Yummy Brussel Sprouts

* 1 Brussels Sprouts Stalk
* 3/4 cup Maple Syrup
* 1/4 cup Olive Oil
* Freshly Ground Black Pepper & Sea Salt, to taste

Preheat oven to 350°. Trim the stalk down to the fullest, best looking part. Trim sprouts off one side to make a flat bottom. Trim any "tough" leaves from the sprouts. Rinse stalk and trimmed sprouts well in fresh water. Wrap damp stalk in cling wrap and heat in the microwave for 4-5 minutes. Place the trimmed loose sprouts in a bowl, cover with cling wrap and microwave for 3 minutes. Whisk maple syrup and olive oil together. Place stalk flat side down along with any loose sprouts on a roasting pan and pour the maple syrup mixture over. Use a pastry brush to mop the maple syrup onto all sides of the sprouts and stalk. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper. Place in oven and roast for about 45 minutes or until sprouts on stalk are fork tender and caramelize to a golden color. To serve: Place stalk on a holiday platter, pour any syrup from roasting pan over and garnish with something bright and tart such as dried cranberries or fresh pomegranate seeds.

Frozen Pea Salad

Easiest salad to put together ever! I use Ranch dressing to kick it up a notch. Great with or without bacon!

FROZEN PEA SALAD
2 c. frozen peas (uncooked)
1/2 c. green onions chopped
1 c. shredded cheddar cheese
Bacon bits or crisp bacon broken into pieces if desired
1/2 c. ranch dressing or mayonnaise

Mix together with salad dressing or mayonnaise. Garnish with a rosemary sprig if desired. Serve

Fall Work Party November 5th

We’ve set November 5th, anytime between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., as a time to get together as a garden community and finish cleaning up our garden plots. And, especially for those who haven’t put in their required 8 hours community work, working on the community areas of the garden.

Those who haven’t done their 8 hours risk losing their plots in 2012. (If you have unreported hours, send them to Michael Stein-Ross –

The rules require that we have our plots cleaned up by October 31st*, but the Parks Department has given us until November 5th to complete that work. It would be great if you could do the bulk of the cleanup in your plot prior to November 5th so the Parks Department can pick up that pile on or before November 5th. We need to bring in the 8 yards of compost that we have already purchased and that pile will probably be put in the spot in front of the compost bins. You’ll be able to amend your beds with that compost either this fall or next spring.

We’ll probably have some cider or other goodies to give us strength (feel free to bring something).

*Winter gardening. Some of you may want to grow gardens through the winter – please let the Board know before November 5th if you’ll be planning winter gardens.

Green Tomato Bread

If your plot is like mine, you have a glut of green tomatoes. What else besides Fried Green Tomatoes can you do with them? I was checking out The Cooking With Michelle blog, and she has a bread recipe for them. Very simular to zucchini bread or banana bread, but great in it's own right!
GREEN TOMATO BREAD
From Cooking With Michelle
Ingredients:

* 1/2 cup canola oil
* 8 ounces nonfat yogurt, plain
* 3 large eggs
* 1 cup sugar
* 1 cup Splenda (or use all sugar)
* 2 cups green tomatoes, pureed, juice drained and discarded
* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 cup whole wheat flour
* 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 2 teaspoons cinnamon
* 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
* 1/8 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two loaf pans. Combine oil, yogurt, eggs, sugar, Splenda and green tomatoes in a large bowl and mix well. Sift together all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, and spices and add to wet ingredients along with the whole wheat flour. Stir together just until combined. Divide evenly between two prepared pans and bake just until a toothpick comes clean from the center of the bread, about 45 minutes. Let cool in pans, then remove. To retain moisture, wrap in plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator. May be frozen.

Hardy Plant Society of Washington SALE!

The Hardy Plant Society of Washington will be holding a bulb sale on Sunday October 2nd, 10am - 2 pm at the Center for Urban Horticulture, 3501 NE 41st St. Seattle, WA 98105

Read more here (including a plant list!)

Central Puget Sound Native Seed, Bulb, & Plant Sale

Central Puget Sound Native Seed, Bulb, & Plant Sale

Date & Time October 1, 2011; 10 AM - 4 PM
Location Warren G. Magnuson Park, Seattle
Driving Directions Enter Magnuson Park from Sand Point Way at NE 74th. Follow the signs to parking. Sale is in Building 30

Read More HERE

BLT (Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato) Salad

I picked about 3 pounds of Cherry tomatoes and thought Now what? I started to think and came up with this ridiculously easy salad for supper.

BLT Salad
1 cup of cherry tomatoes, cut in halves

1 cup of lettuce, shredded

2 TBLSP. of mayonaisse

4 slices of cooked bacon, crumbled

1/2 cup of cheddar cheese

1 SLice of toast, cut into small cubes

Place cherry tomatoes, lettuce and 3/4 of the bacon in a medium bowl, gently toss, add mayonnaise, cheese, toss again until well mixed. Top with toast cubes and the remainder of bacon.

Garden-A-Glow!

Ever wonder what the garden would look like if Elves and Fairies took over at night and transformed it into a wonderful light driven wonderland?

Will the community garden got it's chance with the Burien Arts-A-Glow lantern festival. The garden was transformed into a wonderland of light: (Click on any picture to expand)

(Photos by Rob Johnson and Elise Dupre)

Above... Dottie Harper Park transformed (Photo by Elise Dupre)B-Patch from the frontOur Lullaby singerLights in the gardenMore lightsEven more!Garden from the side!

A visitor!

Arts-A-Glow! This Saturday

Looking for something fun to do this Saturday?

Summer Frittata

A simple dish that uses quite a bit from the garden.

Summer Frittata (from Rose Elliot's Vegetarian Fast Food)

8 oz. asparagus spears
8 oz. zucchini
8 sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained
4 eggs
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 Tbs chopped fresh parsley
salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 Tbs Olive oil

1) Trim the asparagus and cut the zucchini into 1/4" slices. Cook the vegetables in a little boiling water for a few minutes until tender but slightly crunchy. Drain immediately.

2) Heat the broiler. Chop the sun-dried tomatoes. Whisk the eggs lightly, add the cheese, tomatoes and parsley and season with a little salt and pepper.

3) Heat the oil in an 8-inch skillet, add the vegetables, then pour in the egg mixture. cook for 4-5 minutes, until the bottom of the frittata is set and golden brown, then put the skillet under the broiler and leave for a further minute or two to set the top. Serve cut in half or in thick wedges.

B-Patch Gardeners' Day

We had our annual B-Patch Gardeners Day at our community garden Sunday. A small turnout but we had a great time. Good food and Better people. I thought I should share some pics (all pictures by Rebecca Dare)


Graham the Beet Master!
Catherine demonstrating paper starter pots
Rob demonstrating hanging gutter gardens
Cat loves her plot!
Graham reacting to the demo's

Zucchini, Olive, and Cheese Quesadillas

I don't know bout you, But I am inundated with Zucchini this year! So I got this recipe via a friend of mine on the inter-webs.

Zucchini, Olive, and Cheese Quesadillas
Ingredients:
1 teaspoon olive oil
Cooking spray
1/3 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 teaspoon bottled minced garlic
1 1/4 cups shredded zucchini
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
4 (8-inch) fat-free flour tortillas
1/2 cup (2 ounces) preshredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided
1/2 cup diced tomato, divided
1/4 cup chopped pitted kalamata olives, divided
1/4 cup (1 ounce) crumbled feta cheese, divided

Preparation

Heat the olive oil in a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic; sauté for 1 minute. Add zucchini; sauté for 2 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from heat; stir in oregano, salt, and pepper.
Wipe pan clean with paper towels, and coat with cooking spray. Heat pan over medium heat. Add 1 tortilla to pan, and sprinkle with 1/4 cup mozzarella. Top with half of the zucchini mixture, 1/4 cup tomato, 2 tablespoons olives, 2 tablespoons feta, and 1 tortilla. Cook for 3 minutes or until lightly browned on bottom. Carefully turn quesadilla; cook for 2 minutes or until lightly browned. Place quesadilla on a cutting board; cut in half using a serrated knife. Repeat procedure with the remaining tortillas, mozzarella, zucchini mixture, tomato, olives, and feta. Serve warm.

Just a reminder

(Click on flyer to enlarge)

Interesting Reading...

The following is an excerpt from most excellent Article: Growing Communiy Gardens in Cities, left on our facebook page, by someone over at Burien Parks and Recreation!

P-Patch, which began in 1973 and was named after Rainie Picardo, the farmer who first allowed residents to begin gardening on his land, once even counted as a gardening member Mayor Wes Ulhman. Today P-Patch has sixty-eight gardens, an annual budget of $650,000 and a staff of six, and Seattle has more garden plots per capita than any other major city. Even more impressive, Seattle’s City Council passed a formal resolution supporting community gardens and recommending their co-location on other city-owned property. The city’s comprehensive plan calls for a standard of one garden for every 2,000 households in high-density neighborhoods (known in Seattle as “urban villages”). Nevertheless, despite this abundance, P-Patch still has a waiting list of 1,900 persons; in crowded neighborhoods that translates to three to four years.

Read more here

How to freeze Swiss Chard and other Greens

One of my favorite things in the garden is Swiss Chard... I really want to preserve Swiss Chard. Other than dehydration (makes great snack chips),

* Wash the chard well.
* Separate the stalks from the leaves. It makes it more convenient when you're cooking the chard later, since the stalks take longer to cook than the leaves (and, sometimes you only want to use one or the other in a recipe, not both.)
* Bring a pot of water to a boil, and fill a bowl with ice water.
* Blanch Swiss chard stalks for two minutes, leaves for one minute. Place them in the ice water immediately after blanching to stop the cooking process.
* Drain well, and place the stalks and leaves in separate freezer bags or other freezer-safe containers.
* Freeze for up to six months.
Also works for Kale, Spinach, beet and turnip greens!

Fried Zucchini

Photo: Creating a Family Home Blog

The following recipe comes from Kelli, at Creating a Family Home Blog, and looks so good!

Two medium-sized zucchini, washed and sliced into thin rounds, less than a quarter-inch thick
Two eggs, beaten in a shallow bowl
Italian seasoned bread crumbs, about one cup
Extra virgin olive oil for frying
Kosher salt to taste

Fill the bottom of a heavy frying pan with about 1/8” of olive oil and put it on medium-high heat.

While the oil is heating, dip the zucchini slices in egg and dredge them in bread cumbs until they’re fully coated. Set aside until oil is very hot.

Tip: If you start frying before the oil is hot enough, you’ll end up with soggy zucchini slices that have soaked up all the oil. You’ll know your oil is hot enough when a you toss a pinch of bread crumbs into the pan and the oil around them bubbles. If the oil’s not hot enough, the bread crumbs will sink to the bottom without any fanfare.

See all the bubbling action? Yay for fried zucchini!

Once all of your slices are coated and the oil is hot (but not smoking!), start carefully placing the slices in the pan in one even layer. Be careful not to overload the pan, or else you can bring the temperature of your oil down too low and end up with said soggy zucchini.

After 2-3 minutes, check to see if they’re brown enough to flip. You’re looking for a medium golden brown color.

Flip slices and let the second side get nice and brown. When they’re about done, the oil will bubble less vigorously. Remove from pan onto a wire rack and salt them immediately.

Tip: Place your fried zucchini on a wire rack to cool instead of paper towels. Paper towels cause the crispy crust to get soggy—and this goes for any fried food. Instead, I put the paper towels under the wire rack to catch the oil drips.

Tip: Salt the zucchini rounds while they’re still piping hot. The salt will stick better.

Repeat with the next batch of zucchini until all your rounds are fried and salted.

Tip: Add more oil in between batches as needed, but allow the oil to get up to temperature before adding the next batch of zucchini.

ENJOY!!!!

B-Patch Gardeners Day

(Click on flyer to enlarge)

Scenes from WORK PARTY II- Community at Work!

We couldn't of ask for better weather as we gathered on a nice Sunny Saturday for our 2nd work party of the season.Looking through the runner beans!

Looking lush!

Members plant the columnar apple trees along the fence line

Nancy and Rebecca- 2 of our driving forces!

A lot got done, we weeded along the west fence line, planted 3 columnar apple trees and a fig tree, spread some new wood chips, all followed by a great potluck after. It is great when people get together as a community to get things done.

B-PATCH GARDENERS WORK PARTY

B-PATCH GARDENERS
WORK PARTY and POTLUCK
July 23, 2011 10 AM to NOON

WORK AGENDA:

setting up the rain barrels,

inserting the plastic divide next to the lawn on the west side,

plant the columnar fruit trees

weed the pathway that's filling with lots of grass from the adjoining lawn and spread wood chips.

After Work We will eat!!!

Limited to Garden Plot Holders, their Families and invited Guests

White Center Heights Community Garden

Did you know that the B-Patch is not the first community garden in the area? If you travel just a bit into White Center, you can find the White Center Heights Community Garden.
The White Center Heights Community Garden, is located at SW 102nd St and 7th Ave SW , in White Center and run by the White Center Community Food Bank
From their listing on the American Community Garden Association website :

"The White Center Heights Community Garden consists of 17 3'x7' raised beds and is located within the recently made over White Center Heights Park. The garden is free to participate in, strictly organic, utilizes a water cistern, and has compost bins on-site. In fact, due to the economic challenges many in the White Center community face, we have solicited donations for organic fertilizer and plants for our gardeners and neighborhood businesses have generously responded.
If you are interested in gardening with us, please contact Audrey Zemke at the White Center Food Bank for an application."

Swiss Chard Pie

Chard grows so well here in Burien. Leave it to Martha Stewart to come up with a good way to use it up!

This vegetarian pie is great to have on hand -- it can go straight from the freezer to the oven. To bake it without freezing, reduce the baking time to 40 to 45 minutes.
Ingredients

For the Olive Oil Dough:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup cold water
3/4 teaspoon coarse salt

For the Swiss Chard Pie Filling:
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium red onion, cut into small dice
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 1/2 pounds Swiss chard, stems cut into small dice and leaves torn
3/4 teaspoon red-pepper flakes
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
Grated zest of 1 large lemon, plus 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 large egg yolk

Directions

Make the Olive Oil Dough

In a bowl, combine all-purpose flour, extra-virgin olive oil, cold water, and coarse salt. Stir with a fork to combine, then turn out onto a work surface and knead 1 minute. Cover dough with plastic wrap and let rest at room temperature, 30 minutes.
Make the Swiss Chard Pie

In a large pot, heat oil over medium-high. Add onion and garlic; cook until onion begins to soften, about 2 minutes. Add chard stems and red-pepper flakes; cook until stems begin to soften, about 2 minutes.

Pack chard leaves into pot; season with salt and pepper. Reduce heat to medium, cover, and cook until chard leaves wilt, about 4 minutes. Uncover and cook, stirring occasionally, until chard is soft, about 4 minutes. Drain, pressing out as much liquid as possible. Place chard mixture in a large bowl and toss with Parmesan, flour, lemon zest and juice. Season with salt and pepper.

Roll two-thirds the dough to a 12 1/2-inch round; fit into an 8-inch round cake pan (2 inches deep). Fill bottom crust with chard mixture. Roll remaining dough to a 9 1/2-inch round; place over filling. Pinch edges of dough together and tuck in to seal; cut several vents into center of pie. Combine yolk with 1 teaspoon water and brush over dough, avoiding edge of pan. Freeze pie (see below).

To serve, preheat oven to 400, with rack in lowest position. Bake frozen pie until crust is deep golden brown, about 1 1/2 hours. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Plant Garlic

Best time to plant - November! I just harvested mine

Nice to know folks at Burpee's Seeds agree. The cool thing is you can plant the cloves you buy from the store! Plus I have successfully planted garlic in a 5 gallon bucket (self watering planter)

Make a Salad Bowl

Another great way to garden on your deck or balcony

How to grow Vegetables on your Balcony

Want to grow some produce? Don't have a yard or a plot in a community garden?
The price of produce is going up with everything else, and if you have a sunny balcony, you can grow some of your own delicious vegetables. Besides harvesting healthy foods, having pots of growing food on your balcony is a wonderful, inexpensive way to decorate it.
Read more here

Veggie Kabobs

A quick, easy and tasty way to eat your veggies- grill in minutes

VEGGIE KABOBS
Assorted vegetables, cut bite size (I like to use mushrooms, tomatoes squash and onion- this is good dish for cherry tomatoes)
Skewers
Marinade*
Let vegetables marinate in a shallow dish between 30 minutes to an hour. Then piece by piece, shove them on skewers- (You may want to soak skewers in a shallow bowl or pan in some water- helps keep them from burning)Place them on a hot grill or BBQ- cook for about two minutes and turn over. Should have nice grill marks. Serve and enjoy!
Tip- brush the grill with a light brush of Olive oil before grilling- adds good falver and helps to keep veggies from sticking to the grill.

*Asian Vegetable Marinade
2 tablespoons light soy sauce
2 tablespoons seasoned rice wine vinegar
2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger
1 teaspoon sesame oil

mix the marinade up and let your vegetables marinate in a shallow dish from between 30 minutes to an hour before grilling.

Get Free Advice At Six Burien Master Gardener Clinics In May

Spring may finally be arriving, and despite it being only a few weeks late, it’s likely that you’ve got some questions about your suddenly-blooming garden, lawn, yard, or those pests that have seemingly just appeared.

Did you know that there are local “Master Gardeners” in Burien with gardening and pest control expertise who can answer your questions for no charge?
Check out this article in the B-Town Blog for more info on Master Gardener Clinincs

Paper seed pots

Our own Catherine Dupré shows how she makes paper seed pots on her post at Burien Daily. Catherine is a first year gardener at the community garden and is sharing her experiences at the Daily.

Gift of the Fungi

It appears that Wayne's mushroom experiment is bearing fruit... err fungi that is. The Mushroom patch along the fence is definitely working, and here is some info from Wayne...

"Picked the first flush of oyster mushrooms that Bill
let me know about - made a delicious soup with parsnips, leek, and greens,
no stomach issues, so must be the right kind of fungi ;) Bet there will be
more later, but we need to remember to NOT water coffee grounds / mushrooms
with chlorinated (tap) water".

So as Bill suggests, best let Mother Nature take care of watering the mushrooms...

How to save Tomato Seeds

For those who don't know how, here is a great video from Clifton Middleton on saving tomato seeds.
The video is 5 minutes long, if you can't view this gardening video here are the hightlights:

1. When choosing tomatoes for seeds choose the reddest and ripest.
   
2. Some of the seeds are green and some are yellow.
   
3. The green seeds are "not good" and they won't germinate.

First Work Party of the Year!!!

Note: We are not at this time looking for volunteers, outside of our own members, for the Work party

Burien Gothic

New Community Garden Members Catherine and Matt pose a new take on "American Gothic"

We Got MAIL!!!

Just wanted to share an email from Michael Lafreniere, Department Director
City of Burien Parks, Recreation & Cultural Services to the email box, which I diligently check- NOT! Thank you Michael, sorry it took so long to read your email!

Michael wrote:
Just wanted to pass along a website and an initiative I recently learned about:

http://www.growlocaltacomapierce.com/

In Tacoma-Pierce County, the Cascade Land Conservancy is working to help organize community gardens at several new locations around Tacoma due to pent up demand. More on that HERE.

Garden From Space

No not talking about growing marsian tomatoes or Venuvian Kale, This is a shot of the community garden from space, via Google Satellite. The day it was taken must have been sometime in early summer 2010 as the compost bins are being built and there is already stuff growing, and Kevin Alexander is working on the compost bins and his truck and trailer are in the driveway

Orientation Meeting April 12th

ORIENTATION MEETING TUESDAY, APRIL 12th At the Community Garden 437 SW 144Th 6:00PM All New Gardeners And Returning Gardeners Expected to Attend to Discuss the rules of the garden

Basil Mojitos

Photo: Savvy Houskeeping

Basil Mojito any one? Savvy Housekeeping has come up with a fresh take on the everyday Mojito just in time for everyone's favorite spring herb! View the recipe here.

Neat Trellis Work

Gardeners new to the community garden, Matt and Catherine have already put up some new trellises, with very cool designs, made from Bamboo that a friend of Matt's grew!

B-Patch is on B-Town Blog!

The B-town blog had a nice write up on the B-Patch. Time to sign up OR Renew your plots!

Seattle Tilth Spring Sale!

Get an early start on spring gardening!

Choose from an amazing selection of edible plant varieties proven to perform well in the Pacific NW during the cool spring season, starring favorite varieties as well as special rare and heirloom plants. You will find organic veggie starts, culinary herb plants, edible flowers, berry shrubs and fruit trees.

Now in its second year, the Early Spring Edible Plant Sale is the place to find the best selection of locally grown, organic spring veggies for your garden!

Early Bird Pre-Sale

For people who want to shop early with the best selection, come to the Early Bird Sale at 9 a.m. on Saturday, March 19 before the gates open for the regular sale at 10 a.m.. A limited number of tickets are available for $25; all proceeds benefit Seattle Tilth's educational programs. BUY EARLY BIRD TICKETS.

More Info here

History of School Gardens

Kitchen Gardeners International had an interesting post on School Gardens. A good read to learn a little history of the Victory Garden movement in general. Maybe an idea whose time is right again!

Kiss Your Organics Goodbye!

After years of bureaucratic wrangling, Secretary Vilsack and the Obama administration are only days away from approving Monsanto’s genetically modified (GMO) alfalfa. If approved, GMO alfalfa will fundamentally undermine the entire organic industry overnight. In addition, the USDA says American consumers don't care about the contamination of organics.

Please join us in calling on Secretary Vilsack and President Obama to stand up for organic family farmers by rejecting the approval of Monsanto's GMO alfalfa. Tell them to protect organic integrity and seed biodiversity over corporate profits.

Sign the petition here