The Johns Hopkins Campus Kitchen collects apples from a local farm

The USDA recently announced a spate of new regulations for school food as a part of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010. The Act, which was signed in December 2010, is the first change the lunchroom has seen in about 30 years. It requires schools to follow healthier guidelines, such as limiting the total number of calories, trans fat, and sodium that students consume. The initiative hopes to “end childhood obesity within a generation,” according to a USDA statement, and looks to change the American students’ eating habits. But in order to change decades of bad eating habits, the USDA and other organizations have focused their attention on nutritional education and local farms.

In order to successfully change school food, kids are going to have to change their minds about what’s appealing. This is where the Farm-to-School Initiative comes into play. By connecting children and local farms, the students gain both access to healthy food and nutrition education. According to FoodCorps, kids who visit and work in gardens not only understand where their food comes from, they become more invested in their nutritional choices.

JHU students picking apples

The students aren’t the only ones benefiting. According to USDA Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan, the farms and local economy benefit, too. You don’t just get healthy food when you buy local – you invest in your local economy and small businesses.

So at a time when the stock market is dropping and childhood obesity is rising, it makes sense to kill two birds with one stone – or apple. Teach children how to eat a more healthy diet by bringing them to the source, and help out the local economy while you’re at it.

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Preparing for Fall Crops -

Just like in the spring when you were planning and preparing your garden for the season, to get ready for fall crops you will want to prepare the soil. Clear out summer crops that have finished producing or that have died, and add organic matter and fertilizer, working them into the soil well. Crops like beets, carrots, kale, peas, radish, spinach and turnips can all be direct seeded. Crops like Brussels Sprouts, Cabbage, Cauliflower, and Broccoli will need to be started indoors. Because moisture is important to get any crop started, you will need to be vigilant with watering during the heat of August and September, depending on where you live. The first frost will dictate how long your fall growing season can last, so find out that date so you can plan your planting accordingly.

Hoop Houses -

If you are thinking, however, that you want to beat the frost and create a space that will allow you to continue growing even when it is cold outside, you may want to consider hoop houses. For as little as a few hundred dollars, a backyard hoophouse can make it seem like you moved your garden hundreds of miles to the south. You can count on four to six weeks of extra production in spring and fall. By adding an inner layer of cover inside a hoop and picking cold-hardy varieties, you can grow right through winter! For more ideas, check out this great article from Mother Earth News.

Overwintering Crops -

Some crops will grow in hoop houses through the winter, as Mother Earth News suggests, but you can also plant seeds in the fall that will grow in the spring! Once the weather gets cooler (closer to the frost date) try a throwing a mix of seeds in one of your garden beds, cover with straw and wait until spring to see what pops up!

Cover Crops -

Even if you don’t plan to create a fall or winter garden, to add nutrients back into the soil and prepare for next season, you can plant cover crops on empty beds. This will also help to keep weeds down. Late summer legumes put a lot of Nitrogen back into the soil and early fall grains help with winter cover and help stop erosion. For more ideas about cover cropping, click here.

Though the end of summer is on the horizon, don’t let that stop you from getting the most from your garden. This resource from Ed Hume Seeds guides you through fall and winter vegetable planting and this one from GardenGuides.com has great tips as well. Happy continued planting!

Fridays in the Garden is a blog series by The Campus Kitchen Project’s Community Development Coordinator and is designed to provide timely ideas and tips to anyone embarking to garden (at a Campus Kitchen or anywhere). Feel free to contact her with questions at asteiner@campuskitchens.org or leave your thoughts below. Also, follow her on twitter for great gardening thoughts and tidbits: @redheadgardener

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Growing -

Most herbs thrive best in rich, well drained soil. That being said, herbs native to the Mediterranean, like Rosemary and Lavender, need even more drainage to keep their roots dry. It is important plant perennials like these separate from annuals herbs like basil or other annual vegetables, which need a lot more water.

Sunlight is another crucial consideration as most common herbs need full sunlight to grow well though  Parsley, Thyme and Mint are all herbs that can tolerate shade (2 to 6 hours of sunlight a day).

Some of my favorite herbs to grow are Basil, Chives, Oregano, Tarragon, Sage, Thyme and Rosemary. All of these can add so much flavor and aroma to your meals and are cost effective to have in your home garden. Many of these can also be grown in containers or on the windowsill in your kitchen, making fresh, home grown herbs available year round!

Harvesting -

In almost all cases, the best time to harvest herbs is when the plants are forming buds, but before they have flowered. At this time, the plant’s leaves contain the highest concentration of essential oils. Depending on what you want to use the herbs for, you may choose to snip off a few beautiful sprigs of basil or rosemary for garnish or whole stems with more leaves to use in stews, sauces or pesto. With most herbs, clip stems just above a low set of leaves. 

Keeping herbs pinched and pruned like this will encourage growth.

Preserving -

Both with store bought and home grown herbs, there is nothing worse than pulling them out of the fridge to find them slimy and wilted.   Some herbs can be dried or frozen to save their flavor. This resource gives you some great tips for preservation. Also, this video guides you through keeping your herbs fresh.

Check out this Herb Resource from Garden Guides for more tips for herb growing and using and consider growing herbs year round! Plus this great site shares ideas for the best herbs to use in salads. Happy Herb-ing!

Fridays in the Garden is a blog series by The Campus Kitchen Project’s Community Development Coordinator and is designed to provide timely ideas and tips to anyone embarking to garden (at a Campus Kitchen or anywhere). Feel free to contact her with questions at asteiner@campuskitchens.org or leave your thoughts below. Also, follow her on twitter for great gardening thoughts and tidbits: @redheadgardener

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July brings with it long hot days (especially here in the mid-Atlantic), which can provide those sun and heat loving plants everything that they need to produce delectable treats for our tables. At the same time, the height of summer can usher in some possible challenges for your garden. Though I explored some pest and diseases that you might see in your garden in a post in the end of May, what follows are some common problems that deplete plant health, along with some cures and some ideas for increase garden health in future seasons. I hope your garden always looks like this one, but in case it doesn’t here are some tips…

Some Garden Challenges and Solutions:

Soil is too dry - This might be happening because your soil drains too well, because it hasn’t rained or because you are not watering enough. Regardless of the reason, when plants don’t get the moisture they need they can wilt, brown and even die. Watering deeply about once a week, providing 1 inch of water to each plant, will suffice, but feel the soil and water when it is dry to a depth of 3 inches or more. Mulching with straw can help the soil retain more moisture as well.

Soil is too wet - A lot of rain or over-watering can also be bad for your plans. If you have poorly draining soil, water may collect at the base of your plants or around roots, causing root or stem rotting which depletes the health and quality of the plant. Too much water, or irregular watering, can also cause blossom-end rot in plants like squash, peppers and tomatoes or just a poor overall fruit yield. Don’t over-water! Keep a rain gauge in your garden to assess how much water you are getting and always feel soil before using the hose. Incorporating organic matter into your garden will also help with drainage.

There is NO Fruit! – Sometimes plant look really healthy with big green leaves and strong stems but don’t seem to produce any flowers or fruit. This might be because the weather is too cold or too hot for the specific plant, which is all a matter of timing. Another cause could be too much nitrogen in the soil. Nitrogen makes beautiful deep green plants, but they need other nutrients to produce flowers and fruit. Be careful to fertilize specific plants according to their need and incorporate compost into your garden to help with nutrient balance.  Lastly, you may be missing fruit because you are missing pollinators. You can pollinate manually and you can also work to create an environment that welcomes in beneficial insects that help with pollination.

Nutrient Problems – When plants can’t access the nutrients they need, they won’t grow to produce the vegetables that we want to eat! Sometimes the problem is lack of nutrients – adding compost and organic matter will help to mitigate against this. Another problem is an imbalance in soil pH. If the pH is too high or too low, plants won’t be able to utilize certain nutrients, even if they are in the soil. Soil Testing at the beginning of the season will help you understand what is happening in your garden beds. Side dress with compost on plants that are struggling this season until you have a better picture of what might be missing. Click here for more information about necessary soil nutrients.

For more information about specific plant diseases, check this Harvest to Table Vegetable Disease Problem Solver. Also check out this great resource from Cornell filled with tips for minimizing diseases in vegetable gardens. Enjoy this hot summer weather and keep gardening!

Fridays in the Garden is a blog series by The Campus Kitchen Project’s Community Development Coordinator and is designed to provide timely ideas and tips to anyone embarking to garden (at a Campus Kitchen or anywhere). Feel free to contact her with questions at asteiner@campuskitchens.org or leave your thoughts below. Also, follow her on twitter for great gardening thoughts and tidbits: @redheadgardener

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When it comes to harvesting produce from your garden, your best guide is your own experience! As an eater, you know how you like things to taste, so with a little bit of garden taste testing, you will be able to get a sense of when you want to be plucking fruit from the plant. Most vegetables are harvested just before full maturity, for maximum flavor and the most pleasant texture. For example, if you leave a zucchini on the vine to grow into a giant (which they do in a flash if you don’t watch them closely), it will be woody, hard, bland and seedy. What follows are some tips and resources to help you get the best harvest this season. 

Ripeness Indicators:

Look at the plant. What signs is it sending you? When something is ripe, the spot where it is attached to the plant may be whithered or dry. Root veggies will shoulder up, showing their tops above the surface of the soil. Other plants that grow under ground (potatoes, onions, garlic, to name a few) are ready when the plant dies back.

Smell the plant. Things like melons let you know they are ripe when they emit a fruity smell from the blossom end.

Listen to your plant: Watermelon will let you know it is ready to eat when a slight tap with your finger produces a hollow sound.

Touch: Soft fruits are ready when they almost fall off the plant. Peas and beans are ready when their pods feel tight but not too firm.

Combine all these with your sense of taste to get a better idea of when things are ready to eat!

Harvesting Tips:

Small is better – Like mentioned above, younger fruits will taste better than their more mature, monster counterparts. Picking smaller just before maturity will often result in tastier fruits and will give a plant the opportunity to produce more.

Think Fresh – Plan to eat what you harvest as soon after harvesting as possible. Things that are allowed to hang out on your counter or in your fridge will lose flavor and decrease in quality faster than you will want. As most vegetables are at the height of flavor directly after leaving the plant, use your pickings right away.

The more you pick, the more you get! – The goal of the plant is to reproduce; once it has reached this goal, it will feel like its mission is complete. Picking produce off plants like beans, squash, flowers or herbs when they are young and tender tricks the plant into continuing the growing process instead of packing up shop.

When you pick means a lot – Most produce is freshest, sweetest and crispest in the early morning before the heat of the day has weighed too heavily on the plant. Greens picked midday, for example, will be much more bitter than if they were plucked just after sunrise. In a pinch, you can harvest in the evening when the heat of the day has worn off and plants have gotten a reprieve from the summer sun.

Some Great Resources:

This post on about.com has guidelines for harvesting every vegetable from Asparagus to Watermelon (zucchini is included in the summer squash category).

The Harvest to Table website has great tips on harvesting (and growing and eating, for that matter) that can help with any of your produce needs.

The Madison Area CSA Coalition Cookbook has great tips for how to store and cook fresh produce once picked (or once it has come home in your CSA box). Organized by vegetable, this book is filled with ideas from Midwestern growers and food advocates. Plus, every copy  of From Asparagus to Zucchini sold supports the ability of this Madison, WI based organization to provide CSA memberships to low income families.

Happy Harvesting and Eating to Everyone!

Fridays in the Garden is a blog series by The Campus Kitchen Project’s Community Development Coordinator and is designed to provide timely ideas and tips to anyone embarking to garden (at a Campus Kitchen or anywhere). Feel free to contact her with questions at asteiner@campuskitchens.org or leave your thoughts below. Also, follow her on twitter for great gardening thoughts and tidbits: @redheadgardener

 

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Thai Food Blog/Flickr

Walking into the Campus Kitchen, tying an apron, washing and chopping vegetables. It’s standard practice for a Campus Kitchen cooking shift, but while we’re cutting, we’d be remiss not to think about a different kind of food cuts that might happen while Congress is looking to scale back spending.

As advancements like repurposing excess dining hall food to serve to community agencies continue unheeded, so does the possibility of spending cuts to significant programs that provide Americans food security.

We’ve heard murmurs of less cash flow for food safety, WIC (supporting pregnant and nursing women and young children), and farm subsidies – but what really has Congress piled in the kitchen sink to help balance budgets?

• Jane Black reports for The Atlantic that the H.R. 2112 (currently to the House for vote) threatens both the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service and mandatory funding to federal programs for food assistance. According to Feeding America, this could mean a blow to 475,000 women, infants and children and 130,000 seniors that will need to seek alternative meal assistance from local charities like Campus Kitchens.
• Meanwhile, as The Washington Post reports, House Democrats and Republicans are simultaneously looking to target farm subsidies. Direct crop subsidies totaled $5 billion last year, and dramatically cutting or eliminating this assistance is up for discussion among budget talks. What’s spared (so far)? The agricultural program that provides insurance to help growers when extreme weather hits. This map shows where subsidy money is currently going in terms of states.
• Part of the Agricultural Spending Bill poses a threat to – believe it or not – local food. The Environmental Working Group produced an action alert to oppose the bill’s “misguided spending cuts and support healthy food and local regional food systems.” Their focus is an amendment to the bill proposing to remove support from the Know your Farmer, Know your Food initiative, which works to improve access to local food.

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1. Water -

2. Feed

Tomato plants need four important nutrients in order to thrive. One of the best ways to deliver nutrients to tomato plants is through nutrient-rich soil. Tomatoes need Nitrogen for green growth, Phosphorus to help form flowers, seeds and fruits, Potassium to help resist disease and Calcium to help form strong cell walls. The ability of the tomato plant to access these nutrients is what promotes healthy plant and fruit growth. If you choose to feed your plants with extra tomato fertilizers, the best times to feed tomato plants are just after outdoor planting, when the flowers bloom, when the tomatoes reach the size of a small ball, just after harvesting the first fruit or when plants exhibit signs of distress or disease. Check out these great tips for fertilizing your tomatoes.

3. Trellis

Keeping the fruit and foliage up off the ground is a crucial part of encouraging tomato success. Trellising, either with a ready made system or one that you create yourself, will help support your plant, especially when it gets heavy with ripening fruit. Trellising also maximizes your space, allowing you to grow more varieties and still give each plant everything it needs to be successful. This is a great idea for building your own.

4. Prune

5. Mulch

One of my favorite tips for any vegetable, mulching is just a good thing to do. Mulching conserves water, suppresses weeds, and prevents the soil and soil born diseases from splashing up on the plants. Plus as it breaks down, it adds more nutrients into the soil. My favorite Mulch resource can be found here.

This week’s gardening resource is the TomatoGrowingTips blog, jam packed with ideas to help you succeed in the realm of tomato growing!

Fridays in the Garden is a blog series by The Campus Kitchen Project’s Community Development Coordinator and is designed to provide timely ideas and tips to anyone embarking to garden (at a Campus Kitchen or anywhere). Feel free to contact her with questions at asteiner@campuskitchens.org or leave your thoughts below. Also, follow her on twitter for great gardening thoughts and tidbits: @redheadgardener

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After months of planning, coordinating, collaborating and driving, roots are laid in the DC Truck Farm, and we’re ready to hit the road! In our post about the Truck Farm back in April, the DC Truck Farm was still in the early phases of development. Now, after working with a number of partners and receiving support from so many individuals and organizations, the first seeds were planted and things are really growing!

Support for this project continues to amaze us! The Truck was donated in a partnership between Good Will and the National Charity Services, who bought it off the lot of the Capital Auto Auction. A DC based green roof company, DC Greenworks, connected us with green roof technology innovators for the filter fiber and green roof media gurus for the lightweight subsoil. The topsoil is City of College Park compost. Seeds came from the America the Beautiful Fund and plants came from the USDA’s Peoples Garden and Old City Green.

Today we have a truck filled with happy and healthy plants and now the fun really begins! We even have a small vermicomposting system to help spread nutrients throughout the truck. We had the opportunity to share the project with supporters of DC Central Kitchen at Sound Bites and we are visiting youth for the DC Farm to School Network Strawberries and Salad Greens event. Our official launch is June 3rd at the first USDA Farmers’ Market of the season.

You can find the Truck Farm at the USDA Farmers’ Market just off the National Mall each Friday from 10-2pm. In addition to this weekly engagement, the Truck Farm will be on the road all summer, traveling throughout the District to provide one hour lessons to urban youth at many of our partners. Watch the farm grow and change on Flickr, follow us on Twitter and check us out on the DC Central Kitchen website!

We are excited to use our truck to encourage thinking about where food comes from and inspire the use of innovative spaces to grow food. Share your ideas with us as the season progresses!

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This Red Russian Kale was planted from seed in my garden just as the temperatures began to get cold last fall and it began to sprout upwards just as they began to get warm again early this spring. Now that we have had some 80 degree humid days, they are starting to Bolt and though I have pulled off their flower heads to keep them focused on their leaves a bit longer, pretty soon all my plants will be shooting up to the sky with hopes of blooming. Before that happens, I plan to use it all and what follows are some of my favorite ways to eat Kale!

#1 – Raw!

Kale can be really tender and sweet, and tastes great fresh out of the ground. It is an excellent source of nutrients that are most readily available in this unadulterated form. If you haven’t eaten kale this way, grab a fresh cut piece and give it a try.

#2 – Massaged!

Giving Kale a nice, luxurious rub-down really helps to bring out its flavor and soften its texture. My roommates ate the above Kale massaged with just a bit of olive oil and lemon. Add a bit of garlic and you will have a finger-lickin good start to a salad. Using freshly cleaned hands, toss the whole business together (salt and pepper are good additions), squeeze and rub the kale and let the flavors mix together.

#3 – In a Salad!

Take either raw or massaged kale and throw it together in a salad. This Kale, crouton, pepper, corn and egg salad made for a delectable dinner. We topped it with a garlic, mustard, lime and olive oil dressing (with a dash of salt, pepper and sugar) and couldn’t have been more pleased with the product.

#4 – As Chips!

A great alternative to the potato variety, kale chips are really tasty and really easy to make. Though many people use a dehydrator, it is also easy and quick to make them in your oven. Remove Kale from their stems/stalks and rip leaves into small even pieces. Toss those pieces in a bowl with seasonings of your choice. My favorite combination is olive oil (not too much or else the chips will be soggy), salt, paprika, garlic and nutritional yeast. Once each piece is evenly coated, spread them in one layer on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Cook in an over preheated to 350^o for 12 to 14 minutes or until crispy! Then enjoy!

#5 – Kale Pesto!

When you are overrun with a lot of Kale (which I am now! Eik!), making it into a pesto or spread is a great way to preserve it and continue to enjoy it. Wash and cut your kale so that you have about 3 cups with out stems. Toast a ¼ cup of cashews in the oven for about 10 minutes. Peel 2 cloves of garlic and cut them in half. Gather all of your ingredients together in a food processor (kale, cashews and garlic plus ½ tsp lemon zest, 1/3 cup olive oil, 1/3 cup parmesan cheese and salt and pepper to taste) and blend until smooth. Enjoy on crackers, pasta, grains or right off your spoon!

If all this talk of Kale is inspiring you to grow your own, remember that Kale doesn’t love the heat of the summer (which doesn’t mean it can’t be grown with proper care). That being said, mark your calendar to plant it from seed in the end of July or in August or September for a fall harvest. Or, do like my roommate and spread around the seeds just before it gets really cold and you’ll be pleasantly surprised when new plants pop up next spring.

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Each of these plants are pretty heavy feeders, requiring fertile soil and lot’s of water. That being said, none of them like having really wet roots, so it is also important that they are planted in soil that is well-drained. It is also really important to pay attention to those frost dates. Almost all of these are successful only in warm soil and warm air. Consider using mulch to help with soil warming. Because they are heavy feeders it is important to think careful about where you are planting these crops. Crop rotation will help balance fertility demands and avoid excessive depletion of soil nutrients.

Depending on the nutrient presence in your soil, it will be worthwhile to consider fertilizing to ensure healthy plant growth. There are plenty of organic fertilizing options (compost is one of the best!). Nitrogen is going to help produce really green leafy plants and both phosphorus and calcium will help with healthy fruit production. I really like the products from Gardeners Supply Company.

Cucumbers and squash will grow well from seed once the soil and air are warm enough, but if you want to give them a head start on the growing season, using transplants will be really helpful. Peppers, tomatoes and eggplant all need to transplanted from starts. If you started your own seeds indoors 6 to 8 weeks before the last frost, you will need to harden them off before you set them in the ground. This helps them get used to the elements of the outdoors more gradually and will help them through transplant shock.

The bounty that these crops produce is so delectable and wonderful; I wish you the best of luck in getting them started for a healthy and happy season! Summer Crops for everyone!

This week’s featured blog is Veggie Gardening Tips by Kenny Point. It is filled with great ideas and tips to help ensure a successful gardening season!

Fridays in the Garden is a blog series by The Campus Kitchen Project’s Community Development Coordinator and is designed to provide timely ideas and tips to anyone embarking to garden (at a Campus Kitchen or anywhere). Feel free to contact her with questions at asteiner@campuskitchens.org or leave your thoughts below. Also, follow her on twitter for great gardening thoughts and tidbits: @redheadgardener

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