomatoes now. Bell peppers and hot banana peppers are also appearing. Yum!

Locavore Programs

Nationwide, a movement called the 100-Mile Meal is educating the public about the benefits of locavorism. The movement promotes eating food that originates within 100 miles of where you live. Athens, Ohio is pushing that idea a bit further and has started the 30-Mile Meal. The link below has a nice little article about it. I feel lucky to live close enough to Athens to take part in its rich locavore traditions!
Athens proudly sits near the top of the locavore food chain - Athens News article

July is 30-Mile-Meal month. If you have the chance to visit the Athens area, this website will provide more information and a map of participating food producers.
The 30 Mile Meal - Athens, Ohio

The national 100 Mile Meal movement's website is here:
The 100 Mile Meal Diet

Frankenfish

Below is a link to an article about the proposed ban on genetically-modified salmon. GMO salmon would be the first genetically-modified animal to be sold as food. GMO fruits and vegetables have been sold for quite some time. The ban is not law yet - it still needs to pass the Senate. We can only hope that it does pass. I found it interesting (and a bit ominous) to see that the name of this "fish" is a registered trademark. I think most of us would prefer that our meat and fish be natural, and not created in a lab.
GMO Salmon article

Morning Surprises!

When I checked on my garden this morning, I found two surprises - a small tomato and a small pepper!

The tomato is a variety called Yellow Pear, described as a small, sweetish tomato perfect for snacking and salads. The pepper is a Hot Banana pepper.

My daughter, who was flitting about the yard in last Halloween's pink princess dress, was delighted to see that the red raspberries are getting a pinkish tint to them.

I am as excited as a kid!! :)

Back on Track

The rainy spell we've endured seems to have ended and the garden is doing well. A few heirloom plants have survived: carrots, cucumbers, sugar snap peas, lettuce, one Anaheim pepper plant, and one bell pepper plant. I was able to buy heirloom tomato plants, and they are growing and putting on blooms already. The raspberry canes I planted are still small, but are putting on a few berries, surprising in their first year. It won't amount to more than a handful, but I'm still excited. I've filled the rest of my garden squares with bell peppers and one Hot Banana pepper plant, as well as planting a couple of pumpkins. My daughter has always wanted to grow a pumpkin. She was excited to see that they have sprouted this morning. The damage she did to the onions has been corrected. I'm glad onions are so easy to grow! We seem to be back on track! :)

Toxins from GMO Foods found in Humans

GMOs, or genetically-modified organisms, have been on Americans' dinner tables for years. Though many of us have doubted it, we have been told by our government and by the industry creating genetically-modified foods that these foods pose no risk to human health. Recent studies, however, challenge that notion.

GM foods include genes from different bacteria, making them resistant to pests. The claim has been that, though these foods are toxic to insects, the toxins are broke down in the human digestive system, and will not build up in the human body. Researchers in Canada have found that this is not true, and are finding these very toxins in the blood of pregnant women and their unborn children. One report showed that as many as 93% of fetuses have these toxins coursing through their blood streams. The long term effects of these toxins on the human body are unknown, which should be enough to outlaw GM foods. But the supporters of these food crops seem to think unknown equals safe. Since companies are not required to label foods as GMOs, it is very difficult to know what you are eating.

For more information, here are a couple of links to articles on the recent study:
Toxin from GM Crops Found in Human Blood - EatDrinkBetter.com

93% of Unborn Babies Have GMO Food Toxins in their Blood - Salem-News.com

Kids and Gardening

Teaching kids about gardening at an early age will help them understand where their food comes from, and make them more comfortable digging in the dirt and growing plants. As I've been learning more about growing my own food, I've been involving my daughter in the process. She loves helping me plant and pick vegetables.

The only vegetables in my garden that are thriving in all this rain are my onions. I pick them early when they are scallions or "green onions." My daughter loves pulling them out of the soil. Last night, she asked me if she could pick a few and I told her that she could. A few minutes later, she came back, proudly showing me three perfectly picked green onions. This morning, when I went out to check on my garden, this is what I found in the two onion plots:

The onion plots were dug up, onions were laying everywhere. My first thought was that a wild nighttime visitor had been in my garden - then I remembered my daughter picking onions. When I asked her about it, she said that she just kept pulling up onions until she had some with the bulbs still attached. She had to dig holes in the soil to do that. She left the remaining massacred onions laying on the ground. Too funny!

The lesson is: always supervise kids in the garden - even when they are just picking onions!!

As you can see in the bottom half of the picture, my lettuce plants are not doing well. All of my tomato seedlings have died and my pepper plants stopped growing. I'll probably be buying all of my vegetable plants this year. And I was so excited about the heirloom seeds that I found...

Rainy Day Blues

The unusually heavy rainfall is playing havoc with gardeners this year. My little arugula and lettuce plants are looking a bit sick - too much water, too little sunlight. I hope they can recover! My pepper and eggplant seedlings are doing well indoors, but my tomato seedlings are becoming spindly and weak - a symptom of too little sunlight. (Note to self: invest in a grow light!) I may cry real tears if they don't survive. My mushroom plot turned into a stream this spring, curtailing mushroom season. It's all been frustrating! With more rain in the forecast, I guess I can only do my best with the circumstances I'm dealt. Another lesson that my garden is teaching me - when the unexpected happens, adapt! Happy Mother's Day!

The Strength in a Seed

We have had several pounding rains since I planted my lettuce and arugula seeds outside. Because these seeds were so tiny, I was afraid that the rain would wash them away. While looking for any damage from last night's storm, I found that my arugula has sprouted! Amazing.

I also noticed a couple of pea plants starting to sprout and an onion beginning to come up through the dirt. My tomato, pepper and eggplant seedlings are thriving indoors. And the raspberry canes I planted a few weeks ago are growing, too. Maybe it's a bit nerdy of me, but I get excited watching the life and strength in these plants.

The Morels are Back!

After four trips out to the woods, scouring the ground for a sign, I found the first morel mushrooms of the season. Ten little guys, about an inch high, greeted me on my walk to the mushroom patch last night. Not exactly enough for a meal, but they bring the hope of more morels in the next few weeks. It's mushroom season!! :)

April...Finally!!

It was with a great sigh of relief that I turned the calendar to the month of April. It has been a long, long winter. April promises warmer temperatures and the beginning of the gardening season.

Last week, I planted my tomato and pepper seeds indoors. My tomato seeds are already sprouting! I chose heirloom varieties this year. Pink Brandywine, Gold Medal and Beefsteak tomatoes. Anaheim peppers. California Wonder green bell peppers and an Italian red bell pepper variety called Quadrato d'Asti Rosso. Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds also sent me some free eggplant seeds - an unusual variety from Thailand. I'm curious to see how they do!

I'm building a second square foot garden box, so I can grow twice as many veggies this year. In a few weeks, I can sow my cool weather veggies - lettuce, arugula, onions and sugar snap peas. I'm also growing carrots and cucumbers this season. Gurney's sent me a seed and plant catalog with a $25 coupon. I used it to buy 4 Heritage Red Raspberry plants. They just arrived and I need to get them in the ground. If things go well, I'll have quite a selection of homegrown foods. Wish me luck!!

Seeds

Only 13 days until the first day of spring! This morning, the air is chilly, but the sun is shining bright. I uncovered my little square foot garden to see how it fared during the winter. It will need some soil added, but otherwise, it is in great shape. I ordered some seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. It may still be a while before I can plant them, but I'm already planning that garden!

Before science intervened in food production, there was a time when people could collect seeds from the foods that they ate. It was common to harvest seeds and save them for the next planting season. Hybrids and GMOs have made that very difficult today. As well as irradiation and vacuum-drying of shipped foods. I just read an interesting online article about an experiment to plant seeds from the kitchen. The author had some successes and some failures, and provides some facts about the foods we buy. The link to the article is below:
NY Times article - Seeds Straight From Your Fridge

Heirloom Seed Catalog

I've found a fantastic source for heirloom seeds. Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds is dedicated to preserving heirloom vegetables and flowers. They have a beautiful catalog, with full-color photos and descriptions of their many varieties of vegetables and flowers.

To view their website, use this link:
Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds

They are out of the print version of their catalog, but you can download the catalog for free. It requires Adobe Acrobat to view:
Baker Creek Catalog - .pdf version

The Chocoholic's Cake

The flourless chocolate souffle' cake is the chocolate lover's dream. Unlike the "death by chocolate" cake, this dessert isn't sickenly sweet, and the emphasis is on intense dark chocolate flavor. I've seen several different versions of the flourless chocolate cake, but the recipe that follows is my favorite. It was given to me by my niece, Ashley, who is a pastry chef, and shares my love of dark, dark chocolate. This is a perfect dessert for Valentine's Day!

Flourless Chocolate Cake

8 oz. bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
8 tbsp. unsalted butter, sliced
2 tbsp. vanilla
6 large eggs, divided
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp. granulated sugar

Glaze:
4 oz. bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/3 cup heavy cream
2 tbsp. honey

1. In a double boiler, melt 8 oz. chocolate. Add butter and stir until completely melted. Cool. Stir in vanilla.

2. In a separate bowl, whisk together egg yolks and 1/2 cup sugar.

3. In a third bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Add 2 tbsp. of sugar, and continue to beat until stiff peaks form.

4. Add chocolate mixture to egg yolk mixture. Stir well.

5. Fold in egg whites to chocolate and egg yolk mixture, 1/3 at a time. Be careful not to overmix or deflate egg whites.

6. Pour batter into a greased springform pan. Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. Cool in pan for about 30 minutes before removing it.

7. To make the glaze, heat the heavy cream in a large saucepan until bubbles form around the edges. Add honey. Remove from heat. Add 4 oz. of chocolate and stir until completely melted. Pour over cooled cake.

Interesting article

This year's cold snap has definitely left me with the winter blues. My only ray of hope came in the form of a seed catalog! I love looking through it, dreaming of warm summer days in my garden.

The following link is to an op/ed article from The New York Times. The author has some interesting proposals. I agree with a lot of what he suggests, but I'm not sure I'd be comfortable with his proposal to give the FDA even more power over our food. The recent passage of the new food safety bill may actually prove more harmful to small farmers than many realize. While the large corporations, who tend to be the source of most food-borne illnesses,  find ways to get around safety laws, the small and less powerful farmers get the squeeze. Anyway, the article is definitely worth taking the time to read.

A Food Manifesto for the Future

New Design

As you can see, I've been making some changes to the appearance of my blog. I just felt like a change! I also found a handy gadget that you will see on the right side of the page - a seasonal foods tool. Using the drop down menus, you can see what foods are in season in different parts of the country. Let me know what you think!

Exporting the Western Diet

The link below will take you to a news video about an island now called the fattest place on Earth. Why did this small nation's inhabitants, who were once healthy, become overweight? Why are so many now suffering from Type 2 diabetes? They imported our foods!

ABC News Video about the Fattest Nation on Earth