Joel Salatin in Person

Joel Salatin, the farmer and author, will give a FREE talk on Wednesday, Oct. 26 at 7pm in the Multi-Purpose Room at Redwood Elementary School in Fort Bragg.

Gallery Bookshop will be on hand with copies of his new book, Folks, This Ain't Normal, and sales will benefit the Noyo Food Forest. This will be Salatin's only Northern California appearance.

Salatin, hailed by the New York Times as, "Virginia's most multifaceted agrarian since Thomas Jefferson [and] the high priest of the pasture" was profiled in the Academy Award nominated documentary "Food Inc." and the bestselling book The Omnivore's Dilemma.

The Noyo Food Forest is a non-profit organization based in Fort Bragg. Their mission: growing community, one garden at a time.

Doors open at 6pm. Seating is on a first-come, first-serve basis. For more information, call Noyo Food Forest at (707) 964-0218 or www.noyofoodforest.org

We Ran the Ranch!

Thank you so much to everyone who came out and supported the Gardens Project's 2nd annual Run the Ranch event this past Saturday!

It was a beautiful day and all participants had a great time and couldn't stop talking about the delicious, local lunch of caprese salad sandwiches and grilled veggies.

Thank you to the North Coast Striders, Jaxon Keys Winery, Brookside Farm, Raleys, Ukiah Natural Foods Co-op, and Schats Bakery for donating the cheese, bread, vegetables, and race registration and support!

We raised $650 which will be used to provide new infrastructure for our community and school gardens.

Thanks again to everyone who ran, if you didn't make it, we hope to see you there next year!

Check out the slideshow below to see pictures from the event!

A Plate, Half Full

MyPlate! If you haven’t already heard, this is the new icon from the USDA that has replaced the ol’ food pyramid. For our Mendocino County teen peer nutrition educators… the BEANS team… this means a slight shift in the way some of our lessons are taught. The BEANS team is studying MyPlate to figure out the ways to present this new information to school kids throughout the county.

What does the BEANS team like best about MyPlate? That it graphically shows how half of every meal should be fruits and vegetables.

Ever notice that lots of ads and magazine food photos usually show a big piece of meat filling half the plate, a small side of rice, and 3 or 4 pieces of a vegetable? Well, this is what the BEANS team is out to change! They’d like to show school kids a new way to build a meal… with colorful fruits and veggies filling half the plate! Their first project will be to cut and paste foods from grocery store ads onto a paper plate… to practice filling half the plate with garden-fresh produce. Their next project will be to take the kids on a visit to their school garden. They will harvest some veggies together and use them to cook up a great meal.

I’ll be sure to take some photos of the kids’ meals… with tasty veggies filling half their plates! Stay tuned to the Real Dirt Blog… in November, I’ll show the kids in action.

Extra pears put to good use, thanks Nelson Family!

Here at the Gardens Project we'd like to extend a heartfelt THANK YOU to the Nelson Ranch for letting the public harvest pears that otherwise would have gone to waste. It was a big step in the right direction for creating a stronger sense of community and supporting a local food system.

More than 1,200lbs of pears were harvested in just one weekend. Gleaners included individual community members and families, as well as elementary, middle, and pre-school staff who were able to incorporate fresh pear treats and tastings into their lesson plans the following week.

At Calpella School the pears were used to teach the nutritional value of fruit and to encourage the students to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables in their daily diet. At Head Start, this pear harvest coincided with “Pear Week” in the Food For Thought lessons, which gave pre-schoolers a chanceto taste and compare varieties of pears, make pear sauce, pear bread, and dehydrate the remaining pear.

Whether pickled, dried, baked, or juiced, the pears were greatly enjoyed by community members of all ages. We have heard nothing but appreciative and positive remarks about having the opportunity to glean the pears and everyone hopes to be able to do it again in the future.

Thanks again Nelson Family Vineyards for sharing your pears with the community!

TOMATO TIME!

Tomatoes are a good source of Vitamins A, C, & K!
If your garden is exploding with tomatoes, give these tasty recipes a try!

Tomato Basil Skewers
Ingredients
16 small fresh mozzarella balls
16 fresh basil leaves
16 cherry tomatoes
Extra-virgin olive oil to drizzle
Coarse salt & freshly ground pepper to taste
Directions
Thread mozzarella, basil and tomatoes on small skewers. Drizzle with oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Tomato Gratin

Ingredients
4 slices whole-grain bread, torn into quarters
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1/3 cup finely shredded Pecorino Romano or Parmesan cheese
4 medium tomatoes, sliced
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 450°F. Coat a shallow 2-quart baking dish with nonstick spray.
2. Place bread in a food processor and pulse until coarse crumbs form. Add garlic, oil and cheese; pulse to combine. Spread the seasoned breadcrumbs on abaking sheet and bake until beginning to brown, about 5 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, layer tomato slices in the prepared baking dish, sprinkling each layer with basil, pepper and salt. Bake the tomatoes for 10 minutes; sprinkle with the toasted breadcrumbs and bake for 10 minutes more. Serve immediately.

Tomato & Fennel Salad
Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon champagne vinegar or white-wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground pepper to taste
1 pound tomatoes, cut into wedges
2 cups thinly sliced fennel bulb
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/3 cup toasted pine nuts
Directions
Whisk oil, vinegar, salt and pepper in a large bowl until combined. Add tomatoes, fennel, parsley and pine nuts; toss to coat.

Gazpacho Recipe

Ingredients
6 ripe tomatoes, chopped
1 purple onion, finely chopped
1 cucumber, chopped
1 sweet red/green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
2 stalks of celery, chopped
1-2 Tbspn chopped fresh parsley
2 Tbspn chopped fresh chives
1 clove minced garlice
1/4 cup red wine vingear
1/4 cup olive oil
2 Tbspn fresh squeezed lemon juice
2 tspn sugar
Sal and fresh ground pepper to taste
6 or more drops of Tabasco sauce to taste
1 tspn Worcestershire sauce
4 cups tomato juice


Directions
Combine all ingredients. Blend slightly, to desired consistency. Place in non-metal, non-reactive storage container, cover tightly and refrigerate overnight, allowing flavors to blend.

Thank you for Caring!

THANK YOU so much to everyone who came out for United Way's Day of Caring on September 14!



This year, three of the Gardens Project's gardens participated in the event; Brookside School Farm, Yokayo Elementary School, and Nokomis Elementary School and Head Start.

Over at Nokomis we layed down cardboard on the paths and then covered them with lots of wood chips. It was hard work in the hot sun, but we all felt accomplished after seeing the enormous mountain of wood chips decrease into just a small pile.

To see photos from the Nokomis Garden's Day of Caring Volunteers check out the slideshow below

Seasonal Bounty... Pears!

Right now in Mendocino County, pears are in their prime! What to do with all those pears before they’re gone? Slice them and dry them (I like to sprinkle cinnamon over the pear slices so that it dries right into the pear!)… Process them and can them… Serve them freshly sliced with your favorite brie cheese… Make a pear tart… Dice them and stir them into your morning oatmeal (with a few walnuts and a sprinkle of cinnamon of course!). There are lots of possibilities!

For tonight though, I want easy, tasty, and SPECIAL… The recipe: Amaretti Baked Pears.

Ingredients:

4 large, ripe, juicy pears
½ cup pear or apple juice
¾ cup raw almonds
8 amaretti cookies (if needed, substitute shortbread cookies and add a ¼ tsp. almond extract)
¼ cup brown sugar
½ tsp. vanilla extract
1 egg white
2 tsp. lemon juice
2 Tbs. butter

Preparation:

1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Sprinkle the almonds onto a baking tray and roast for about 10 minutes… you’re going for light, golden brown. Remove from the oven and leave to cool, then roughly chop.
2) Put the amaretti biscuits into a plastic bag and crush with a rolling pin into tiny chunks, but not a fine powder. Tip into a bowl and mix in the almonds, brown sugar, vanilla extract, egg white and lemon juice.
3) Peel and halve the pears lengthways. Remove the cores from the pears with a teaspoon to leave a cavity for the filling but leave the stems in place. Put into a shallow ovenproof dish and fill the cavities generously with the amaretti mixture. Pour the pear juice into the dish, dot the pears with butter, cover with foil, and bake for 35 minutes, until the pears are tender (a paring knife poked into the thickest part of one should meet with no resistance). Uncover and bake for a further 5 minutes. Serve warm.

Chef’s note: The amaretti mixture would also work well with peaches. If you try the filling in peaches, only cook them for about 30 minutes.