Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary...

Well, I can't speak for Mary's garden, but mine is growing with the help of homemade compost and a small army of children from my block.

Newbold Neighbors Association has done a great job starting a community garden this year, a couple blocks from my house. I'm just now greening my thumb, so I'm learning a lot along the way.

For instance, if you decide to shop for seedlings with three small children, the oldest being 6 years old, really pay attention to what you're buying. That way, you won't end up with 10 tomato plants and no peppers instead of the more well-rounded collection of tomatoes and red peppers you originally planned.

Similarly, if you decide to plant with three small children, pay closer attention to where they are digging and what they are putting in the ground. That way, you won't end up with a rogue tomato plant in the midst of your cucumber patch.

Sigh... but these are lessons learned along the way and hey, the kids are having fun with the garden. If you want to see children fight over vegetables, this is way. ("That's MY cucumber plant!" "No, it's MINE! THAT one's yours!" "Where's MY tomato growing?") They are also really excited for the "vegetable party" we're going to have at the end of the summer. As in, "Can we make a tomato salad? Please?"

Less overt excitement accompanied the laying of the compost. I fished out some of my compost, put it in a bag and headed over to the garden with two of the older kids from my block, about 8 and 9 years old. I hadn't noticed how the compost smelled till we got to the garden. In the words of John, the 9 year old, it smelled like "dookie." And he was right.

I suspect I wasn't turning the compost enough, letting it aerate properly. It doesn't smell now and seems to be well-integrated into the soil. Nothing has died, so I think it's ok. I went home and added cardboard to my batch in the Envirocycle and have been turning it religiously. Hopefully this next round will be more earthy, less dookie-y.

My pics are from last week, but I was just there again today. The black eggplant have quadrupled in size and the Lavender Touch eggplant is finally showing its light purple blossoms. Plus I have some very funky curly cucumbers growing. The tomatoes have yet to turn red but they are nice in size. And with all those tomato plants, there will be much tomato salad at our vegetable party come late August.

Strawberry Plum Jam: Part 2

So the results of my first foray into jam making? Pretty awesome.

As a recap, I hastily embarked upon my first jam venture by buying a ton of fruit, but lacked all of the other necessary equipment, like... jars, pectin, large pots, a clue as to what I was doing.

Between fruit buying on Tuesday and jamming on Saturday, most things came together. I bought jars, forsook pectin, borrowed a large pot, and started to have a clue. Strawberry plum jam was made. And it's good.

The cooking down of all the fruit with sugar was simple. No issues there. However, I was reading various methods for processing the jars from websites, friends, and the
instructions from the jar manufacturer. (Processing is the term for pressurizing the cans and sealing them. I was specifically doing a boiling water process.)

I made my jam in two batches, starting with the small jars. None of these sealed properly and I don't know why. However, my three large jars all sealed. The big difference was that I used the jar manufacturer instructions with the small jars. They specified keeping the jars in the canning water till they reached room temperature. Other instructions said to take the jars out immediately after boiling and let them cool at room temperature outside of the water, which is what I did for the large jars. I also may not have filled the small jars enough, the excess room at the top making it harder to create a vacuum. The recipe below outlines what I did for the large jars.



Strawberry Plum Jam
(aka Jackson’s Jam, since I was mascerating berries and plums while listening to Thriller just a few hours after MJ passed. It seems appropriate.)

3 lbs. strawberries
2 lbs. plums
2 cups sugar + 8 cups sugar
1 vanilla bean
2 lemons, juiced

Optional step 1: Mascerate berries and plums in 2 cups sugar and the seeds of one vanilla bean, let sit over night, covered and refrigerated. (I used about equal parts light brown sugar and white sugar. I also let it sit for two nights.)

Prepare your canning pot before starting to cook the fruit. I used a large pot and lined the bottom with a towel before filling it with water. I filled it with water till about 3/4 full.

In a large pot, cook all fruit with the 8 cups of sugar and lemon juice for 25 to 30 minutes on medium-high heat. Stir continuously once fruit starts to boil. Skim off any foam that may accumulate on the top.

Let cool for a couple minutes then fill the jars, leaving about 1/4 inch space between the jam and the top of the jar. Screw on lids and wipe off any excess jam with a towel dipped in boiling water.



Place jars in the canning pot, placing towels in between the jars to prevent them from touching. Bring water to a boil. Then, depending on your elevation and jar size, boil for the recommended time. In Philadelphia, the pint jars needed to boil for 20 minutes. Water needs to completely cover the jars, so if the water levels starts to get low, add more.

After the recommended processing time, remove jars using a pair of tongs and let them sit, untouched, till they are properly pressurized.

Thanks to Marisa for her inspirational strawberry jam recipe and the advice along the way! Also E, Mike, Jim and Aditi.

Strawberry Plum Jam: Part 1

I didn’t exactly go about this the right way. I mean, most people get their ducks in a row before embarking on a project like jam. Apparently, I am not one of those people. Rather, I prefer starting with 5 pounds of fruit, crossing my fingers and hoping I get my act together before the fruit spoils.

Wednesday morning I was wooed by the strawberries and plums at Reading Terminal Market. They were pretty, cheap and I’ve been meaning to jam anyway so… I bought 5 pounds of them.

I started poking around the internet and asking friends for advice:

“So what’s up with this “jar” business? Where do I find them?”
“Pectin… is it really necessary?”
“I’m sorry, you need a pot that’s HOW large?”

Thursday night I got to work, ignoring for a few hours the fact that Acme was sold-out of jars, meaning I was still jar-less. I took advantage of the optional first step in Marisa McClellan’s strawberry jam recipe: let the fruit stew overnight in sugar and vanilla bean. This would buy me some time. With Thriller playing in the background, I mashed up the berries and plums, brainstorming other places I could go for some proper canning jars.

Marisa and E had both suggested the Shop-Rite on Snyder Avenue for jars and pectin, but that was very out of my way and I had a window of about two hours before work in which to make something happen. Kitchen Kapers on 17th looked promising and it was on my way to the office.

Indeed, I made it into work on Friday with 8 jars, 4 5-oz (so cute!) and 4 17-oz. Kitchen Kapers carried three different types of jars, including French jars. The ones I bought had caps for vacuum sealing, which seemed appropriate. (Again, I really didn’t know what I was looking for, but they were jars with lids, so I bought them!)

So my next question was, how long does jamming take? Taking another look at Marisa’s strawberry jam post reminded me that she herself had even left the berries in the fridge for two nights and they were fine. I decided to take the chance and spend early Saturday morning jamming. I figured if I started around 9, that would leave me enough time before heading out for the day.

So here I am. It's now Saturday morning and jamming has begun. I started around 7:30, just to be safe. I'm cooking the fruit in two batches since I don't have enough big pots. I was lucky enough last night to score a large pot for canning from Jim and Aditi. I also never got pectin. Mike said he never uses it when he jams and plums have pectin naturally. It's all been working out so far, I'm hoping my good luck continues. What's the worse that could happen?

Strawberry Jam!

So my 2009 Food-to-Do including jamming. My trip this morning to Reading Terminal Market included the purchase of three pounds of strawberries and two pounds of plums. See where this is going?

I haven't found a recipe yet but I trust that strawberries and plums will taste and look lovely together. My first stop for a possible recipe will be Food in Jars, local writer Marisa McClellan's blog about, well, jars with food inside of them. (Her blog was even recently featured on The Kitchn!)

Does anyone have any advice for a novice jammer? Or a great recipe to share?

Com(post) Part 2

Our compost is just about ready to be used! It's a rich, moist, dark soil with a few chunks of banana peel and cardboard popping out. Apparently when I was in Texas, my housemate John opened up the Envirocycle to find the compost covered in mold. I had warned that such a thing might happen if the compost became too wet, and that an overdose of dry cardboard should help get the necessary balance of carbon and nitrogen in check. John ripped up A LOT of cardboard and the Envirocycle was practically filled to the top. Within a couple of weeks, like magic, the Envirocycle was about half-full and the mold replaced by dark compost.

Since I’ve been back I’ve only added a bit more cardboard. A few isolated chunks of mold remained so I’ve been focusing on a) getting rid of them completely and b) letting the current batch completely break down before introducing any new plant waste. I can’t say I really know what I’m doing, but this strategy makes sense in my head.

A common concern about composting is the potential for unwanted odors and animals. The only smell from our bin is a musty, earthy scent and the only critters are a swarm of fruit flies that never stray far from the compost bin itself. My worry now is knowing exactly when it’s ready to use, particularly on my indoor plants… are the flies going to be a problem? Will they follow the compost into the house or will they want to stick around the composter where the real action is?

The timing works well too, as I finally planted in my community garden plot a couple weeks ago. The Newbold Community Garden opened while I was out of town, which changed my garden agenda for the summer: veggies will go in the community plot, herbs inside my house, flowers in the planter out back. With the help of my neighborhood ankle-biter buddies, I planted tomatoes, two varieties of eggplants, cucumbers and frying peppers. At home, I’ve started parsley, basil and hot peppers. Since I planted late, I used seedlings (except for the hot peppers which I actually planted before leaving town).

I’m also planning on getting my soil tested for lead ASAP. It’s a hot topic right now, with the rising popularity of gardening in the past couple months. In Philadelphia, they sell lead testing kits in West Philly for $10. (I don't have the exact information right now, but I'll post it when I do.) Tomatoes and eggplants don’t absorb lead as readily as some other plants do, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed that everything will be ok in the end.

And in case you missed it, here is another peak at the article on urban composting from April's Metro, with a quote by and shout-out to kitchenplay.

And for comparison's sake, here is our compost in February, when we first started…

Our compost today…

Celebrating Green

Ok, so maybe it's not what they mean when talking about green on St. Patty's Day, but I'm starting a garden.

I've never thought of myself as "domestic" despite my love for cooking and knitting. I always figured that my disinterest in pearl necklace-clad vacuuming and my general messiness negated the influence of such Martha-esque hobbies.

But then I bought a house. And I became a nester.

My room is still messy but I now find myself tending to plants and brainstorming the best way to store spices. I daydream about paint colors for the second floor and future renovations. Sometimes my domesticity involves power tools. I like that. It also never includes pearls.

And now it's March and I have embarked on new and slightly unfamiliar homebody terrain: gardening, one of my 2009 Food-to-Do items. Since I'm a novice at this whole "gardening" thing, I don't exactly have the proper supplies yet. My shovel is a cheap plastic spatula and yogurt container combo. And my hands.

The planter on my back patio isn't huge (see pic above), so the garden will be simple. I'm thinking of planting arugula, peas (since they can grow on a trellis and save space), chili peppers and maybe cucumbers. I'm also going to grow a collection of herbs, either outside or on a windowsill in the kitchen. For the trellis, I'm trying to brainstorm good found objects that I can use. One website recommended using old bed springs. I also found a cool one from IKEA I might get.

And in a more traditional Irish manner, I will be eating homemade corned beef and Irish potatoes tonight, most likely with copious amounts of beer.

Happy St. Patty's Day!

2009 Food-to-Do Update

Jam
Pickle
Buy a candy thermometer
Don't break my new candy thermometer
Compost (Started it, loving it)
Start a garden patch behind my house (Working on it)
Buy Mark Bittman's new book, Food Matters (Yeah, right)

The Compost Revolution

Today's NYT includes an article on urban composting, highlighting worm composting in particular. I considered worm composting, but was slightly overwhelmed by the idea of inviting 1,000 pets into my home. But a lot of people love the method, for both its ease and efficiency. The article brings up some good stats:

• 13% of the nation's trash is from food waste


• Recycling one ton of mixed paper is 4x more effective in reducing green house emissions than producing one ton of compost


• BUT keeping food waste out of landfills specifically is 2x more beneficial in reducing methane gas production
  

As someone who cooks a lot, and primarily with fresh vegetables, I know that I'm making some sort of small impact by composting my food waste. It's also really fun, albeit in a super nerdy way. My housemates and I have shared some very cute, very silly compost-love moments.

Since we're still mid-winter, there hasn't been too much action going on in our bin. It is starting to get rather heavy. I did start prepping my planter this past weekend, and transferred some of that dirt into the bin, which I think is supposed to help expedite things.

Has anyone out there tried worm composting?

The Envirocycle is Here!

The bin came yesterday...


No assembly required. So cute and it fits perfectly in the alley on the side of my house!


Here is the opening with the safety latch.


I filled it with all the stuff we've been collecting in our freezer. Plus I tore up some of the cardboard from the box it came in, moistened it, and added that too.


To be continued...

Com(post)

My 2009 Food-to-do list included composting, something I always knew would be good to start practicing but I never really understood the how or the why, particularly in the city. It always seemed basic and yet super overwhelming at the same time. But my December trip to Hawaii (food adventures to follow, Chris, I promise!) inspired me to get over my malaise and make it happen. Particularly on the Big Island, where I spent a good 10 days, composting is super common. Well, it's only February and I'm actually getting close to checking it off my to-do list.

I started reading and asking around. I found a decent book on the topic, Composting, by Nicky Scott, which started to make certain things more clear, a few other things less clear. There are just a lot of options out there about which style of composting to take on, which type of bin you want... ehhhh.

I learned about an awesome group in Philly, Pedal Co-Op. They actually come to your house and pick up your compostables for you, in the event that you don't have the space or budget for a compost bin. I thought about doing it, but since I want to use the compost for my garden this summer, and I don't think you can get any compost back, I decided to keep doing it on my own.

And in the meantime, my housemates and I have been freezing our compostables: egg shells, coffee grounds (filters included), vegetable peelings, spoilt produce...

But I was still feeling overwhelmed by it all. Compost bins are large, and often unwieldy and expensive. I kinda just wanted someone to tell me which one to buy, make the decision for me. So I sought advice from the Clean and Green group in my neighborhood association. Andrew directed me to a really cool composting bin that seems perfect for city dwelling. It's the Envirocycle. It isn't huge, seems easy to turn, and critters can't get inside or icky smells outside.

And it arrives this week!

It retails at around $180, but I was able to find it for less on Amazon.

So I'll be posting more about this composting adventure, as well as my foray into gardening. I'm definitely starting to get the hang of this, so if you have any questions, ask away.

And advice is much appreciated, too!

Food-to-Do List (2009)

I don't really do New Year resolutions; we all know that few people truly stick to them and I don't like the idea that "something is wrong with me and I must fix it in the new year."

That said... I LOVE to-do lists!

So my food-to-do list for 2009 includes the following...

• Jam


• Pickle


• Buy a candy thermometer


• Don't break my new candy thermometer (third time's the charm???)


• Compost


• Start a garden patch behind my house


• Buy Mark Bittman's new book, Food Matters

Care to share any of your 2009 food goals and wishes?