What's happening at Peterson Gardens?

I'm working with a wonderful group of people, headed up by LaManda Joy of The Yarden on a great new community project-- the Peterson Garden Project. Little plan (not so little) is to get this community garden going in Chicago's 40th ward (northwest side). Big plan is to inspire Chicagoans to revive the Victory Gardens movement and grow their own food.

Les, one of the gardeners and a member of the core planning group, was there last night, supervising the site:

"Coming in this evening was quite spectacular. People were already working in the garden and as time went on, people were bringing in plants, shovels, and their excited faces; ready to plant in their wonderful garden space! Definitely was a great feeling just watching these people. I didn't even work on my plot because I didn't want to take up any shovels or wheel barrels, they seem so happy to work and I didn't want to stop them!!! So fun and I'm so happy to be part of this. I just kept thinking as the next group kept coming, about the movie "Field of Dreams," ..."if you build it, they will come." And they did and this wasn't even half of the garden who came out. I'm sure this weekend will bring a drove of people, already caring for their plants or starting to fill their beds with soil or helping each other out, which I seen neighbors doing already!!!

And btw Blackhawks win the Stanley Cup!!!

We probably won't have anyone growing asparagus (yet! who knows?) but you could make this soup right now if you had a garden, substituting peas for the aspargus (or spinach! or in the fall, tomatoes or parsnips!)

Puree of Asparagus (or any vegetable) soup

• 2 bunches fresh, in season asparagus
• 1 medium onion, chopped
  
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 5 to 6 cups broth (chicken or vegetable; I used a radish-based one that I had on hand)
  
• 1 pint half-and-half (leave this out, obs, for vegan)
  
• 3 small potatoes (especially for vegan, this will help thicken it)
  
• seasoning: 1-2 teaspoons ground white pepper, 1 teaspoon ground (fresh if you have it) coriander, sea salt to taste
  

Cut asparagus tips about 1 1/2 inches from top, and stalks into 1/2-inch piece; set aside. Cut potato into small chunks and boil until soft. Discard water, then return the potato, asparagus and diced onion to the same pot and saute in the butter until asparagus is soft. Remove about 10 tips and set aside. Add broth and cook until asparagus is very soft, aboug 15 to 20 minutes, then add cream and simmer about 5 minutes. Add

Purée soup in batches in a blender, or with a hand-held immersible blender in the pot until smooth, transferring to a bowl (use caution when blending hot liquids). Add more broth or a little milk or cream to thin soup to desired consistency. Garnish with reserved asparagus tips and fresh parsley.

A hundredth of an acre

Not that it's really possible to calculate, since my garden is like me: a little sideways, a little chaotic, a little haphazard, and always wandering off to do something else, but I think I have 435 square feet of vegetables.

One hundredth of an acre.

I feed four people with this. Two of them don't live here right now, so I pack up food and send it home with them. Anyone who works in my garden gets some too. I'm trying to grow/preserve enough to make it through January this year, and I'm trying to do it using as few appliances as possible. (It seems silly to plant a garden and then buy 14 different appliances, all shipped from China, to preserve it.) I'm able to fuss with my garden, since it's so small, in a way that a giant potager or a small farm can't-- the more space the more you have to trust that you'll lose some, but there's enough extra to make up the difference.

Although I joke that I grow on the Shaker system-- a third for the family, a third for the parish and a third for G*d (in his guise as the critters)--really, there's nothing to spare. I plant 40 snow pea seeds. If I lose half, that's half our meals for a month. On the other hand, I can individually tie every one of them to their supports, which is something I did today. I don't have to thin my lettuce; instead, I can pull the tender seedlings and rearrange the rows, or slip them in bare dirt somewhere else, because there are only a hundred of them.

Every sprout is a precious child, and I take joy in each. With a 10th of an acre, or a quarter, I wouldn't feel each tiny life elbowing or spearing its way to the surface.

So a hundredth of an acre isn't very much. But I very much believe that it's one hundredth of an acre that is helping to save the planet.

Spring Stir Fry with early vegetables
1/2 tofu cake
1 rhubarb spear, diced
1 bunch asparagus
3 cups spinach

Dice the rhubarb and macerate in 1 Tablespoon sea salt and 1 tablespoon sugar. Let sit for 10 minutes. Cube the tofu, and drain it on a paper towel to draw off some of the moisture. Saute in a hot wok in a couple tablespoons of sesame or peanut oil. Add the rhubarb, including any moisture. Saute until the moisture has steamed off. Add the asparagus and saute til it's bright green. Add the spinach and saute until it wilts.

Add soy or oyster sauce, or leave as is. Serve over rice.

Putting in the garden

I cheated the frost date by a day, and put seeds into my garden today.

The very first thing I ever grew on purpose was an edible- raspberries from the backyard of my friend Holly's grandparents. More than 20 years later, they're still going strong, with offspring growing in other Chicago gardens, as well as in friends' gardens in Ontario, New York, and Nebraska.

What with losing half my employment this year, I decided to take on numerous web challenges: the Growing Challenge to put in something new every year; Project Grow for Spitfire nasturtiums, which several dozen gardeners all over North America are testing for Renee's seeds; Eat Real Food to try to eat SLOW: Seasonal, Local, Organic, Whole.

My own personal challenge is to grow and preserve enough vegetables to make it through January. I routinely get into November still harvesting, but I haven't put as much energy into saving my food.

I've got 480 square feet+, including a new bed that increased the growing area by a third. Over the next several weeks, I'll slowly be planting seeds and starts. So here's my garden this year:

The Serpentine Bed
Cherry Tomatoes, Black Beans, Roma VF tomato to save seeds for Populuxe seed bank/, Broccoli, turnips/ climbing beans/ cucumber, winter melon, dill/ onions, beets, carrots.



The Wagon Wheel Bed
Two types of eggplants, Dragon Tongue beans from MrBrownThumb, Spitfire nasturtiums/Blue Lake and Slenderette bush beans, 5 types of heirloom tomatoes, parsley, garlic/ parsnips, leeks, spinach, onions/snow peas, radishes, then shell beans in succession, bell peppers in pots.

Garage sideyards
Pumpkin and mustard
Greens, then asparagus, raddichio, bok choy/broccoli

Three sisters bed
Two types of heirloom corn, Ghost rider pumpkin and Butternut squash from Chiot's Run, pole beans, nasturtiums plus shishito peppers in a pot.

The Savory bed
Parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, chamomile, cilantro (coriander), summer savory, caraway, taragon, mint in a pot, plus fragrant ornamentals

Here and there: cabbage, brussels sprouts, strawberries, concord grapes, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, more chamomile, more mint, more cilantro, lavender, salad burnett.

Many of the seeds came through swaps from the community on MyFolia.com, and a good number of them from Chicago garden bloggers through Shady Swap. The pictures are from last fall.

I also have 600 square feet or more of ornamentals and a pond. I do not have lawn.

So-delicious it might be illegal Tilapia in coconut lime sauce with asparagus

3/4 cup unsweetened coconut milk
Zest and juice from two limes
1 T finely diced candied ginger
1 T finely diced cilantro leaves (from the garden)
1 T peanut oil
Salt and pepper to taste

1 pound tilapia from freshpicks.com

Fresh asparagus in season

Put all sauce ingredients in a small food processor or blender and mix. Melt 2 T butter in a frying pan, sear both sides of the tilapia, then add the sauce and simmer til fish is cooked through. Place asparagus on top of it, turn heat to low or intermittent, cover and steam until asparagus is bright green.

For vegan, substitute portobello or lots and lots of shiitake mushroom, plus pine nuts for the fish.

Serve over basmati rice.