MANDATORY WORK SESSION & FRIED GREEN TOMATOES

MANDATORY WORK SESSION: 
This Thursday we will have a very important work session to rip out all of the plants (except the perennials and the newly planted garlic) and prepare the soil for a long winter's nap. We will also remove the irrigation tape and the plastic row coverings. We need many hands to complete these tasks which are  our main preparation for next season. Please plan on joining us. If you cannot make it, please email to let us know.
    
After last night's low of 31, many things can still be salvaged from the garden such as the hardy kale and chard. The green tomatoes should still be salvageable too. Here's one idea of what could be done with some of those green tomatoes: 
Fried Green Tomatoes  The cornmeal and flour crust is what sets this recipe apart from others.  Yield: Makes 4 to 6 servings   
Ingredients 1  large egg, lightly beaten  1/2  cup  buttermilk
1/2  cup  all-purpose flour, divided 1/2  cup  cornmeal  1  teaspoon  salt  1/2  teaspoon  pepper  3  medium-size green tomatoes, cut into 1/3-inch slices  Vegetable oil  Salt to taste    

Preparation Combine egg and buttermilk; set aside. Combine 1/4 cup all-purpose flour, cornmeal, 1 teaspoon salt, and pepper in a shallow bowl or pan. Dredge tomato slices in remaining 1/4 cup flour; dip in egg mixture, and dredge in cornmeal mixture. Pour oil to a depth of 1/4 to 1/2 inch in a large cast-iron skillet; heat to 375°. Drop tomatoes, in batches, into hot oil, and cook 2 minutes on each side or until golden. Drain on paper towels or a rack. Sprinkle hot tomatoes with salt. 


 Southern Living, JULY 2003  
 Mmmmmmmmmm mmmmmmmmmmmm. 

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HUGE SPECIAL THANK YOU to the dedicated gardeners who planted the garlic in the rain last Thursday! We will have both Chesnook and Late White garlic varieties to harvest next June thanks to their hard work! And of course many thanks go to Cameron Place CSA for donating the garlic seed! 

harvest EVERYthing!

Please get out there with your neighbors and friends and harvest ALL of the food. If it makes it through tonight's low of 31, it probably won't make it through Tues. and Wed. evenings' lows in the mid-20s! Feel free to yank out an entire basil plant and take it home with you. Do NOT pull out the perennial herbs such as the chives, orgeano, and thyme. There are likely quite a few ripe tomatoes hiding in there. Gather up all of the green tomatoes you see. If you bring them home, they should ripen over the next week or so, especially if left in a sunny spot by a window. 
   
If you are willing/able to harvest food for Grow Another Row, please email me so that we can coordinate a pick up.  

The Green Room and Garlic!

I will be on KAFM tomorrow (Tues., 10/19) at noon for an interview with Heidi Ihrke on her 'The Green Room' public affairs show. We will be chatting about our beloved community garden, harvest season, veggies, perennial plantings, looking forward to the 2011 season, the Four Block Diet, etc. Tune in if you can! And if you like jazz, food, wine, or a combination of all three, make a note of this special upcoming event: Vino & Vinyl.


The weather is truly holding out for us with regard to our garden's bounty. We do not have a frost predicted any time in the next week! So please continue harvesting what we have before we have to tell it goodbye, as alas, it is inevitable. Our putting the garden to bed sessions will have to wait until next week and the week after. We will be planting garlic this week. We have about 2 hours of work to do, with say 3 people working. But we could make it all happen in about 45 minutes if we had about 8 people. We will plan on working on the garlic on Tues. and/or Wed. evenings this week. Please respond in an email if you can help.

potluck + mandatory work sessions

we WILL have our potluck this week. The weather is predicted to be absolutely lovely for just such an occasion, particularly for an evening so close to the average first frost date! Now that's an indian summer for ya! We will gather for the potluck on Thurs. (10/14) at 6:30pm after our 5:30pm work session. please bring a dish to share and bring your friends and neighbors who would like to learn more about GJ's first community garden! 

 

we will plan on a solid work session for each of the remaining thursdays of october. Please plan on being at at least 1 out of the 3 sessions: Oct. 14, 21, 28. We have quite a bit of work to do to prepare to put the garden to sleep at the end of the season. In the meantime ------ the garden is nearly overwhelmingly abundant! Now is the time that we should be in there enjoying all of our work from this season that has flown past us. 

  

This week we should be able to plant garlic seed which is being donated by Cameron Place. We have prepared the row where the garlic will be planted by tearing out the beans and amending the soil with the luscious composted soil that we uncovered at the bottom of our compost bin --- with the encouragement of "the compost lady", Pat. 

If we haven't seen much of you at the garden lately ---- don't hesitate to come back out and reacquaint yourself w/ the veggies and your fellow gardeners. 

  

See you on Thursday!