DECEMBER 2013
MONTHLY ONLINE MAGAZINE FOR PEOPLE WHO GROW THEIR OWN FOOD
What’s Inside:
Last Magazine format The nut doesn’t fall far from the tree What to do in the Edible Garden Edible Wreath “How to Make a wreath” video Planting Shallots on the shortest day with Bill Herring Growing your own Green Manures Farmer concerned about GMO’s Truck Farm Spaghetti Squash Casserole Recipe Vertical Gardening Option It’s that Simple, Supporting your local farmers New Business Gifts for the Gardener
Joy Story
Merry Christmas Foodies I Would like to THANK all my subscribers who have supported Grow Food Network over the last 2 1/2 years. Starting January 2014, we are going to change our format to a blog style Newsletter and make it available to everyone for FREE. It has always been our goal to reach as many people as possible, and now we are going to move in that direction. If you are a paid subscriber, do not worry, we will continue to provide pertinent information to help you grow great food, as well as share information about what people are doing in their gardens.
We want this Network to be a place where people who grow their own food can share their pictures, articles experiences, successes or not with other foodies. Please send in your contributions. Thank you...JOY
Dick’s father, my grandfather, was an avid gardener too. I remember hearing stories of how grandpa would use horse manure in the greenhouse to place his seed trays on for better germination. The heat from the composting manure would be hot enough to stimulate seed germination even in Ontario’s cold winter months.
By Joy Story My “Food Growers Hero List” would not be complete if I failed to mention my dad, Richard Story known to his friends as “Dick.” My dad is still growing his own food into his 80th year, in the town of Midland, Ontario. The climate in Midland is perfect for growing tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers right out in the garden, where as here on Vancouver Island, these same foods thrive best under a little cover.
They say, “The Nut doesn’t fall to far from the tree” and that is certainly true in our family. I come from a family of nuts. (Just joking Dad!) Actually, I came from a family that grew food and they instilled in me a love and passion for it too. My dad doesn’t have a computer so each month my sister-in law Debbie printed off a copy and my brother Rick deliver it. Since this is my last issue in a Magazine format, I would like to dedicate it to my dad, as a gift. Like the gift he is to me. I love you dad! JOY 2
GROW FOOD
with……………...
What to do in the Edible Garden in December MULCH Apply additional mulch to your beds that contain root crops including the tops to protect them from a winter freeze COVERS Be prepared to cover your winter crops with Remay cloth if the weather goes below freezing. Hold down the covers with rocks or boards HARVEST Continue to harvest from your garden and remember that if we do get a freeze and the produce looks frozen, leave it for a few days until the temperatures come back above freezing and you will find your plants healthy and happy. If you try to harvest then, they will go to mush.
PLANTING Shallots can be planted this month. See Bill Herring always plants his shallots on the shortest day of the year (Dec 21) and harvests them on the longest day (June 21) INSECT CONTROL One of the challenges of all-season gardeners is controlling the slugs and cutworms in the winter months. You need to continue to visit the garden and inspect your plants daily. Handpicking or setting traps with boards or upside down grapefruit shells work well.
Last year Grow Food made a “How To.. “Video on wreath making. The beauty of this wreath is that it stays green for 4 months if left outside. There are more photos and instructions below
Grow Food’s edible wreath won 3rd prize at this years Mill Bay Garden Club’s annual Christmas Potluck dinner.
To watch the video: http:// www.youtube.com/ watch?v=6ctboLewc0E
To see more pictures: http:// www.youtube.com/ watch? v=SkWy_BccRAw&feature =plcp 3
Thank you Bill Herring for all the great advice you have provided to our Grow Food subscribers.
You continue to be a great inspiration to me and the many others who rely on your words of wisdom and wit to get us through the growing season. You are the best! Bill likes to plant his shallots this time of the year. He plants them on the shortest day of the year and harvests on the longest.
Tips for Growing Green Manures
By Joy Story Growing your own green manure means you are growing plants in your garden beds for the sole purpose of feeding your soil. It is important to have a fertility program that mixes up the way you add nutrients to your soil for optimum plant health and growth.
Buckwheat flowering. This is a great summer cover crop
If you only ever add horse manure to your garden soil, then you only get the nutrients that horse manure contains. But if you change it up by adding chicken manures, compost you make, mulch your soil with organic matter and grow green manures, you are drawing from a larger nutrient base and creating a smorgasbords of different foods for those creatures living in your soil and feeding your plants. Green Manures are a Sustainable Organic Fertilizer. They: Protect the soil during heavy rains preventing soil erosion and from the blazing sun during the summer Add a wide spectrum of nutrients from all the different kinds of crops you grow Attract beneficial insects and help control pests. Breaks up heavy soils Adds organic matter deep in the soil and in vast quantities during their constant cycles of growth and decay.
First choose annual or perennial plants. If your goal is to build fertility in a garden bed, use annuals. If you are preparing for a fruit tree orchard for the future, then use perennials that will be mowed.
The more species of cover crops you plant, the more varied the soil’s life diversity will be.
You need both nitrogen fixers and carbon builders. “Soil organisms consume 10 - 50 times more carbon than nitrogen, so farmers blend a grass or non-legume in their cover crops”
Some cover crops are great at opening up heavy or compacted soils. Rapeseed and mustard have extensive root systems that punch through hard subsoil, aerating the earth and adding humus as the roots die. Diakon radish is also a good example.
A mix of 5 - 10 varieties sown into the soil, can build humus, add nitrogen, mine minerals, bust up heavy soils and attract an array of helpful insects.
There are two different seasons for planting cover crops and they depend on the temperature. Spring and fall are one season and summer the other.
For a list of seasonal cover crops, go to :http:// growfoodwithjoy.blogspot.ca/ 4
Sources: Gaia’s Garden, Toby Hemingway, and Designing and Maintaining, by Robert Kourik
Written by Rosalie Power and Sue Hanley As a local farmer in the Cowichan Valley I am concerned about GMOs. GMOs are "the result of a laboratory process of taking genes from one species and inserting them into another to obtain a desired trait or characteristic". This process may be called genetic engineering (GE) or genetic modification (GM)".* Humans have always bred plants and animals to achieve a better taste or an easier way to grow food. Today, corporations say they can reduce the use of chemicals by manufacturing GMO seeds. Sounds great but what are the end results? The long term health effects of GMOs are unknown but, when multiple generations of hamsters were fed a diet of GM soy; by the third generation they were losing the ability to produce offspring or producing about half as many pups as the non-GM soy-fed group. Allergy sufferers fear new allergens will arise with the
insertion of unknown genes to particular foods. Since 1994, over 81 GM foods have been introduced into Canada including: -
Canola Corn Lentils Potatoes Rice
- Soybeans - Squash - Tomatoes - Wheat - Sugar Beets
In Canada, GM foods are not regulated or labeled. The movement to grow our own food is exploding GREAT AS LONG AS GMO seeds are not sown. Lobby Government to reduce or at least regulate the labeling of GMO products. Help build awareness about local foods. We are fortunate in the Cowichan Valley to have farms, farm gates and markets to keep our families healthy. *Cowichan Green Community Website Tips for avoiding GMO’s : http:// www.nongmoshoppingguide.com/tips-for-avoiding-gmos.html
GREAT INSPIRATIONS Judy Kenzie filled her 1993 Mazda truck box with soil and edible plants and began the Truck Farm as a demonstration garden on wheels. She travels to schools, farmers markets, craft fairs all around Vancouver BC hoping to encourage people to grow their own food and learn more about GMO seeds. She sells seeds and postcards of her artwork to help finance her project . To read more about Judy’s work or to support her efforts, go to her website at:
truckfarm.ca 5
Recipe by Jocelyne open side down in 1/2 inch of water. Roast until insides are soft.
1 medium spaghetti squash, seeds removed and cut in half lengthwise 1 large leek, chopped finely 1 medium zucchini, grated ( about 2 cups) 3 tomatoes, diced 4 cloves garlic, minced 2 cubes fresh/frozen basil ( I freeze mine in ice cube trays) * 1/2-1 tsp. sea salt 1/2 cup grated fresh parmesan butter
Saute leek in a generous dab of butter over medium heat with salt for about 4 minutes. Add zucchini and garlic and saute another 3 minutes. Add basil and tomatoes and cook 2 more minutes. Scrape out spaghetti squash and add to leek mixture. Mix well and pour into 8x8 baking dish ( if it fits). Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and bake for 1/2 hour at 350. * you could use 2 tbsp. of pesto or 1 Tbsp dried basil
Preheat oven to 375. Use appropriately sized baking dish and put squash
Hope you enjoy it. It serves about 4 hungry people.
Herban is a versatile gardening system for dwellings limited by space but not imagination. It can transform any balcony into an abundance of fresh herbs, leafy greens, strawberries and flowers. It is designed and crafted in Vancouver BC from recycled materials.
www.mubi.ca 6
By Joy Story Let’s put it another way: Supporting local farmers is a lot like supporting your local retailers. If we don’t trade our hard earned dollars for their goods, they won’t be able to stay in business. It’s that simple. Farmers are the same. If we don’t buy from our local farmers, they will need to go off the farm to find work. If local farmers are not growing our food, the demand for food will show up on our grocery stores shelves. Instead of supporting local growers and their families, we will be supporting families in Mexico or California. We don’t live in Mexico or California.
If your brother was a cobbler, you wouldn’t go to Walmart to buy your shoes. You would support your brother and his family. We need to do that too. Some people were put on this earth to plant seeds, care for animals and produce food. If we support them, they have a job and we have food. It’s that simple! Lettuce support our local Farmers Lettuce support our local Retailers Lettuce support local people Lettuce support one another.
When we don’t support our local farmers, all kinds of ramifications fall into place.
Growing fields become pasture for horses.
Growing skills are lost
Businesses that support the agriculture industry close down or move to greener pastures making it difficult for existing farmers to get the service and products they need.
Farmers and their family suffer hardships.
Next generation farmers move off the family farm in search of work and an industry is lost.
The foundation for “sustainability” falls into the hands of others and we no longer have a say in what we are eating.
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Christmas Gift Idea “Grow Your Own Food” Gardening Courses (Starting February 2014) $20.00 each For more info. Contact Joy at growfood@shaw.ca These great plant markers were at a Craft Fair in Vancouver. To see more of their designs and products check out their facebook page below. They will ship. https://www.facebook.com/ rockyard.ca
“Don’t just stand there, Weed something”
Avalon Design
Walter Gebhardt Designer CUSTOM NEW HOMES, RENOVATIONS , ADDITION PLANNING & Garden Projects
250 743-0414 avalondesign@shaw.ca
For more info www.avalondesign.ca
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