Alley Cat Acres

More Info: alleycatacres.com

B-Patch Photo Album

In case you didn't know, or forgot, there is a B-Patch Photo album to take a look at. Nice to look at pictures of the start of our garden, especially in these cold winter months!

Pie in a jar

This isn’t your grandmother’s apple pie. We’ve taken the tried-and-true favorite and spun it on its head, pouring the sweet fruit filling into a dough-lined jar. Top it off any way you choose—we’ll provide the scrumptious topping options. Find the recipe here

Roasted Vegetables

Excellent for fall and winter and all those root veggies.

Roasted Vegetables

1 small butternut squash, cubed
2 red bell peppers, seeded and diced
1 sweet potato, peeled and cubed
3 Yukon Gold potatoes, cubed (You can subsitute baking potatoes)
1 red onion, quartered
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Directions
Preheat oven to 475 degrees F (245 degrees C).
In a large bowl, combine the squash, red bell peppers, sweet potato, and Yukon Gold potatoes. Separate the red onion quarters into pieces, and add them to the mixture.
In a small bowl, stir together thyme, rosemary, olive oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper. Toss with vegetables until they are coated. Spread evenly on a large roasting pan.
Roast for 35 to 40 minutes in the preheated oven, stirring every 10 minutes, or until vegetables are cooked through and browned.

Pumpkin Cre’me Brứlee'

A great dessert recipe for all those pumpkins that everyone grew! And since I have all this pureed pumpkin in the freezer I thought Pumpkin Pie (sticks finger in nose and announces "BORING") and it came to me- Pumpkin Cre’me Brứlee'. I saw Michael Chiarello make his version of this on Food Network, and I adapted it into my own little recipe. His version calls for using left over pumpkin pie stuffed into a ramekin, mine is a tad bit more involved, using my pumpkin pie recipe with no crust- but very easy! And yes, I washed the finger I stuck in my nose!

Pumpkin Cre’me Brứlee'
INGREDIENTS:
2 cups of pumpkin puree or canned pumpkin
1/2 cup of firm brown sugar
2 eggs or (vegans- 1/2 cup of egg substitute)
1 tablespoon of Pumpkin Pie Spice
1 can (12 ounces) Nonfat evaporated Milk or for vegan recipe, as Chile writes in her blog try making some evaporated soy milk (cook down to double-strength) for pie or as Chile says:
"Put 2 cups soymilk in a saucepan. Cook over medium-low heat, stirringconstantly, until volume is reduced to 1 cup. Cool. Store in jar in fridge."
Preheat oven to 350. In a medium bowl, mix together the pumpkin, brown sugar, egg, pumpkin pie spice and non-fat evaporated milk. Carefully pour into Ramekins leaving about a quarter inch of room. Place Ramekins on a cookie sheet and Bake in 350 oven for 60 minutes or until a knife inserted in the middle of one of the Ramekins comes clean. Let cool on the counter. Place into the frigidaire. Chill
Before serving, sprinkle about 1 1/2 Tablespoons of sugar over each "custard". To get it crusty, Take your Blowtorch (I love cooking when there is the chance of danger) and aim the flame just above the sugar, just out of reach , until sugar starts to turn brown. Or use The whimps method: Simply place the sugared custards under a hot broiler and watch for browning, when evenly browned, Serve with a small dallop of whipped creme on it, and perhaps a berry for garnish. And yes this is also my favorite pumpkin pie recipe- you just pour the pumpkin mixture in a pie crust and bake for 60 minutes or until a knife inserted in the middle comes clean. Hmmm- a Cre'me Brứlee' pie???
Quick tip- Don't have ramekins? try using 1/2 pint wide mouth mason jars- then you have a screw on lid if you need to take them somewhere

Fall Clean Up Party and Potluck

POTLUCK AND GARDEN CLEANUP

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Potluck in the Garage at 1 p.m.

Garden cleanup following

Many of us have our own plots to clean up and perhaps plant winter veggies. We also have pathways to weed.* The work you put toward the whole community garden will go toward satisfying the required 8 hours per year.

Come celebrate our first summer in our community garden.

Contact Rebecca at RDARE2@yahoo.com for more info

* (By the way, it’s suggested that you use a tarp on the pathway when you clean up your plot. Dirt in the pathways leads to the growth of weeds in the pathways – and it also doesn’t look too great.)

Another use for zucchini

Still another use for zucchini- Bear repellent!

(FRENCHTOWN, MONTANA) -- This is not a joke, this story is for real.

Missoula County Sheriff Lt. Rich Maricelli says a Frenchtown, Montana woman defended herself successfully in a bear attack with a pretty low-end weapon -- a zucchini squash.

Frenchtown is part of the Missoula, Montana Metro Area, population 883 at the 2000 census.

Authorities say the 200-pound black bear went after one of the woman's dogs just after midnight Wednesday on the back porch of her house, which is about 15 miles west of Missoula.

The bear bit her in the leg while she tried to get the bear away from her dogs so she grabbed for the nearest hard object and it was the zucchini she had recently harvested from her garden sitting on the porch’s railing.

The woman threw the squash at the bear, hitting it with enough force to make the bear run away.

The sheriff’s office said the woman’s bite was not serious enough for medical attention. Montana wildlife officials were trying to locate the bear.

Early Seed Sale

Burien Safeway is selling Burpee Seed Packets @ 5 for $1 or 25 cents each to benefit MDA. Great way to get early start on your seed purchases for next season.

Community Gardeners Get to keep their plots

Michael, Rebecca, Wayne and Carol were able to attend the Parks Board meeting on September 8. Just want to pass along the great news that they unanimously decided to go with our recommendation to remove the one year plot term. Current gardeners (and future gardeners) will now be able to keep their plot as long as they wish, assuming they reapply each year, pay the $25 fee, volunteer their 8 hours and follow other garden rules. If there are more gardeners than plots a waiting list will be formed and gardeners will be assigned plots on a first come, first serve basis.

The Parks Board members' biggest concern with going to the unlimited plot term model was not having enough plots to make the resource available to everyone in the community. There seemed to be interest in building more community gardens if the demand is there (a wait list on the B-Patch), but funding is the primary issue that will need to be addressed.

A few highlights of our first few months at the garden

A few highlights of our first few months at the garden:

· 90 pounds of produce donated to the Highline and White Center food banks

·Gardener and community potluck was held on 8/29 which included garden demos, delicious food prepared with produce grown at the garden and over 40 people!

·Developed a B-Patch blog called the Bee Patch Blog to share recipes, garden announcements and work party information - http://beepatch.blogspot.com/

·The B-Patch is on Facebook

·Working with Sustainable Burien to help finish some of the final projects in the garden’s construction

·Learning 101 ways to cook zucchini, and trying to find more things to do with all the green tomatoes!

·Featured on the Photo Friday of the B-Town Blog

·The Mayor of Burien recently toured the garden

Pickled Kohlrabi

In the garden, the KohlRabi is coming out swell--- now to preserve it for a while longer. I found this recipe at Recipe Land .com of course I had to make my little changes to go with what I grow!
Ingredients

3 each kohlrabi peeled, sliced (I used 2)
2 large carrots Or I used 6 "baby" Carrots- I grow thumbelina and little finger
2 each garlic cloves crushed
1 each bay leaf
3 large dill weed sprigs

Pickling mixture
3/4 cup white vinegar
1 1/4 cups water
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon mustard seed
1/2 teaspoon dill seed
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon salt

Directions
Parboil carrots for 3 minutes.
Mix kohlrabi and carrots; pack in a 1 quart glass jar along with garlic, bay leaf and fresh dill.
In a saucepan, combine pickling mixture.
Heat, stirring, until it boils and sugar is dissolved.
Pour boiling mixture over kohlrabi, filling jar completely.
Cover jar. When cool, refrigerate for 3 to 4 days before using to let flavors blend

1st B-Patch Garden Day

In concordance with World Kitchen Garden Day, We had a succesful B-Patch Garden Day with over 40 local gardeners attending. Starting with a potluck full of dishes inspired by what we grow. Followed by demo's on all sorts of garden related topics like food preservation, composting, chicken keeping, making mason bee houses and ladybug houses. prepping your garden for winter; winter gardening and much more.
Moreover it was an oppurtunity to meet and discuss our gardens and to plant friendships and prep as a community, sharing ideas along the way.

Update on B-Patch Garden Day

Potluck -1PM
* please bring your own utensils/plates/cups* please bring a dish to share, preferably with an ingredient from the b-patch - we encourage you to bring your recipe to share with other gardeners if you wish
Demos- 2PM to 4pm
Learn about a variety of garden related topics from other b-patch gardeners including: over wintering crops, putting a garden to rest for winter, self irrigating planters, canning　and storing, composting, building mason bee and lady bug houses, seed saving, and backyard chicken keeping.　 　
Contact Rob at robj98168@yahoo.com or Rebecca at rdare2@yahoo.com for more information

Zucchini Recipes

From Rebecca, here are some great resources for that famous squash! that came about from a dinner party using all zucchini recipes!

Fried Green Tomatoes!

Fried Green Tomatoes Recipe
from Simply Recipes.com
Ingredients
3 medium, firm green tomatoes
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup milk
2 beaten eggs
2/3 cup fine dry bread crumbs or cornmeal
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Method
1 Cut unpeeled tomatoes into 1/2 inch slices. Sprinkle slices with salt and pepper. Let tomato slices stand for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, place flour, milk, eggs, and bread crumbs in separate shallow dishes.

2 Heat 2 Tbsp of olive oil in a skillet on medium heat. Dip tomato slices in milk, then flour, then eggs, then bread crumbs. In the skillet, fry half of the coated tomato slices at a time, for 4-6 minutes on each side or until brown. As you cook the rest of the tomatoes, add olive oil as needed. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

B-Patch on Facebook!

The B-Patch is now on facebook!

Carolina Kale

This recipe comes from Lana, via the MOOSEWOOD RESTAURANT LOW-FAT FAVORITES Cookbook!

Carolina Kale (serves 4 to 6; total time: 25 minutes)
---------------------------------------------------------------

Cooked until just tender, bright vitamin- and mineral-rich greens
contrast beautifully with red tomatoes to make an appealing vegetable
side dish or a topping for rice.

11/2 lbs kale, collards, chard, beet greens or mustard greens
2 cups chopped canned tomatoes and their juice OR 3 cups chopped fresh
tomatoes
1 cup minced onions
11/2 tsp ground cumin
2 garlic cloves, pressed or minced
1 tsp Tabasco or other hot pepper sauce OR 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
1/2 tsp salt
ground black pepper to taste

Wash the greens. Remove the large stems and any discolored leaves. Stack
the leaves and slice them crosswise into 1/8-inch strips.

Combine the tomatoes, onions, cumin, garlic, Tabasco, and salt in a
saucepan, cover, and cook on medium heat for 5 minutes. Add the greens,
cover, and gently simmer, stirring frequently, for 10 to 15 minutes,
until the greens are tender (see Note below). Add pepper to taste and
serve.
Enjoy!

Note: The cooking time will vary with the type and tenderness of the
greens. If necessary, add a little water during cooking to maintain
liquid in the bottom of the pan.

August 29th is B-Patch Garden Day

August 29th is B-Patch Garden Day

August 29th 2-6 pm at the B-Patch (Burien Community Garden)
POTLUCK Please bring a dish inspired by your garden
DEMOS- Everything from Self Irrigating Planters to Winter Gardening
Fun and Sun at the B-Patch
More info contact Rob at robj98168@yahoo.com or Rebecca at rdare2@yahoo.com

PIckle Anything

Wondering how to pickle things? Readymade Magazine has a great article on fresh pack pickling and blanch and seal pickling- pickle everything! Good freshness extenders! My favorite? Pickled Red Onions(Beefmaster) with Garlic!

Sustainable Burien meeting at The B-Patch

The good folks at Sustainable Burien want everyone to know that their next meeting, set for this Sunday, Aug. 8th, is being moved from the usual spot at the new library to Burien’s Community Gardens, located at 437 SW 144th Street. The meeting is Sunday, Aug. 8th from 2pm to 4pm; doors open at 1:30pm. 2pm until 4pm

This will be a chance to visit the new community garden and attend SuBu's monthly meeting.

Their speaker will be Jeanne Johnson from the Environmental Coalition of South Seattle, and according to an email:

“She’ll have free green cleaning products to give away to everyone. She’ll explain how to read the labels on cleaning products and other chemicals so you know what’s really in them and can make an educated choice about what works for you. She’ll have information about how you can take care of your home using green products; cheaply, easily and effectively. She has some surprising information about what personal care products are actually classified as hazardous waste, and will have information about how to research the products you use and find alternatives if you want to. And she’ll have copies of the Grow Safe/Grow Green Guide for yard and garden care, an excellent guide that lists various products and explains what they are, how safe they are [or aren't] and helps you pick what will work best for you.”

Permaculture Class

PERMACULTURE CLASS

Now all the pieces are in place, including paypal, to fully register using our website: www.nwpermaculture.org. You will find instructions for both paypal and check registration there now! Try it out! Early Bird pricing ends August 15th. We hope you will find registration easy, smooth and uncomplicated.

Pruning Tomatoes Video

Rebecca shared this video so we can all prune our tomatoes. Very interesting.
http://www.finegardening.com/video/homegrown-homemade-how-to-prune-tomato-plants.aspx

Swiss Chard W/ Pancetta

This recipe works with any greens

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 ounces pancetta, finely diced (bacon or 1/4 cup of pine nuts or walnuts work as well)
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1/2 teaspoon chopped rosemary
1 1/2 pounds Swiss chard or rainbow chard, stems and inner ribs cut into 1/2-inch pieces, leaves cut into 1-inch ribbons
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons red wine vinegar

Heat the oil in a large, deep skillet. Add the pancetta, garlic and rosemary and cook over moderately high heat until the garlic is softened, about 2 minutes. Add the chard stems and cook, stirring occasionally, until crisp-tender and lightly browned, about 7 minutes. Add the chard leaves, season with salt and pepper and cook, tossing, until wilted, about 5 minutes. Stir in the vinegar, toss to coat and serve.

Kitchen Garden Day- August 22

Did you know that world's producers of chips, pretzels and fluorescent orange cheese doodles have rebranded February as "Snack Food Month?"
Well, the world's food gardeners and other healthy, delicious eaters are biting back. If they can claim a month, we can at least have a day: Kitchen Garden Day! And it will be celebrated on August 22 this year! Facebook users can show their support and solidarity with food gardeners and other healthy eaters around the world by "attending" our global event here: Kitchen Garden Day on facebook
Some Ideas to celebrate Kitchen Garden Day are:
-a walking tour of gardens in your area
-a kitchen garden or local agriculture potluck
-a kitchen garden taste-test
-a harvest or planting party
-a benefit for a local food/gardening charity
-a kitchen garden "teach in"
-a single food theme party
-an activity at a local farm
-etc

Work Party at the B-Patch

WORK PARTY

Saturday July 10 @2PM

What To Do: Get the lattice up for the privacy fence, clean the NE Corner out, spread Wood Chips

B-Patch Board Meeting Minutes 7/1/10

B-Patch Board Meeting Minutes
July 1, 2010
In Attendance: Wayne, Kevin, Rebecca (and Bill), Rob, Carol


1. Adding new Board Members:
The suggested number of board members from the Parks Dept was 5 people, we are already at 6, so feel like it should not grow any larger as the decision making process may be more difficult.

2. The one year limit to the garden plots:
Many board members and plot holders have already expressed concern with this policy, as the greater investment gardeners have in the garden, the better it will work. The Parks Board approved this policy, but we can lobby to have it changed. The hope is to send someone to the August Parks Board meeting in August to let them know how well the garden is working out. Also send some folks to the September meeting to request a switch to a policy where gardeners keep their plots for a longer term – 3 years? As long as they keep it up?
Follow up: When are the Park Board Meetings? Who can attend August? Who can attend September? Organize our selling points to get the policy changed.

3. Compost Bin Use:
We need to make sure the bin is getting turned and watered regularly to insure it composts. Also having issues with weeds and diseased plants being put in the compost bins.
Follow up: Carol will create a sign-up sheet for the bulletin board for people to write when they turn or water the bins. Kevin will talk to John about making more signs that say “THIS BIN”, “NOT THIS BIN”, “NO DISEASED PLANTS”

4. Outstanding Work Projects:
* Privacy screen for neighbor and plants to climb on it – hops?
* Bench – this is a lower priority item
* Sign with landscaping in NE corner
* Mason bee box installation – Wayne will install under the eaves of the house
* Earth oven? – not sure about placement
Kevin will let people know ahead of time about any upcoming work parties. We can work on some of these projects as we have time.

5. Gardener communication and “email list”:
Several board members didn’t receive “the list” provided by Steve Romer. Wayne will forward it on to other board members. Agreed that we should keep plot holder email to a max of twice a month and use the Bee-Patch Blog to post more frequent info as needed.
Follow up: Should probably establish one person to do the communication to the gardeners, and establish a “list keeper” to manage additions/deletions/duplicates, etc.
Organize a garden party to meet other gardeners in ways other than email.

6. Food Bank and School Plots status and communal maintenance:
Gloria said it is okay for other people to water and weed her two school plots. We will add these tasks to the Volunteer Opportunities list for gardeners. The Food Bank plot still has room to be planted.
Follow up: Need to come up with a way to track pounds of food donated to both food banks. The school plots need to be labeled on the map on the board. Delivery times and locations of both food banks should also be posted. Carol will make a Volunteer Opportunities list and post on board.

7. Other needs from Steve and Parks Dept at this time?
No – we will include him on monthly meeting minutes

8. Sign design
Per our residential permit it will be under 10 sq ft. Kevin will follow up with John and have him come up with his own design that includes “B-Patch” and “Burien Community Garden” as well as some bees/butterflies/carrots/radish/etc. graphics

9. What to do with the extra grant money:
Currently have $902 that needs to be spent by 4/1/11. Some will be spend on the remaining supplies for the privacy screen and sign permit.
Follow up: Buy a wisk broom and dust pan for the kitchen. Still need to decide how to spend the money down the road.

10. Parks Dept “stuff” in the green house:
Everyone is fine with it as long as the kitchen stays available for gardener use and the bathroom has toilet paper.

11. Border along gravel:
Gravel is getting in to some garden plots and the bark and gravel are mixing by the picnic table.
Follow up: Kevin will look at getting a plastic boarder for the bark/gravel mix spot. Perhaps a small pile of free bricks for gardeners along the gravel border side? Craigslist?

12. Bulletin Board:
Space is running out. Let’s move the more permanent items to the inside of the window and leave the bulletin board for rotating items, or items that expire.

13. Planting with neighbors in mind:
Continue to monitor that folks aren’t shading neighbors, letting weeds spread, letting disease spread. Don’t want to create more rules at this time.

RECIPE- Tomatoes With Provolone

BROILED TOMATOES WITH PROVOLONE
Makes 6 servings

Ingredients

3 large salad tomatoes
3 large garlic cloves, cut lengthwise into slivers
2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, or 2 teaspoons dried rosemary leaves
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup olive oil
6 slices of good provolone cheese
Directions

Heat broiler to 500ºF. Cut the tomatoes crosswise in half and place them, cut-side up, on a broiling pan or shallow baking pan. Stick the garlic slivers into the tomatoes. Sprinkle with the rosemary, salt, and a few grinds of pepper. Drizzle with the oil. Top with a slice of provolone cheese. Broil about 3 inches from the heat for 10 to 15 minutes or just until the tomatoes release their juices and the garlic and cheese begins to brown. Spoon the pan juices over the tomatoes before serving.

Serve as a side dish for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

Board Meeting on Thursday!

Results of the Last Work party

A beautiful Arbor for grapes or whatever went up June 16th. Thanks to Kevin and John. For more information on work parties go to the Sustainable Burien website.

Steve Roemer talks about the community garden

New Compost Bin

The compost bin is completed and ready for re-fuse. Thanks to Kevin and Rob for all the hard work!

Work Party coming up...

Work Party at the B-Patch

There will be work parties on Saturday June 12, 12:30 to 2:30 PM and Wednesday June 16, 5 PM to 7 PM - Contact Kevin for more info.

Tomato Pie Recipe

I first found out about tomato pie while listening to NPR last year. It is wonderful stuff that uses so much out of the garden!
Kathy Lloyd's Tomato Pie Recipe as heard on NPR's All things Considered

Make 1 biscuit recipe from the Bisquick box

Use as a pie crust and bake it. Place either ceramic baking beads or another pie plate on top of it to keep it from rising out of control.

Layer in the pie crust (really high) the sweet onions sliced pretty thin (generally 1 big one) and the garden fresh tomatoes not too thin (about 2 lbs). Season each layer of tomatoes with salt, fresh cracked pepper and fresh basil.

Make a top crust with 2 cups shredded cheddar and 1 cup mayo. Mix the cheese and mayo with your hands and squish it all over the pie like a top crust.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour.

A couple of notes- when making this pie, make sure to put a cookie sheet underneath the pie plate
I have found a regular pie crust works great as well as the bisquik crust, you still need to make the top crust with the cheese/mayo combination
And according to Kathy Lloyd you must use mayo mixed with the cheese- sorry vegans I don’t know if “vegan” mayo and vegan cheese will work or not.

Board Members

Rebecca Dare, Rob Johnson, Michael Stein-Ross, Kane Jamison,Wayne Sykes and Carol Roll. Congratulations to all!

Plot holder meeting on 6/8/2010 results

From the Plot Holder Meeting on June 8, 2010
Access and Use of House-
The house is to be used for storing community garden tools, and can be used for potty breaks. No large parties allowed!
Status of Vacant Plots
2 of the vacant plots would be used for classroom for school kids.
The other two for "food bank" gardens
Community space and shared responsibilities
It was discussed that the B- Patch is a community space and everyone has responsibility to help keep it up. Discussion of starting our board started. Also there is now a bulletin board under the porch. Check there for messages or leave messages for others as needed.
Outstanding garden projects
While everyones garden is outstanding, The city and Sustainable Burien have a couple of projects left and are underway. 1- the trellis is being built in the Northwest corner, and will support grapes 2- the grassy areas need to get covered with cardboard and mulch before the dandelions get a chance to establish 3- plans are in to plant raspberry vines and other vining fruits on the fence on the north side Kevin Alexander from Sustainable Burien is the go to guy on these- contact him if you want to help, or can donate cardboard or plants fir these beautifying projects 5- SuBu is building a compost bin just east of the porch on the house.

Welcome to Burien's "B" Patch

Everybody is working hard trying to get their gardens in. Here are a few views!