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By Vickie Benson | Monday, February 6, 2012, 09:40 AM
If you have never grown a vegetable garden or are a novice vegetable gardener, here is a class for you! Experienced gardeners that want to hone their skills are welcome as well.
Possum Creek MetroPark Farm is offering Your Best Vegetable Garden on Tuesday evenings, March 6 to April 10, from 6 - 9 pm. Each class covers a different topic and a hands-on project pertinent to growing a successful garden. Guest speakers and MetroParks personnel present topics on soil and composting, planning the garden, planting the garden, pests of the garden, and preserving the harvest. The last session is devoted to the class participants sharing some aspect of gardening. One Saturday in April is a work day and field trip to an area vegetable grower.
There are some mandatory stipulations associated with this class: an interview, finger printing; and class fee of $20 (due at the interview). Participants are also requested to complete 25 hours of service learning volunteer hours at Possum Creek Farm or one of the other MetroPark garden sites following completion of the class. Materials for the hands-on project are supplied for you.
Interested in signing up? Contact Kevin Kepler, Volunteer Services Manager, by email or at (937) 275-7275 ext 1212 to arrange an interview. Kevin can be reached by calling . Please register by February 21, 2012.
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By Kasey Henneman | Saturday, February 4, 2012, 09:40 AM
That’s right, I said grow a sponge.
Luffa (also spelled loofah) is a plant. Consumer identity has mistakenly grouped this plant-sponge with the animal sponge look alike, the sea-sponge but they are not the same! Luffa = plant; sea sponge = animal. If you are like me, this information is kind of shocking. Okay, once that settles in, read on…
Not only is this sponge a plant, but it’s easy to grow, and produces a lot of fruit- or in this case, sponges.
Pinch me I must be dreaming. Nope- this is real! The luffa is a vine-ing gourd similar to a cucumber, or pumpkin vine. Fedco Seed Co-op out of Maine
(link here to their website) had some interesting history on this amazing plant,” (luffa) also known as Dishrag Gourd, is dried and used for making bath sponges. Some folks pick them young, steam and pan-fry them. In addition to being a scrubber and a comestible, this versatile gourd has been used to make soundproof wall boarding, to insulate army helmets, to stuff mattresses and saddles and even to make filters for steam engines and diesel motors.”
Cool! P.s., this also makes a great gift; leave the shell on and let the gift receiver ‘un-wrap’ it by removing the shell themselves. Now you have given an ecofriendly sponge, not wasted any gift wrapping, AND they get some seeds (are there awards for this level of ‘green-ness’?)-!
Some things to know before growing your luffa sponges. Select a sight where the luffa can grow like crazy. These plants are prolific, and really want to vine out so don’t put it in the garden, it won’t play nice with the other plants. Plant the luffa somewhere it can trellis itself, like a fence or around the compost bin or just plant it in it’s own separate area and plan on building a trellis if you want straight luffa. Like Fedco Seed Co mentioned, luffa can also be picked early and eaten. Luffa picked at this this stage is sometimes called ‘Chinese Okra’ and is very popular in most Asian countries (link here to a recipe for edible luffa). To harvest edible luffa, simply pick the gourd when it is about the size of a small cucumber.
To use your luffa for sponges allow the gourds to grow and then dry on the vine. Once it’s dry and brittle, squeeze the gourd to release it from it’s shell and shake the seeds out. The shell should be brittle enough to peel easily and the seeds should be black (save some seeds for next year).
Link here to the Wandering Chopsticks blog for some great luffa sponge sequence photos.
Have fun!
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By Rick Musselman
| Thursday, February 2, 2012, 03:03 PM
Winter time is a good time of year to try some home projects, especially those involving food. Cold weather presents us with the opportunity to experiment in the kitchen. For those of you that are meat lovers, making sausage can be quite rewarding, and tasty.
Over the last several years, the idea of home sausage making has grown leaps and bounds. Different gourmet food stores throughout the area even carry various types of homemade or “gourmet” sausage. The idea of experimenting with different flavors of sausage has even carried over to some specialty restaurants making sausage to order. One of the more unusual varieties was a buffalo chicken sausage complete with ground up celery inside and hot sauce.
In order to make sausage at home, there are a wide variety of sources for all of the supplies that you will need. Of course the easiest way to make it is in bulk. This can be used to make patties and the remainder frozen for later. However, if you are more interested in stuffing sausages in casings, there are alot of different places to purchase supplies. Most of the outdoor stores, such as Gander Mountain, carry everything from meat grinders to sausage stuffers and seasonings. These are perfect places to purchase all of your supplies at once. Any stores that feature items for processing wild game will carry some sort of cooking supplies for sausage or jerky. To start, one would need either a meat grinder with a stuffing attachment, or a seperate stuffer. In addition to this, you will need casings. In the past, natural casings were used made from intestines. However, today, synthetic ones are sold which work in much the same way. Usually you can find them in the same store, or at a local butcher shop. Lastly, depending on your tastes, a variety of spices will be needed.
The old traditional recipe for sausage was simply salt, pepper and sage. Sage sausage is the old standby that many have come to love. However, various chefs, butchers, and culinary enthusiasts are experimenting with a wide variety of types of sausage. Spicy sausage such as Italian style and chorizo are quite popular. At the same time varieties like lamb with mint are being made to create different tastes. All different types of meat can be used and it is no longer just relegated to pork. Depending on the individuals tastes some interesting combinations can be created.
Lastly, when making sausage at home, try making small batches to decide on what you like before going ahead and producing ten pounds of it. After making some small seasoned batches you can then look into stuffing it into casings and having it on hand.
So, why not do something different for that Super Bowl party, and experiment by making some of your favorite types of sausage for all to enjoy.
homemade sausages
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By Kasey Henneman | Saturday, January 28, 2012, 09:21 AM
Brix testing is a method mostly used to measure sugar (or sucrose) levels in wine, honey, sugar, and fruit juice industries. Lately, accompanying the reemergence of the local organic farmer, Brix testing is now being used to asses sugar and nutrient content in vegetables.
It’s easy enough to prove the flavor quality of fresh, locally grown produce over supermarket produce. I think just about anywhere you go, unanimously, people will agree a farm stand tomato tastes MUCH better than a supermarket tomato. However, it has been difficult for the grower to quantify nutrient content in that same way. Now organic farmers are looking to Brix testing to do just that. With a relatively low cost instrument, a refractometer, a farmer can measure the sucrose levels in the crop with the accompanying nutrients. This allows the grower to test and select the best tasting and most nutrient dense crops.
OSU extension is offering a Brix testing workshop Thursday, Feb, 9th from 1:00-3:00 pm 1680 Madison Avenue, Wooster Ohio, in the Fisher Exhibit area. To register please call Danae Wolfe at 330-202-3555.
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By Vickie Benson | Wednesday, January 25, 2012, 08:49 AM
The Native Americans have given us many gifts such as corn, beans, and squash. Another gift is that of maple syrup. The Eastern Woodland tribes are usually given credit for the discovery that sap from maple trees produces the sweet syrup. Maple syrup was an important commodity for the North American Indians. Maple syrup and maple sugar were bartering items for those tribes living around the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River regions.
Trees suitable for tapping include all of the native maples: silver, black, red, box elder, and of course sugar maple. Sugar maple sap contains the highest concentration of sugar at 2% or higher. Box elder produces a weak sap that can actually be drunk as it comes from the tree tasting much like slightly sweetened spring water. Other tree species that could be tapped are walnut, hickories, sycamore, and sweet birch.
In our area of Ohio, tapping usually takes place beginning the second or third week of February until late March or early April just before the trees bud. Sap flow from a tapped tree does not occur every day through the tapping season because of fluctuations of the night time and day time temperatures.
Maple Trivia
A maple tree can yield sap for 100 years.
Maple trees are found on other continents, but none can compare to the sugar maples of North America.
Maple syrup contains as much calcium as milk.
Ohio is 4th in maple syrup production at 100,000 gallons per year.
Want to know about maple syrup production? Link here Ohio State University Fact Sheet or link here
How to Tap Maple Trees and Make Maple Syrup, the University of Maine Cooperative Extension.
Visit Possum Creek MetroPark Farm on Saturday, February 25 from 10:00 am to 3:30 pm to observe the sap boiling process and get your questions answered.
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By Kasey Henneman | Saturday, January 21, 2012, 12:25 PM
Even though it may seem like it, no one is born a gardener. We all have to learn somewhere, and like anything else; practice makes you pretty good at it. Follow up on your New Years resolution and learn how to garden with OSU Extension. Starting March 6 through May 8, 2012 (Tuesdays), OSU Extension is offering their Master Gardener program. The Master Gardener program works by training a gardener, and then requiring that gardener to complete a certain amount of community education hours to keep the certification current.
The program both delivers an expert training and keeps the gardeners up to date and active with the education outreach component. This program is truly invaluable in our community. Registration is closing soon, so act fast if you want to attend this session (
LINK HERE to the OSUE Master Gardener application page). Can’t make it? Not sure if it’s really for you? If this time of year doesn’t work for your schedule, or you are not quite sure about the program- please attend the class orientation at the OSU Extension office by contacting Clare Thorn at 937-224-9654. The Master Gardener program offers extensive training in fruit and vegetable gardening, pruning, and turf maintenance. You will MOST definitely come out of this training having met your New Years resolution. They aren’t called Master Gardeners for nothing!
What exactly is an extension office??? Historically, extension offices were created as a piece of each ‘land grant’ state university to foster agricultural clubs and organizations and to provide out reach to rural America. Link here to read more about the ‘Cooperative Extension Offices.’ As a result of this Act, today we have an Extension office for every State University; this means every state!..Another great reason to become a Master Gardener; it’s a nationally recognized title.
If you are unfamiliar with the wealth of knowledge offered by the OSU Extension office, link here to the ‘Garden Home-page,’ it’s one of my favorites on the website. Also check out other Extension websites, a favorite of many gardeners is Cornelle State University in New York (link here to the gardening page of Cornelle Extension).
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By Kasey Henneman | Saturday, January 14, 2012, 10:50 AM
The short answer is; which one do you like the best? So many cool composting methods… so little time. Let’s see, the most common composting methods I see around include; the 3 bin composting system, the tumbler, the worm-bins, the enclosed bins (sometimes look like Darth Vader helmets), the ‘throw everything out the backdoor in a pile’ method, and the single circular bin made of chicken wire held upright with 3 T-post stakes. If you check out your friends composting methods you will almost certainly see one of the methods from this list.
A new method I learned of this Summer is called bokashi composting. Bokashi composting is just emerging in the US but is an ancient method of compost, originating in Japan. Bokashi is unlike compost piling methods because the waste is actually fermented in a pale in the the kitchen layer with a carbon inoculated with bacteria, sugar, and yeast. If it sounds like making home-brew; it should. However, unlike home-brew, the product is then directly buried in the garden, covered with soil and is ready in 1-2 weeks. Wow that’s fast! Speed is just one of the praises of bokashi. Another benefit is being able to add ALL kitchen scraps. If you have ever scraped your food scraps into a compost bucket you were probably met with a list of what can and can’t go in the bucket. The list is confusing; no cooked foods, no grains or bread, no meat or dairy and no fat. Whew!..So what can I compost?…And why not the other stuff? If we look at that list objectively we can surmise that if it’s something the human gut can breakdown, then shouldn’t all the forces of the natural world be able to break it down? Yes, they can. The list of foods allowed in the pile are more or less in the favor of good house keeping. The scent of rotting meat and the attraction of large mammals (racoons, rats) to the pile in an urban environment is unappealing to put it mildly; so it is especially important to keep these foods out of an open compost pile. Anyways, back to bokashi; because the process is fast and hot with lots of bacteria eating, all kitchen scraps can be composted- even meat.
Bokashi sounds great- I want to get started! Before searching for directions on bokashi composting, there are some things you should know. Right now bokashi in the US is pretty commercial, meaning, any initial searches for bokashi will lead you to different sites to buy products and services to compost. Don’t let this scare you off. The ancient people of Japan did not buy products to compost. The purchased items work for those who live in a highly urban area who want to compost without much space or time. The products sold for bokashi composting can be made for a fraction of the cost. From my (short) awesome journey of research on bokashi I have learned that the microorganisms sold in this (somewhat expensive) solution are all around us and can be collected relatively easily. Follow these links and remember the rice-hulls and wheat bran can be any dry carbon, like saw dust or newspaper; and the microorganisms are everywhere!
Link here to a wiki on composting
Link here to read a good post on how and why bokashi.
Link here to learn one recipe of how to make the EM (effective microorganism) inoculate
Link here to read about collecting the beneficial bacteria ‘indigenous microorganisms.’
Link here to read more on collecting indigenous microorganisms from the Korean Natural Farming handbook.
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By Kasey Henneman | Friday, January 6, 2012, 11:12 AM
…Yes, mine too. If you followed the planting recommendations for good ole’ 5a/5b zone you would have planted your garlic cloves in a well-drained bed with high organic matter sometime in late October/ early November. Well, good work, however none of us knew we would be having Spring-like weather in the late Fall and early Winter; especially not the little garlic cloves.
Typically we aim to plant garlic after the first killing frost, this date falls around the end of October making it convenient to remember; if it’s Halloween time- it’s garlic planting time (vampire repellant)! I like it, it’s easy to remember. We plant garlic in the Fall because the bulb gets a chance to develop roots and a small shoot below soil level. This takes place before the normal ‘hard frost’ of 28 degrees. This gives the garlic a jump start and will ultimately give the garlic bigger more robust bulb. We choose the date because we USUALLY won’t see the garlic sprouting temperatures of 42-52 degrees until Spring time, but this year we got them in December. This is inconvenient for the garlic planter.
These green shoots emerging from your heavily mulched garlic bed in December may have been a cause for alarm. Don’t panic! Get back out there and cover those babies up with more mulch. If you are out of leaves, straw can usually be purchased from neighborhood hardware stores for around 5$. It’s worth it. Adding the extra mulch will protect the shoots from future frosts and the garlic will not continue to grow as long as temperatures stay below 40 degrees. If we continue to have more warm and sunny days through out the Winter, keep an eye on your sprouts and add mulch to cover them if they emerge past the second mulching.
Remember you only need to keep them covered, but settling in the mulch will occur, so apply plenty.This is not a guarantee for a perfect harvest, the early shoots could still be damaged by really low temperatures, but I think it’s the best bet. Poor bulb development may be a result of the early shoots, but keeping it mulched should curb this. If your spring plants look like the photo to the right it is an indicator your bulb may be damaged when you harvest, also like the photo.
Want to learn A WHOLE LOT about garlic??? Link here to the University of Minnesota extension Factsheet and you will find what you seek. Or if you want to keep it simpler, less scientific and more ‘garden-ey’ link here to read the Mother Earth News article on garlic planting.
Happy mulching!
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By Kasey Henneman | Friday, December 23, 2011, 01:50 PM
The Local Foods Movement meeting was a success this past Sunday. We met in the old Baptist church at 2720 E Third St. from 3:00-5:00 pm and had a great turnout! The meeting attracted gardeners, foodies, farmers, and folks of all experience levels who each brought a delicious food along with their point of interest in a Dayton Food Movement. The meeting started with an introduction from the meeting organizer, Bryan Konrad of Allegheny Mountain School and then we all introduced ourselves. Following the introductions we watched two short films, one on the ever impressive work of Will Allen of Milwaukee, and the second a video on the value of thinking in systems when planning a garden or home landscape; aka permaculture. These videos gave inspiration along with a clear sense of what Konrad might be looking to rally here in Dayton.
After enjoying the potluck dinner we all broke into groups and listed 5 things we would like to see happen here in the local foods movement, followed by 5 things we like, already happening in the area. This exercise was then compiled into a live Google list where all attendees can view the results and network with other attendees.
The exercise was great and gave us the chance to discuss what we thought was important to see thrive here in the Miami Valley. Some of these I find particularly exciting include; Food Growing Education for Children & Adults; Compile a list of local resources: An umbrella of advocacy and public relations; Changes in zoning to permit agriculture and animal production locally; and Local Seed Saving & Seed Bank.
The list is longer and we are still in the beginning of forming this group. If you feel inspired by local foods, school gardening, community gardening, organic growing, improving school lunches, urban farming, permaculture, public health, aquaponics, or any thing else along these lines; please join us for the next food movement meeting and potluck.Link here to the online scheduling assistant (Doodle) to check the box of the time that works best for you.
Get involved!
Email any questions to kasey.henneman@metroparks.org
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By Rick Musselman
| Tuesday, December 20, 2011, 10:09 AM
We are all familiar with the popular “Christmas Song” and its familiar verse of “chestnuts roasting on an open fire”, but have you actually ever tried a chestnut?
Chestnuts are popular around the holidays and have become one of our Christmas traditions. However, chestnuts were not always a staple at Christmas time. Early Native Americans harvested chestnuts as a part of their diet. Not only was the nut eaten, but they were also processed into meal for baking. Chestnuts contain almost twice the amount of starch that potatoes do and are also high in Vitamin C. It is natural that they would be a good addition to any diet.
The chestnut tree faced a major setback as the chestnut blight moved through the country in the early part of the twentieth century. Overall, a total of four billion trees were lost to this disease. However, chestnuts are making a slow comeback in different areas around the country. For roasting chestnuts, most nuts today are imported from Italy. The large sweet Italian chestnut is quite popular and is sold in most grocery stores around the holiday season.
To roast some chestnuts at home it is quite simple. Take a pound to a half pound of chestnuts and score the tops with a knife to form an “X” on the shell. Next, heat the oven to 425 degrees. Place the chestnuts in a pan in the oven and simply watch them. Periodically shake the pan to ensure that they cook evenly. After 15-20 minutes, the shell will start to pop open and peel back. Remove from the oven and enjoy. Chestnuts can also be done on a grill using the same technique. However, make sure to turn them often.
Roasted Chestnuts
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