First grow more artichokes than you and your neighbors can eat! No, really, this is where the story of our friend Dick (1921-2003) comes in; Dick was born and raised in San Francisco just off Broadway and Columbus and was a fine cook. One night a whole bunch of us enjoyed his home made ravioli and some of us asked for his recipe. Instead he said we would have to come while he made them. Several weeks later we were invited to a ravioli making party and dinner. Dick did not measure anything. He made the filling and the pasta by sight and touch. The ravioli was delicious.

Artichoke patties are made the same way. I watched my grandmother make them and ate hers, which were better than mine.

It takes about 1 artichoke of fist size per patty.

 Cook artichokes in salted water which has also been acidulated with vinegar or lemon (keeps the artichokes green)

3 ½ cups artichoke pulp, Scrape the leaves with a spoon, chop the hearts into about ¼ inch dice, put in a bowl and set aside (this is a good team activity if you have a bunch of artichokes)

6 artichokes

1 cup Diced onion

2 cloves Minced garlic

½ stalk Diced celery stalk (not too much celery or you won't taste the artichoke)

Gently sauté in a good olive oil until the vegetables are very soft but not brown, the onions should be sweet

You will need:

• 2 +/- cups good bread crumbs, make your own or buy Panko (not the seasoned kind)
• 2 Eggs
• ½ cup Mayonnaise
• Salt/pepper to taste
• Chili flakes, to taste or omit (this should just give a hint of spice/hot on the tongue)

Now get your hands messy! If you have made crab cakes you know the consistency you are trying to achieve. The cakes need to cling but not be too soggy.

Mix artichoke, onion mixture, mayo, eggs and bread crumbs to a sticky but not soggy mixture. Fry a little piece to taste (or if you are not squeamish about raw eggs just taste it), then add salt, pepper and chili to taste. (You can cover and refrigerate at this point and make the patties later in the day)

Form patties with you hands, about 3” patties work well.

Put the patties on a parchment lined cookie sheet, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour (this firms the patties and makes them easier to turn when you are frying them)

You will need egg/water to dip the patties in then bread crumbs or Panko (Japanese bread crumbs, the best) pat the crumbs into the patties to make them stick

Clarified butter and olive oil (good cooking kind) for frying

Heat the olive oil add butter (amounts will depend on your pan but you are not deep fat frying so the fat should be ¼ the way up the patties)

Fry the patties and put them in a warm oven until all are done.

Tim likes to eat them with mayo, I like them plain.

Visit our Edible Gardens page on our website for information on growing artichokes.

What's wrong with my rose?! 

There is a section of this rose bush where the new spring leaves are small, yellowed and odd shaped.   The shoots are stunted and narrow.  Also, malformed flower buds are present. 

This is a typical symptom of phytotoxicity.   After further investigation, it is determined that the during the prior summer and fall seasons,  glyphosate was used to eradicate bindweed 3 feet from the rose bush.   Roundup, a common glyphosate was used.  Roundup is one of hundreds of garden products that contain glyphosate.

Roses are extremely sensitive to glyphosate as well as various postemergence broadleaf herbicides.  Drift from herbicide spray lands on the leaves and stems, creating herbicide damage. For roses, there is no quick cure. Only time, loving care and the wait and see approach is all one can do.  The bushes are stressed and weakened, some will recover and there is always the chance that some may not.  Rose bushes may be compromised for years and will never have the vigor they once had.

Lawn weed-and-feed products may also create herbicide toxicity in roses.  Herbicides can be taken in through the stem and leaves by direct application or by drift, as well as intake through the roots.  Bottom line, extreme care should be taken when using toxic products, for the safety of humans, wildlife, pets and plants. Always read the labels and follow the directions for using and discarding any pesticide.

Additional information on herbicide damage can be found here.  

The UC IPM pest notes on Roses Cultural Practices and Weed Control can be found here.

GAIA'S GARDEN:  A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture, Second Edition

Toby Hemenway, Chelsea Green Publishing, White River Junction, Vermont, (2000 First Edition) 2009, 313 pages.

 

Nature exists with or without us.  We do not exist without the bounty that nature provides to sustain us.  As a matter of fact, we manipulate our environment to be able to make it work for us.  We can make choices in how we provide for ourselves and manage our place in nature.  Permaculture is an approach or a set of choices we can make that is ecological and productive.

Although the term PERMACULTURE was not widely known even twenty years ago, the basic gardening practices that are a part of this sustainable life philosophy was realized and adapted from practices of indigenous peoples and historic farming practices in different parts of the world.  The philosophy encompasses a life focus and mind set that emphasizes becoming a part of and sustaining life realistically in a greater ecological network with the plants, animals and resources in the environment around you.  In GAIA'S GARDEN, Toby Hemenway describes and supports the pursuit and implementation of very practical methods to achieve a sustainable, healthy, productive and edible habitat with sound, ecological gardening and design processes.  He does it in a systematic, well detailed conversation of principles and goals emphasizing observation, problem solving, conservation of materials and effort, and working with a greater sensitivity to the multiple layers of relationships that change or evolve over time in the natural environment where you garden and live.  We see how doing no harm, using only what you need and is available while sustaining productivity is consistent and desirable with activity that embraces the surrounding ecological network that feeds us.  It is possible that we live well and simultaneously protect our planet.

For example, let us discuss the plant guild system.  It is one of the fundamental processes in food production techniques in permaculture methods.  The plant guild is a construct that creates a plant community for food production in a “mutually supportive” collection of plants, animals, insects, and natural relationships and processes.  A successful guild can be defined as a habitat where soil health, water availability, sun exposure, beneficial insects such as pollinators, fungi, birds, plants, trees, and people, etc., exist harmoniously and receive all they need to maintain themselves over time and contribute to the well being of all other partners in the guild.  One well-known plant guild example of ancient origin is the Three Sisters guild that involves planting in the same space, corn, squash or pumpkin and beans.  Simply but not completely described:  The bean has nitrogen fixing bacteria filled root nodules that feeds the corn and squash who have a high need for nitrogen to develop.  The corn can provide a trellis for the bean plants to grow and the squash and pumpkin can shade the soil with their broad leaves to conserve moisture.  In concert, they maximize the benefits for each other. 

The plant guild is not a rigid system or set collection of plants.  It is an adaptation of diet options, climate, weather, water, soil and sun conditions and plants, shrubs, trees that work locally. Work they all do to create and maintain healthy soils, water, provide nutritious foods including chickens, etc., habit to harbor beneficial insects, birds, animals, in cooperation with nature and natural processes.  Different environments succeed with combinations suited to conditions and needs on site.  It is an organic and a dynamic process but is not limited to native plants and trees.  It takes advantage of the natural habitat and what it provides but is pragmatic in providing the many foods and other resources, exotic or native, that we need to sustain our lives as humans.  The method is superimposed on the natural world and incorporates the adaptations made by plant, insect and animal participants to their changing environment.

Designing and creating our gardens to provide, sustain and adapt over time is part of Hemenway's presentation.  First, knowledge and utilization of the basic principles of growth and production is necessary.  Learning from others and direct experience and observation about soil health, water use, collection, and management, plant, shrub, and tree knowledge, ecological principles of biodiversity, regeneration and recycling of nutrients, minerals and resources, encouragement and nurturing of beneficial insects, animals and the other operational layers are fundamental to success in having a working and fruitful garden.  Many factors contribute and interact for success.  Complicated but possible.

Then, what plants, processes, devices and goals are necessary for success?  How can I have greens to eat all year?  How will chickens be healthy and happy so I might have eggs?  How can enough water be available without rain?  On and on, layer upon layer.  Combining all these elements for maximum function and success becomes design.  Organizing the space available using the principles in GAIA'S GARDEN like guilds, food forests, stacking, keyhole gardens, square foot gardening, espalier, trellis, acreage in the country, a parking strip in the city all are valid opportunities to create a permaculture garden that functions and satisfies.

In GAIA'S GARDEN, Hemenway brings us a great distance in showing us this way.  Straightforward talk, charts, diagrams, pictures, science, real working examples and down to earth answers and solutions help to make a complex, richly textured, multilayered, intricately woven process for gardening well, naturally and sustainably possible.  This book provides a learning experience that serves you well no matter what kind of gardening you do.  You will have so many more things to learn and so many more ways to see what happens in the garden around you. 

 

Reflecting on the “shelter-in-place” restrictions of the past few months raises many mixed emotions. However, a place or time of personal isolation can often be a place of unexpected blessing. As we begin to emerge from seclusion, what opportunities have you searched out to find peace and sanctuary by communing with nature? Many have taken this time to learn or return to the joy of gardening, their corner of heaven in their own backyard.

I feel blessed as I think of all the wonderful gifts my gardens have given to me, my family, my friends and others. Some gifts are tangible, such as my home-grown fruits and vegetables and the beautiful flowers. Just as important, are the gifts that benefit my soul as well as my emotional and physical well-being.

We spend our first 20 years growing up, mostly attending school.  The next 40-50 years we spend raising a family and working. As we have put those years behind us, we now have time available to engage in activities we enjoy doing.  Yet, for some, it can present challenges. Some of us still have the vigor and can still physically do what we did when we were 40. Others find it more difficult to do certain things. Unlike some physical activities, the beauty of gardening is that we can always find a way to garden. We may just need to modify how we garden, what we garden, where we garden and what tools we use.

During the past few years, my husband and I have been modifying our garden and our methods. We realized that as we have aged, we do not have the stamina we once had, and we are presented with physical limitations. We both reap emotional and physical benefits from gardening. We still want to enjoy gardening, but we are finding that we must modify what and how we garden. The point is, we are not giving up on something that we like doing, we are just finding ways to do it differently.

Most of the time I think of gardening as playing outside. During the summer mornings when I lived in the Central Valley I would tend to my garden before it got too hot. Now that I live in Humboldt, I can enjoy gardening without the heat.  In fact, that was one of the main motivating factors for moving to the North Coast.   During the rainy days I will be inside caring for my house plants. By modifying when and where I garden, I keep it enjoyable as play instead of a chore, or something that must be done. Gardening gets me up and moving while providing me physical activity and keeping my muscles and joints flexible.

Gardening lifts my spirits as it gives me purpose. Nurturing plants for harvesting fruits and vegetables and seeing the beauty of rose blossoms is richly rewarding. Every time I gaze upon nature's canvas, I am in awe of the beauty. Watching seedlings grow and become food, flower buds opening into intricate design and form while taking in the delicate fragrances, fills my entire being with such wonderful gifts.