August in the Edible Schoolyard

August in the ESY.  An exciting time!  The garden is in full production.  We are placing veggies in our "help yourself" basket almost everyday.  I've been canning bread and butter pickles, bread and butter squash pickles, salsa and marinara.  We are all are having a field day harvesting all the different tomatoes: sungold, blue indigo, cherokee red, chocolate stripey, black krim, black cherry, uglies, yellow pear, grape, and cherry to name a few. 
Fortunately I think all of us harvested plenty of tomatoes before the blight hit.  The plants are starting to look pretty ugly, but there are still quite a few tomatoes that haven't been affected.


Made a pot of some delicious kohlrabi (recipe below) and a gorgeous chopped salad topped with delicate nasturtiums.  Fresh salad almost every night!   I heard someone say that braised cucumbers were sublime.  Anyone have a recipe?

Kohlrabi (adapted from my German Grandma's recipe which really didn't have any amounts; it's kinda like cooking collard greens)
Remove the leaves and tough spine and tear or chop
Peel and slice or cube kohlrabi bulb
Dice one onion
Dice a few potatoes
Vegetable broth or chicken broth
Water
Apple cider
salt and pepper to taste

Cook the kohlrabi bulb in broth, water and apple cider.  For 2 large bulbs, I used about 2 cups of broth and a cup each of water and apple cider.  You may need to add some more broth or water as needed.

When the kohlrabi bulb is almost tender add the leaves and potatoes.  Cook until all is tender.

Eat!!!  Yum!!!

Here are some photos of the August garden:

 A nice big praying mantis on Ben's tomatoes

 

 Intern Ben

 Itty bitty cucumber

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Happy Harvest!

July in the Edible Schoolyard

JULY in the Edible Schoolyard.  I'm afraid I'm a bit behind getting these photos posted.  It was a busy July and the garden is in full bloom.  My interns, Ben and Laura, all of our gardeners who adopted a plot, and I are seeing the fruit of our labors.  The ESY is looking really good and everything is growing well.  We have gotten a lot of compliments on how good the garden looks this year.  Thank you all!

I took Organic Gardening 101 from our local Watauga County Cooperative Extension Center and it was a fantastic experience.  I highly recommend this most affordable course (4 half days for $20).  Not only did we have guest speakers every day, but we visited several local home gardens.  I learned so much about garden planning and layout for beneficial insects, preparing our garden space, sources for seeds and seedlings, starting seeds, consecutive planting, container gardening, organic vegetable pest management, weed control, plant disease management, garden tools, soil and soil tests, vermi-composting, cover crops and green manures, composting, WOW!  We exchanged ideas, asked a million questions, and had a wonderful time.  I believe this course is offered every year.  http://watauga.ces.ncsu.edu/?page=home 

Here are some photos from the July ESY:

Now on to August--Happening Gardening!