Category: Garden How To (Page 4 of 5)

From the ground up. Digging into garden basics and beyond.

One Year of Digging In!

April 24, 2018 / / 6 Comments

Ringing in 2018!

Let’s Celebrate One Year of Forks in the Dirt!

Looking back over the first year of sharing food stories and info with whoever would listen- I had to stop and say THANK YOU! Thanks for making me so happy I took that leap of faith!!

I’ve learned more than I could have imagined; about growing food, farmers, food systems and building websites- but I also had a chance to distill what is important to me. I got to hang out with dozens of farmers on lovingly cared for land. I got to eat my way through a delicious summer and ate mostly locally grown (home preserved) food all winter.

Karin Costa helping my boys get their weekly sweet corn fix!

Officially, my website had 4,469 reads and lots of engagement over the many different posts on the blog, Facebook and Instagram… again, thanks for showing up!

*Some* of the topics covered:
Composting, Community Gardens, Farmers,  CSA’s, Planting Tips, Farmers Market Shopping Tips, Farm + Food Events, Raising Backyard Chickens, Pollinators, Food Hubs, Foraging,  Healthy Eating Recipes + Canning Recipes, Food Shelves, Growing for Food Shelves, the first ever Winter WBL Farmers Market and our WBL Seed Library– wheee! Continue reading

Planting your garden based on the “Dirty Dozen”

April 5, 2018 / / 0 Comments

Nothing beats home grown strawberries!

Using the Environmental Working Group’s ‘Dirty Dozen‘ List to plant a Healthy Harvest!

*Post updated 4/24/2024*

I’ve used this guide for years to help me choose what I plant in my veggie patch. I pay close attention to the Environmental Working Group (EWG’s) ‘Dirty Dozen’; an annually updated list of the twelve fruits and veggies found to have the highest levels of pesticide and herbicide residue. This is a straightforward publication that can help you both in purchasing healthy food,  and planning what you want to plant. The EWG has so much well researched information; their website is worthwhile for their “Food Scores” app among others.

Why do you grow your own fruits + vegetables?

Of course the taste is far better than you can buy in the grocery store, and the nutritional value is higher because of freshness… but after a few common truths, the reasons we grow our food are as wonderfully varied as each garden. I see this as part of the inherent beauty of growing your own food.  Beauty in diversity through and through♥!

For my family, we grow what we like to eat (duh). You have to enjoy the ‘fruits’ of your labor or else tending the garden will become more work than pleasure.

One way I can easily justify spending my time hauling compost and growing seedlings is knowing how much tastier and healthier the food we’re eating is than what I can get in the grocery store. Another thing that keeps me weeding through the steamy months is how much money I’m growing- I mean saving –  my family.

For those of you interested in getting the most bang for your buck with garden space… Continue reading

Community Gardens Keep US Growing

March 24, 2018 / / 2 Comments

Community Garden workday. This plot in-between a parking lot and a street grows food for a food shelf and was one of my first blogs.

Community Gardens

These gardens have the ability to take a single piece of land, work its soil collectively and deepen our growth both as individuals and part of our local community. With more people living in housing with limited or yard space, these kinds gardens are rapidly growing.

Like most things that develop organically, community gardens are as varied as the communities they take root in. The one thing all community gardens offer is garden space for gardeners to grow. It’s the ‘who, what, where, when, why and how’ that makes each garden unique.

These gardens find their homes on city, county, school district, faith based and privately owned land. Just like the kinds of produce grown, there are an infinite number of combinations and variations of garden structures limited only by the organizers’ imaginations.

The University of Minnesota’s horticultural department recently published a guide to starting a community garden and wanted to share it HERE!

Minneapolis Community Gardens

The City of Minneapolis runs eight community gardens, and has land set aside for double that in the upcoming years! Follow the link to find out more about getting  a plot at one of these maintained community gardens!
Minneapolis Community Garden Link 

Ramsey County Community Gardens

Ramsey County’s List of current Community Gardens includes 8 locations, plus a link to find the many housed within the city of St. Paul- in general these are pretty well scattered throughout the county. Find a LISTING of gardens or click on the:
Ramsey County Community  Garden MAP

Local Community Gardens

Below are a few favorite Metro community gardens where you’ll learn from others and grow so much more than food.

Edgerton Community Gardens

New gardener registration is available online if you want to nab a plot or a raised bed here. You can rent either a 12’ x 15’ plot or 4’ x 8’ raised bed (eighteen inches height, priority for raised beds will be given to those with self-reporting mobility issues, though not wheelchair accessible) for $25-35. Their season runs April 27-October 24. 

Oasis Park in Roseville

This is the largest rentable community garden I found, with 120 garden plots measuring 15’X20’. The single plots are rented for between $20-$30. Registration opens to all Roseville residents on April 2 and opens to all on April 16. Garden is open for planting May 1- October 31. Mark your calendars!

Tatum Park Community Garden

Tatum Park Community Garden is on Taylor Ave in the Hamline Midway neighborhood of St. Paul, just west of Newell Park. There are 20 plots and about 3/4 of the members are returning.  There’s a Facebook page too! Or email to grab the last of those garden plots! Their annual meeting is usually scheduled for late April. You can also email: tatumparkgarden@gmail.com directly.

White Bear Area YMCA Community Garden

YMCA Gardeners grew a beautiful variety of flowers and vegetables last season!

Set on the grounds of an old skate park, the garden is greening up this piece of black top.

You can contact the YMCA front desk at 651-777-8103 or message me directly to reserve a plot.

Mahtomedi Community Gardens

The Mahtomedi Community Garden on the first day of Spring, 2018

These gardens sit behind the District Education Center building on a sunny expanse of land. These are popular garden beds, measuring in at 9’X11.5’ go for $40 each. To register, follow this LINK . These gardens were lovingly started by a couple of dedicated teachers over a decade ago- thank you teachers! At least one plot is always reserved for the Mahtomedi Food Shelf. Way to grow Mahtomedi!

Health Partners Community Garden

Health Partners WBL Clinic garden all prepped and spring planted!

It just seems right that a health clinic should have access to fresh vegetables, right?!

Well some visionary Doctors and staff decided to make it happen a few years ago and the garden has been growing, and sharing its produce with the White Bear Food Shelf ever since. They have a great space and good workplace involvement, and are considering expanding this season again. This garden is maintained by the staff at the Health Partners clinic as a way to build their own community, and ‘be the change’.

Sumner Park Community Garden

Community Gardens are inspiring people to get growing all across this beautiful land of ours, hopefully I’ve inspired you to look into a way you can get involved in a community garden near you!

If you happen to have space on your own lot for another garden bed, and you want to grow more food FOR your community, consider starting a giving garden of your own!

I’ve got serious Spring Fever and can’t wait to Dig In!

Michelle

Garden Dreams ⇒ Garden Goals

February 8, 2018 / / 3 Comments

I know you’ve felt it too, even though its still cold- the days are longer, the sun is stronger and the birds have started singing again! Time to dig in and start turning our garden dreams into garden goals. Now is the time to ensure those mouth watering harvests!

There are as many goals for a garden as there are gardeners. There are also as many ways to plan a garden as there are gardeners.

Think about what you want from a garden and go from there.

Peppers, Tomatoes, Beans and Pak Choi

  • Fresh herbs- most herbs do well in containers
  • Salsa garden- that will take some space and extra happy soil
  • Root crops-  to grow and store through the winter a cold frame might be worthwhile
  • Child’s Learning Garden- a raised bed will help in keeping little feet off seeds
  • Space to Relax– Seating and scents, gain privacy with vertical gardening structures

And those of us that like to spend a majority of our Summer’s free time in the garden; honestly assessing what worked and didn’t work from last year’s efforts will go a long way to make this season even better.

Goals for my garden this year include:
Learning how to play more with Mother Nature ~ Grow first successful celery and cauliflower crops ~  Harvest + Preserve healthy food.

Plan to Enjoy Continue reading

Seed Saving Starts Now!

January 19, 2018 / / 71 Comments

Saving Seeds means Saving Life.

I know that sounds dramatic, but saving seeds is a big part of why humans hunkered down into communities and began our long march towards civilization (we’ve still got on our marching boots though, right!?). Variations of those seeds still sustain us today. 

Until a few generations ago, most people planted what they had saved from the last harvest. With a few additions now and then from neighbors or travelers.

But for me and many home gardeners, saving seeds had fallen off our radars. It is making a bit of a comeback and I am encouraging as many people as I can to jump on this bandwagon with me!

To start saving seeds please remember:
Not all seeds are suited for saving!

There’s a simple trick to buying the right seeds so you can save + grow again.

Grow Heirloom varieties, or open pollinated varieties.  Hybrid seeds will not produce the same vegetable that you took the seed from.

Garden Planning, my Favorite!

I love getting those seeds catalogs and will have larger than anticipated bills at a few seed companies once I finalize my orders, but I am proud to be able to skip over a few seed sections because I’ve saved my own seed stock from what I grew last year.

Saving seed is intuitive- if we stop to see the plants we nurture as part of Mother Nature. Everything has a cycle, and the whole reason tomatoes exists is to grow more tomatoes so they make it easy for us. Or as Michael Pollan suggests in a few books, like The Botany of Desire and TED talks, “the plants have us working for them”. Continue reading

New Year, New Growth

January 1, 2018 / / 3 Comments

Happy New Year to you all!

Thanks for being a part of the inaugural year of Forks in the Dirt!
I hope you had as much fun as I did!

Writing from the frozen tundra of Minnesota this first morning of 2018 (a brisk -13° F) I know the temperature means no gardening for even the toughest Midwest gals; for example our chickens have also decided to stay inside today. And yet, I appreciate the way our extreme seasons keep me tethered to the cycles of our planet. My love for this earth grows deeper every year I grow food with its help.

The best way for me to use these frozen months is to dream big for the coming year. Being able to cozy up with seed catalogs, look back through garden pictures from the previous summer, think about what we ate and what we wanted to eat more of… Having time to regroup for the upcoming season is a gift; I remind myself as I look longingly at the snow drifted garden beds.

The best way to get my imagination rolling have always been books, and now and online research too.

There is an overwhelming amount of information out there. I’ve gotten lost for hours ending up on the farthest ‘out there’ branches of my original quest… ( succession planting, rotational gardening, clean food recipes, etc) but those times have let me weed out the useless sites and pick the ripest, juiciest sites truly worth our time.

Here are a few of my favorite Links:

Savvy Gardening: regular contributor Niki Jabbour is queen of season extension and one of my gardening heroes. Real Info for real gardeners

100 Days of Real Food: This was where I first went for recipe inspiration using real, clean food- and still refer to it often.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle:  One of the first books I read about growing more of your own food and the impact eating  local can make. Now a website with info and recipes. Plus, Barbara Kingsolver is a favorite author of mine 🙂

Civil Eats: So much information about food systems and environment, all broken down in bite size pieces. If you’re ready to dig deeper they recently listed their favorite food and farming books of 2017 .

I’ll stop there, but if there’s a foodie, farmer or gardening topic you’re curious about, I probably have a link for that. I do have more info links on my Do Good Page.

My personal goals for 2018 include:
*Planning for and planting our doubled vegetable garden space,
*Preserving more of my own food (dehydrating, freezing, fermenting and canning),
*Finding a local sustainable source for organic oats and chicken meat,
*Becoming a better Chicken + Kid Mom
*Finding more of that elusive “Balance”

My 2018 goals for Forks in the Dirt include:
*Meeting and writing about more local farmers,
*Inspiring awareness in the food choices we make,
*Expanding the White Bear Lake Winter Farmers Market.

What are your gardening and food goals for 2018??
Let me know and we can work on them together!

Wishing you many chances to dig in and grow in new ways in 2018.

Cheers!

Michelle

What to Do with Pumpkins After Halloween

November 1, 2017 / / 3 Comments

My front stoop this year- laden with pumpkins and squash

I love pumpkins!
Carving pumpkins.
Eating pumpkin treats.
Slurping pumpkin soup.
Crunching pumpkin seeds.

And I am not alone.

You guys: Americans really love pumpkins.

By best estimates in a finder.com article:  154,000,000 Americans planned on carving pumpkins this year! Whoa, that’s a lot of fruit on our front stoops. (Yes, pumpkin is technically a fruit.) Which equals close to a billion pounds of pumpkin! Continue reading

Raising Pollinator Lovers

September 8, 2017 / / 8 Comments

Raising monarchs was one of the highlights of my kids’ summer- and the last butterfly emerged from her chrysalis right before the back to school rush, so it felt like we got to mark that last thing off our bucket list just in time. 

There is something magical about watching life transform before your eyes, and that magic gets magnified when you share the experience with children and their innocent, impressionable eyes… These memories are here to stay!

Like most of how my life happens, we were in the right place at the right time and stumbled upon a chance to adopt and raise these butterflies.

I love it when serendipity takes center stage!

My mom spotted this one in her gardens!

Continue reading

Hive Mind.ed

August 30, 2017 / / 7 Comments

The passions that bind this blog together: gardening, cooking, local farmers and food shelves all rely on one thing to exist:

Pollinators!

We need those busy bees, butterflies, wasps, ants, moths etc..

Now they need us.

**GIVEAWAY**
…has ended, thanks for all who participated 🙂

WIN 4 Passes to the Polli*Nation Festival Sept 10
Live Music* Food Trucks* Craft Beers*Bee Science*Art
 Contest Ends Tuesday Sept 5 at 7pm
Like us on Facebook to enter: www.facebook.com/forksinthedirt/

Unless you’ve been hiding under a garden paver, you know that bees are in trouble. Honeybees in particular have received lots of coverage in the news- topics like Colony Collapse Disorder, Varroa Mites destroying hives, and pesticide kills after a windy day. Honey Bees get most of the news coverage because they are the easiest of the pollinators to observe, being raised in a controlled area rather than being so spread out like the other wild and native pollinators. But there are signs that ALL the pollinators are in trouble. Continue reading

Bountiful August CSA Box from Steady Hand Farm, Hosting "Up Close with Pollinators" Event this weekend. Photo Credit: Steady Hand Farm

Forks’ Weekend Spread: August

August 16, 2017 / / 1 Comment

Oh August, I’m in awe…

This summer is growing by fast. Even with Fall right around the corner, if you’re like our family we plan on squeezing every last drop of summer out of the rest of this Summer. And this weekend is ripe with opportunity to do just that, by exploring local farms, flavors and vineyards and learning more about our pollinators. Let’s jump right in, the sun is set to shine just in time for these weekend farm and foodie events!

Friday August 18th

Great Table Dinner at the Dancing Dragonfly Winery

Enjoy the vineyard like never before with a unique and memorable al fresco dining experience, while mingling with fellow wine lovers at our large, family-style table. A 3-course dinner, featuring locally sourced foods from the St. Croix Valley region. The menu includes: Wilted Spinach Salad with Bacon, Top Sirloin with Garlic Crusted Portobello Mushrooms, Champagne Chicken Breast, Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Vegetables, and dessert. The website also mentioned dressing in layers, which was the first time I got legitimately excited for Fall. You can also add on wine pairings (a glass chosen for each of the three courses) for $20. Our regular lineup of wine also available. Simply put this sounds like heaven.

Details: Friday, 6pm-8pm. $55 in advance Registration Link.
Dancing Dragonfly Winery 2013 120th Avenue, Saint Croix Falls, WI 54024 Continue reading

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