Beyond The Lawn

First Zucchini...

2011-05-30T18:45:00.000-07:00

Three zucchini plants. Not one, or a slightly unreasonable two, but three. And they're all starting...here comes summer, and the first thing, on a lazy Sunday (it's really Monday but since it's Memorial Day we can call it Sunday.2), is to bake some bread (BTW this bread freezes great, don't forget to remind me of that in August when all my neighbors are shuttering their windows and hiding when we show up with more squash to pawn on them)!

Carl Goh's Zucchini Bread,
adapted from Beard on Bread Cookbook By James Beard

3 eggs (or combination Egg Beaters and egg)
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 cups vegetable oil (or you can use 1/2 cup plus 1/2 c. applesauce)
2 cups coarsely grated raw zucchini grated on the big
holes of grater, or processor blade.)If it's a big
zucchini, scoop out the seeds before grating.
3 tsp. vanilla extract
3 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. baking powder
3 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg, pinch of cloves and allspice
1 c. coarsely chopped pecans or walnuts
(optional: handful of chocolate chips)

Grease well and flour two 9 inch loaf pans.
Sift together flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and spices - set aside.
Beat eggs till light and foamy, stir in sugar, vanilla, applesauce and
oil, mixing well. Add dry ingredients gradually while still stirring to
combine. Add zucchini, mix well, then nuts. Pour into pans.

Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 1 hour or until a tester comes out clean. Cool on rack about 15 minutes, then remove from pan and continue to cool until room temperature. Wrap securely. Serve sliced, spread with cream cheese.

XOXO
Peace On Earth, please...

Yvette

Another Amazing Happening At The Garden Tour This Weekend!

2011-04-27T18:14:00.000-07:00

I met Laura a few months ago at a quarterly meeting of a progressive entrepreneurial group I am a part of. I love her organization, and we are so excited that she has agreed to come to the Garden Tour this Saturday, April 30, to speak about her work with creating edible schoolyard gardens in LA. She will be in our yard at 1pm to answer all of your questions and queries and let you know about her amazing work!

Los Angeles Garden Project was created in Autumn 2010 and our mission is to unite, inspire and empower Angelenos to build and nurture edible gardens in our schools and communities. Through our membership and volunteer program we will come together to teach and learn from each other in the garden. How to construct our gardens properly; how to grow our fruits, vegetables and herbs correctly; how to prepare our harvests deliciously; how to teach our children and community in these gardens, and to share in all the other inspirations the garden provides.

We will host monthly meetings in gardens throughout the city to come together to exchange ideas and effectively address recurring issues that the community may face as they start, revive, nurture and/or run an edible garden. We will have an online calendar that will be constantly updated with volunteer opportunities, workshops and meetings for members to attend. We will host a daily blog that will share events, photos, gardening tips, recipes and any other related material. We will produce a quarterly newsletter that will feature articles that are relevant, interesting and entertaining for our members. We aim to foster relationships with local and national corporate entities to partner on providing product and funds needed for our edible gardens.

Please visit our website for more information or contact Laura Villasenor at laura@lagardenproject.org. We look forward to coming together for each other as we teach and learn just how easy, fun, delicious, cost-effective and healthy it is to grow and eat our own fresh, locally grown, sustainable fruits, vegetables and herbs!

XOXO
Yvette

Garden Tour Raffle!!!

2011-04-26T10:44:00.000-07:00

I just got some great news from Timber Press, who has published Ivette Soler's new book, The Edible Front Yard (I have to say that despite the fact that our garden is featured in the book, and I am obviously VERY excited and admittedly biased, it is a really really really great read, with beautiful images to boot)...

We get to raffle TWO copies of the book at the Garden Tour! Yep, all you have to do is stop by and put your name/info in the bowl, and, if you are picked, a book will be shipped to you straight from the publisher next week!!! How cool is that? I love the folks at Timber Press - they have been so supportive of this blog, and of all of our efforts, and on top of that were so excited to participate in this very special garden tour. My hat is off to you, with an extra special thanks to Emma Alpaugh, who is so lovely that her smile came all the way through the phone this morning!

I will see you on April 30...GOOD LUCK!!!

XOXO
Yvette

Mar Vista Green Garden Showcase #3...

2011-04-25T16:31:00.000-07:00

Happy Monday!!!

We are so proud to have our garden featured in The 2011 Mar Vista Green Garden Showcase, on Saturday April 30th from 11:00 AM to 4 PM.

We will have a very special guest at the garden...Tom Folan from Solar City, the company we lease our panels from, will be onsite to answer all things sun-power! We will also have a copy of Ivette Soler's, amazing new book The Edible Front Yard (we are so lucky to be a featured garden in this book! So exciting!), for you to peruse...

About The Tour:
Think of it as a giant eco festival comprised of block parties throughout Mar Vista. With most people making it a walking or bike tour, there is a tremendous sense of community as residents throughout Southern California come to Mar Vista to celebrate our shared vision for a greener life.

This year the Mar Vista Green Garden Showcase expands to include tours within the tour to address even more aspects of sustainability. We will showcase drought resistant landscaping, edible gardens, composting techniques, water capture and even chickens!

To further our goal of achieving 100% clean electricity by 2018, the tour will host the American Solar Energy Society’s National Solar Tour and showcase Mar Vista locations that have gone solar. See those gardens here.

You can find the mapped walking tours
and a little history of Mar Vista here.
Click here to download the pdf of maps for
tours 1 - 4 and tours 5 & 6.

Read this article by Emily Green in the LA Times "The Dry Garden"
for tips on how to take the tour.
Preview garden 5N in this LA Times feature by Lisa Boone
Visit Fresh Dirt on Sunset Magazine to see the previews
on gardens 5F, and 5B and 5M, by Sharon Cohoon

We hope to see you there!!!!!

XOXO
Yvette

Earth Day...

2011-04-22T08:35:00.000-07:00

When, really, are we going to start, as a society, taking responsibility for our stewardship? When will the planet that we live on become a priority over profits and convenience? When will we decide to turn the light of when we leave the room? Or to put solar panels on the roof instead of buying that new SUV? When will we decide that we cannot allow more nuclear power plants to be built, and be outraged that it is still even a conversation? When will we stop dumping our crap into the ocean? When will we commit to going without, even just a little bit, to facilitate all of this? When will we? I'm waiting with baited breath...suffocating.

XOXO
Yvette

Bouquets Fit For A Foodie!

2011-04-18T18:01:00.000-07:00

You may or may not know this, but I am a photographer...and, among other things, I photograph many, many weddings. I just did my daily check-out of my friend Jen Campbell's gorgeous blog Green Wedding Shoes, and found this fabulous post, which I think that all my gardener/foodie/gardener-bride/foodie-bride pals can't help but swoon over! Jen created and photographed these amazing bouquets herself.

I think I better get married again just to have one of these. Maybe I can just carry one around with me anyway? Is that too much?

Please go to her blog to see more!

Holy crap, Jen, I am in LOVE.

XOXO
Yvette

PS. All Photos Courtesy Of Jen Campbell!

Seed Library At Venice High School!

2011-04-07T09:12:00.000-07:00

When we first moved to the west side of Los Angeles about 15 years ago, Venice High School looked like a prison. The whole place was run down and falling apart - in the front of the school, there was a wrought iron cage surrounding a statue of alumni Myrna Loy to keep her from being vandalized, and there were bars on all the windows. The tennis courts had giant cracks in the asphalt. God knows what the classrooms were like inside.

But our story begins with the 60,000 square foot, fallow, weedy, filled-with-trash area on the western edge of the school, where, in March of 2001, a group of amazing people had had enough, and The Learning Garden was established. It has since become one of the country's largest and most successful school gardens. The Learning Garden boasts organic produce grown by students, a culinary program, tai chi and quigong classes, a large medicinal plant section in conjunction with Yo San University of Chinese Medicine, a California Native Plant and Cacti garden, and a community garden. Last December, they embarked on a very exciting project - The Seed Library of Los Angeles. For a $10 membership fee, gardeners can "borrow" the seeds of specific edibles. Each borrower commits that part of the resulting crop be allowed to go to flower and seed, allowing the borrower to return the seed stock to the library. There are occasional seed saving workshops, open to the public, which you can find out about by going to their blog (HERE).

Also, be sure and visit The Learning Garden on April 30, when Mar Vista hosts it's annual Green Garden Showcase.

I have to say that in recent years, the school has flourished. The cage around Myrna has been removed, everything is freshly painted, and albeit there is a definite police presence that remains due to gangs, it is a wholly different place. Perhaps it was something to do with the garden. Perhaps not. Either way, songbirds and bees and growing things can't hurt, can it?

XOXO
Yvette

It's Officially Spring...

2011-03-31T14:04:00.001-07:00

First Artichoke!

Artichokes are coming up in the garden...they are delicious and so easy to grow! They are practically no-care plants, and their beautiful green/grey leaves are gorgeous in perennial borders, which is where we have them. They are perfect for California climates and are very drought tolerant. If you don't grow them yourself, you can get beauties at the Farmer's Markets right now. I could live on them!

Try this incredible fritatta recipe from my pal Celeste's Blog, Meals At Home!

XOXO
Yvette

Tomatomania Is Back!

2011-03-25T16:39:00.001-07:00

We interrupt Meyer Lemon Week to bring you this important message...
Tomatomania is here in LA, March 25-27! Find out where they'll be next weekend by clicking HERE! I went this morning and came back with a LOAD of seedlings!

Here's all the info (btw it was pretty muddy - wear your wellies!):

One of Los Angeles’ oldest garden traditions meets one of its newest sensations as Tapia Brothers Farm Stand hosts the largest of the TOMATOMANIA! seedling sales.

To get there drive north on the Ventura Freeway (101N), pass the 405 fwy and exit at HAYVENHURST. Turn right at the stop, then make a quick left into the very busy parking lot.

If you're driving south on the 101 exit at BALBOA, turn left at the stoplight, go under the freeway and then turn right on BURBANK BLVD. Turn right on HAYVENHURST and right again into the parking lot.

We’ll be open from open 9-5 all three days and there’s plenty of parking available. How many seedlings do you need? We’ll have almost 300 tomato varieties and everything you’ll need to have the most successful tomato season ever!

Wear your TOMATOMANIA! t-shirt and get 10% off your purchase!

March 25 - 27

Tapia Brothers' Farm Stand
5251 Hayvenhurst Ave.
Encino, CA 91436
818.905.6155

XOXO
Yvette

PS. While you're there you can pick up a copy of Ivette Soler's fabulous new book, The Edible Front Yard!

Meyer Lemon Week #4 - Minted Lemonade...

2011-03-23T19:56:00.001-07:00

It wouldn't be Meyer Lemon Week without this classic!

Minted Lemonade

Ingredients:

2 cups sugar
6 cups water
2 cups fresh Meyer lemon juice
A large handful of mint leaves

Directions:

To make simple syrup: Place 2 cups sugar and 2 cups water, and 1/2 of the mint in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Stir until sugar is dissolved and simmer until the mixture takes on a minty taste. Let cool. Place lemon juice in a large pitcher, add remaining 4 cups water and 1 cup of the simple syrup or more to taste. Stir in the rest of the mint leaves and refrigerate for 1 hour. Serve over ice.

XOXO
Yvette

PS. This lemonade+vodka+tonic water...um, yes!

Meyer Lemon Week #3 - Sorbet...

2011-03-22T12:57:00.000-07:00

Even though it's wayyyy too cold to be craving frozen anything, we went ahead and made this recipe as a part our Quest For Using All The Lemons...
It's Delish!

Lemon Sorbet
Adapted From: The Perfect Scoop (this is by far the BEST dessert cookbook I own!) by David Lebovitz

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups water
1 cup sugar
2 lemons (preferably Meyer!)
1 cup freshly squeezed (Meyer) lemon juice (from about 6 regular sized lemons)

Directions:

In a medium, nonreactive saucepan, combine the sugar and 1/2 cup water. Zest the two lemons directly into the mixture, being careful not to add the pith. Heat, stirring frequently, until the sugar has completely dissolved.

Remove the pan from the heat and add the rest of the water. Refrigerate until completely chilled (several hours or overnight is best). Stir in the lemon juice and freeze the mixture in your ice cream maker, following your manufacturer's directions.

You'll thank me for this one...it tastes just like Spring.

XOXO
Yvette

Meyer Lemon Week #2 - Preserved Lemons...

2011-03-21T10:25:00.001-07:00

It rained and rained and rained and rained some more - 50 mile and hour winds, tree branches falling everywhere! 6" of water fell on us in one cycle! We were stuck in the house, and marmalade just wasn't enough. We went a little crazy, and as we had so many lemons from our tree - we just kept making things all day! This is, officially, Meyer Lemon Week on Beyond The Lawn...

Here are today's recipes. We discovered Preserved Lemons when we were in Morocco ten years ago and they are amazing! The first recipe is for preserving the lemons, and the second is an incredibly delicious way to use them...Bon Appetit!

Recipe #1: Preserved Meyer Lemons
adapted from Paula Wolfert's cookbook:
Couscous and Other Good Food From Morocco

yield: Serves 6; makes about 1 1/2 cups
active time: 10 minutes
total time: 30 days

Notes: The lemon juice in this recipe cam be used over and over again. (Paula Wolfert says that she keeps a jar of used pickling juice in the kitchen, and when she makes Bloody Marys or salad dressings and have half a lemon left over, she tosses it into the jar and let it marinate with the rest.) Meyer lemons are far and away the most desirable and authentic variety for this recipe. Use wooden utensils to remove the lemons as needed.

Sometimes you will see a sort of lacy, white substance clinging to preserved lemons in their jar; it is perfectly harmless, but should be rinsed off for aesthetic reasons just before the lemons are used. Preserved lemons are rinsed, in any case, to rid them of their salty taste. Cook with both pulps and rinds, if desired.

Ingredients:

* 5 lemons
* 1/4 cup kosher salt, more if desired

Equipment:

* Shallow bowl
* Sterile 1-pint mason jar
* Sharp knife

Preparation:

1. Quarter the lemons from the top to within 1/2 inch of the bottom, sprinkle salt on the exposed flesh, then reshape the fruit.

2. Place 2 tablespoons salt on the bottom of the mason jar. Pack in the lemons and push them down, adding more salt, and the optional spices between layers. Press the lemons down to release their juices and to make room for the remaining lemons. (If the juice released from the squashed fruit does not cover them, add freshly squeezed lemon juice — not chemically produced lemon juice and not water.*) Leave some air space before sealing the jar.

3. Let the lemons ripen in a warm place, shaking the jar each day to distribute the salt and juice. Let ripen for 30 days. To use, rinse the lemons, as needed, under running water, removing and discarding the pulp, if desired — and there is no need to refrigerate after opening. Preserved lemons will keep up to a year, and the pickling juice can be used two or three times over the course of a year.

Notes:

•To sterilize a mason jar for the lemons, place it upside down in a steamer and steam for 10 minutes. Using tongs (wrap the ends in rubber bands for a better grip), remove the hot jar and dry it upside down on a paper towel-lined baking sheet in a warm oven. To sterilize the jar's top, boil it in water for 5 minutes, then remove with tongs. For more information on home canning, click HERE.

•When you're ready to use a lemon, remove it with clean utensils to avoid contaminating the inside of the jar with bacteria. This way, the remaining contents of the jar will not need to be refrigerated.

RECIPE #2: Chicken With Lemons And Olives Emshmel
adapted from Paula Wolfert's cookbook:
Couscous and Other Good Food From Morocco

yield: Serves: 8
time: Working time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour (approximately)

Notes From Paula: I first ate this dish in a home in the city of Meknes, sometimes called the City of Olives. Djej Emshmel (pronounced meshmel or emsharmel) is a classic Moroccan dish—chicken served in an intricately spiced, creamy, lemony, and sublime sauce with a scattering of pale-hued olives.

Ingredients:

* 2 to 3 free range, vegetarian chickens, whole or quartered, with their livers
* 6 cloves garlic, peeled
* Salt
* 1 teaspoon ground ginger
* 1 teaspoon sweet paprika
* 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
* 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
* 1/4 cup salad oil
* 2 1/2 cups grated onion, drained
* 1/4 teaspoon pulverized saffron (mixed with turmeric, if desired)
* 1/2 cup mixed, chopped fresh herbs (green coriander and parsley)
* 1 1/2 cups ripe "green-brown" olives, such as Royal-Victorias
* 2 preserved lemon
* 2 to 3 fresh lemons

Equipment:

* Large bowl
* Paring knife
* 6-quart casserole with cover
* Strainer, if necessary
* Small mixing bowl

Preparation:

1. The day before, using 4 cloves of the garlic and 2 tablespoons of salt prepare the chickens as directed below under Basic Method For Preparing Poultry, then marinate both chickens and livers in 1 teaspoon of salt, the remaining 2 cloves of garlic, sliced thin, the spices, and the oil. Refrigerate, covered.

2. The next day, place the chickens, livers, and marinade in the casserole. Add 1/2 cup of the grated onion, the saffron, herbs, and 2 cups water. Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer 30 minutes, turning the chickens often in the sauce.

3. While the chickens are cooking, rinse and pit the olives. (If they seem a little bitter, cover with cold water, bring to a boil, and drain.) Set aside.

4. Remove the chicken livers from the casserole and mash them fine. Return to the casserole with the remaining grated, drained onions. (This will give a good deal of heftiness to the sauce.) Add water, if necessary. Continue cooking 20 minutes, partially covered.

5. Rinse the preserved lemons (discarding the pulp, if desired) and quarter. Add the olives and preserved lemon quarters to the sauce when the chickens are very tender and the flesh falls easily from the bone. Continue cooking 5 to 10 minutes, uncovered.

6. Transfer the chickens to a serving dish and spoon the olives and lemons around them. Cover and keep warm. By boiling rapidly, uncovered, reduce the sauce to 1 1/2 cups. Add the juice of 2 fresh lemons to the sauce in the pan. Add more salt (and more lemon juice, if desired) to taste. Pour the sauce over chickens and serve at once.

Basic Method for Preparing Poultry
The timing in the recipe includes these steps:

1. Wash the chickens or other poultry in salted water and drain. Pound 4 cloves garlic and 2 tablespoons salt into a paste. Rub the paste into the cavity and flesh of the poultry, at the same time pulling out excess fat from under the skin and from the neck and rump ends. Pull out the thin translucent membrane from under the skin of the breast. Rinse the poultry well under running water until it no longer smells of garlic. (The garlic is used to rid the poultry of any bitterness that might spoil a sauce; it also brings out its flavor, much like MSG.) Drain the poultry well.

2. If you are using whole poultry, it must be trussed. Trussing poultry is easy: clip off the wing tips and discard; slip the ends of the legs into a horizontal incision made just about the rump (turkeys often come this way), or slip the legs into incisions made on the lower sides of the breast.

Yum Yum Yum...
XOXO
Yvette

Meyer Lemon Week #1 - Marmalade...

2011-03-20T13:27:00.000-07:00

It's the Spring Equinox, and pouring rain. A perfect excuse to make marmalade! This recipe is so good that people have been known to forgo the toast and eat it from the jar with a spoon! Enjoy, and happy happy first day of Spring...

Meyer Lemon Marmalade Recipe
Adapted From Simply Recipes...

Note this recipe calls for Meyer lemons, a hybrid of a regular lemon and an orange, that is thinner skinned and sweeter than a regular lemon. You cannot substitute regular lemons for Meyer lemons in this recipe.

Ingredients:

* 2 1/2 lbs of Meyer lemons (about 9 lemons)
* 6 cups water
* 6 cups granulated sugar

Note that the proportion of lemon segments to water to sugar is 1:1:1. So if you don't have a kitchen scale and don't weigh your lemons to begin with, as you proceed through this recipe keep in mind these proportions. Your 2 1/2 lbs of lemons should yield 6 cups of chopped lemon. 6 cups of chopped lemon will be cooked first with 6 cups of water, and then later 6 cups of sugar are added. You can also do this recipe with 4 cups of chopped lemons, 4 cups of water, and 4 cups of sugar. Do not double the recipe. Do not reduce the sugar (if you want a reduced sugar recipe, use a different recipe); the sugar is needed for the jelly to set.

Equipment needed:

* 1 wide 6 or 8-quart pan (Stainless steel or copper with stainless steel lining, not aluminum which will leach)
* A sharp chef's knife
* A candy thermometer
* 6 half-pint (8-oz) canning jars
* Cheesecloth, enough to double over and form a bag to hold the seeds for making pectin, or a Muslin jelly bag

Method - Preparing The Fruit:

1. Scrub the lemons clean. Discard any that are moldy or damaged.

2. Prepare the lemons. Cut 1/4 inch off from the ends of the lemons. Working one at a time, stand a lemon on end. Cut the lemon in half lengthwise. Cut each lemon half into several segments, lengthwise.

As you cut the lemons into segments, if you can, pull off any exposed membranes. Just get the ones that are easy to get to, ignore the rest. When you've cut down to the final segment, cut away the pithy core. Remove all seeds from the segments. Reserve the seeds and any removed membrane or pith. You will need them to make pectin.

Cut each lemon segment crosswise into even pieces to make little triangles of lemon peel and pulp.

3. Put all of the seeds, membranes and pith you removed from the lemons into a bag fashioned out of two layers of cheesecloth or a muslin jelly bag.

First stage of cooking

4. Place the lemon segments and water into a large, wide pot.

5. Place the pectin bag in the pot with the fruit pulp and secure to the pot handle.

6. Bring mixture to a medium boil on medium high heat. Let boil, uncovered, for about 25-35 minutes, until the peels are soft and cooked through. Test one of the lemon peel pieces by eating it. It should be soft. If it is still chewy, keep cooking until soft.
Remove from heat.

7. Remove the pectin bag, place the pectin bag in a bowl and let cool until it is comfortable to touch.
Add the pectin and sugar

8. Once your pectin bag has cooled to the point you can handle it, if you want, squeeze it like play-doh to extract any extra pectin. This is not necessary but will help ensure a good set. (I like to wear latex-type gloves for this part.) You should be able to get a tablespoon or two more from the bag. It has the consistency of sour cream. Return this pectin to the pan with the lemon mixture.

9. Measure out your sugar and add it to the pan with the lemon mixture.

Second stage of cooking:

10. Heat the jelly mixture on medium high and bring it to a rapid boil. Secure a candy thermometer to the side of the pan. The marmalade may take anywhere from 20 to 35 minutes or so to be ready to pour out. After about 15 minutes, start checking it frequently.

11. There are two ways to test that the marmalade is ready to pour out into jars - the mixture reaching a temperature of 220-222°F (8-10°F above the boiling point at your altitude) and a bit of it put on a chilled plate "wrinkling up" when you push it with your finger tip. I do both.

For the wrinkle test, put several small plates into the freezer. As the jelly temperature reaches 218°F, start testing it by placing a small amount of the hot jelly on a chilled plate. If the jelly spreads out and thins immediately, it isn't ready. If it holds its shape a bit, like an egg yolk, that's a good sign. Push up against it with your finger tip. If the jelly sample wrinkles at all, it is time to take the jelly off the heat and pour it out into jars.

When you use a candy thermometer to test the temperature of your mixture, make sure the probe is NOT touching the bottom of the pan. Make sure that the indentation on the probe (with modern candy thermometers this is about an inch and a half from the bottom of the probe) is actually surrounded by the mixture. This may mean that you have to tilt the pan to one side, to cover the probe sufficiently to get a good reading.

Canning:

12. While the marmalade is in its second cooking stage, rinse out your canning jars, dry them, and place them, without lids, in a 200°F oven. They should be in the oven at least 10 minutes before using them.

13. As the time approaches for the marmalade to be done, boil some water in a tea pot. Put the jar lids in a glass or ceramic bowl and pour the boiling water over them to sterilize.

14. Once the jelly has reached 220°F or its "wrinkly" stage, remove the jelly pot from the heat. Carefully ladle the jelly into the jars, one at a time, leaving 1/4 inch head space at the top of the jars for a vacuum seal. Wipe the rim clean with a clean, wet paper towel. Place the lid on the jar, securing with a jar ring. Work quickly.

15. Allow the jars to sit overnight. You will hear them make a popping sound as a vacuum seal is created.

Even if the jelly is not firm as it goes into the jar (it shouldn't be), it should firm up as it cools.

Usually makes 6-8 half-pint (8-ounce) jars...could be more depending on how quickly your jam sets up.

MMMMMMMMM Delicious.
XOXO
Yvette

For Japan, With Love...

2011-03-17T11:46:00.000-07:00

If you would like to participate in this incredible fundraising effort, please click HERE! XOXO

As a photographer, I am so lucky to be able to work in an industry that does so much to celebrate love and family. I am so lucky to have this job, and to be able to share such happiness.

Right now, in Japan, so many families are suffering tremendous loss, confusion, and pain. Not only have they lost friends and loved ones, but basic needs like food and shelter are now scarce for many. Many blogs, as well as my own, that celebrate the wedding industry have agreed to stop posting for one day, and to use that day to raise funds via their blogs.

The immediate need for help for those in Japan is the dire need for shelter. It is because of this need that the wonderful blogs, Utterly Engaged and Ever Ours, who have started this Blogger's Day Of Silence, have handpicked ShelterBox as the organization to donate to.

ShelterBox provide emergency shelter and lifesaving supplies for families around the world who are affected by disasters at the time when they need it the most. Each large green ShelterBox is tailored to a disaster but typically contains a disaster relief tent for an extended family, blankets, water storage and purification equipment, cooking utensils, a stove, a basic tool kit, a children’s activity pack and other vital items. A whole box costs $1,000 (US), and initially, this effort's goal was to raise $5500. Because of the generosity of so many of you, they have, at the time I am writing this post, raised over $19,000, and counting...

Please join us.

If you would like to share this on your own blog, do not hesitate!

XOXO

2011

2011-01-02T11:57:00.000-08:00

I Wish You A Year ~

where harmony reigns
where our lives intersect
where actions bear fruit
where dreams are multiplied
where good work is possible
where fears dissapate
where hatred abates
where wars end
where peace is contagious
where love has power
where leaders are selfless
where the earth is respected
where nature is calmed
where hunger is lessened
where we learn to forgive
where we act from compassion

-author unknown

XOXO
Yvette

The House Of Orange And Other Tales...

2010-11-20T09:42:00.000-08:00

Our yard is lousy with carrots. There are carrots poking up everywhere, all up in our business. There have been carrots in the potted Maple tree. There are carrots growing on the side yard underneath our neighbor's window, where no carrots should be. There are carrots in all of our garden beds. I can tell you that carrots seeds will survive in hot compost, and that unless you want a farm of them, do not put flowering carrot plants in with your food scraps...

Unfortunately, they taste really bland. I keep waiting to pull them all up and take them over to my friend Leslie, feed them to Pie and Jake, her two horses, and be done with it. The rogue carrots are white...

Fred read that all carrots were originally white, yellow, and purple, and that the orange varieties were developed by the Dutch, as a tribute to King William I of Orange, aka, "William The Silent", who led the revolt to gain independence from Spain in the 16th century. The orange carrot had a better taste, and it was adopted it as the Royal vegetable in honor of the House of Orange.

Believe it or not, Britain's Carrot Museum (I know, that is really weird), disputes this and calls it a myth. I, for one, love that story and I'm sticking to it.

I planted all sorts of carrots about a month ago - Cosmic Purple (really cool with orange insides and very yummy), Red Dragon (also delicious), and the classic Orange Danvers. I just mix up a bunch of seeds in one envelope and plant away. I love that you don't know what you're going to get until they come up out of the ground! You wouldn't believe the looks on my tiny pals Jasmine, aka, "Sprinkles", and her brother Malik's faces last spring when they pulled up carrots that were NOT ORANGE. They couldn't believe it...if you have kids, this is a sure way to get them into carrots. The weirder the better, but the white ones, I'll tell you, are best left for the 15th century and soup stock.

XOXO
Yvette

Holiday Gift Ideas For Gardeners Part Two: Beatrice Holiday Handlebar Bags

2010-11-13T15:42:00.000-08:00

Okay, these have nothing to do with gardening, but I think that it's safe to say that MOST gardeners love bikes, and these bags are so adorable that I couldn't resist sharing them. I saw one on a bike the other day while hanging out in Venice with my friends Colette and Kaitlin, and I literally squealed...

Here is some info about the company, and the owner, Alisun Franson, who always cruises in style:

"The birth of Beatrice Holiday - Wheel Cute Couture came to be after countless mishaps on my cruiser bike. Fallen lipstick into a gutter, lost credit card that slipped out of my pocket while in transit, keys that slipped thru the crack of my basket into another gutter. Lots of cruiser roadkill left in my path! I can't be the only one right? So, I created a line of Cruiser Handlebar Bags, Cruiser Basket Liners and matching Cruiser Seat Covers crafted out of vintage upholstery fabrics that really make your cruiser stand out from the pack!!

Cruising around the neighborhood is something that is second nature to me living in sunny Denver, Colorado. I love to cruise to the farmer's market, the park with my dog, meet up with friends that are also on their cruisers. It's just part of my everyday routine... so naturally I wanted to pimp out my ride a bit - and doing so with vintage fabrics and naming the line after my NANA makes it all that much better.

Beatrice Holiday products are designed and constructed out of vintage upholstery fabrics and made in Denver, COLORADO."

BUY THEM HERE (or, better yet, buy two and send me one!)

XOXO
Yvette

PS. All product photos were gratefully borrowed from the Beatrice Holiday website!

Holiday Gift Ideas For Gardeners Part One: Blackboard Garden Labels

2010-11-11T18:11:00.000-08:00

These are the BEST. Please buy them for me!

This set of ten eco-friendly labels are the perfect gardening companion. Made from sustainably harvested birch wood, these blackboard labels help you easily keep track of the plants in your garden. The white chinagraph pencil is perfect for the blackboard as it won’t wash off in the rain-but can be reused to last you many seasons in the garden. 10"H, 1"W

Order HERE From Terrain...

XOXO
Yvette

The Cost Of A Global Food Chain

2010-10-28T19:00:00.000-07:00

I mentioned in my last post that we planted garlic...did I mention that I-LOVE-GARLIC??

Here is what we did this year when we put the bulbs in the ground:

Our soil was not draining very well, so along with lots of compost, we (ok, FRED) dug in some cactus mix to loosen it up. Also, plenty of worm castings and a little handful of bone meal for each bulb. We'll see what happens. Last year we got a nice crop, but the bulbs were pretty small. Hopefully this year will be better!

On another note, this is an incredible article from the Los Angeles Times about the true cost of food...garlic is one of the subjects of the article. Please take the time to read it HERE. This is required reading. There will be a test at the end of the semester, which will count for 1/3 of your grade!

XOXO
Yvette

Fall Harvest...

2010-10-24T18:43:00.000-07:00

Incredible as it may seem, we're still harvesting a ton of tomatoes. The photo above was taken a couple of days ago! Fred has canned about 20 jars of San Marzanos, and we're eating Chocolate Stripes and Black Krims like crazy. We spent the better part of the weekend dumping new compost into the beds, and planting California Early, Nootka Rose, and Elephant Garlic (purchased from The Garlic Store); Super Sugar Snap Peas; Cosmic Purple and Danvers Carrots; and French Radishes. The carrots and radishes are going to be planted successively, every couple of weeks, so we always have a new batch coming up...in the next couple of days, onions, sweet peas, beets, and lettuce seeds will go down under...

We are trying a couple of cold season tomato varieties too this year. We tried last year, and it was a flop, but our new plants are already doing far better than the ones from last year. Fred even found a cold season San Marzano!

Since we're still in tomato season in So Cal (sorry, rest of the country, but we do have to get SOMETHING back for having to live in LA and sit in hours of traffic all the time - everything's a trade off), I've attached some notes for you from my pal Bill Noland, who is an incredibly gifted sustainable landscape designer in Seattle. When I killed Michael Pollan last summer, he sent me this email with some great tomato tips:

"Did you strip most of the lower leaves off and plant it deep (leaving only the top four or five inches of leaves) when originally planting it? Tomatoes are one of the few plants that like to be buried deeper than their original height in a container, as the stalk will send out roots if underground, giving your plant a much larger rootball. They also like a handful of bonemeal at planting, along with a good all purpose organic fertilizer. My dad used to sprinkle a tablespoon of Epsom salts in the hole as well. He claimed it made the tomatoes sweeter. I've planted tomatoes that way and they seem to like it. Consistent moisture at the roots, not too wet or dry and keep the water off the leaves if possible."

So there you go. He also read that M.P. tomatoes are bit susceptible to blossom end rot which seems to be fairly common with tomatoes that are elongated in shape, apparently. I didn't tell him that the poor little guy only got to be about 8 inches tall and gave up without ever even making a flower. :(

And on another note...
Tonight I'm making focaccia, which we're eating with roasted tomatoes for dinner...here's the recipe. I've been making it for years. Every time I make it I mix up different things in the dough (Yum). Some of my favorite things to mix in are: a couple Tbs of rosemary or oregano; a handful of yummy chopped olives (LOVE the Adam's Ranch Greek Style for this b/c they're marinated in some amazing brine that has herbs in it holy moly); a handful of grated parmesan cheese; anything else you can think of. Also, when you roll out the dough, it's nice to make a little tree design or something like that with the tip of your knife. Pretty. Also, try sprinkling some nice finishing salt, like Kilauea Black or Sel Gris (I know it's expensive but once you taste it you'll see why it rules!) on top before it goes into the oven. I also always cook this on a pizza stone, but you can always cook it on a heavy cookie sheet too. MMMMMM.

Focaccia, Adapted From The Greens Cookbook By Deborah Madison

1 Package Active Dry Yeast
1 Cup Warm Water
1 Teaspoon Salt (I use Kosher Salt)
3 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Pinch Sugar
2.5 cups or so of flour (I split the flour up: 1/2 bread flour and 1/2 unbleached white flour)

Dissolve the yeast in the warm water with the salt, olive oil, and sugar. Stir in the flour in two or three additions. Once the dough has formed, turn it out onto a board dusted with flour, and knead it for several minutes, adding only enough flour to keep the dough from sticking. When the dough is smooth and shiny, set it in a lightly oiled bowl (use olive oil for this), turn it over once, cover, and put in a warm place to rise, until is is doubled in bulk (about 45 minutes).

After the dough has risen, turn it onto the counter and shape it with a rolling pin (or just your hands!), into one large or two small ovals, about 1/2" thick. Make several cuts in the dough in the center of the oval - parallel or fan-shaped (or the tree mentioned above), then pull the edges of the dough apart, opening the cuts to give the loaf a latticed appearance. If you are going to bake the bread on a pizza stone, transfer the loaf to a well-floured peel (we use cornmeal for this). Otherwise, put it on a well oiled baking sheet. Brush the bread with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt (black salt yum), and set it aside to rise for about 20 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees, and, if using a pizza stone, warm it for 20 minutes.

After the dough has risen the second time, slide it onto the pizza stone, or put the baking sheet into the oven for 20-30 minutes, or until the bread is nicely browned. Serve hot from the oven, with or without butter or olive oil dip (to make this, finely chop a clove of garlic, add a little salt, fresh ground pepper, and paprika, and infuse it in a 1/2 cup of garlic while you're prepping the bread...delish!).

ENJOY....
XOXO

Yvette

Tomorrow's Great Happening!

2010-09-25T13:59:00.001-07:00

Find out more HERE...
See You There!!!

XOXO
Yvette

Blog Post In Which I Reveal My Amazing Tomato Tart Recipe, And How I Killed Michael Pollan

2010-07-20T12:10:00.000-07:00

Tomatoes are in full swing at our house. This has been a far better year than last. Even though it's been foggy most days, we've had just enough sun to have an amazing crop of tomatoes. I think this is largely due to Fred's Worm Tea, which I suspect has been one of the main reasons that we've been relatively pest free this summer (a far cry from last year when I was so disappointed that I almost threw in the towel on the whole garden).

And yes, albeit successful, we have still had our tragedies. Dork that I am, when I found a little bunch of seedlings at Tomatomania called Michael Pollan, there was NO WAY that I was leaving without one. I have collected some data on his untimely death that revealed traits which may or may not be attributable to Michael Pollan (human)...

1. Michael Pollan (tomato) does not like to be squashed among other tomatoes and ESPECIALLY not near a big giant mass of snap peas.

2. Michael Pollan (tomato) does not like to be neglected because someone planted him in a spot where they couldn't see him very well each day, and therefore kind of forgot all about him.

3. Michael Pollan (tomato) was not impressed when I all of a sudden remembered him and tried to make up to him with lots of worm tea and extra pining and begging. He, in fact, decided to give me the ultimate finger and commit suicide.

Nevertheless, here are the tomatoes we're eating right now...there are more coming from plants as un-yet tasted. Details to follow!

1. Black Krim - yum yum so good
2. Black Etheopian - really good unless compared to the Black Krim (no contest)
3. Some kind of cherry tomato that is missing it's tag - really good!
4. San Marzano - these were grown for canning - details to follow!

What to do with all your tomatoes? Well, if you're me, you would do this:

Yvette's Tomato Tart!
(this is a combo of a couple recipes, so bear with me! BTW I cook in handfuls and pinches, etc., so I'd suggest winging it with the proportions of the tomato filling to taste!)

For The Crust:

1 stick (4oz) cold unsalted better, cut into 1/2" pieces
3-4 T cold water (I use a cup of water with ice in it!)
1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 – 3/4 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano shavings
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves

Place cut pieces of butter in a bowl or plate and freeze for 20 minutes. Refrigerate water in a small measuring cup until needed.

Mix the Dough: Place the flour, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Process about 10 seconds to blend the ingredients. Add the frozen butter pieces and pulse 6-10 times (in 1 second bursts) until the butter and flour mixture looks like oatmeal flakes.

Immediately transfer the butter-flour mixture into a large mixing bowl. Sprinkle a tablespoon of the cold water over the mixture and “fluff” it in with a fork, then add another, and another, until 3 Tablespoons have been added. Continue to fluff and stir 10 – 12 times. It will not be a cohesive dough at this point, but a bowl of shaggy crumbs and clumps of dough. Before bringing the dough together, you need to test it for the correct moisture content. Take a handful of the mixture and squeeze firmly. Open your hand. If the clump falls apart and looks dry, remove any large, moist clumps from the bowl and add more water, one teaspoon at a time, sprinkling it over the top of the mixture and immediately fluffing it in. Test again before adding anymore water. Repeat, if needed. The dough is done when it holds together (even if a few small pieces fall off). If the butter feels soft and squishy, refrigerate before continuing. If the butter is still cold and firm, continue to the next step.

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and kneed gently 3-6 times. If it won’t come together and looks very dry, return it to the bowl and add antoher teaspoon or two of ice water (one at a time), mixing it in as above and try again. Flatten the dough into a 6-7” disk, wrap in plastic or parchment paper, and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.

When dough is cold again, roll it out into a thin circle, using a floured rolling pin on a floured board (enough to fully cover an 9.5” tart pan - I use the fluted ones with removable bottoms). Carefully lift crust and press into the tart pan.

Line the tart shell with parchment or foil, and fill with pie weights (I use dried beans for this!). Make sure the weights reach up the sides to the rim of the pan!

Bake the shell for about 20-30 minutes, until it starts to look golden. Take shell out of the oven (be sure to hold the pan by the sides and not the bottom!!), and lift out the parchment / foil and weights. Line the bottom of the tart shell with the parmesan shavings, sprinkle with thyme leaves, and return it to the oven for about 10 minutes until cheese is melted and a little browned. Be sure to cover the entire bottom of the tart shell with parmesan, as it creates a barrier between itself and the yummy tomato gooeyness so that the crust doesn't get gummy (yuck).

For The Filling:

About 2 lbs mixed heirloom tomatoes, halved lengthwise
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and Fresh Ground Pepper
2 1/2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh thyme
1/2 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano shavings plus additional for garnish

Preparation

Toss tomatoes with 2 tablespoons oil, 2 teaspoons thyme, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper in a bowl until well coated. Roast tomatoes, cut sides up and in 1 layer, in foil-lined baking pan in middle of oven, about an 1 hour, or until tomatoes start to brown.

After roasting tomatoes for about 20 minutes, move tomatoes in pan to lower third of oven and put pastry on baking sheet on middle rack. Bake pastry and tomatoes separately (see instructions) until pastry is finished, and edges of tomatoes are slightly browned but still appear juicy.

Arrange warm tomatoes in cooked pie crust, then sprinkle evenly with remaining 1/2 teaspoon thyme, 1/4 teaspoon salt, pepper to taste, and additional cheese shavings if desired. (Also the olive oil and tomato drippings (yum) that is left in the roasting pan is great to drizzle on top!) I usually put the whole thing back in the hot oven for a few minutes so it melts all together…

Let me know how it goes…nom nom!
XOXO

...with fava beans and a fine chianti

2010-05-02T18:28:00.000-07:00

I just harvested our first fava beans today. We planted a long, 20 ft row of them as a cover crop, and left about 5 feet of plants to eat once the beans did their magic to the tired soil.

I hope this is good (I just made this recipe up, and have the audacity to put it on the blog without trying it first), but how can you go wrong with these delicious, precious beans that only grow for a few moments each year?

I just shelled one so I could photograph the beautiful little soft beds that the favas sleep in while they're growing, and my fingers smell like green, and like everything good and simple.

Fava Beans With Onion and Mint
Serves 2 as a side dish

I always shell fava beans, unless they're really young and tiny as their white skins can be bitter. It takes some time, but it is so worth it...

First shuck the beans from the pods, then parboil them for a few minutes until the white skins puff up. Remove the beans and submerge in ice water until they cool off a bit, then slip each bean out of its skin and you're ready to go!

* A few handfuls of peeled shelled Fresh Fava Beans (about 2 pounds in pod)
* About 1 tablespoon Olive Oil
* A nob of Butter
* A handful of white onion, chopped
* A good squeeze of Lemon
* Kosher Salt and Fresh Ground Pepper
* Small handful of Mint, roughly chopped (about 1/4 cup)

Melt butter and oil in a medium skillet, over medium heat. Add onions and saute until translucent. Add beans and cook until just heated through, then season with sea salt, lemon and pepper. Toss in mint (I am in love with a new mint plant I bought a couple weeks ago at Marina Garden Center called Mojito Mint - big leaves and amazing flavor!). Serve immediately.

YUM.

Let The Fun Begin!

2010-04-24T09:04:00.000-07:00

Don't forget to come to the Mar Vista Green Garden Showcase tomorrow between 2-6pm! There are 79 water-wise gardens on the tour...and it's FREE!
Be sure and stop by to see our garden (we are 1F on the tour)!!

Your Daily Thread did a wonderful article about the tour last week.
Read it here.

And do not forget, the DWP is offering cash incentives to remove your lawn!

XOXO
Yvette

Pea Brush

2010-04-22T22:12:00.000-07:00

I WALKED down alone Sunday after church
To the place where John has been cutting trees
To see for myself about the birch
He said I could have to bush my peas.

The sun in the new-cut narrow gap
Was hot enough for the first of May,
And stifling hot with the odor of sap
From stumps still bleeding their life away.

The frogs that were peeping a thousand shrill
Wherever the ground was low and wet,
The minute they heard my step went still
To watch me and see what I came to get.

Birch boughs enough piled everywhere!—
All fresh and sound from the recent axe.
Time someone came with cart and pair
And got them off the wild flower’s backs.

They might be good for garden things
To curl a little finger round,
The same as you seize cat’s-cradle strings,
And lift themselves up off the ground.

Small good to anything growing wild,
They were crooking many a trillium
That had budded before the boughs were piled
And since it was coming up had to come.

- Robert Frost

There is probably just enough time to plant one more crop of snap peas. This spring has been pretty cold for So Cal...perfect! We're on our second planting for the year, but the little guys never even make it into the house...someone (ahem) is always eating them right off the vine.

We have 5' bamboo teepees for our pole pea vines to grow up, but bush peas don't really need to be trellised as they cling to each other by twining their little shoots together and only grow to be about 18 - 24" high. However, you can make a pea brush for them with beautiful black birch branches, which will provide additional structure for the plants:

It's so pretty, and it's free! Go make one and tell me all about it...

XOXO
Yvette

PS. Pea Brush photo courtesy of Margaret Roach's amazing blog: A Way To Garden. The Black birch pea brush revelation was from my Mom, who saw it on Martha Stewart, and is saving her birch twigs for me! Thanks Mom!

PPS. HAPPY EARTH DAY!

Wai Day

2010-04-01T23:17:00.001-07:00

My dear friend, chef Wai Hon Chu, co-author of this amazing new cookbook, was recently in town for a series of book signings, and my friend Amanda and I decided to host a dumpling / blog luncheon at my house!

Our guests were the amazing photographer and blogger, both of Apartment Therapy, and her own At Home, At Home blog, Laure Joliet; Chef Celeste of Meals At Home; and of course, Fred...

Wai, who was born in Hong Kong, but has lived in New York long enough to call himself a native, and his co-author, Connie Lovatt, who is a private chef, have created a fully realized culinary travelog, resulting in a virtual world tour of dumplings, which, like so many traditions that seem to transcend culture, time, distance, and geography, show up in practically every society around the globe. Dumplings, by definition, are "a portion of dough, batter or starchy plant fare, solid or filled, that's cooked through wet heat, and is not a strand or a ribbon". The book follows the seasons, and, to add to the learning experience, each season starts with the simplest recipe, and ends with the most difficult.

For our beautiful lunch, Wai taught us how to make Hungarian Root Vegetable Bread Dumplings…the recipe is included below! Be assured that many spring veggies from your gardens can be substituted for this wintery dumpling – your imagination is the only limitation (and these dumplings have melted butter poured onto them, and sour cream. All that is missing is the molten chocolate, and we’d be at Foodgasm Defcon 5).

Everyone loves dumplings. Filled with meat, with red bean paste, with pretty much anything you’d ever want to eat, they’re the ultimate classic. What’s not to like? Tiny bites of doughy goodness…I could eat 100 of them. OK 1 million.

And the book – over 400 pages of them, and pages and pages of beautifully illustrated instructions, folding techniques – everything to make your dumplings pretty and ensure that they won’t fall apart at their elegant little seams. Fun Fun Fun Fun. Buy this book and if you see Wai, tell him that Y100 says howdy.

Root Vegetable Bread Dumplings

Ingredients:
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 small yellow onion, chopped fine
1 medium carrot, cut into 1/4 cubes
1 large parsnip, peeled and cubed
1 small turnip or kohirabi peeled and cubed
4 large cremini mushrooms, chopped fine
1 tsp salt
2 Tablespoons chopped flat leaf parsley

For the dough:
4 cups 1/2 inch crustless white bread cubes
2/3 cup of milk
1 large egg, beaten
1/3 cup unbleached flour plus some for dusting
1/2 tsp of salt
1/2 cup coarse dry crustless bread crumbs

For Serving:
6 Tablespoons melted butter
salt and pepper (and paprika!)
Sour Cream

1. Do all the chopping of bread and veggies so you're ready.
2. Heat up a small pot over medium heat and melt the butter, add the onion and stir until soft, add in the remaining vegetables and salt and cook for 3 minutes. Stir in 1/2 cup of water, cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Stir occasionally and make sure it doesn't dry out.
3. Once the mixture has browned, remove vegetables from heat and add in parsley and allow to cool slightly.
4. Mix breadcrumbs and milk in a bowl and mix until doughy. Do this with your hands, let it get squishy and gluteny and like paste.
5. Mix in the egg, flour and salt and finally add the slightly cooled vegetables. Refridgerate for about 20 minutes.
6. The fun part: using wet hands start molding the dough into little balls (th size of ping pongs), dust with flour and place on a tray.
7. In a large pot, boil salted water, when all the dough has been molded into balls, drop a few at a time into boiling water, reduce heat to a simmer. Cook about 8 minutes or until most are floating. Remove to platter with a slotted spoon.
8. Top serve, drizzle with melted butter, sprinkle with salt and pepper and a little paprika if you want to spice it up and a generous portion of sour cream!.

XOXO
Yvette

PS. Check out this incredible review of Wai's book in the current issue of Edible Manhattan!

Back From The Hiatus!

2010-03-24T08:43:00.000-07:00

Well, yes, it's been a while. Here it is, the first week of spring...the garden is a riot of new life, and I have to start posting again. I am inspired by so many things outside my door and in the world right now!

First thing's first...the Mar Vista Green Garden Showcase Tour (FREE!!!), which we are honored to be featured on again, is on April 25, and we got the most wonderful, generous mention on Sunset Magazine's wonderful blog, Fresh Dirt, today! Please come to the tour - there are 79 gardens, and it will be amazing and special. I will certainly post more information about it in the coming weeks!

Next, here is a little project for you...about a month ago, I put a little wire mesh basket with dryer lint in one of our trees that is by a window (for best viewing!), hoping that I could attract some of the bush tits that hang out in our yard and build the most wild, beautiful nests you ever saw:

So this morning, I looked outside, and lo and behold, I caught sight of a lovely little hummingbird couple making off with some of the lint. I am soo excited! I will try really hard to catch them in the act and post their photo on the blog.

Until then...
Glad to be back in action!

XOXO
Yvette

PS. Bush Tit Nest By Chester A. Reed, from the fantastic website, 50 Birds!

Tea Jagging

2009-11-11T14:38:00.000-08:00

Being a consumer of mass quantities of brew I'm always on the hunt for new and exotic varieties. It was during this quest for nourishing and essential liquids that I came across several references to compost and worm teas. OK, truth be told I was really looking for ideas on how to best apply my worm castings, something I have about a pound of every two to three weeks. Now the worm teas can get quite expensive and I understand why given the amount necessary to make an effective application. That's when I realized that I have compost, and plenty of it. So, since that day I have kept the production line going and the garden is loving it like a hobo at a cigar convention. It couldn't be easier to make and the hardest part is the waiting. The process described below takes about three or four days after which I start it all over again.

The finished tea will have a high content of beneficial organisms and nutrients, will help breakdown toxins, and will increase the growth of the treated plants. The tea can be used a foliar application which wards of pests and diseases. The other application is simply soaking the soil in your garden. And the best part is you can still use the steeped compost as one normally would, essentially doubling the usefulness of your compost. Now, unlike others, I'm not going to say that you'll notice the difference overnight but you will see it within two or three days. For instance, we had a crappy, cold, overcast summer here and our tomato plants didn't produce much, some barely at all. But since the tea has been flowing there has been a marked improvement in the plants, the number and size of fruit, and the flavor. No kidding. Here it is the middle of November and I still have San Marzanos ripening!

Here are two recipes:

Compost Tea from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection

Compost Tea from Fine Gardening

As with any recipe, you will soon experiment with it and make it your own. For instance, I've taken to adding a handful of worm castings to the compost before steeping. Also, I like to let the water sit with the bubblers in it for 24 hours before adding the compost. I do this as an added precaution to make sure all of the chlorine has been blown off, plus it helps add more oxygen to the water. I have also attached a small rock to each of the bubblers to make sure they stay submerged.

Fred

Happy Monday!

2009-11-09T12:09:00.000-08:00

Mosley's Farm, Three Rivers....

XOXO
Yvette

Beyond the car

2009-11-02T16:54:00.000-08:00

Beyond the obvious benefits of our location in regards to gardening we are also lucky enough to be in a great place for bicycling. Yeah, hopping on the cruiser and going for a slow ride to take in the weather is great but I'm talking about a different and no less enjoyable type of bicycling. Practical bicycling - the bike as a primary mode of transportation.

Having lived in Los Angeles for my pretty much my entire life I would not be living here if I had a daily commute from some impossibly far-flung bedroom community to some rat turd of a job in some rat turd of an office. The stress is the first thing that comes to mind but of more importance is the impact to our environment. I'm not speaking about the carbon footprint or C02 emissions type of environment of which we could have thousands of worthwhile discussions. I'm speaking about the environment that one creates to live, work and play in. A quality of life both physical and mental.

I've always loved riding and have been through many phases with it. From mountain biking in the Santa Monica mountains to commuting to Yvette's house in the valley from my old place in downtown to cruising the bike path at the beach. Then, about 3 years ago I heard or read something, I can't remember what/who/where telling about a self-imposed rule: a three mile rule. The rule being that if at all possible he/she would ride a bike (or walk) if the destination was within three miles of home. "Great idea!" I thought and I started to live by this rule the very next day. At that time my mountain bike was in a sad state of neglect as I had been enjoying the slow ride that my beach cruiser offered. The cruiser served me well for the first year or so but the more adventurous I became the more apparent its limitations as a work bike became. So I have since upgraded to and an 8-speed city/commuter bike perfectly suited for my purposes. Fear not though, the cruiser is still in commission and does get its share of quality Fred-butt-time. The transition from driving to riding was not a difficult one nor did I intend it as a political statement. Purely practical. But you would be amazed at the reactions I would and still get from people. Be they strangers, friends, or family some folks seem to think of biking as a novelty best left for children and the poor and nothing more. "Did you ride your bicycle here?" was something I heard a lot and it was usually accompanied by a wry, sarcastic smile. As if my means of transportation has somehow made me less there. The other thing I hear a lot is "Oh, that's sooooo great, I'd love to ride more but (insert excuse consciously or subconsciously meant to justify not doing it)." Mind you, I'm not proselytizing to anyone or passing judgment. I don't even bring it up anymore. It has simply become part of my everyday life, like breathing or walking.

So after three years of living with this simple rule my life hasn't changed much. I still have a car and I do drive it, albeit about 85% less. I'm not the movement poster boy that's going to tell you that you'll lose 20 or 30 pounds, transform the urban environment, and end wars for oil. But I will tell you that if you decide to try something like this you will feel a difference immediately. By simply slowing down a little your neighborhood will open up and show you things you never knew were there. You will have a great excuse to get away from your computer and get outside. You will find yourself looking for reasons to go take a ride. You will notice that you can often get to the store/post office/lunch in about the same time as it would take you to drive and park plus you'll feel great once you get there. Try it. Even if you don't think you're up for it, try it. I think you'll find that you are.

- Fred

Yvette joins me for ride to the nursery.

Chris Makes a New Friend

2009-11-01T11:03:00.001-08:00

This is the coolest, most hilarious, enchanted creation ever. A perfect gift for someone who can sit still for a long time...

You can buy it HERE for $79.95!!!!
Happy Shopping!!!

XOXO
Yvette

BOO(k)!

2009-10-29T22:33:00.000-07:00

The folks at Timber Press, sent me this wonderful little book to read a few weeks ago. Released just in time for Halloween, Black Plants, 75 Striking Choices For The Garden, showed up in the mail at just the right time.

Truth be told, I hate our backyard. I would love to just start tearing it to pieces, but I can't get a grip on what to do with it. This book has given me some great ideas for a color palate. In the plant world, black is not always black. "Black Plants" can be deep red, burgundy, brown, black, and dark purple. Just thumbing through the pages makes me dream of having these rich dark colors bordering our house! A little creepy? perhaps. Cheery? not so much. For me, this is perfection.

Here are a few of my favorites:

"Black Scallop" bugleweed
Black Hollyhock
Devil's Tongue
Chinese Cobra lily (*Extraordinary!)
Chocolate cosmos
"Karma Chocolate" dahlia
"Sooty" Sweet William (the name alone is worth having the plant!)
Persian fritillary
"Black Peony" Breadseed poppy (for your naughty garden!)
Black Bamboo (screen out your nasty neighbor, ahem)

Black Plants is the first book written by Paul Bonine, who is co-owner of the wholesale nursery Xera Plants, in Oregon. I love his descriptions of some of the more devilish plants - its like reading your favorite scary childhood book: up way past your bedtime, head under the covers, flashlight in hand.

Here are a few excerpts:

Devil's Tongue
(Amorphophallus konjac)

This sinister creature has enormous, thick stems clad in black blotches and stripes that can reach 5 feet in height. The dark brown spadix reaches a height of 3 feet and is surrounded by a glossy, chocolate-colored, rubber-textured, vaselike spathe. This fascinating plant requires patience and woodland conditions with average amounts of water during the winter months.

Vampire's Dracula Orchid
(Dracula vampire)

It is altogether fitting that this orchid is native to one tall, remote, and misty mountain in Peru. Dracula orchids are best known for their bizarre flowers. Three large petals or sepals are veined with black and white lines, each terminating in a long, midnight-black tail. The interior of the flowers is no less sinister with yellow stripes that radiate from a central white to light pink pouch, reminiscent of a small coffin.

Large Wild Ginger
(Asarum maximum)

Vigilance and curiosity are required to discover the glory of this small evergreen woodland perennial whose flowers are tucked unobtrusively at the base of its glossy heart-shaped leaves. Ornate tubular cups have a ring of white fur at the base of each petal and beyond the black throat. Each flower is so neat it's as if it was fashioned out of felt to decorate the brim of a hat. It can reach six inches tall and over time will form colonies.

Voodoo Lily
(Dracunculus vulgaris)

Also known as carrion flower, it first appears as a group of palmate leaves with irregular lobes, but it is the very large flower that steals the show. A rippling spathe with an interior the color of raw meat unfurls in a graceful shield that surrounds the jet black spadix, which can be as long as 30 inches. Pollinated by flies, the freshly opened flower casts a vile, powerful fragrance of rotten flesh, which thankfully disappears in several hours. It is best suited to a location where it may be appreciated but not smelled.

Schunke's Maxillaria
(Maxillaria schunkeana)

This small beauty from the coastal rain forests of Brazil is one of the most truly black orchids, and it blooms for an unusually extended period. Small half-inch flowers are waxy and glossy black with four rounded petals. Thriving in the mossy branches of jungle trees, in bloom it may be seen peering out like many small black eyes.

Bat Flower
(Tacca chantrieri)

What strange twist in evolutionary fate could have caused the formation of such a foreign and unlikely flower? The bat flower or cat's whiskers, as it is known, is not an invention of science fiction but a plant native to the jungles of Thailand. A long black chord of a stem suspends this flower, which is actually a group of flowers, in a rubbery black sepal. Protruding from the side of each flower are long, stringlike cords.

XOXO

It's Been Awhile...

2009-10-07T21:59:00.000-07:00

I can't believe how the days fly by. Fall is in the air - it's all crisp and different, even here in LA. I have had the most amazing, exhausting season of work - the most intense summer/fall season I have had in several years. I feel horrible that I haven't posted more. When I first became a photographer, it meant spending my time shooting, and printing in the darkroom. We printed with enlargers if something was wrong, it usually just meant that we had to change a lightbulb...not so anymore. Now it's all computers, even though most of my work is still shot on film. Nonetheless, when I am this busy, it means hours and hours and days in front of a screen, and it's taken a toll on the blog. I feel awful, like I've neglected my friend. Things are going to start calming down a bit in the next few weeks though. In the meantime, I have a million posts in my head, waiting to come out.

Garden stuff - we had a disappointing summer. It was really foggy on at the beach this spring. We always have June Gloom, but it lasted until August, which put the kaibosh on our summer harvest. The heat came in late (and the fires came in early, which is a future post!). We are getting a nice bumper crop of tomatoes right now, just as the weather is turning cold. I wonder if they'll lose their sweetness? Hardly any squash, a few peppers - no canning.

We did, however, have a fantastic crop of Concord Grapes. They were AMAZING, and so incredibly easy to grow. Here is a great sorbet recipe I found in the cookbook "The Perfect Scoop". I bought this book over the summer, as I am determined to master ice cream. This sorbet is made with corn syrup. Perhaps I've read too many Michael Pollan books, but I am really against the whole corn syrup thing, but I made it anyway, and it was delicious. A few days after I made the sorbet, I found a recipe in Gourmet for a similar sorbet but using sugar instead, which makes me politically happier. I will post this recipe as well, even though it is untested...

Please note that I am completely devastated about the closing of Gourmet Magazine (they can, for the moment, be found online here, and the November issue will still come out). Doubtless you will hear about this over and over in future posts, as this magazine is of biblical proportions to me. I am so incredibly sad, it is a little ridiculous. Thank you, Ruth Reichl, who is the most wonderful, inspiring editor. Thank you for your grace and courage and especially for the expose on the tomato pickers of Florida. Thank you to all of the writers and the painstaking, worldwide research that changed eating and aspiring to cook into an international adventure. And finally, huge, giant, indescribable thanks to all of the great photographers and art directors who contributed over the years to this magazine - every issue was a piece of heaven to look at, and so visually inspiring to me I cannot begin to describe it. OK Enough. Onto the recipes...

Grape Sorbet, adapted from "The Perfect Scoop"
Makes About 1 Quart

Grapes that are very robust, such as Concord or Muscat, make a fine, flavorful grape sorbet. These grapes are usually at their best in autumn. If you have access to wine grapes, they produce a wonderful sorbet as well. Don't use seedless table grapes, such as Thompson and Red Flame; these make a great snack, but not a very tasty sorbet.

3.5 Pounds Grapes
3 Tablespoons Water
1/4 Cup Light Corn Syrup
1 Tablespoon Vodka

Remove the grapes from the stems and cut them in half if they're large or have thick skins. Place them in a large, nonreactive pot, add the water, and cover. Cook the grapes over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the skins have burst and the grapes are soft and cooked through.

Remove from the heat and pass the warm grapes through a food mill fitted with a fine disk, or press through a strainer with a flexible spatula if you wish to remove the grape solids. Stir the corn syrup and vodka into the grape juice.

Chill the mixture thoroughly, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

*We ate this about 4-5 hours after it was made and it was a bit runny. The following day, the texture was better just right...freeze this for at least a day before you eat it.

The Gourmet Magazine Version:

Concord Grape Sorbet, September 2009 Issue
Sorbetto Di Uva
Makes About 1 Quart
Active Time: 10 minutes; Start to finish: 5 3/4 Hours (Includes chilling)

Although Uva means "grape" in Italian, Concords are native to North America. A velvety sorbet brings out their inky, foxy intensity. It will, in fact, swing you right into autumn.

2 Pounds Concord Grapes, stemmed, divided
3/4 cup superfine granulated sugar

Equipment: An Ice Cream Maker

Puree half of grapes in a blender until smooth, then force through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl, discarding solids. Repeat with remaining grapes to yield 3 cups puree. Whisk in sugar until dissolved. Chill until very cold, 3-6 hours.
Freeze in ice cream maker, then transfer to an airtight container and put in freezer to firm up, at least 2 hours.

That's it...happy cooking.

XOO
Yvette

Tomato Tart

2009-08-22T12:32:00.001-07:00

I feel so badly that I didn't take a photograph of this gorgeous thing, but I do have to share this recipe...it's a mix of several recipes, all modified to incorporate the ghosts of tomato tarts past, a bunch of things I learned after taking a baking class at Sur La Table with my pal, Michael Ritterbrown, and a lot of trial and error...

You can make the crust the day before and keep it in an airtight container in the fridge until you have to roll it out...

Enjoy!!

For The Crust:

1 stick (4oz) cold unsalted better, cut into 1/2" pieces
3-4 T cold water (I use a cup of water with ice in it!)
1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 – 3/4 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano shavings
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves

Place cut pieces of butter in a bowl or plate and freeze for 20 minutes. Refrigerate water in a small measuring cup until needed.

Mix the Dough: Place the flour, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Process about 10 seconds to blend the ingredients. Add the frozen butter pieces and pulse 6-10 times (in 1 second bursts) until the butter and flour mixture looks like oatmeal flakes.

Immediately transfer the butter-flour mixture into a large mixing bowl. Sprinkle a tablespoon of the cold water over the mixture and “fluff” it in with a fork, then add another, and another, until 3 Tablespoons have been added. Continue to fluff and stir 10 – 12 times. It will not be a cohesive dough at this point, but a bowl of shaggy crumbs and clumps of dough. Before bringing the dough together, you need to test it for the correct moisture content. Take a handful of the mixture and squeeze firmly. Open your hand. If the clump falls apart and looks dry, remove any large, moist clumps from the bowl and add more water, one teaspoon at a time, sprinkling it over the top of the mixture and immediately fluffing it in. Test again before adding anymore water. Repeat, if needed. The dough is done when it holds together (even if a few small pieces fall off). If the butter feels soft and squishy, refrigerate before continuing. If the butter is still cold and firm, continue to the next step.

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and kneed gently 3-6 times. If it won’t come together and looks very dry, return it to the bowl and add another teaspoon or two of ice water (one at a time), mixing it in as above and try again. Flatten the dough into a 6-7” disk, wrap in plastic or parchment paper, and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.

When dough is cold again, roll it out into a thin circle (enough to fully cover an 9.5” tart pan (I use the fluted ones with removable bottoms), using a floured rolling pin on a floured board. Carefully lift crust and press into the tart pan.

Line the tart shell with parchment or foil, and fill with pie weights (I use dried beans for this!). Make sure the weights reach up the sides to the rim of the pan!

Bake the shell for about 20-30 minutes, in a preheated 375 degree oven, until it starts to look golden. Take shell out of the oven (be sure to hold the pan by the sides and not the bottom!!), and lift out the parchment / foil and weights. Line the bottom of the tart shell with the parmesan shavings, sprinkle with thyme leaves, and return it to the oven for about 10 minutes.

For The Filling:

About 2 lbs mixed heirloom tomatoes, halved lengthwise. I like to use different colors and sizes...everything from grape to plum to big old brandywines.

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and Fresh Ground Pepper
2 1/2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh thyme
1/2 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano shavings plus additional for garnish

Preparation

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Toss tomatoes with 2 tablespoons oil, 2 teaspoons thyme, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper in a bowl until well coated. Roast tomatoes, cut sides up and in 1 layer, in foil-lined baking pan in middle of oven, about an 1 hour, or until tomatoes start to brown.

After roasting tomatoes for about 20 minutes, move tomatoes in pan to lower third of oven and put pastry on baking sheet on middle rack. Bake pastry and tomatoes separately (see instructions) until pastry is finished, and edges of tomatoes are slightly browned but still appear juicy.

Top shavings with warm tomatoes, cut sides down and in 1 layer, then sprinkle evenly with remaining 1/2 teaspoon thyme, 1/4 teaspoon salt, pepper to taste, and additional cheese shavings if desired. (Also the olive oil and tomato drippings (yum) left in the roasting pan is great to drizzle on top!)

Let me know how it goes…Happy Cooking!
XXOXOXOOX

Why I love summer

2009-08-19T12:54:00.000-07:00

Stuff we're eating

2009-08-15T14:51:00.000-07:00

Lunch With Corey, Part One

2009-08-15T13:36:00.001-07:00

I was in beautiful Jackson Hole, Wyoming a couple of weeks ago, photographing an amazing wedding. I have never been to that part of the country, and I have to say that I was completely bowled over. It is utterly stunning, and filled with wildlife (we saw herds of buffalo, a moose, a fox, eagles...it was breathtaking).

I posted a while back about New West KnifeWorks - Corey Milligan, the owner of the company, which is based in Jackson, invited me and my pal Suzi (who helped me shoot the wedding) to lunch at his house. Corey has the most fantastic garden, and I just had to photograph it to show you...

The raised beds are made from recycled horse troughs. In real life, the rebar holds the hay...in this version, it functions as trellising...

This is Corey's modernist chicken coop...sad to say, a fox got in about a week before we got there...no more chickens :(

Our Host:

More To Come...our lunch menu with recipes, knife making, and mushroom foraging...
Also, be sure and check out Corey's Blog!

XOXOX
Happy Saturday!

Yvette

Favorite Thing #2: Ethel Gloves

2009-08-08T16:43:00.001-07:00

From the moment the postman arrives with the package, (and there's no mistaking his arrival every day as Gracie, our German Shepherd's, number-one-self-imposed-job is to greet the mailman by barking at the inside mail slot so loud that it can be heard in Arizona), it's clear that Ethel Gloves are special. They should win design awards for their packaging. Just opening the box is the beginning of a spectacular experience! My favorite part of the packaging (besides the entirety of the packaging), is the little plastic flower shaped nut/bolt that holds the gloves together...I'm keeping that!

But wait, there's more: the gloves themselves are BEAUTIFUL, and again, so cleverly and gorgeously designed to be functional and great looking at the same time. The grippy parts of the gloves on the fingertips are designed to look like vines (LOVE)...the fabric of the gloves is great too, as is the elastic wrist band which grips just enough to not let dirt in, but not too much to be uncomfortable. The materials the gloves are made of protect the hands but allow you to feel what you're doing as well, which I think is really important.

They come in all sorts of fabulous colors too! Also, I LOVE the little buttonholes (see the last photo), so you can hang them on the wall. You can wash 'em too! I don't know if I'll be moving cactuses in them...there's a glove for every job, and you should have a heavy leather pair as well, but for all the everyday things I do, I use this type of glove most of the time, and why not have everything you wear be adorable?

Here's the thing - I always wear garden gloves. I'm not precious about my hands at all - I don't care if they get really dirty, and I cut my nails short and don't wear nail polish. However, I have run into my share of black and brown widow spiders, who nestle into the dark corners of the garden, and inside of watering cans, and everywhere I seem to want to reach but can't see. I have also been scraped, gotten splinters, and all kinds of tiny stickery things in my hands, not to mention grubs. Did I ever tell you that I am completely grossed out by grubs? Digging around in the soil, all of a sudden they'll just pop up into your hand, much like a potato, but far less welcome. UGH. GLOVES, PLEASE.

PS. They make the most perfect gift as well...
PPS. Thank you thank you Mr. Davis for taking the photos of me...

XOXOXO
Yvette

Favorite Things #1

2009-07-24T09:11:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday!

I am so excited to be writing this post today. I have stumbled upon the most beautiful knives ever. We are so lucky to have two of them! The company who creates them, New West KnifeWorks, is in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. It just so happens that I am photographing an incredible wedding in Jackson Hole next week, and I get to have lunch with Corey Milligan, who designs the knives. I hope to be able to photograph their place and put it on the blog.

These knives are spectacular - they are completely gorgeous, perfectly balanced, and cut like nobody's business. We have the requisite Henckles knives at home, and one Wustoff, which up until now I have thought were pretty great, but really, I had no idea what I was missing.

Here they are. They come beautifully packaged in leather sheaths:

The high carbon stainless steel blades are made in Japan by The Hitachi Company, and sent to blacksmiths in Seki, Japan to be ground and hand-finished:

The handles are just amazing. They were, up until this year, created in their shop in Jackson Hole, but recently, they have moved their handle finishing to Seki as well. The knives I am showing here are from the Fusionwood Chef Knives line. The photos simply do not do justice to these knives. They are truly works of art....

Santoku:

Chef 8:

We will also be posting more about these amazing tools on the Meals At Home Blog, in the coming weeks. Celeste and I are going to do some knife skills demos, so be sure and watch for that! Meanwhile, sans any official knife skills, here is Fred putting the knives to the ultimate test: The Cutting Of The Tomato...

Heirloom Black Krim Tomato from the garden (YUM - my favorite of the year!):

Slicing Like BUTTAH!

XOXOXO
Yvette

Live From The Mar Vista Farmer's Market

2009-07-19T10:59:00.001-07:00

It's been a while since my last post...I was ill with pneumonia, which put the brakes on everything, including the garden! Nonetheless, all is well and BTL is back in force!

The Mar Vista Neighborhood Council granted a Farmer's Market booth to the Green Committee, and I am lucky to be representing Beyond The Lawn today to answer questions about home vegetable gardens. With me today is GoSolar, Mar Vista. James and John founded this group with the goal of transforming Mar Vista into a 100% clean electricity community by 2018. They have started a community solar program for residents to organize purchasing / leasing for group solar discounts. There is an event on Saturday, July 25 at 6pm, at 12024 Venice Blvd. to kick off the program with Councilman Bill Rosendahl. Be sure to get there early as our fabulous local restaurant The Curious Palate is providing hors d'oeuvres!!

Also happening this week is the Water Wise Use Expo:

Learn easy ways to save water and money in your own home.

The CD11 Empowerment Congress Environmental Committee invites you to their Wise Water Use Expo. The event is co-hosted by the Mar Vista Community Council Green Committee & Venice Neighborhood Council Environmental Committee.

The event will be held on July 21st at the Mar Vista Recreation Center. Table presentations will begin at 6:00 pm and speaker presentations will be from 7:00 to 9:00 pm.

The evening is designed to further awareness of the drought crisis that we face as a community and provide information and tools to embrace water conservation. There will be three guest presenters who will then offer a panel discussion and Q&A.

Water conservation information tables will provide information, give aways and exciting water solution raffle items:

Aqua~Flo has donated a smart sprinkler controller
Ballona Institute has donated a $25 gift certificate for merchandise at the Shallow Water Nature Store in Playa del Rey
EcoRain has donated a Double Tank & Downspout Filter to infiltrate water from the roof via a downspout
Gardenerd has donated a 1-hour vegetable garden consultation
Gary's Greenery has donated 2 one hour home consults on sustainable landscape design
G3LA has donated 2 tickets to their Ocean Friendly Garden
Workshop
Ironweed Films has donated copies of the films “Running Dry” and “The American Southwest: Are we Running Dry?”
RainBud has donated a rain barrel
Kohler has donated a dual flush toilet and low flow showerheads
L.A. Rainwater Harvesting Program has donated an early adopter rain barrel hook up
Smart Faucet has donated two water saving faucets
Surfrider Foundation has donated an on-site landscape assessment and hands-on help
Sustainable Solutions has donated two Caroma dual flush toilets
Sustainable Works has donated a tote bag filled with eco solutions
Theodore Payne has donated a one year membership which provides a 10% discount as well as books on Theodore Payne and California Wildflowers
TreePeople has donated two tickets for their summer series at S. Mark Taper Foundation Amphitheatre in Coldwater Canyon Park

Guest presenters are:

Ed Begley, Jr. – actor, author and environmental activist. As environmental issues become more pressing, there are two possible responses: forget it and hope that government and corporations will figure it out, or take action yourself. In the “take action yourself” camp, a few individuals are leading the way. One such person in California is Ed Begley, Jr. Environmental lawyer and long-time friend, Bobby Kennedy, Jr. has said “Ed has a greater sense of social obligation than anyone I know. He’s like a West Coast cadet who gets up every morning and says ‘reporting for duty’”.

Kevin O'Donnell of thread collaborative, a sustainable design strategist and presenter for Al Gore’s Climate Project. Kevin was trained by Al Gore to give his An Inconvenient Truth slide show. As a member of the non profit group, The Climate Project, he presents customized versions focused on the relationship between buildings, landscaping and climate change.

Green Gardens Group LA (G3LA) – G3's focus is to change the paradigm of the beautiful Southern California landscape from the water and resource-guzzling gardens of today to the climate- and place- appropriate sustainable ideal of tomorrow. Their organization is devoted to educating homeowners, design professionals, and the local community in the latest eco-restorative landscape techniques and promoting the principles of low-impact development.

The Council District 11 Empowerment Congress was organized by Los Angeles City Councilman Bill Rosendahl to bring together the genius, the energy, and the commitment of our neighborhood leaders. The 11th District is bounded by Mulholland Drive on the north, the Pacific Ocean on the west, Imperial Highway on the south, and (roughly) the 405 Freeway on the east. It encompasses the distinct communities of Brentwood, Del Rey, Mar Vista, Marina del Rey, Pacific Palisades, Palms, Playa del Rey, Playa Vista, Venice, West LA and Westchester.

XOXO
Yvette

Some Great Links!!!!

2009-05-28T19:07:00.000-07:00

Have You Read The Omnivore's Dilemma?
If so, do you just not know WHAT TO EAT ANYMORE?
Here's a great website for you that is a resource for grass-fed beef, lamb, goats, poultry, dairy, and wild edibles. It lists farms and markets by region that carry pasture based food:

Eatwild

Eco Friendly, Reusable Dry-Cleaning Bags Anyone?
Our Mar Vista Green Committee is teaming up with some dry cleaners in the area who will allow us to bring our own bags, leave them there, and pick them up later with our clean laundry. Did you know that 350 million pounds of single-use plastic bags end up in landfills every year??? Green Garamento, who sells the bags, will send one free bag to you (you pay the shipping). All the info is on their website...click on "get free bags" in the consumer section of their website to learn more!!!

LINK!!

FYI, here is a dry cleaner in Venice who will accept reusable bags:

Del Mar Natural Cleaners
701 Washington Blvd.
Marina Del Rey, CA 90292
310-482-0060
Cross Street: Oxford St

And, last but not least, journalist Emily Green has started an incredible blog about water conservation in the West. She writes for the Los Angeles Times, and many other newspapers, primarily about dry gardening and urban water usage. Check out this site - it is packed with science and information, and is beautifully written to boot:

Chance of Rain

XOXO
Yvette

Mar Vista Green Garden Showcase - The Aftermath!

2009-05-27T08:35:00.001-07:00

Filmmaker Samantha Lyon came to The Mar Vista Green Garden Showcase Tour and created this wonderful video. Her incredible and brave work can be seen at Videos For Justice. It was an honor to be a part of one of her projects, and to have been included in this Garden Tour.

Samm's mother, Elisa, has created a really wonderful blog for her Westside neighborhood, Reynier Village. Here is the LINK. She said that she was inspired by the community involvement in Mar Vista, and wanted to start bringing people together in her neighborhood as well. It seems as if we are starting micro climates in Los Angeles, a city so huge and so unmanageable that the individual, and the neighborhood, can be lost. It's encouraging to see what people are doing - to see them reach out and grab each others' hands...

Lastly, Sherri Akers, who is the co-chair of the Mar Vista Neighborhood Council Green Committee, and one of the main creators of the Garden Tour, was interviewed on the LA talk radio show "Green 'n' Easy Living". She talks about how the Green Committee came to be, and how the Garden Tour happened. She is joined by Joseph Treves, who reveals how he helped to start our local Sunday Farmer's Market. This is really community at its best. We are so lucky to be a small part of it.

XOX
Yvette

Dog Gone

2009-05-17T22:45:00.000-07:00

Meet Coleus Cannis, AKA "Piss Off Plant"!

This strongly scented coleus is sold in Europe, where it’s said to be a big hit. Grown in full sun to part shade, this plant is said to keep cats, dogs, bunnies, and raccoons away. You can read about them out on the web HERE. I just saw them at Marina Garden Center last week.

Here's the thing. I'm also reading that coleus plants, as well as the seeds, are poisonous (and mildly hallucinogenic, but that's a whole other story). As much as I love the idea (AND THE NAME!), I care more about the puppies and kitties than about the cat poo I have ranted about in previous posts. Then again, if they can't stand the smell of it, why would they eat it?
I'm just sayin' is all...

XOX
Yvette

PS. THX to erowid.org for the cool photo!

HAPPY SUNDAY!

2009-05-10T16:58:00.000-07:00

A few more from Wade and Alina's garden...the top photo is a beautiful plant, Caesalpinia pulcherrima, or Pride of Barbados (pulcherrima literally means "very pretty"). It's also called a Mexican Bird of Paradise, and is a favorite in Texas. It is a great, very drought tolerant plant that attracts pollinators including butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds. It was stunning!

The second photo...well, in one of my dreams my pepper plants would be five feet tall like these, and in my other dream, Fred would wear this hat every single day.

Happy Mother's Day
XXO
Yvette

Alina, Wade, And Lucie's Garden

2009-05-09T17:14:00.000-07:00

We spent some time at our friends Alina, Wade, and Lucie's house in Austin last week, and here are some photos of their veggie beds, which are located in the backyard. Wade likes to garden after dark, and was seen that night among the fireflies, post beer(s), spreading around mulch at about 11pm.

A squirrel made off with all their tomatoes last summer, so this year they've decided to grow them upside down, hanging from the eaves. My favorite thing about the pot, which can be purchased online HERE, is that is says "As Seen On TV" on the side. If it's on TV, you know it's gotta work.

XXO
Yvette

PS. Thx Alina for the tomato photo!!!!

Austin

2009-05-06T21:54:00.001-07:00

We just got back from an amazing trip to Texas...lots of mini road trips through the tiny towns of Hill Country, Amazing BBQ, and much late night fun with good friends. I saw some nice veggie gardens when I was there...this one was right in the middle of someone's front lawn, a little off to the side of the house. The bike was just leaned up against a tree. I love the bamboo tomato cage...

This garden is right around the corner from Jo's Hot Coffee on South Congress (GREAT coffee!), and the lovely Hotel San Jose.

As for the Brid Food sign painted on the fence, your guess is as good as mine.

XXO
Yvette

Frienemy

2009-04-30T00:03:00.001-07:00

We won the War of the Aphids.

We lost many skirmishes, the most significant defeat being the Battle of the Ladybugs, during which we thought our entire army defected. Some accidental observation told a different story. Our Ladybug army didn't AWOL, they were eaten by sparrows. I was so charmed with the flock of sparrows that kept coming to our yard in the afternoon, hopping all over the place amongst the plants. I love having birds in the yard more than anything. I love watching them and listening to them. I try to always keep the bird feeder filled to attract them. Apparently, they like ladybugs better than birdseed. They devoured what seems to be every last one of them.

After doing some MORE research, I went back to the old reliable Diatomaceous Earth. I sprinkled it all over the Brussels Sprouts, and within three days, the aphids were gone. Gone, Gone, Gone. That was it. Finished. Kaput. Over.

Onto new bugs.

XOXOOX
Yvette

PS. Sparrow Illustration From This Website!!!

Don't Forget!

2009-04-25T09:39:00.001-07:00

The Mar Vista Green Garden Showcase Tour is tomorrow...please come by if you can!

We made the cover of the Argonaut!!

Sorry for the short post, but I'm crazy busy getting ready!

XOXOXO
Yvette

PS. The tour is made up of four quadrants, and there are downloadable maps for each. We are on Tour 4!

Freedom Seeds

2009-04-16T08:54:00.000-07:00

Freedom Seeds is Path To Freedom's newest venture. Their tiny family farm is in Pasadena, California, and yields about 6,000 pounds of produce a year on 1/5 of an acre. AND the property is gorgeous. I plan to shop with them to help support their incredible project, as well as insure the purity of the seeds we plant in the garden!

Here is info about their mission, and their products:

“We have neglected to preserve the diversity of our food. Today, we have more brands of shoes than we have of carrots or broccoli.”
—Jules Dervaes

There’s no question that the diversity of our food sources has suffered a drastic reduction that is unprecedented in human history. As consumers are losing the freedom to choose what they will buy and grow, thousands of varieties of garden seed are walking the plank, straight into the abyss of extinction.

In 1981 there were approximately 5,000 vegetable seed varieties available in U.S. catalogs. Today there are less than 500, a 90 percent reduction.

Freedom Seeds is on the front lines of the battle to preserve open pollinated seeds. With an initial launch of 75 vegetable seeds from arugula and beans to kale, peas, turnips and much more, gardeners can be confident that the seeds they buy from Freedom Seeds have been carefully screened for genetic manipulation. The worth of these seeds has been proven by compatibility with their environment, instead of being made tougher and more durable by genetic engineering. They possess the nutritive properties of old and locally developed strains, based on eatability instead of portability.

Food You Can Depend On—Right Outside Your Door.

With this access to unaltered, unpatented seeds, Freedom Seeds gives you the power to create your own gardens—and research the crops that will grow in your specific environments. With different terrains come different abilities, regional tendencies, local food, and local challenges. In partnership with FreedomGardens.org, Freedom Seeds points you towards the information, resources, and research access you need to plan your gardens. It empowers you to research your options, and shows you the way to make the most of your growing season.

The Latest Information On The State Of Our Seeds

By following our Blog and Campaign links on the Freedom Seeds site, you’ll have access to the latest information the “Gene Giant” seed industries such as Monsanto, their influence in political lobbies, on scientific research, and on the food you eat. You’ll also get information on safe seeds, healthy food, and resources you can trust in the fight for sustainable, healthful, and real food.

To all of you, from all of us at Freedom Seeds. Happy planting!

Jules Dervaes & Family

XXO
Yvette

Happy Sunday!!!

2009-04-12T14:35:00.001-07:00

XXX
Yvette

Bug On Bug

2009-04-10T10:24:00.001-07:00

Losing the Battle of the Aphids. They are infesting all of the brassicas in the garden, especially the brussels sprouts. My Dr. Bronners soap mixture works for a day or so, and then a new mass appears from nowhere. We bought some ladybugs, hoping that they'll do the trick. We released them at night, after watering the area, and by morning, they were gorging themselves and mating. Three or four days of free meals and lodging later, all of those little moochers are gone, except for a few stragglers, leaving behind a billion uneaten aphids.

The thing is, I don't even LIKE brussels sprouts all that much...they're good enough, but what a bunch of work.

I am going to figure this out. I read that Diatomaceous Earth works in severe cases. I'm off to the front yard to try it...it worked so well in controlling the Sow Bug Infestation last winter, so we'll see what happens with the aphids.

XXO
Yvette

PS. Bitchin' Ladybug photo by Antje Schulte

Save The Date!!

2009-03-30T18:57:00.000-07:00

This tour, which is the first of its kind in Mar Vista, boasts some truly exquisite examples of what can happen when outdoor lawn spaces become fully realized sustainable gardens.

One of the most special things about our neighborhood is its commitment to community gardens - both Ocean View Farms, which is the largest community garden in Los Angeles (six acres, and 500 plots), and the Venice High School Learning Garden are featured on the tour. They are both remarkable places to visit. I had my first garden at Ocean View!

For a map, and a description of the featured homes, go to:

Mar Vista Garden Tour Blog

We are proud and excited to be on the tour! Please be sure to stop by our house if you go...we're doing seed starting demos and fabulous green architect Roberto Sheinberg will be here to answer your design questions!
XXX
Yvette

Spring Dessert For A Sunday Dinner...

2009-03-25T11:02:00.000-07:00

We planted blueberries last fall. They're tiny - just over a foot tall - and will take a few years to reach their glory. However, they're blooming right now, and the promise of a handful of fruit this year is so exciting! The bushes are supposed to reach 5'. You must plant more than one for pollination to occur. They should be within 6 feet of each other.
I have been seeing them again at Marina Garden Center. We amended the soil with an organic acidic planting mix, and have been fertilizing with Dr. Earth Organic 4 Plant Food. GOOD LUCK!

RECIPE!

A few weeks ago, we decided to revive the Sunday Dinner with our friends Robert and Roberto. We are doing pot luck, rotating houses, and are supposed to try recipes we've never made before. It has been so much fun, and a lovely end to the week! I decided to try my hand at desserts, which are challenging for me because I have difficulty following directions (I'm a more "pinch of this" and "glug of olive oil" kind of cook). Last Sunday, I made the dessert below, using store bought blueberries. It was a wild success. Hopefully, your berry plants will yield enough to make many of these!

The recipe is featured in the current (April 2009) issue of Gourmet Magazine. It is outstanding, simple, rustic, and elegant, with a very intriguing history. It's also so much fun to make.

PAVLOVA WITH LEMON CURD AND BERRIES

yield: Makes 6 to 8 servings
active time: 35 min
total time: 2 hr

The ruffly white meringue called a Pavlova is all about sublime textures. Here, the crunchy yet marshmallowy meringue meets silky lemon curd, juicy ripe berries, and billows of whipped cream. Virtually the national dish of Australia, the dessert is claimed by New Zealand as well; it was named for the Russian prima ballerina Anna Pavlova, who toured both countries in 1926. The inspiration for this recipe came from food stylist (and New Zealander) Toni Brogan.

For meringue:

* 1 cup superfine granulated sugar
* 1 tablespoon cornstarch
* 3 large egg whites at room temperature 30 minutes
* 3 tablespoons cold water
* 1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar

For filling:

* 2/3 cup granulated sugar
* 1 tablespoon cornstarch
* 1/8 teaspoon salt
* 1/3 fresh lemon juice
* 1/2 stick unsalted butter
* 3 large egg yolks
* 2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
* 1 cup heavy cream
* 4 cups mixed berries

Preparation

Make meringue:
Preheat oven to 300°F with rack in middle. Trace an approximately 7-inch circle on a sheet of parchment paper. Turn parchment over and put on a baking sheet.

Whisk together superfine sugar and cornstarch in a small bowl.

Beat whites with a pinch of salt using an electric mixer at medium speed until they hold soft peaks. Add water (whites will loosen) and beat until whites again hold soft peaks.

Increase speed to medium-high and beat in sugar mixture 1 tablespoon at a time. After all sugar has been added, beat 1 minute more.

Add vinegar and beat at high speed until meringue is glossy and holds stiff peaks, about 5 minutes (longer if using hand-held mixer).

Gently spread meringue inside circle on parchment, making edge of meringue slightly higher than center (the "crater" is for curd and fruit). Bake until meringue is pale golden and has a crust, about 45 minutes (inside will still be marshmallow-like).

Turn oven off and prop door open slightly with a wooden spoon. Cool meringue in oven 1 hour.

Make Lemon curd while meringue bakes:
Stir together sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a 2-qt heavy saucepan, then add lemon juice and butter. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat, whisking, then continue to simmer, whisking constantly, 1 minute. Lightly beat yolks in a small bowl and whisk in 1/4 cup lemon mixture, then whisk into remaining lemon mixture in saucepan. Reduce heat to low and cook, whisking constantly, until curd is thickened, about 2 minutes (do not let boil). Transfer to a bowl and stir in zest. Chill, surface covered with parchment, until cool, about 1 1/2 hours.

Assemble Pavlova:
Beat heavy cream until it just holds stiff peaks, then fold 1/4 cup beaten cream into curd to lighten. Spoon lemon curd into meringue and mound berries on top. Serve remaining whipped cream on the side.

Cooks' notes: •For best results, keep oven door closed as much as possible during baking.
•Meringue can be made 2 days ahead and frozen, wrapped well in plastic. Thaw before serving.
•Curd can be made 2 days ahead and chilled.

XXX
Yvette

Happy Sunday!

2009-03-22T12:38:00.000-07:00

"When you have only two pennies left in the world, buy a loaf of bread with one, and a lily with the other" - Chinese Proverb

XXX
Yvette

DO IT, MICHELLE!

2009-03-19T21:09:00.000-07:00

"Obamas to Plant White House Vegetable Garden"

On Friday, March 20th, 2009, 23 third graders will join First Lady Michelle Obama on the South Lawn of the White House to break ground on an 1100 square foot kitchen garden that will provide food for family dinners and formal dinners.

According to the New York Times:

The Obamas’ garden will have 55 varieties of vegetables grown from organic seedlings started at the executive mansion’s greenhouses.

And better still:

Almost the entire Obama family, including the president, will pull weeds, “whether they like it or not,” Mrs. Obama said laughing.

Ok, you can stop pinching yourself: you aren't dreaming this and an off batch of sauerkraut hasn't caused a rare case of lacto-fermentation-hallucination.

THEY ARE REALLY GOING TO DIG THIS GARDEN!

Roger Dorian, who started the EAT THE VIEW campaign, created this press release:

(Scarborough, Maine) –100,000 people signed a petition asking the Obamas to replant a Victory Garden at the White House, and recent news reports indicate that they are about to reap what they sowed.

For advocates of sustainable and healthy foods, this harvest of good news was as welcome as the summer’s first red-ripe tomato. “I’m thrilled for the Obama family and for all who will be inspired by their example to grow gardens of their own this year,” said Roger Doiron, founder of the nonprofit Kitchen Gardeners International and leader of the successful petition campaign, “Eat the View.”

Launched in February 2008, Eat the View proposed that the Obamas replant a White House Victory Garden while planting a few extra rows for the hungry. The campaign used viral videos and social networking technologies like Facebook to grow a large support base, attract international media attention and help inspire a larger grassroots effort. In January, 2009, Eat the View won the “On Day One” contest sponsored by the United Nations Foundation, beating out 4,000 other entries and resulting in thousands of messages being sent to the White House in support of its proposal.

Over the course of the past month, the Eat the View campaign has touted the economic benefits of home gardens as part of its pitch to White House staff members. As proof, Doiron and his wife spent nine months weighing and recording each vegetable they pulled from their 1,600-square-foot garden outside Portland, Maine. After counting the final winter leaves of salad, they found that they had saved about $2,150 by growing produce for their family of five instead of buying it. “If you consider that there are millions of American families who could be making similar, home-grown savings, those are no small potatoes,” Doiron said.

Although the White House garden campaign is now winding down, Doiron says the Eat the View campaign is just getting warmed up. “Now that the Obamas are on board, we’re going to be reaching out to other people and identifying other high-profile pieces of land that could be transformed into edible landscapes. Sprawling lawns around governors’ residences, schoolyards, vacant urban lots: those are all views that should be eaten.”

History of Harvest at the White House
While the Obamas’ garden and the online technologies that campaigned for it might be new, the idea of an edible landscape at the White House is not. Throughout its history, the White House has been home to food gardens of different shapes and sizes and even to a lawn-mowing herd of sheep in 1918. The appeal of the White House garden project, Doiron asserts, is that it serves as a bridge between the country’s past and its future. “The last time food was grown on the White House lawn was in 1943, when the country was at war, the economy was struggling and people were looking to the First Family for leadership. It made sense before and it makes sense again as we try to live within our own means and those of the planet.”

Additional info:

Eat the View campaign website:
LINK

History the White House as an edible landscape from 1800 to the present:
LINK

Many thanks to Roger, to Alice Waters and to Michael Pollan, who supported this project, as well as Barack and Michelle.

I really really can't believe it!

XXX
Yvette

So Cal Gardeners, Save The Date!

2009-03-17T16:43:00.001-07:00

If you can't make the workshop, and are interested in learning more about reducing run off through your own landscaping, check out these links:

The Surfrider Foundation
South Bay Environmental Services Center

XXX
Yvette

PS. Keep those Kitty Poo Ideas coming!

Litter bug

2009-03-09T17:02:00.000-07:00

Perhaps you've read about some of the pests we've been dealing with and as with all of them the ultimate goal is to kill them. Dead. Gone. Enjoy whatever little green heaven you subscribe to. However, the latest and more troublesome "guest" in our garden has been leaving a very succinct and destructive calling card. We'll call him/her F. catus, and the F doesn't stand for Fun. But unlike the other un-welcomes this is not a pest one sets about to exterminate. Instead the job becomes one of deterrence, at which we've had moderate success. The most effective solution we've had to date is to poke a bunch of sticks into the ground (see photo). I also apply good dose of hot sauce (I use Tapatio or Valentina) to the dirt which seems to help but doesn't work on its own. While it's not the most visually appealing solution it doesn't require chemicals or batteries like some of the advertised products I've seen.

C'est ne pas une litter box

I'm curious to hear if you have a solution. Whether it's from dealing with the same problem or if you simply have a creative idea that we may be overlooking. What ever it is post it in the comment section of this post. At some point in the near future we'll have look at what you've come up with and pick one as our favorite and award that person a nominally priced gift from Seed Savers Exchange.

Fred

Top this:

Tomatomania!

2009-03-05T08:44:00.001-08:00

Save the date(s)! Tomatomania is coming!

White Flower Farms is sending hundreds of tomato plants to these events, scheduled to take place in March, April, and May. Most of them are in California, but they've adding events in CT and MD. There are unbelievable varieties of tomatoes.

SO EXCITING!

Here is the URL:

TOMATOMANIA

YUM.

XXX
Yvette

PS. Thank you so much, Donna P., for the head's up on this!!!

Pancakes In The Mountains

2009-03-02T19:12:00.001-08:00

We went up to the mountains a few weekends ago with our friends Robert and Roberto to celebrate our dear Beto's birthday. We had the most fabulous time, staying in a beautiful, eco friendly cabin on 63 acres of land, complete with a small veggie garden and horses, up near the Sequoia National Park. We took hikes in the rain, and had some very memorable meals. Here is one of our breakfasts, cooked by Beto, that has already become legendary. I wish I could say that I grew some part of this meal in my garden!

Whole Wheat Oatmeal Pancakes
(From Epicurious)

3/4 Cup Quick Cooking Oats
1 1/2 Cups Plus 2 Tablespoons Well-Shaken Buttermilk, Divided
3/4 Cup Whole Wheat Flour
1 1/2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
3/4 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 Teaspoon Cinnamon
1/8 Teaspoon Ground Nutmeg
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1 Large Egg, Lightly Beaten
2 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter, Melted + More For Griddle
1 Tablespoon Packed Brown Sugar

Preparation:
Soak oats in 3/4 cup buttermilk for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in a large bowl.
Mix together egg, melted butter, brown sugar, remaining 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons buttermilk, and oat mixture. Add to dry ingredients, mixing until just combined.
Heat a griddle over medium heat until hot. Lightly brush with butter. Working in batches, pour 1/4 cup batter per pancake onto griddle and cook until bubbles appear on surface and undersides are golden-brown, about 1 minute. Flip with a spatula and cook other side, about 1 minute more. (Lightly butter griddle between batches).

Serve with caramelized ginger pears (recipe to follow).

Roberto’s Caramelized Gingered Pears
(Use Bosc or Asian Pears)
serves 4

Core and cut 3 pears in 1/4” wedges, unpeeled
Put pears in a heavy (preferably cast iron) pot with one handful of dark brown sugar per pear.
Stir in 1 teaspoon of ground ginger.
Simmer on low until sugar melts, stirring occasionally, until sugar is melted and pears absorb the dark brown of the sugar.
Spoon over pancakes!

FOOTNOTE:
Instead of pears, peel and cut into wedges, a mango, and follow recipe. Apples can also be substituted.
A pinch of nutmeg or cinnamon can be added as well!

XXX

Yvette

Happy Sunday!

2009-03-01T14:04:00.000-08:00

"Gardening is, by its very nature, an expression of the triumph of optimism over experience. No matter how bad this year was, there's always next year. Experience doesn't count. Just because the carrots have been knobby, misshapen, and somewhat bitter for four years in a row doesn't mean they're going to be knobby and misshapen next year. No sir, next year you will (1) work in twice as much compost and peat; (2) plant a new, improved variety; or (3) get lucky. Or even better, you can forget carrots and plant something exotic like blue cauliflower in that bed. Because every year starts with a clean slate, and the phenomenon I call garden amnesia ensures eternal hope....

Blessedly, the voice of experience, the voice that should be crying, "Oh, puh-lease!" never pipes up in the garden. And I, for one, hope it never does. It is not wanted there."

- William Alexander "The $64 Tomato"

XXX
Yvette

Brussels Sprout Trifecta

2009-02-26T11:26:00.000-08:00

We have two new tenants to report, who are happily co-existing with our old favorite residents the Sow Bug! Welcome to our new best pals:

The Harlequin Cabbage Bug, Who's Specialties Include, But Are Not Limited To, Sucking The Sap From The Plants Until They Fall Over Dead. She Is Featured Here With Her Truly Cool Looking Eggs:

And Her BFF / Nemesis, The White Fly, Who's Two Amazing Talents Are Competing For Sap Sucking Rights With The Harlequin Cabbage Bug, And Then Laying These Abstract Expressionist Eggs Under The Leaves They Don't Manage To Destroy!

So, To Recap And Extinguish:
The Sow Bugs Are Attacking The Roots Of The Brussels Sprout Plants (Diatomaceous Earth Will Take Care Of That)

The White Flies, When They're Not Sap-Sucking, Fly Around The Brussels Sprout Plants In A Biblical, Locust-ish Swarm (The Dr. Bronners Diluted With Water Seemed To Thwart Them - For Now)

The Harlequins? It Seems That They Just Need To Be Picked Off And Squashed By Hand. They Crunch. Yuck. Look For Them On Your Cabbages As Well.

XXX
Yvette

We're In Sunset!

2009-02-25T09:18:00.000-08:00

Sunset Magazine is featuring us, side by side with some of my favorite blogs (Orangette, Victory Home & Garden, Heavy Petal, Life on the Balcony, and Eating LA), to name a few, in its March 2009 print issue!

Big huge giant thanks and hugs and starry eyed love to Sunset! Thank you Sharon Cahoon. You are my garden hero!

XXX
Yvette

Subversive Tip Of The Day....

2009-02-23T09:55:00.000-08:00

Click Here To Stick It To The Man

(Thx To Suzi For This Link!)
XXX
Yvette

PS. For a more constructive solution, these folks have been well reviewed.

Meet Brevicoryn Brassicae!

2009-02-20T16:24:00.000-08:00

Who's been sucking the life out of my beautiful purple cauliflower leaves? None other than my newest nemesis, the Mealy Cabbage Aphid.

Here's a portrait of one of the better looking ones...we'll call him Fabio:

Fabio has made hundreds of babies.
They're yucky little beasts.

It just makes me crazy. I live in a city of about four million people, and the aphid that specializes in devouring Brassicas has found my three friggin cauliflower plants. What, are they reading my blog or something? How do they do this?

Here's some info on getting rid of these mooches for you, just in case you're on the Google Bug Radar:

Where only a few are present they can be rubbed off affected shoots, after a while natural predators will arrive and remove them. A hose with good force can be used to dislodge them from tough-leaved vegetables. Placing aluminium foil or a mirror below plants, fools them into flying upward.
A spray prepared from a couple drops of washing-up liquid to a gallon of water as an acceptable organic method of control; so are insecticidal soaps made from plant fatty acids. Avoid spraying in sunshine to prevent scorching the plant.
Biological controls need a constant supply to survive, so there will always be a low-level presence, hopefully these will be on nearby wild plants. Ladybirds are nocturnal so if they are feeding during the day the number of aphids may be low.
For chemical control use pyrethroids or bifenthrin - spray as late in the day as possible to avoid Ladybirds and other friendly creatures. There is evidence that Myzus persicae are developing resistance to the pyrethroids and Primocarb so it is best to vary the chemicals used to reduce the chances of this happening.
An acceptable organic spray is made from an extract of the Neem tree called Azadiractin
Companion planting using partner plants which deter the aphids, eg. Borage to deter Black Bean Aphids.

I'm going to spray them with a mixture of about 1T of Dr. Bronner's soap mixed with a quart of water. I'm guessing that that'll be the cure.

Meanwhile, still harvesting tomatoes!

XXX
Yvette

Tomatoes in December and Tomatillo follow-up

2008-12-22T12:37:00.000-08:00

Back in August Yvette was lamenting the passing of summer and I commented here that at the time I wasn't quite ready to cede the season. To that end I set about planting another crop of tomatoes with some seeds I had left over from the spring. Aside from these, Yvette had purchased some Brandywine plants and I had a few volunteers from last years yellow cherries pop up at about the same time.

Well, here it is the day after the winter solstice and we still have fresh tomatoes almost daily. Not a bumper crop mind you but fresh nonetheless. Of the three varieties I planted late in the season: Brandywine, Green Zebra, and Purple Cherokee, only the Brandywines failed. They grew to about 3 feet in height and just sort of stopped. I took them out to make room for more seasonal crops of garlic and (ack!) Brussels sprouts. The Green Zebra and Purple Cherokee plants meanwhile are huge with lots of flowers with the occasional fruit or two. At the very least they add some green to our view out the kitchen window. The real heroes have been the red cherry and the roma that have been producing non-stop since early summer. It's interesting to note that the roma was planted primarily for canning because, you know, there are no fresh tomatoes in the fall and winter. So it's odd to eat the ones we canned and still have fresh ones around. I plan on removing the roma in the next week since it has really tapered off, and the red cherry will probably follow shortly after. Still - tomatoes in December?

On the the tomatillo front, I stated that I thought they would grow year-round and attempted to prove it. I was able to get a second successful planting but when I started a third the seeds germinated, grew to be about two inches and then stopped growing altogether. If you tried the recipe from the first tomatillo post you can probably imagine my disappointment.

Fred

Thanksgiving

2008-11-23T19:35:00.000-08:00

For the last fourteen years, we have spent Thanksgiving with a group of friends. There have been times when the group has been larger - some friends have moved on and some have fallen away completely - but the core, the five of us, have been religious about this retreat. It started with a road trip to Death Valley with Peter and Harriet, where we celebrated Thanksgiving in a restaurant, which proved too depressing to ever do again. The following year, we rented a place in Big Bear with more people, including our dearest Ron, who has never missed a trip since, and cooked our own Thanksgiving, and cooked and cooked and cooked all weekend. We have since Thanksgivinged up and down California, from Palm Springs to Cambria and everywhere in between. We even went to Hawaii a couple years ago, which was amazing. We have rented beach houses and desert houses and mountain houses - in snow and rain and heat. We have played countless games of Battleship. We have schelped turkeys and trimmings and snacks and sweet hot beaver mustard all over the place, cooking in all sorts of kitchens and all sorts of ovens, for better or worse. These trips have marked time for me in a profound way. This year, we celebrate our first Thanksgiving at home. We are having a weekend sleep over at our house, and I am already so excited. I am making cranberry sauce right now, and hopefully it'll be as amazing as Harriet's always is! Here's to Thanksgiving, and to Fred and Ron and Peter and Harriet: Forever May We Eat.

Spiced Cranberry Sauce
Adapted From Gourmet Magazine

Yield: Makes about 2 1/4 cups

1 (12-ounce) bag fresh or frozen cranberries
1 cup sugar
1 cup fresh squeezed orange juice
2 1/4 teaspoons finely grated orange peel
1/2 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 1/2 teaspoons grated peeled fresh ginger
2 cinnamon sticks

Preparation

Bring all ingredients to boil in heavy medium saucepan, stirring often. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until most of cranberries burst, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes, or till tiny pink bubbles appear. I reduce the sauce a bit, so it thickens up nicely later. Transfer sauce to medium bowl and add the cinnamon sticks. Cool, cover, and refrigerate (sauce will thicken more as it gets colder). Recipe can be prepared 1 week ahead!!! Keep refrigerated.

PS. I got my cranberries from Stahlbush Island Farms, which is a remarkable family farm in Oregon's Willamette Valley...they have a fantastic website and blog!

YAR!!
Yvette

Voracious...

2008-11-09T10:03:00.001-08:00

THESE:

MAKE THESE:

AND THEY DO THIS:

Now that the sowbugs are under control (thanks wholly to Diatomaceous Earth, which works GREAT!), our latest moocher is the cabbage worm...
I pick them off of our cabbages, broccoli, swiss chard, kale, brussels sprouts, and collard greens every day and they're just voracious, leaving holes and poor, exhausted plants.

It's war now, and hand picking just isn't cutting it. Here's what I have learned:

Bacillus Thuringiensis

The great thing about Bt is that it only affects insects that are in the caterpillar stage. It consists of a naturally occurring bacteria that is deadly to cabbage worms. Once they consume a part of a plant treated with Bt, the worm will stop feeding and shortly thereafter it will die.
Bt is usually sold in a liquid form which is mixed with water and sprayed onto the foliage of the plants that are under attack. This organic product is safe and can be applied right up until the time of harvest. Bt works and offers complete control over many types of caterpillars.

I also read the following, which, once the worms are under control from the Bt application, I will try:

A really good natural repellent is hot pepper spray. You can make the spray by chopping or grinding hot peppers into fine particles. You then mix 1/2 cup of the grounded peppers with 1 pint of water and then strain out the particles to form a clear solution. You should spray the plants twice, 2 or 3 days apart. Just make sure the spray makes contact with the cabbageworm.

Another good natural method for controlling all sorts of pests, including the cabbage worm, is insecticidal soap. The soap is a mixture of salts and fatty acids derived from plants. It is harmless to plants and works by drying up the pest causing it to die. You can apply the spray in the early morning or late afternoon, or on a cloudy day, while it's still cool, to reduce the risk of any possible damage to the plants and to minimize evaporation.

Prevention:

To prevent infestation in the first place, protect your plants with floating row covers, especially in spring and early summer, when egg-laying activity is at its highest.

To prevent the worms from burrowing into cabbage heads, insert each head into a nylon stocking, and leave it on until you harvest the head.

Oh boy.

XXX
Yvette

Tear Up Your Lawn And Vote As If Your Life Depended On It!

2008-11-04T17:00:00.000-08:00

XXX
Yvette

Pappa Al Pomodoro

2008-11-03T17:38:00.000-08:00

We had our first rain of the season this weekend (of course, it rained on our garage sale day!). It's colder now, yet we still have tomatoes growing...here is a nice fall recipe from Jamie's Italy that I love making. It's so easy and takes no time at all and is delicious! Hopefully the canned tomatoes you use are from your HUGE HARVEST that you CANNED YOURSELF, but if not, my favorite brand in the world is San Marzano! Also, this soup is great with the bread on the side as well!

about 1 lb ripe cherry tomatoes (I use a variety of tomatoes here, whatever is growing in the garden that is ripe)
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely sliced
a large bunch of fresh basil, leaves picked, stems finely chopped
the best extra virgin olive oil you can find
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
two 14 oz cans of good quality plum tomatoes
about 1 lb. or 2 large handfuls of stale, good quality bread

Prick the cherry tomatoes and toss them with one sliced clove of garlic and a quarter of the basil leaves. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, put them in a roasting pan, and cook in the oven at 350F for about 20 minutes.

Heat a glug of olive oil in a large pot and add the remaining garlic and the basil stems. Stir around and gently fry for a minute, until softened. Add your canned tomatoes, then fill the can 1/2 way with water, and add that. Break the tomatoes up with a spoon, bring to a boil, and simmer for 15 minutes.

Tear the bread up into thumb-sized pieces and add them to the pan. Mi well and season to taste. Tear in the basil leaves and let the soup sit on low heat for 10 minutes. By this time your roasted tomatoes will be done, with juice bursting out of their skins, so remove them from the pan, remembering to scrape the lovely sticky bits from the bottom. Pour them into the soup with all the juices, basil, an oil from the pan.

Give the soup a good stir - you're looking to achieve a thick, silky, porridgy texture, so feel free to adjust it with a little water. Them remove it from the heat and add 6-7 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. Divide between your bowls and serve with a little extra basil torn over the top if you like. The most important thing with this soup is that you have a wonderfully intense sweet tomato basil flavor!

ENJOY!!!

XXX
Yvette

Happy Halloween!!!

2008-10-31T15:15:00.000-07:00

Our neighbor Ian carved this pumpkin...can you guess what it is??

XXO
Yvette

Lunch On Our Porch

2008-10-24T10:09:00.000-07:00

BYOB(ird)

XXX
Yvette

PS. Photo By Fred

Fall Planting...

2008-10-12T11:49:00.001-07:00

I'm contenting myself by looking at photos of the changing leaves that my dear Celeste has been sending me from her cell phone while vacationing in Vermont...nonetheless, our rather unpronounced version of fall has definitely arrived, and suddenly, the light has changed from summer softness to a sharper orange. Warm days with a cold wind, a sweater at night, and the down comforter back on the bed.

Here are some fall planting ideas if you're in So Cal - I've included links to some of my favorite varieties!!! Many can be started at home. We start most of our seeds using EB Stone Seed Starting Mix, plant them in plastic 6-pack trays recycled from seedlings we have bought, and grow them in our kitchen window, which gets direct morning sun, and filtered light for the rest of the day. Or, you can just buy seedlings at the local nursery. The nurseries are just filled with veggie starts right now. My all time favorite LA nurseries are Marina Garden Center, and Burkard's ....

Snap Peas
Snow Peas
Sweet Peas (flowers)
Lettuces
Cabbages
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Arugula
Edible Pansies And Violas
Carrots
Beets
Turnips
Onions
Garlic
Potatoes
Swiss Chard

Be sure to add lots of organic material to your soil!!!

XXX
Yvette

Recipe For Madi

2008-09-23T09:03:00.000-07:00

Cucumber Snack

One Cucumber, Cut Into Wedges
Juice Of 1/2 Lime
A Pinch Of Kosher Salt
Tapatillo Or Valentina Hot Sauce, To Taste

Mix All Ingredients In A Bowl And Serve!

XXO
Yvette

PS. We have been growing cucumbers this summer, and they are just beautiful. They are a variety called "Armenian Burpless" and are ridged down the sides so that when you cut them, they look like flowers. Put them on your spring planting list!

Fall Equinox

2008-09-22T15:29:00.001-07:00

Happy First Day Of Fall!
We just planted a bunch of garlic (ordered from The Garlic Store), onions, more beets, new rows of carrots, and new lettuces (the lettuces we planted a month ago are now about 2" tall, so it's time to do the next successive planting). The sowbug invasion seems to be minimized a bit...nonetheless I made cardboard "fences" around the little seedlings (baby potato plants, winter squash) using the collars from to-go coffee cups, and a long fence made from recycled envelope inserts down the rows of seeds. And then, for good measure, I sprinkled the old diatomaceous earth around the bottoms of the plants. Lets hope they make it. It's been a frustrating couple of months!

XXO
Yvette

INVASION!!

2008-09-07T10:32:00.000-07:00

Someone has been killing the sprouts from seeds that were sown directly into the garden. Rows of carrots, beets, onions - it was maddening. Not one tiny bit of green would even surface. This went on for a good 4-6 weeks. Anxiety ensued. Did I lose my green thumb? Is our garden soil poisonous? Is an old enemy from Junior High School trying to sabbotage my efforts? After much observation and detective work, the culprit was identified: the seemingly innocuous sow bug.

It seems that we were not letting our compost break down enough before adding it to the garden. Normally, sow bugs eat the rotting, dying vegetation in the compost bin. Once the compost is truly finished, they move on. Apparently, we were adding the compost to our raised beds a little too early, with an inordinate population of the little guys. For lack of enough dying matter to feed them, they turned to our seeds. I start a lot of our seeds in the kitchen window, but certain plants, like carrots, like to be sown directly into the garden, leaving them especially vulnerable. Since our garden is organic, I expect to lose a certain percentage of yield to pests, but this was too much.

I did some research, and came up with a plan that has, thus far, been extremely effective. I added Diatomaceous earth to the top of the soil, and even mixed some in, just under the surface. This chalk-like powder consists of the fossilized remains of diatoms, a type of hard-shelled algae. It works by absorbing lipids from the waxy outer layer or insects' exoskeletons, causing them to dehydrate. I am also putting rolled up newspaper along the edges of the raised beds. When the newspaper becomes damp, the sow bugs use it as a shelter. It can simply be picked up and thrown away.

The Diatomaceous earth will also destroy beneficial insects, so it should be used with that in mind. In humans, it can cause irritation if breathed in, so it must be added to the soil with care.

DRAMA!!!! With any luck, this will balance the scales, and this next round of seeds will not be murdered in their sleep!

XXX
Yvette

Learning Curve

2008-09-03T08:19:00.000-07:00

We have been digging up potatoes lately, and they're as delicious as can be. There are few things as fun as foraging for them. It is so gratifying to spend time rummaging around in the dirt, and out pops a beautiful yellow or purple one, and then another and another! There were not nearly as many potatoes as I'd thought there would be. I figured that out of eight plants we'd have multitudes. Some of the plants didn't really even produce any (mystery). But, we did get some, and those some wanted to make me plant more.

The biggest problem I've faced in this garden is timing...when to start new plants to supplement the ones that are going out, to leave room for them, to not have everything ready at once, and to truly figure out what it is that we eat and how much of it to grow.

I found out that we eat a lot of lettuces. We eat a lot of tomatoes. Not so much with the green beans, even though green beans are something we used to buy in the grocery store all the time. Many millions of peas (so vast was the number of peas that we consumed that the plant got completely harvested every day and none even made it into the pot!). I love to have beets on hand, and roast a bunch of them at a time and keep them in the fridge for snacks and impromptu salads with goat cheese. The onions get used and appreciated, but we're running low and don't have anything but tiny seedlings to replace them with. The garlic will run out eventually, and probably before the next garlic is ready.

Here is my new experiment. I have planted a row of lettuce, and a row of arugula. As soon as those rows get to be 2" tall, it'll time to plant another row. We'll see how that goes...

The garden is only a year old. I'm wondering how long it will really take for us to manage it to the point that we have the rhythm.

XXO

Yvette

Plant Markers

2008-08-25T15:12:00.000-07:00

Next time you hear "I'm bored, there's nothing to do!", here's some fun:

Madi and Ryan made these plant markers using crayons, white paper, wooden BBQ skewers and, I'm so sorry, but...some plastic. I figure (excuses, excuses), that since we bring our own bags to the market, and even clothes shopping, since we use about 1 bag of Ziplocks every 2-3 YEARS, since Fred rides his bike nearly everywhere instead of using the car, we could slide on this use of petroleum in hopes of the markers lasting more than a week of sun and watering and dare I say rain?

The Recipe:

Cut Pieces Of Paper To Size
Make A List Of Plants
Create Drawings
Break BBQ Skewers In Half (large popsicle sticks could be substituted for this)
Press Sticky Plastic Sheet Onto The Front Of Each Drawing
Hold Skewers Tight Onto The Back Of The Drawing, Leaving about 4" At The Bottom Sticking Out
Press Sticky Plastic Onto The Back Of The Drawing, Including The Skewer
Make Sure That Plastic Is As Tight As Possible, Especially Around The Skewer

Put Into Garden!

We bought the sheets of plastic at Staples. They're sticky on one side, and worked great. I found them in the same section that laminating supplies are sold. All's good so far, and they sure are cute.

XXX
Yvette

Tangled Up In Blue

2008-08-21T09:24:00.001-07:00

It's time to start ordering fall and winter seeds! Last year, we planted a bunch of sweet peas on a bamboo trellis. We ordered the seeds from The Fragrant Garden, which has the most incredible colors of sweet peas to choose from. They are easy to grow - the seeds should be soaked for 24 hours by floating them in a little dish of water or wrapping in a wet paper towel before planting as they have a tough skin that must be broken through to germinate. Follow the planting instructions on the packets, and you'll be in bouquets all winter. Sweet peas thrive in colder weather, so for us in So Cal, it's a winter flower. For really cold places, it's a fall - spring plant. The flowers should be cut daily, as the plants are quick to start producing seeds and die if they're not picked often. Cutting will inspire tons and tons of flowers to be produced!

Another great favorite to order now are onions and garlic. We get our garlic from The Garlic Store. They have really interesting varieties, as well as "packages" that contain 4-5 different kinds, all with great growing instructions, and excellent customer service for weird questions (I've asked!)!!! Garlic and onions are easy but glacial to grow, so be PATIENT. The garlic and onions we grew last year took about nine months from planting to harvest...

One more blue thing, just cause it's so pretty and getting lots of attention from the bees and hummingbirds as well, our beloved butterfly bush (Buddleia davidii 'Black Knight').

XOXO
Yvette

Endings and Beginnings

2008-08-12T15:24:00.000-07:00

So begins the mid summer challenge. As much produce as we are gaining (tons of tomatoes, cucumbers, basil, beans, and peppers mostly), we are losing plants every day. Lettuce is bolting, as is the last of the broccoli. The onions are finished growing and need to be picked and cured. Everything that was vibrant in the spring and early summer is making its seeds for the coming year. There are bald spots in what used to be, just a few weeks ago, filled with life.

Over the weekend we sowed the beginnings of our fall garden: Gourmet Blend Beets, Watermelon Radishes, and Purple Haze and King Midas Carrots. We planted some extra winter squash seeds (Delicata Honey Boat), and some more Sakata's Sweet Melon, which so far has been a failure, but try and try again! This week we will plant some new onions, snap peas, more pole beans, and a round of lettuce, which will get covered from the August heat with a burlap tent. I am going to plant successive rows of lettuce this time around. The method I am going to use is to plant two rows of lettuce at a time (the rows will be about 3' long, and when the seedlings are about 1.5"s tall, it's time to plant two more rows).

Albeit so exciting to plant anything, it is bittersweet. I am already feeling the end of summer. We even have a beautiful orange baby pumpkin already. I am anticipating that chill in the air, leaves falling, saying goodbye to another year...

XXX
Yvette

PS. Thank you to my dear dear friend Suzi Varin for the beautiful photo!!!!!!

Happy 64th Birthday Smokey!!

2008-08-09T18:58:00.000-07:00

XXX

Yvette

Fly Control

2008-07-21T16:52:00.000-07:00

We have always had fly problems, especially in the heat of summer. We keep our doors and windows open almost all day instead of using our air conditioner, and the little buggers just love to swarm the house. As a joke last year, I bought this Pitcher Plant (see above), for Fred, and to our surprise, it not only works, but it works GREAT. It is in the kitchen window, and almost all of the flies that enter the house seem to find it and crawl down into its depths, never to return again. I love it, and it's a beautiful plant to boot.

I have no expertise with carniverous plants, but ours seems to love lots of morning sun, and shade the rest of the day. Pitcher Plants grow wild in bogs and swamps, so they need to stay nice and moist.

Happy Fly Eating!

XXX
Yvette

Tomatillos

2008-07-14T10:01:00.000-07:00

If you've never grown tomatillos (this is our first time) you really should consider it. They're very simple to maintain, seem to grow year-round in our climate, and are way more flavorful than any store-bought varieties. If you do decide to plant them make sure you plant more than one since, unlike their tomato cousins, they don't self pollenate.

If you happen to have a pound of fresh tomatillos laying around, as we do about every other week, I highly recommend the following (my modification of this recipe).

Pollo en Chile Verde

Servings: 4
Preparation Time: 1.5 hours

Ingredients
1 pound tomatillos
2 T Olive Oil
2 serrano chiles
1 poblano chile
3 garlic cloves
1/2 medium onion
1 small bunch cilantro
1 pound chicken breast
1/4 teaspoon chipotle powder or crushed red pepper
1/2 cup hot water
salt and pepper to taste

Cooking Instructions
- Peel the papery skin off of all the tomatillos, wash tomatillos in warm water
- Chop tomatillos in quarters
- Heat olive oil in large saute pan
- Cook them over medium low heat, stirring occasionally for about 10 minutes
- Chop the chiles, garlic, onion and cilantro, then puree them together in a blender
- Add the puree to the tomatillos. Cut the chicken into bite sized pieces and add to the mix with 1/2 cup hot water
- Cook over medium heat for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Add the salt, pepper and chipotle to taste about half way through the cooking time.

This can be served with/over rice.

I prefer to serve it on fresh warm tortillas with a bit of sour cream and avocado. It really doesn't get much better than that.

Newsweek!

2008-07-14T08:50:00.000-07:00

Howdy!
This is so cool...our garden is being featured in the current issue of Newsweek Magazine in an article about growing your own!
I am completely thrilled. Veggie seed sales have been up by about 30% this year, so they decided to do a feature. Here's to food independence, lots of dirty fun, and tomatoes that taste like tomatoes.

XXX
Yvette

PS. A GIANT thank you to Celeste for her fabulous photo of us. I'm so grateful that she can shoot on a deadline, and I can't wait to go to Luques!

WTF??

2008-07-09T15:40:00.001-07:00

People come by and smile (or frown or look at it quizzingly) and say words like "revolutionary" "subversive" "weird" "fabulous" "horrible"...

I love how people respond to our garden, and our project, but really, what is so subversive about growing our food? What is so "revolutionary" about feeding ourselves when we need to eat to stay alive? What is so "weird" about not relying on corporations to do the job of sustaining our family in it's most basic function: eating! What is so "fabulous" about simply being independent? Have we really sunk that low? Can I tell you that every time I give one of our neighbors a little something - be it a handful of basil, a squash, or even a little radish or a strawberry, that they suddenly smile.

Yes, I am proud of every bit of everything that we grow. It makes me feel SAFE that we grow about 80% of our veggies. It makes me feel like part of the world that we picked about 8 million apricots off our across the street neighbor's fabulous tree and canned them. It makes me feel saddened and depressed that this is such a big strange deal. Did Laura Ingalls' neighbors think they were "subversive"? What a world.

Especially today...just take a look at this:
New Salmonella Outbreak

Now who's weird?

XXX
Yvette

Today's Harvest

2008-07-08T18:40:00.000-07:00

XXX
Yvette

Canning Day

2008-07-03T09:18:00.000-07:00

Our friend Cheryl, who lives across the street, has the most prolific apricot tree I have ever seen. This tree had literally hundreds of fruits on it...we decided to take an afternoon (and evening, AND the next morning) and can the fruit! It was good fun, easier than we thought, and we got many cans of jams, and preserved fruits. Now if we don't kill anyone with botulism, we'll be up to our elbows in apricots for quite some time! Here is the diary of our day, as well as the recipes we made:

First, we went to the Jardan Corporation Website, which has a really easy guide to safe canning (they make the Ball / Kerr canning jars that we used for our project). We used an enormous enameled pot with a wire rack on the bottom, to boil the jars in. Since we were canning fruit, which has a high acid content, we could use the standard boiling method as opposed to buying a pressure canner. Basically, we ran the jars and bands through the dishwasher to sterilize them, then kept them in very hot, simmering water (enough to cover the jars by at least 1") until we were ready to use them. We put the jar lids in another, smaller pot of water (kept to a simmer, not a full boil, to protect the rubber). We made the recipes, pulled the jars out of the hot water, using a special "jar lifter" that we bought as part of a canning kit from the hardware store, used the special canning funnel (also part of the kit), and a regular soup ladle to fill the jars, leaving no less than 1/4" head space (do not touch the insides of the jars with your fingers to avoid bacteria!), then, carefully, without touching the bottoms or sides with our hands (we used tongs to do this), put the tops on the jars, screwed the bands on (you can touch the bands), then boiled the jars for 5 minutes (this is based upon our altitude, which is practically sea level). The jars were then left to cool on a towel, overnight. You can test the seal of the jars by poking the tops of the lids. If the lids pop up and down, the seal is not perfect, and the fruit should be refridgerated instead of shelved (it will last up to one month). ALWAYS follow the manufacturers instructions for sterilizing and sealing jars, and do it carefully.

Ian, Cheryl, And Celeste, Working On The Jam...

Hot Boiling Jars (Thanks To Nanny For The Gyenormous Pot!)

Me Pulling Jars Out Of The Pot!!

RECIPES!

Simple Apricot Jam:
(Makes About 4 Cups)

2.5 pounds (approximately 12-15) apricots
3-4 apricot pits
3 cups of sugar
juice of one lemon

Pit apricots, and cut them into 1/2" pieces. Crack open apricot pits with a hammer, and remove the whitish kernels from the inside (this gives a bit of an almond flavor to the jam), and set aside. Put the apricot chunks and kernels in a heavy bottomed pot, and stir in sugar. Bring to a boil, lower the heat to medium, and boil steadily, stirring often, for 20-30 minutes, skimming off any foam that rises to the top. As the liquid thickens, and the fruit becomes soft and translucent, start testing for consistency by putting a spoonful of jam on a chilled plate to cool down quickly. When the jam is the thickness you want, stir in the lemon. Follow manufacturer's guide to safe canning.

Martha Stewart's Peach / Rosemary Jam (We Subbed Apricots for Peaches):
(Makes About 1 Quart)

3 pounds yellow peaches, peeled
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
4 3/4 cups sugar
4 large sprigs fresh rosemary

Halve and pit peaches, then cut into 1/2-inch-thick wedges. Transfer to a large bowl. Add lemon juice; toss. Add sugar and rosemary; toss. Cover; let stand, tossing every hour, for 4 hours (sugar should be completely dissolved).
Put peach mixture into a large, wide pot. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Cook until liquid is syrupy, 12 to 13 minutes. Crush lightly with a potato masher, leaving one-quarter of the wedges intact. Skim foam from surface. Discard rosemary sprigs. Follow manufacturer's guide to safe canning.

Preserved Apricots In Simple Syrup:

Make a simple syrup of 4 cups water to 2 cups sugar in a saucepan. You can add a few leaves of mint, lemon balm, bay leaves, rosemary, lemon verbena, etc.) and a squeeze of lemon juice. Simmer syrup for a few minutes, then turn off heat.

Prepare fruit. In this case, we washed and halved the apricots, removing the pits.

Pack fruit into jars - and do pack well. If you don't pack them tight, the fruit will float a little in the jars. You can put a sprig of rosemary, lemon zest, lavender, mint - even a couple of cloves, into the jars - pretty and flavorful!

Fill jars with hot simple syrup, leaving about a half inch of headroom. Screw on the lids and rings. Lower jars into the kettle of hot water. Follow manufacturer's guide to safe canning.

Happy Canning!

XXX
Yvette

Solstice

2008-06-19T03:27:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is the Summer Solstice! We've been having a heat wave in LA, and tender things like lettuce, as well as the end of the winter veggies, radishes, beets, and even parsley, have been bolting even here, as we hug the coast. When our arugula bolted, we ate lots of its wonderful white flowers in salads and pastas. We waited until the the plant made its seeds, and then saved them in the same envelope that the original, purchased seeds came in. They will sit in the dark garage, awaiting fall's cool down so they can be planted. I also saved seeds from our peas, and doubtless we will be saving more and more favorites as time goes by. The tomatoes that Fred grew from last year's fruit (the first time we tried seed saving) are thriving. It puts a whole other kind of fun into the process of growing things!

It was my birthday last week, and Fred bought me a worm farm! It hasn't come in the mail yet, but I will post about it as soon as I get it. I can't think of a better birthday present than fresh, homemade worm poop for our garden!

XXX
Yvette

Two For Obama!

2008-06-03T17:22:00.000-07:00

What a happy day.

;)
XXX
Yvette

Zucchini Summer

2008-06-02T20:24:00.000-07:00

Zucchini's are coming in, and there are too many already! We've decided to do a zucchini recipe marathon, to see how many things we can do with them before we can't eat them or even look at them anymore.

First Installment: Zucchini Carpaccio, from Gourmet Magazine, March 2003

This recipe was inspired by the version at Tramonti e Muffati restaurant, where the dish gets its distinctly Roman flavor from local mint, Sicilian lemons, and two-year-old Grana Padano cheese. The pine nuts are raw here, as Italians rarely toast them.
Active time: 10 min Start to finish: 20 min

Servings: Makes 4 first-course servings.
4 small zucchini (1 lb total)
1/3 cup loosely packed fresh mint leaves
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/4 cup pine nuts (1 oz) 1 (6-oz) piece Grana Padano or Parmigiano-Reggiano
Garnish: thinly sliced tips of 2 zucchini blossoms; 4 fresh mint sprigs
Special equipment: a French Mandolin or other adjustable-blade slicer

Cut zucchini diagonally into paper-thin slices with slicer. Arrange slices, overlapping slightly, in 1 layer on 4 plates.
Make stacks of mint leaves and cut crosswise into very thin slivers, then sprinkle over zucchini.

Whisk together oil and lemon juice in a small bowl, then drizzle over zucchini. Sprinkle with sea salt, pepper to taste, and pine nuts. Let stand 10 minutes to soften zucchini and allow flavors to develop.

Just before serving, use a vegetable peeler to shave cheese to taste over zucchini, then sprinkle with zucchini blossoms and mint.

I also put some sliced French Radishes and carrots from the garden on top. Pretty. I also toasted the pine nuts. YUM.

Serve Along With Pan Fried Rainbow Trout With Orange, Mint And Fried Capers, From Domino Magazine, May 2008

The Ingredients:
Serves 4
3 oranges
1 cup flour
2 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. black pepper
4 rainbow trout (¾ lb. each), cleaned
1 bunch mint, 18 whole leaves set aside, remaining leaves chopped
4 sprigs rosemary
olive oil for frying
3 tbsp. capers, rinsed and thoroughly dried
1 ½ cups dry white wine
3 tbsp. cold unsalted butter, cut into chunks

Prepping the fish: Preheat oven to 200°. Slice 2 of the oranges (with rind on) into ¼" rounds. In a large resealable plastic bag, combine all but 2 tablespoons of the flour with the salt and pepper. Add 2 fish at a time into the bag and shake until well coated; transfer to a large, rimmed baking sheet. Repeat with remaining fish. Stuff the cavity of each fish with 2 or 3 orange slices, one sprig of rosemary, and 3 whole mint leaves.
Cooking the fish: Juice remaining orange; reserve juice. Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in a large nonstick frying pan over medium-high heat. Add fish and cook until golden brown, about 3 or 4 minutes on each side. Transfer to another large rimmed baking sheet, and place on the center rack of the oven to keep warm. Repeat with remaining fish, adding more oil as needed. Toss the capers with the reserved 2 tablespoons flour, shaking off excess flour. Add 1 tablespoon oil to the frying pan, add capers, and cook until slightly crisp, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate. Add wine to the pan, scraping up brown bits with a wooden spoon. Reduce the wine to about ¾ cup. Add the reserved orange juice and the chopped mint. Continue to cook for about 3 to 5 more minutes, until somewhat thick. Turn off heat and add the butter, swirling the pan to melt it. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer fish to a large serving platter, and top with sauce. Garnish with fried capers.

*We skipped the flour coating on the trout and grilled it on the 'que instead. Delicious. We did pan fry the capers though...so good.

Double Feature!!!

2008-05-28T15:23:00.000-07:00

What an amazing morning!

Our home is being featured on Design Sponge*, and a wedding I photographed (one of my favorites ever!) is being featured on Style Me Pretty!

Here are the links to the dual-features!

The Home Feature, Which Talks A Little About Our Garden And This Blog:

Design Sponge*

The Wedding Feature:

Ashley And Matt

I am so grateful to Abby Larson for posting these articles. I am blessed!
Enjoy!

XXO
Yvette

French Radish Harvest

2008-05-27T14:21:00.000-07:00

No doubt that radishes are one of the easiest and most gratifying thing to grow. They're fast and furious and beautiful!
Radishes are a cool season crop, but this variety will withstand some summer heat! Plant successively over 10 day periods, and you'll be in salads for months. We planted these at a 1/2" depth, 1/2" apart, and then thinned to 1" apart when the foliage appeared. Radishes like organic material, so adding compost from your bins is great for them! Keep 'em moist! Love 'em much.

When I was a student at US Grant High School in Van Nuys, CA, we actually had an agriculture program, which was long since scrapped for the typical reasons: Budget, Prop 13, etc. (There was also a 4H Club, and unless I'm completely crazy and making this memory up, we had goats, though I might be dreaming.). The first thing we did was plant rows of radishes. Great for kids (impossible to screw up + nearly instant gratification)!

I take my hat off to Alice Waters, who is single handedly trying to get urban schools back on the grow your own track, as well as chef Jamie Oliver, who is attempting to revamp England's school lunch program, as well as pushing the idea of students growing their own veggies to encourage excitement about eating healthy. Our own Learning Garden at Venice High School is an amazing and beautiful project that the students are incredibly proud of. What was once an empty, overgrown, unused piece of land has become, virtually by neighborhood volunteerism and student enthusiasm, an absolutely gorgeous garden, run by Gardenmaster David King. I'd love to see every public school dig a little plot of earth up and show the kids how food grows. No doubt this could be done through the PTA at each school. Get that ball rolling.

XXO
Yvette

Memorial Day

2008-05-26T15:26:00.000-07:00

Mind The Scape!

2008-04-23T19:33:00.001-07:00

Yummy things to do with garlic while you're waiting for the harvest!

THING ONE: The Scape
(That's a fancy botanical word for a flowering stem, usually leafless, rising from the crown or roots of a plant. Scapes can have a single flower or many flowers, depending on the species.)
Anyway, for our purposes (to EAT and COOK), I just found out that the garlic scape is one delectable thing! If you're growing garlic and a scape comes up, by all means cut the bugger off and eat it! If left, the scape hardens and curtails further growth of the bulb (that's the garlic part you'll be wanting in the fall). Kim O'Donnel, the author of the recipe below, claims that the scape's a garlic lover's nirvana. She also suggests: dicing it into scrambled eggs, adding to a veggie sauté or using as garnish for rice. We only have one small scape today, so it's going into a stir fry tonight, but I plan to make this pesto asap!

Garlic Scape Pesto

Ingredients:
1 cup garlic scapes (about 8 or 9 scapes), top flowery part removed, cut into ¼-inch slices
1/3 cup walnuts
¾ cup olive oil
¼-1/2 cup grated parmigiano
½ teaspoon salt
black pepper to taste

Method:
Place scapes and walnuts in the bowl of a food processor and whiz until well combined and somewhat smooth. Slowly drizzle in oil and process until integrated. With a rubber spatula, scoop pesto out of bowl and into a mixing bowl. Add parmigiano to taste; add salt and pepper. Makes about 6 ounces of pesto. Keeps for up to one week in an air-tight container in the refrigerator.

For ½ pound short pasta such as penne, add about 2 tablespoons of pesto to cooked pasta and stir until pasta is well coated.

THING TWO: Green Garlic Leaves!
Now, the point is not to denude the entire plant, which, once you taste it you may end up doing out of sheer exuberance. If you carefully cut off some of the long, green leaves of the garlic plant, and chop them up and eat them, you'll be really happy you did, and your plant won't feel the least bit stressed out. Last night I took some tomatoes, tossed them in olive oil, kosher salt, fresh ground pepper, and about 1/4 cup of roughly chopped green garlic leaves, and roasted them in the oven at 425 degrees for about 30- 40 minutes. The garlic melts and it's just incredible.

(a special thank you chef guru Celeste, who sat in the garden with me and showed me the green garlic leaf light...)

XXO
Yvette

Happy Earth Day!!!

2008-04-22T09:05:00.000-07:00

If you want to be happy for an hour,
get drunk.
If you want to be happy for three days,
take a wife.
If you want to be happy for a week,
kill your pig and eat it.
But if you want to be happy for a lifetime,
become a gardener!

-CHINESE PROVERB

XXO Yvette

Another Artichoke Meal, Harvested By Madi And Ryan...And A New Recipe!

2008-04-21T18:34:00.001-07:00

Recipe: Roasted Heirloom Cauliflower

The cauliflower I used for this recipe is a mixture of Purple Cape and Cheddar varieties. I got these at the Santa Monica Farmer's Market, but we scored some Purple Cape seeds from Seed Savers Exchange, and we have baby plants growing in the garden. These varieties of cauliflower are so delicious. It's not the steamed white stuff from the 70s, that's for sure! And what kid doesn't love eating yellow and purple veggies?

Cauliflower Heads, broken up into florets
Olive Oil
Kosher Salt
Fresh Ground Pepper
Lemon Juice

Preheat the oven to 425. Toss cauliflower florets with olive oil, a sprinkling of salt, some pepper, and squeeze lemon juice over the whole thing. Roast for about 20-30 minutes, until slightly blackend.

ENJOY!!

XXO
Yvette

More Thoughts On Saving Seeds...

2008-04-17T09:40:00.000-07:00

This tomato plant came from seeds that Fred saved from last year's tomatoes by cutting a tomato in half, squirting the seeds onto a paper towel, letting it dry out, and then storing it in the garage (cool and dark), in a bag. So simple. Now we have a half a dozen Purple Cherokee plants! This practice is not only efficient and simple, but it has a deep hand in protecting the diversity of edible plant life on the planet. If you think this is waxing too poetic, just read the following article in Vanity Fair this month about Monsanto's Harvest Of Fear, which already un-feeds the world with its genetically modified terminator seeds (these are seeds that are manufactured to produce a sterile crop, thereby disallowing farmers to save seeds for the following year, thus forcing them to buy more seeds), toxic pesticides (buy any Roundup lately? If so, you're killing the fish!) and then tell me if small acts like this aren't of supreme importance! We've already started to see signs of impending mass-starvation due to farmers turning away from staples and onto corn for bio-fuels, raising the prices of rice and wheat so high that rural, third world folks will no longer be able to buy food. Now they're after milk as well.

If you're reading this and you want to know more, a new documentary was aired in March on French television (ARTE – French-German cultural tv channel) by French journalist and filmmaker Marie-Monique Robin, The World According To Monsanto, a documentary that most Americans won’t ever see. The gigantic biotech corporation is threatening to destroy the agricultural biodiversity which has served mankind for thousands of years. Please watch it. You'll be rushing to plant some tomatoes.

XXO
Yvette

BoDeeToes

2008-04-09T14:19:00.000-07:00

My dear friend and forever pal Annick turned me onto the incredible non-profit organization, Seed Savers Exchange. We've been ordering their fantastic heirloom seeds, and using their planting guides, which are a must!

Last weekend, we planted potatoes with the help of this LINK!
I can't wait to dig them up and cook them!

Exploring the Seed Savers site has really peaked my interest in the idea and importance of preserving the diversity of the foods we eat. It becomes extremely political, especially if one takes into account the race to corporatize the very essence of farming by GMO'ing as many crops as possible. This was a huge impetus to start this garden, as neither Fred nor myself wishes to put the Mind of Monsanto into our mouths. This year, Fred is growing Purple Cherokee tomatoes from seeds he saved from last year's plants. It is incredibly satisfying, and truly completes elegance of the plant-eat-compost circle.

The whole subject of saving seeds borders on the apocalyptic, if you really research and consider what is going on with our food supply. It is such a huge issue that the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) have created an organization called The Global Crop Diversity Trust, which is basically a giant seed vault in the Arctic, designed to protect the world's seed supplies in the event of global catastrophe.

To find out more about the The Global Crop Diversity Trust's Arctic Seed Vault, watch the 60 Minutes story on their homepage.

XXO
Yvette

Pretty

2008-04-08T09:19:00.000-07:00

Our wisteria plant is going crazy this year. I've never seen it so filled with flowers (and bees and hummingbirds!). I had to take some photos of it just cause it's so pretty...

What kind of bird is that?

XXO Yvette

Artichoke Recipe!!!

2008-04-06T10:13:00.000-07:00

Last July, we planted several 4" artichoke plants (Green Globe and Purple Sicilian). The plants are now about 5' by 3' and are producing tons of little artichokes. Baby artichokes are so tender that other than the outer leaves, you can practically eat the entire thing!

Cook (kudos to Celeste for this recipe!!):
Prepare the artichokes by snipping off any thorns on the tops of the outer leaves.
Steam the artichokes for about 20 minutes (ours are pretty small (see photos), so if you have larger ones, steam them longer)
Cut the artichokes in half, lengthwise, and scoop out the choke.
Drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with kosher salt and fresh ground pepper.
Put on the grill for about 3-4 minutes and serve.

Dip:
Chop fresh herbs and mix with mayonnaise (lately I've been using fresh tarragon and chives). Squeeze some lemon juice in, add fresh ground black pepper to taste, mix and serve...

PS. Don't forget to compost the waste!

XXO Yvette

Defiant Gardens

2008-03-18T12:37:00.000-07:00

When we (read Yvette) originally planned the garden we were thinking of it a great way to save water, enhance the neighborhood, know our food and it's contents, and reduce our involvement in the corporate food chain. I think I can safely say that we've been successful on all points and more become apparent every day. The one thing we tacitly knew was that in one way or another there was a sense of defiance involved. From snubbing the big-box retailers to breaking from the preconception of the suburban front yard.

As we've all seen over the last 7 years 1 month and 28 days, things don't look very good around here. Tainted meat, vanishing fish stocks, genetically modified everything, a divisive social and political climate, Hummers, etc. You get the point. It is with this background noise that we all live and breathe. It is with this background in a more extreme form that incredible human moments can occur. And more specifically, so can gardens.

I happened across the internet extension of a book entitled Defiant Gardens: Making Gardens in Wartime by Kenneth Helphand. Mr. Helphand describes Defiant Gardens as those created in difficult times and possess the ability to adapt to those circumstances. He continues to state, "...they can also be viewed from other dimensions as sites of assertion and affirmation." I couldn't agree more. The focus of the book are gardens related to wars in the first half of the twentieth century. The web site acts as a continuation by incorporating gardens from Vietnam, prisons, Afganistan, and Iraq. Be sure to look at the letters from G.I.s and the articles about the Japanese-American internment camps.

Link > Defiant Gardens