Peas & Love Veganic Community Garden

I recently embarked on an exciting new project: a veganic community garden.  Crops grown will feed people in need in Hartford county through the Manchester Area Conferences of Churches food pantry. In addition, volunteers will learn about veganic farming methods and vegan food preparation through educational events and cooking demonstrations.  We are planting the seeds of peace, love, and justice through veganic farming. 

We recently held the first organizational meeting of the Peas & Love Veganic Community Garden to begin planning. Soon this small patch of land will be planted with peas, carrots, radishes, kale, chard, and collards and surrounded by an herb and pollinator garden to attract bees, butterflies, and other beneficial insects. 

One of the principles of veganic gardening is creating an environment which mimics the natural ecosystem and minimizes outside inputs. We have a compost pile on site, plus lots of leaves and pine needles for mulch. The only thing we’ll need to be careful about is not being too inviting to the deer, birds, and woodchucks who live nearby! We’ll experiment with row covers and fencing tied with CDs.

Thank you to all who attended, the Unitarian Universalist East for the space, and to Awesome Foundation for the "seed money" to start planting!

Planting a Chef's Garden Class

I held the first official class at Ahimsa Health & Harmony recently, and it was a ton of fun!  There's nothing like digging in the dirt and playing with food to make you feel like a kid again!

Twelve of us gathered in the classroom space to learn about "veganic" growing methods for kitchen gardens.  This takes the principles of organic - no chemical fertilizers, pesticides or industrial products - a step further by also avoiding animal products.  Instead of using bone meal, manure, blood meal or other animal byproducts, we use "green manure" such as seaweed, cover crops, and compost.

We planted up some pots with Fafard potting soil, coconut hulls, and liquid kelp and made a kitchen garden with oregano, chives, parsley and pansies, then tucked in some pea and nasturtium seeds to surprise us later in the season.

Everyone received a recipe for Chimichurri made with wild garlic mustard, dandelion greens, parsley and oregano, as well as a taste sample on some baguette.  I hope these little pots inspire everyone to get digging in their gardens and grow a bountiful harvest to share with family and friends!

livWell Protein Powder

I was recently sent a sample of a RAW, organic plant-based protein powder from the company, livwellnutrition.com. They are a husband and wife team whose mission is to live healthy, happy lives and to bring nourishment to the body and mind.  

All ingredients are free of GMOs, soy, gluten, and dairy and made from superfoods such as hemp seeds, cacao, and cinnamon.  Each serving contains 17 grams of protein.

I tried my sample of vanilla bean this morning on its own as well as blended into a smoothie for my breakfast.  Mixed with 8 oz. of water, this was like a thick, rich glass of milk with a subtle sweetness and spice note.  I could easily see this being a quick way to get a boost of nutrients after a workout.  

Next I blended the mixture with strawberries, banana, and mango which made a creamy breakfast smoothie.  It had the perfect amount of sweetness and nothing else needed to be added.  I would definitely add this to my morning routine in the summer when I just want to be hydrated and don't want anything heavy weighing me down.  

This is a great addition to the protein powder field, and I like it because it's certified vegan, organic, raw, tasty, and doesn't have the chalky feel that other powders do.  Plus the packaging is made from 100% recycled materials.  

Look for this product in the health food store next time you're shopping for that extra protein boost!

My Italian Garden

grapevines twine the garden fence

One of the benefits of living in a house previously owned by an older Italian couple is inheriting a garden filled with culinary staples from an Italian kitchen, like oregano, parsley, mint and chives.  I;m making new discoveries nearly every day as green things keep popping up in unexpected places.

One mystery which had us baffled for a couple of days was this tall, herbaceous plant that seemed to appear out of nowhere.  Its fuzzy leaves reminded me of black-eyed susan, but within a week it a growth spurt of two feet and almost an equally wide spread.


After much research and desperate plea for assistance on Facebook, we determined it was Comfrey, a medicinal herb praised for its ability to heal wounds.  I'll be keeping this around because it's high in nitrogen and also makes an excellent addition to the compost pile.

I've already made a few meals from some early perennials like oregano and leeks.  For Mother's Day I tossed together a huge Mediterranean Pasta Salad with oregano pesto, fiddleheads and leeks.

Later this week I roasted a spaghetti squash and sautéed some mustard greens and white beans in olive oil and garlic, then drizzled everything with more oregano pesto.  I think this sauce will be in heavy rotation over the next few weeks.  

I'll be planting organic seedlings of warm weather annuals like tomatoes, summer squash and eggplant this afternoon, and popping a few string bean seeds into the ground as well.  As the weeks pass, it will be fun to track the progress and reap the benefits in the Well on Wheels kitchen.

mustard greens

oregano

parsley

kale

snow peas

It's the Bees, Honey

“We’re very close to the breaking point of what’s enough and what’s not enough. Honey bees are not healthy.” - Jerry Hayes, President, Apiary Inspectors of America

"Western honey bees, or European honey bees (Apis mellifera), are still weak, unhealthy and continue to disappear in massive numbers since Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) was identified in the fall of 2006. At least one-third of all the commercial honey bee colonies in the United States and United Kingdom have collapsed as of 2008. There might not be enough pollinators for the 2009 season, forcing food growers to seek out other pollinators in Australia, Argentina and perhaps even the Africanized bees based in Mexico that have spread north into the southern United States."

- Linda Moulton Howe (2008)

If you're not worried yet, you should be. Bees make honey. But they need flowers to do so. When the flowers are treated with pesticides, the bees don't die immediately, but their memory is disrupted. That means they can't find their way back to their hives, or to the flowers, and ultimately, they die. Which means flowers don't get pollinated, and fruits and vegetables don't get produced.

Maybe you've noticed this phenomenon in your garden. Everyone I know who had a garden this summer complained about low tomato yields and withered cucumberless cucumber vines. There was plenty of clement weather, lots of hot sun and optimal rain. Something is missing from this picture: the bees.

Read about the plight of honeybees and your future here.