notes from the garden

Gabriela and Marcello 

After missing my gardening day during the Labor Day weekend I rejoined the gardeners this past Saturday.  Linda M. helped with the removing of vegetable plants and the preparation of the soil for next season by sifting and adding compost to one of our community plots.  Gabriela brought in cover crop seeds and added them to that same plot.  Blanca helped with the harvesting of tomatoes, collard greens and weeded around the raised beds.  Mark P. worked at weeding around the inside and outside the garden fence and general landscaping while I helped with the sifting of the compost.  Overall it was a very productive day as we get ready to prepare our soil and beds for next year while still harvesting some of the remaining vegetables for the Food Pantry.

Our group gardening days remain Thursdays from 5:30 to 6:30 pm and Saturdays from 10 am to noon.  We will be having our second free gardening workshop on Thursday September 24 at 6:30 pm with Suzi Novak.  If you like more information about the class topic and registration please visit RivertownsCommunityGardens.com.

Marcello

Tomato Sauce Making and more

Coco, Donna, Lenore, Nancy, Ellen and Yaelle

Now five more people in the world know how to can tomatoes … and more! 

Coco Zordan's Tomato Sauce Making and Canning workshop last Saturday morning also included discussions on how to buy olive oil, making bread and the real cost of food (is it good for you? is it good for the environment?).

Below is Coco's how-to make basic tomato sauce for canning, taken from her website CocosBread.com. Click here to watch her step-by-step canning instruction.

How to Make Basic Tomato Sauce for Canning

I was really surprised when recently I found out that some of my friends and neighbors still make tomato sauce! If you’re here to join: Welcome to the Club!  There isn’t only one way to make a nice tomato sauce and it really depends on your family’s size, time and personal taste. My favorite methods are two: the “quick and fresh” sauce and the  traditional recipe for canning that of course  requires more time.  In summer, when tomatoes are still in season, you can make a quick sauce  to use immediately or within a week. However at the end  of summer you might wish to can those beautifully ripe tomatoes of  the Farmers’ Market  in order to have them available for  the rest of the year.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Next

• Traditional Tomato Sauce for Canning

By coco, September 19, 2014

How to make a basic delicious tomato sauce by using fresh tomatoes and basil.

• Prep Time: 20/30 minutes minutes
• Cook time: 40/60 minutes and cooling time 10 hours and 0 minutes
• Yield: 10/15 jars

Ingredients:

• plum ripe tomatoes - 20 lb.
• basil - 2 sprigs
• tools
• big tall pots -
• saucepans -
• 8 or 16 oz jars - 12-18
• immersion blender -
• oven gloves or jar lifter -
• canning funnel or regular funnel -
• canning scoop or regular ladle -
• kitchen towel -

Instructions:

wash the tomatoes,throughly, cut them in half and remove the stem or any imperfections.

Chop them in big pieces and add them directly into a big saucepan.

. 

Cover the pans with a lid and let them get to a boil. Let the pots simmer uncovered for 30/40 minutes or longer if the sauce looks too watery.

 

When the sauce has dried up enough, turn the fire off and, using an immersion blender, puree the sauce until smooth.   Be careful: the sauce is hot!

Tomato Sauce Making and Canning!

Join us to learn how to make and can tomato sauce!

• WHEN: Saturday, September 12, 10 AM - noon

• WHERE: South Church's kitchen

• WITH WHO: Costanza Zordan, a native of Parma, Italy, and our neighbor from Hastings on Hudson!

• HOW MUCH: $10 materials fee (we'll be using fresh ingredients from the Roots & Wings CSA). You'll also need to bring 4 things: (1) an apron, (2) a serrated knife, (3) a cutting board, and (4) a couple of jars (can be twist-off tops or mason jars).

• SIGN UP: Lenore.Person@gmail.com

Costanza Zordan is a health coach and graduate of the  Institute for Integrative Nutrition. "I help people make changes in their life starting with what they eat."

A native of Parma, Italy, Coco has lived since 2007 in Hastings-on-Hudson with her husband and 3 daughters. She has participated in many Roots & Wings programs, and blogs about  her love of good food at Coco's Bread. Her life motto is Mens sana in corpore sano (a sound mind in a healthy body).

"Since I moved from Italy to the US twenty years ago, I tried to recreate the flavors that I had left behind. Flavors that were deeply connected to my mom, my childhood, and my memories. Food is the main meme transmitted among Italians. We love spending time at table, while talking about what we’re eating, what we have eaten and what we’re going to eat next. Exchanging recipes is our favorite hobby (also among men), along with sharing food with others as a sign of friendship and love."

the time to start composting is NOW!

Thank you Elisa Zazzera for three fabulous Composting is EZ classes! 

For me, these classes clarified the two most compelling reasons to compost:

1.  it returns nutrients to the earth 

2.  it is stupid to pay for organic material to be hauled away and burned. See Elisa's slide on that below.

In response to these classes, Roots & Wings has opened its compost bins to the community. They are behind South Church, at The Kitchen Garden, which is 343 Broadway, Dobbs Ferry. We ask that you first come to one of the regular gardening hours and introduce yourself so we have a sense of how many people are using these bins. Hours are Saturday mornings: 10 AM - noon, and Thursday early evenings: 5:30 - 6:30 PM.  

Marcello, our garden manager, reminds us, "If you are bringing fresh kitchen scraps to our compost please deposit it in the far left compost bin and try to cover it with dried leaves that can be found in the compost bin on the right. This keeps the smell down and adds the carbon component needed for proper composting."

Roots & Wings was heartened to receive an encouraging note from Paul Feiner, Town Supervisor of Greenburgh, about our Composting Is EZ with Elisa Zazzera classes. He's had eight summer interns working on composting and recycling, alongside Greenburgh Nature Center. 

Attend their presentation to the Greenburgh Town Board on Wednesday, Aug.19, at 7:30 about promoting organic recycling and source separation. Click here to view their videos on YouTube.

The Circle of Life (food-compost-food)!

The first Composting is EZ with Elisa Zazzera has blown Roots & Wings’ simmering composting commitment into a steady heat—of 110 degrees Fahrenheit to be exact! (see below for details)

Two free Composting is EZ workshops are coming up this month: Thursday, July 16, a general class, and Thursday, July 30, geared specifically for apartment dwellers. Both classes are 6:30 – 7:30 PM in The Kitchen Garden. Register here!

The eight of us attending the first Composting is EZ workshop were already involved in composting. Elisa asked each of us to tell the group about our composting habit. We quickly moved from this composting confessional to composting coaching. Elisa looked over Roots & Wings’ compost bins, recommended two handy tools—a compost crank aerator and a compost thermometer, and answered all of our questions with can-do enthusiasm. 

Elisa gave us the encouragement we needed to open Roots & Wings' compost bins to the community.

CSA Manager Nancy Delmerico followed up by inviting all CSA members to participate in Roots & Wings composting. She says, “it’s wonderful to see people coming on Sunday mornings with containers and bags full of kitchen scraps.” 

CSA member David Starkey, co-owner of Sweet Grass Grill in Tarrytown, and Tomatillo in Dobbs Ferry, asked, "Can we bring restaurant veggie scraps? We compost at Sweet Grass but never had the room in Dobbs." Roots & Wings' Gabriela Munoz checked with Elisa Zazzera and got the thumbs up on veggie scraps but a “no” for meal leftovers, as they are likely to include oils/fats and could perhaps have some animal products mixed in. 

And Linda Jo Plat, dropped off rabbit manure from CommunityNursery School.

Says Marcello Taiano, Roots & Wings Garden Manger, “We used our new composting thermostat and found that our compost pile was at 110 degrees. The optimal range for organic material to break down is 120 - 170 degrees Fahrenheit, so we're getting there!"

Register for a free Composting is EZ workshop now! Thursday evenings 6:30 - 7:30 PM at The Kitchen Garden, behind South Church in Dobbs Ferry

• July 16  / general composting 
• July 30 / for apartment dwellers only

Frittelle di Fiori di Zucca

Fresh and local deep fried zucchini flowers are a special appetizer at Sam's Italian Restaurant in Dobbs Ferry right now—thanks to a Roots & Wings CSA connection!

Nancy Delmerico and her husband Donnie Vitagliano were enjoying dinner at Sam’s and they got to talking to long-time friend Maurice Giliberti, the owner, about her new position as Roots & Wings CSA Manager.

Do they have zucchini blossoms, Maurice asked, adding that he’d been getting them shipped in from Israel. Donnie says, “Are you kidding?!” The rest is history.

Stop into Sam's and have a taste of Frittelle di Fiori di Zucca courtesty of Rexcroft Farm, the provider of Roots & Wings CSA!  (recipe below, too)

Ingredients

1-2 cups of roughly chopped zucchini flowers (with the stem removed and interior material removed)

1.5 cups of flour

2 tablespoons of baking powder

1 cup of milk

1 egg

¾ tablespoons of salt

1 pinch of black pepper

Oil for frying 

Process

The technique is fairly simple: start by mixing the flour, baking powder and salt together.

Grab another bowl and mix the milk, egg and zucchini flowers.

Combine the dry ingredients well and fry until crispy and golden (about 4 minutes if your oil is at the correct temperature).

Notes

You can also simply take a single blossom, create a simple batter, fill the intact blossom flower with a single anchovy or a bit of ricotta and deep fry until golden brown.