Page 6 of 15

Patty Pan Lasagna

October 1, 2021 / Michelle / 0 Comments

Everyone loves Lasagna, right!? Here’s my veggie-heavy version. And the trick is using larger (what people may think of as past their prime) Patty Pan squash.

Patty Who?

Patty Pan squash are a prolific heirloom variety that I think of something between a summer and winter squash. The firmness and dense texture of these squash make for a much closer “faux pasta” than regular summer squash! I love all kinds of squash, especially zucchini, and have a dedicated blog all about different ways to use those beauties in Zucchini a Zillion Ways.

The plants themselves are large, but not as big as some typical zucchini plants can get. I got my seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, “White Scallop”.

So how does a big ole squash become pasta-ish? Welcome my trusty mandolin. I use this simple kitchen appliance to slice and shred and it makes my veggie loving life so much easier! From beet chips to slaw I use this almost everyday. A note of caution, the blades are VERY sharp. Most mandolin packages come with a ‘guide’ or shield of some sort, I suggest using that for whenever you get even a little close to the slicing blade.

VIDEO: watch a mandolin slicing patty pan in action

Eco-Friendly Eating

September 24, 2021 / Michelle / 0 Comments

Today I’ve got a guest author digging deep into the field of eco-friendly eating. Help me welcome Laura to the Forks family! I met Laura online via the squares of Instagram and her feed @reducereuserenew and we share so many of the same values. You know I am a local food lover, and never miss a chance to talk about my three keys to eating local all year long:
Grow Your Own, Know Your Farmers, Preserve Local Food.

But this doesn’t mean eating all plants all the time for me- but making smart choices. So, when I asked her to share her take on “Eco Friendly Eating” she went for it.

This one is worth the read- plus I link back to some of my earlier posts that touch on other aspects of the topics she covers. This article is like a little overview of steps we can take and choices to make that will create a difference for us and future generations- I dare you to choose just one of these changes and stick with it!

So, take it away Laura…

Starting Space

You’ve likely heard of the climate crisis. Scientists have been warning us of what could happen if we don’t make major changes for decades. Unfortunately, the effects of the climate crisis reach many different areas of our lives. The food we eat is no exception.

But how exactly does the food we eat impact climate change? And what can we do?

Let’s take a look at the answers to both of those questions.

Cover Crop Basics

September 1, 2021 / Michelle / 4 Comments

Adding a cover crop to the home vegetable garden was a game changer for me, and the garden has been happier ever since. Planting cover crop seed is an easy and effective way to practice good soil health on any scale. There are a few tips and tricks for having the best luck for home gardeners. Timing and seed selection are key!

There are many different ways of cover cropping, from holding a field for a full year, or part of spring or over the winter. Because I succession plant so much of my garden space from early spring to past the frosts of fall, I don’t leave much of my soil bare at any one time. But one of the reasons I have incorporated cover crops is how easy it is to just sow the seeds once I’ve harvested a late summer crop.

There are also a few different reasons people plant cover crops to benefit the garden. One is to build up organic matter in the soil. Another is using legumes to add nitrogen to the soil (or directly to the plants if grown simultaneously). A final reason is to help break up compacted heavy soil with plants that have think roots. If left to rot they create wonderful space in the soil for nutrient and water transfer. Basically, cover cropping is another way of Companion Planting for your garden.

Soil Health Starts with Cover

It always helps me to know the WHY behind whatever I’m doing- so… before I started planting cover crops a few years ago I took a deep dive into soil health. Asking, “Why are we planting seeds in the fall when they won’t have time to mature?” The basic answer is soil health.

No Dig Gardening + Hügelkultur: Layer a Lasagna Garden

August 19, 2021 / Michelle Bruhn / 2 Comments

No Dig Gardening includes recycling, composting and improving soil all by layering it on! This process is known by a few different names; Hugelkultur, Lasagna Gardening and Sheet Composting, but the ideas are based on “No Dig Gardening”.

Making garden beds this way works with nature’s existing cycles, creating healthy soil, less weeding and happier plants!

This process does NOT need to be created inside a box, just easier to keep layers tidy, I’ve success both in and out of boxes!

Build It and They Will Come!

The idea of setting up a garden bed like this is to let nature do the work for you. You’ll be helping nature create good soil by composting in place- and that requires things for the soil organisms to eat. By giving a diverse group of soil life things to feast on you can create a very active and healthy soil to plant into.

Building Better Soil

Soil biodiversity creates a more resilient garden. I like to equate good soil organisms with good gut health. We’ve likely all heard of pre- and pro- biotics; the helpers of digestion (and so much more). Soil organisms help break things down and make them available to plants in a similar fashion.

Everything from worms and beetles we can see, to bacteria, fungi, protozoa, nematodes and actinomycetes (though I sure couldn’t tell you what those looked like!) have a specific job to do- and many work in relationship with vegetable plant roots to feed them. There is a whole world of info about the soil food web out there, and I suggest watching THIS by Dr. Elaine Ingham if you want to dig a little deeper.

A Zillion Ways to Zucchini

August 2, 2021 / Michelle Bruhn / 4 Comments

Are you a Zucchini lover or a hater?

Of course I’m a zucchini lover, I’m a sucker for a veggie that goes overboard and can be used in both sweet and savory ways!

I’ve finally gathered together my collection of recipes and ways I use and preserve Zucchini. I know lots of us vegetable gardeners joke about ‘ding dong ditch’ with these as the season progresses… This is the notorious prolific vegetable. And many get away from me and all gardeners each year (see picture at the end if you want proof of that ;-).

There are so many ways to make use of zucchini! This is such a delicious and versatile veggie. For those of with bounty, or if you just want to savor the sweet summer flavors into winter, read on!

Zucchini Growing Tips

I both start seeds indoors and direct sow- with similar results. I get earlier harvests with the plants started earlier, or more prolific but later with the plants I direct sow. Choose what works for you! They do like lots of compost and can be planted outside a fence, as critters (at least in my area) do not nibble. This is a great news because zucchini plants take up a LOT of space, easily three square feet. A little compost and mulch when planting and you should have oodles of zoodles!

Female flower to the left left, male flower to the right.

Heirloomista Farm

July 23, 2021 / Michelle Bruhn / 4 Comments

Welcome to the Farm!

Things are different by design on this biodynamic farm.

The first difference you’ll notice on this 5 acre farms is the lack of large outbuildings, big machinery or even an old farmhouse. Also, no overhead electric poles. This farm is completely off-grid.

You will see solar panels, an eggplant-colored tiny house, two hoop houses along with rows and rows of beautiful veggies, perennial fruits and pollinator habitat. A moveable chicken tractor and a sun hive round out the ways Kelsey hosts animals on this land. Each piece is intertwined with the next, serves a purpose and plays it part well.

Biodynamic Farming

Biodynamic Farming Defined: a form of alternative agriculture that takes an ecological and ethical approach to farming, food, and gardening.

Things on a biodynamic farm are thought out in wholistic, interdependent ways before anything is implemented. For Farmer Kelsey this means everything on the farm serves a few purposes. And she really does run this as a one woman show. She does most everything by hand enabling her to observe the plants (and critters) on the land more closely and to see changes in real time. She can decide what to do about those issues based on how it effects the whole system of living things on her farm. Sometimes doing nothing is the answer too…

Succession Planting to Extend Your Harvests

June 23, 2021 / Michelle Bruhn / 4 Comments

Succession Planting Basics

When I harvest I usually already know what will go in this plant’s place

Succession planting is a simple way to harvest more food for longer in your existing garden space! I am constantly blown away by how many times and how much I can plant in my backyard garden beds.

Succession planting boils down to “out with the old and in with the new’. It’s the practice of planting one crop right after another is harvested. This practice can keep you eating fresh from your garden all season long, even after frosts.

Spoiler: Successful Succession Planting has a lot to do with planning and picking the right plants.

There are a few ways to go about this kind of planting.

Succession Planting: two or more different crops following each other in the same space
Staggered or Relay Planting: same crop with repeated plantings in the same space
Interplanting / Companion Planting: when you plant multiple things at the same time in the same space that mature at different times and mutually benefit each other.

For now, let’s focus on the practice of planting different crops one after another in the same space, what most people think of as ‘succession planting’. Many of the same plants that star in our Northern spring gardens do well when started in summer to mature in the fall. Choosing cool weather plants, that can take a slight frost, will grow your summer efforts into delicious fall side dishes.

Creating Wildlife Habitat in your Garden

June 2, 2021 / Michelle Bruhn / 2 Comments

Why You Want Wildlife in Your Garden

Bringing wildlife into your garden will bring you higher pollination rates, more food, less pest pressure and the joy that comes from watching an ecosystem thrive. The best part about it is that the ways to bring wildlife in are all tied together, kind of like nature itself. This is a great reminder that we and our yards are part of nature and not separate from it!

There are lots of specifics to follow, but it really comes down to diversity, and making all the things you want to live in your garden feel welcome. This is my take on companion planting in general as well. You can listen in on a companion planting conversation of mine on the Grow It Minnesota! podcast.

We started by deciding to not use synthetic chemicals in our garden. This is a first step that is truly the most important! Then we added a bird feeder and a bird bath and luckily had some beautiful mature trees on our property. Since then, we’ve added more wildlife features as we could, from more native plants they feed from, more watering spots and more cover, creating a little wildlife sanctuary. We actually went ahead and made it official with the National Wildlife Federation as a Certified Wildlife Habitat .

Rhubarb Shrub Love

May 14, 2021 / Michelle Bruhn / 2 Comments

In case you haven’t met yet, let me introduce you to THE SHRUB—the kind you drink.

Shrub What?

At its heart, a shrub is a sweetened fruit syrup mixed with vinegar as a way to preserve summer flavors. In practice, shrubs are best sipped with friends who are as bubbly and sweet/tart as the flavors flowing from the glass.

The magic of any shrub is how it brings together the sweet of the fruit with the acid of vinegar—creating a depth of flavor that lays down a perfect base to build on. But typical of true magic, there’s a third part: the health benefits of probiotics and enzymes from the apple cider vinegar complete the trinity.

Stephanie and I before Covid, at a WBL Farmers Market after she taught a fermentation class

When I first made shrubs, I cooked my rhubarb (and other fruits) then strained the juice and added vinegar. But there is a fresher flavor with fermenting—which may seem counterintuitive, but hear me out. When you skip cooking the fruit you retain some great high notes from the rhubarb that get cooked out in other versions. Similar to fresh strawberry jam versus cooked strawberry jam…

Stephanie Thurow, a friend and coauthor of our book, Small-Scale Homesteading is also a master food preserver of Minnesota from Scratch . She first opened my eyes to fermenting shrubs and I will never go back!

Weather Makes the Garden Grow

April 2, 2021 / Michelle / 0 Comments

Peas happy to have a light snow last April

As any gardener knows, Mother Nature and her weather are really the ones in charge of how our gardens grow. We are forever wondering, will we get that April snowstorm…?

Thinking about the weather and how it affects everything from
crop timing, to which insects buzz through it, to how much water we need to supplement is something I respect more each year!

Globally, our weather is also changing at an alarming rate. Both
temperatures and the number of erratic weather events are on the rise. These are but the tip of the melting iceberg of how weather touches every aspect of the garden process.

I hope that as more people dig in to gardening as a hobby and passion,
we’ll reach our tipping point. We’ll both love all kinds of weather AND care for our earth in ways that will leave it in good shape for future generations!

Growing Gardeners

I believe that the way to ensure our future generations take good care of
the earth is to simply get them out into nature so they can fall in love with
it! Let’s get kids exploring, asking questions and simply being outside
in a snowstorm or on a hot steamy day and everything in between…

Sarah Nelson, my dear friend and children’s book author, has recently
released a group of books, I Like the Weather. This set of picture books
introduces children to the joys of different weather with upbeat rhymes and
intriguing back matter. Below, Sarah shares her thoughts on how our relationship
with weather can change us, and our relationship with our gardens for the
better. Enjoy!

Patty Who?

Share this:

Like this:

Starting Space

Share this:

Like this:

Soil Health Starts with Cover

Share this:

Like this:

Build It and They Will Come!

Building Better Soil

Share this:

Like this:

Zucchini Growing Tips

Share this:

Like this:

Welcome to the Farm!

Biodynamic Farming

Share this:

Like this:

Succession Planting Basics

Share this:

Like this:

Why You Want Wildlife in Your Garden

Share this:

Like this:

Shrub What?

Share this:

Like this:

Growing Gardeners

Share this:

Like this:

Social

Products

Join our Growing Email List

Search Forks in the Dirt

Digging In The Garden

Most Recent Posts

Social

Join Our ‘Growing’ Email List

Products