Master Urban Gardener

I was very fortunate to be able to participate in the Boston Natural Areas Network's Master Urban Gardener (MUG) Program this winter!

MUG is an intensive "horticultural leadership training course for community garden volunteers."

In the class, we covered numerous topics related to community gardening, including garden operations, community garden design, plant growth, soil and soil health, pests, plant maintenance, the vegetable garden, and nutrition.

Because I have WWOOFed (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms) and interned with CitySprouts in the past, MUG was the perfect program for me to fill in some gaps in my gardening knowledge.

Although the classes were intense, every Saturday from 10 am - 3:30 pm with a half hour break for lunch, the classes were designed well and included a combination of lectures and interactive sessions, in which we did small group problem-solving activities with our fellow classmates. Many of the activities included scenarios that you would encounter in the community garden, such as determining which pests were attacking the cabbages (was it the flea beetles or the aphids??), and what the appropriate recommendation would be to deal with such pests.

In one class, we learned about seed starting, and we planted our own seeds to begin indoors.


Different topics were covered in the AM and PM sessions, and it was a lot of information to take in. Luckily, we were given a pretty thorough manual (which we also received a CD version of) that we used in class, that covered all the topics that we discussed in class, and that we can refer to for future reference. In addition, the 40 hours of community service required to validate the Master Urban Gardener Certificate is a great way to apply the concepts that we learned and to get more involved in community gardens and gardening related activities.

Yes, you will need to bring this manual to every class.

This program is free and open to the public! It was a wonderful opportunity to be able to take this class, and I enjoyed MUG not only for the concepts that I learned, but it was also great to meet fellow urban gardeners in the area.

Master Urban Gardener Class of 2010
*Photo courtesy of BNAN*

Thanks to Jo Ann who runs the program, the guest lecturers, and the other volunteers who help to make the class possible.

I highly recommend the Master Urban Gardener program if you are involved in community gardening. However, if you have a backyard, MUGatHOME may be perfect for you. MUG and MUGatHOME both cover various gardening topics. But while MUG focuses on community garden leadership and organization, MUGatHome focuses on landscape training and residential gardening techniques. Other programs that the Boston Natural Areas Network runs include SLUG for those involved in urban school-based vegetable gardening, and a Seed, Sow & Grow program.

If you are looking for a community garden plot, look at BNAN's community garden plot listing. Although unfortunately I don't believe I will be receiving a plot at the Fenway Victory Gardens this year, I look forward to applying the concepts that I learned with CitySprouts and BNAN's Learning Garden at City Natives this upcoming growing season.

BNAN is a non-profit organization, and they also host various events every year and offer many volunteer opportunities. To learn more about the Boston Natural Areas Network, visit their website.

Love Me Some No-Knead Bread

I love homemade bread, and I love making it. Ever since Slow Food BU did a Sourdough and No-Knead Bread Workshop with the Urban Homesteaders' League, I've been all about no-knead bread!

At the bread workshop, Lisa Gross of the Urban Homesteaders' League demonstrated her no-knead bread recipe.

The finished loaf

However, at home, I first tried Jim Lahey's no-knead bread introduced by Mark Bittman in the New York Times article The Secret of Great Bread: Let Time Do the Work. This dough is so sticky and hard to handle, that it's basically impossible to knead. Making the bread simply requires mixing the ingredients (flour, yeast, salt, and water), letting the dough sit for 12-18 hours, shaping the dough and letting it rise for another 2 hours, and then popping the dough in the oven.


As if this method couldn't get any easier, Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois later developed another no-knead bread method, Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. This recipe requires more yeast than the other method, resulting in a faster rising time. The ingredients (flour, yeast, salt, and water) are mixed to form a dough, let to sit for 2-5 hours, refrigerated at this point for storage or shaped and let to rise for another 40 minutes, and then put into the oven. One great thing about this bread is that the dough can be stored in the refrigerator for up to two weeks, and every day, the flavor of the bread develops as more fermentation occurs. Whenever you want freshly baked bread, you can take a portion of the dough out of the refrigerator, shape it and let it rise for 90 minutes (instead of the 40 minutes required for room temperature dough), and then put it into the oven. Read this article for a recipe and more information on this no-knead bread method, read the New York Times Article Soon the Bread Will Be Making Itself, or check out the book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day.


These no-knead bread recipes don't require kneading because of the wetness of the dough- the high moisture content allows the gluten molecules to align faster and more easily than in drier bread doughs.

Making no-knead bread is extremely easy and results in delicious bread with great visual appeal, good structure, and a crunchy crust; and the variations and possibilities are endless!

I really enjoy making (and eating) homemade bread. Although I also enjoy kneading bread (or perhaps I enjoy this step because who knows if I'm doing it correctly), when I find myself very busy, the no-knead method is a happy medium. I also love what Satish Kumar said at last year's Future of Food Conference at BU: "If you don't have time to bake bread, you don't have time to live." (Read Satish Kumar's posts Reconnect with Tradition: Baking Bread as a Spiritual Act and Real Bread). So what are you waiting for? Go bake some bread!

Worm Update!

Welcome to my Worm Update, a follow-up to Vermicomposting, Part I!

Unfortunately, despite my best efforts to take care of my new little friends, they kept on trying to escape.


For days, I tried adjusting numerous factors including:

• The amount of food
• The amount of bedding
• The humidity
  

I even made an emergency run one night to get more newspaper to add to my bedding.

But no matter what I did, my adjustments somehow did not click, and my worms were everywhere.

Sadly, I wasn't able to figure out what I was doing wrong; and eventually, many of my worms reached the end of their days on my floor, while the remaining worms in the worm bin dried up from dehydration because I had decreased the moisture too much. (As I mentioned in my vermicomposting post, the bedding needs to start off moist because worms breathe through their skin).

At the time, I was really upset about my failed attempt at vermicomposting, especially because of my past gardening and farming experiences, and I have done outdoor composting in the past without a problem!

But I have accepted the fact that vermicomposting is not for me, at least for the time being. I would love to have a second try at vermicomposting. But, I have also come to the realization that, at the moment, my small apartment does not have the capacity to keep such a large vermicomposting bin.

So, I have donated my worm bin to the greenhouse of BU's wonderful Organic Gardening Collective (O.G.C.).


Luckily, Lisa Gross from The Urban Homesteaders' League also gave me some extra worms, and I was happy to drop them off at the greenhouse as well.

What a serious looking composter.

Although I am a bit disappointed to not vermicompost myself, I know that I can always vermicompost at the O.G.C., compost at my friends' outdoor composting bins, and compost at the Whole Foods on Prospect St. in Cambridge. In addition, next year I will be living in a house, and we plan to have an outdoor composting bin there. For those of you who have a backyard, outdoor composting bins are subsidized by many towns, such as in Boston, Cambridge, and Brookline!

Even though I will no longer be vermicomposting in my apartment, vermicomposting may still be for you! Often you can remedy the second time around what you did wrong the first time. And the third time is always a charm! Tip: the holes that you drill in your worm bin should be smaller than your worms so that they can't escape. (This should have been the case for me, but clearly something went wrong).

Ask Ryan, who taught The Urban Homesteaders' League's workshop on Vermicomposting, your indoor composting questions at compostboy[at]yahoo.com. Or if you purchase the book Worms Eat My Garbage, 100+ pages of vermicomposting knowledge will be yours.

More reasons to vermicompost - did you know that:
In 2008, Americans generated 250 million tons of trash. (source: EPA's 2008 MSW Facts and Figures). Of this,

• ~12.7 % is made of food scraps
• 800 thousands of tons of food scraps were recovered (or composted) in municipal solid waste
  
• 30,990 thousands of tons of food scraps were discarded in the municipal waste stream, and this number has been on the rise since 1960. (Source: EPA's MSW Data Tables 2008).
• Aka, ~97.5% of disposed food waste was sent to landfills in 2008

So if you haven't started yet, let's reduce our waste and compost!

Will Lexington have a community farm?

Last month, the Town of Lexington became the owner of the 8-acre Busa Farm property in Lexington, MA. But what will become of it? Because the farmland was purchased using Community Preservation Act funds, the land must either be used for recreation, open space, historic preservation, or affordable housing (1).

Members of the Lexington Community Farm Coalition (LCFC) would like to see the land used for a community farm.

What is a community farm?

The LCFC hosted a discussion panel “A Year in the Life of a Community Farm” in December to address this very question.

Community farms are run for and by the community. Around Massachusetts, such farms are frequently run by nonprofit organizations. What will happen to Busa Farm is particularly important, because it is one of the last, few working farms left in Lexington.

Panelists included representatives from community farms in neighboring towns (from left to right): Matt Celona and Christy Foote-Smith of Drumlin Farms (Lincoln, MA), Michael Iceland from The Food Project (Dorchester, Lynn, and Lincoln, MA), Jen James from Codman Community Farms (Lincoln, MA), Verena Wieloch from Gaining Ground in Concord, and Greg Maslowe of Newton Community Farms.

There are many benefits of a community farm, including:

• Educating people of all ages about farming and where their food comes from, such as through farming apprenticeships
• Local and fresh food for the community and to be donated to local food pantries
  
• Increasing individuals' physical activity
• Bringing together the community
  

For a recap of the panel, read Leah Bloom's excellent article "Residents study community farm options" in the Lexington Minuteman. In addition, read about the LCFC in the Boston Globe, and what the Boston Localvores said on this issue.

Lexington is my hometown, and I am currently studying nutrition at BU. But I never really thought about where my food came from and how it was grown until I was introduced to the group Slow Food BU my freshman year. Ever since then, farming and local and sustainable food have become very important in my life. I WWOOFed in Canada two summers ago, have been secretary of Slow Food BU since last year, enjoyed my first CSA share from Stillman's and interned at CitySprouts this past growing season, and will be taking the Master Urban Gardener Program with the Boston Natural Areas Network this winter.

I wish I had known about and taken advantage of community farms such as Drumlin Farms and The Food Project when I was younger, but it is never too late to learn about and become active in these issues. Sustainable and local food is not only important for the environment, but is more nutritious, and tastes better. Above all, it is extremely important to educate youth about how food grows and where it comes from, which is what a community farm can help to do. Luckily, there have already been some developments in Lexington over the past few years to help increase awareness about where our food comes from:

• The Lexington Farmers' Market
• The program Kids Cooking Green
• Estabrook School has a greenhouse?!
  

What can you do?

• You can help support the LCFC's effort to use the Busa land as a community farm by simply signing this petition.
• The LCFC is helping to sponsor a screening of The First Millimeter: Healing the Earth, followed by a discussion with Jim Laurie at the Cary Public Library on Tuesday, January 12 at 7 pm. More info about the screening here.
• On Sunday, January 24th, the Lexington Selectmen will be deciding what to do with the Busa land. Come to ask the selectmen your questions and find out what they have to say about farming and what the land should be used for! Time: 7:30-9 pm. Location, TBD.

Keep updated on the Lexington Community Farm Coalition by visiting their site, joining their Google Group, following them on Facebook, or following them on Twitter @lexfarm. Or better yet, get involved!

My Experience Through Hell: Dante's Inferno in 10 Courses

Having aided JJ Gonson from Cuisine En Locale in the past, when I heard about JJ's next O.N.C.E. one month ago, I knew I had to take part. JJ's O.N.C.E.'s, or One Night Culinary Events, are multi-course meals held on short notice sporadically throughout the year, and include as much locally sourced food as possible.

However, this was not like any other O.N.C.E. It was not going to be just once. Three nights, 10-courses, full with actors, dancers, music, and script: a culinary, theatrical, and musical interpretation of Dante's Inferno. Welcome to

O.N.C.E. in Hell

Venue: Club Oberon, home of the American Repetory Theater's The Donkey Show.

Dante's Inferno is the first of three parts of Dante Alighieri's allegorical work, The Divine Comedy. This poem describes Dante's journey through Hell (Inferno), Purgatory (Purgatorio), and Heaven (Paradiso). The great Roman poet Virgil is Dante's first guide, and it would be he who would lead guests through Inferno and the 9 Circles of Hell, in what would be a magnificent production.

Weeks of work were put into the event, from all aspects of production and people of all talents. As a part of the kitchen crew last Tuesday, I was led by the three chefs of the show: JJ Gonson, Trevor Smith, and also Jennifer Ede, who did an amazing job communicating between the kitchen crew and the servers. The kitchen work involved some very intense chopping, cooking, dishwashing, and plating to serve approximately sixty people, and the work could not have been done without the contribution of many other Cuisine En Locale volunteers. Because of the intensity of the work, the time flew by. And before I knew it, we were already plating the tenth course, Heaven.



Luckily, in addition to being a part of the kitchen crew on Tuesday, I had the opportunity to attend the event on Wednesday. And it was wonderful to be able to see the hard work put into the kitchens become a part of this:



Virgil, our guide for the night, led us through the 9 Circles of Hell, each with its own culinary, theatrical, and musical interpretation, for the evening.

The night began in "Limbo," with a Clear Flour bread roll and water. Next, the two lovers Paolo and Francesca tangoed in "Lust," while we were served a Duxbury oyster shooter with a Keown Orchards Green Apple mignonette sauce. Guests were subsequently brought to the third course, Gluttony, where the servers, who were essential to creating the feel for the evening, carelessly tossed baked beans and Stillman's apple cider-glazed pork ribs in our plastic bowls with extremely large spoons. As we were served, Virgil led Cerberus, 3-headed dog and guardian of the Gluttons, engage in an eating contest with himself and a large bowl of beans. "Wrath" presented irritated and impatient waiters. So if you had been too busy enjoying the show rather than eating, you had best be prepared to wolf down the Jasmine kale salad with Grapes of Wrath Vinaigrette. "Heresy" was next, with a lobster salad enclosed in a delicate and flakey tomb-shaped puff pastry, adorned in a chili pumpkin sauce.

We were then taken to the seventh course, "Violence," where the Minotaur, part man, part beast, tore beets and smeared the "blood" all over his body, as we were served Jen's dark-red, sauerkraut cold beet soup, topped with white creme fraiche. "Fraud" followed as the eighth course, where guests received, suprise: Tofu Wellington, not the anticipated Beef Wellington that was written on the menu. In "Treachery," we were given Beelzebub's Beelzeburger, as the servers rocked out to a song about fast food. And then Lucifer came forth, Prince of Hell.

Lucifer, Virgil, and the servers

After the nine circles of Hell (and bypassing Purgatory), we found ourselves in Heaven, guided by Dante's dead and beloved Beatrice (who did some amazing acrobatics), and where Dante comes face to face with God (Anthony Saffery), who strummed some lovely tunes on the guitar.

It was a wonderful, entertaining night, and enjoyable in more ways than one.

Many thanks to Clear Flour, Keown Orchards, Stillman's Farm, Verril Farms, and Sherman Market, who provided much of the locally sourced food for the night. And a big thank you to everyone else who made these nights possible, including the servers, actors, dancers and Oberon staff, the sound, production, and tech staff, the Cuisine En Locale crew, volunteers, and many others!

For another take on the event, a more detailed course-by-course description of the night, and some links to the musical components of the evening, I encourage you to read this review on LimeyG bends yer lughole.

It was wonderful to not only be a part of the kitchen crew one night, but also to be able to enjoy and appreciate the show on another evening as well. I am already looking forward to the next O.N.C.E.

Vermicomposting, Part I

A few weeks ago I had the chance to attend the Urban Homesteaders' League's Vermicomposting Extravaganza workshop with Ryan Gray. And last Saturday, I finally received my worms! Before the workshop I didn't realize how easy and simple vermicomposting actually is, and I am very excited to start!

Vermicomposting is a method using earthworms to turn food/organic waste into nutrient-rich compost. Vermicompost contains worm castings, bedding materials, and organic wastes at various stages of decomposition, and contains worms at various stages of development and other microorganisms associated with the composting process (2). Worm castings, or worm poop, is the end product formed after the earthworms break down organic materials. Worm castings contains many beneficial microbes and nutrients and is a very nutrient-rich plant fertilizer (2).
Vermicomposting is perfect for those living in urban areas. And if you are composting correctly, the compost bin shouldn't even smell at all!

What do you need to begin vermicomposting?

• A container with a lid
• Bedding material, such as shredded newspaper. Ink should be soy-based!
• Moisture (ex. water in a spray bottle)
• Redworms aka red wigglers or Eisenia fetida (Get them from a friend, or order them online, such as from WormWoman).

Shredding the newspaper

Photo courtesy of Lisa Gross

Directions

• Drill ventilation holes around the top sides of the bin and on the lid. (The worms need oxygen to breathe. And drill small holes so your worms don't escape!)

Drilling the ventilation holes
Photo courtesy of Lisa Gross

It's all about teamwork
Photo courtesy of Lisa Gross

• Completely FILL your bin with bedding, such as shredded newspaper. Ryan recommends to shred the newspaper thin, around ¼ to ½ inch thick.
• Worms breathe through their skin, so the bedding needs to be moist. Spray the newspaper so that it's "fluffy and damp," but not soaking. You don't want your worms to drown!

• Add the redworms and some food scraps to the bottom of your bin and let them get to work!
• Be careful about OVERFEEDING your worms. You want to avoid the odors of rotting food, and you want to give the worms enough room to move around as they get adjusted in their new home!
• Once your worms begin reproducing and become assimilated to their environment, you can begin feeding them more. Have excess food scraps? Refrigerate or freeze them for later!
• You can add more bedding if it gets low, and be cautious that the bin doesn't become too moist.
• Every few months, harvest your fertilizer! One easy way to do this is to put food scraps on one side of your bin to attract the majority of your worms (or you can also do this on the ground on top of some spread out newspaper/plastic). Once you've gathered /separated your compost and picked out any extra worms hiding inside, add some new bedding to your bin and you can begin the process all over again!

Sources: Ryan, myself, here, and here

A Word About Temperature:

• Redworms are happiest at ~60-75 degrees F, but they can survive at temperatures of 50-80 degrees F.

DO compost

• Raw vegetable products
• PLAIN, cooked vegetable products (no oil added, etc.)
• Eggshells (it's recommend to rinse them first)
• Cereals and oatmeal
• Coffee grounds
• Tea bags
• Beans
• Newspaper (with soy-based ink!)

DON'T compost

• Meat, chicken, dairy, or fish products
• Oily/greasy foods

BE CAUTIOUS with:

• Non-citrus fruits (they are completely compostable, but they may smell more and attract more flies)
• Citrus fruits- at a minimum, or just avoid them!
• Bread- at a minimum

Tip

• The smaller the food scraps/the larger the surface area of your food, the easier it will be for the worms to break it down! They "lick" rather than chew.

Some of Ryan's Recommended Sources:

• An indispensable book: Worms Eat My Garbage by Mary Appelhof
• Worms as Recyclers
• Wormpoop.com
• Brochure: Here's the Dirt: Worm Composting
• Once you've got your bin going, join your fellow vermicomposters here!

-Fun fact: Worms eat over half their body weight in organic matter a day.

What to do with your food scraps that aren't good for your redworms, or what to do if you aren't up for vermicomposting just yet?

• Whole Foods on Prospect St. in Cambridge accepts compost in their public recycling center at the back of their parking lot!

Vermicomposting is a wonderful way to recycle your food and to create some very healthy and nutrient-rich soil!

Have questions for Ryan about vermicomposting? Contact him at compostboy[at]yahoo.com.

Thanks to Ryan for a great workshop, great information, and for breaking down vermicomposting into a simple and easy process. Thanks to Erik Zornik as well, who also provided some great tips. And of course, thanks to the Urban Homesteaders' League for hosting this workshop. Look forward to an upcoming blog post on Worm Updates in the next few weeks!

WWOOF! World Wide Opportunitites on Organic Farms

It's been awhile, but I wanted to say a few good words about WWOOF. WWOOF, or World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms, is a world wide network linking individuals interested in volunteering on organic farms with farmers looking for volunteer help. In exchange for volunteering on a farm, room and board are provided for free! It's a wonderful and cheap way to travel, and there are WWOOF organizations all over the globe!

Last summer, I had such an amazing experience WWOOFing in Canada at the farm Artisans de la Terre. Located in Ste.-Marcelline, we were about 15 minutes away from the town Joliette, and about an hour away from Montréal.

What were my days like?
I was only required to work 5-6 hours a day, 6 days a week- although I often worked more than that because I wanted to. Growing a diverse range of vegetables (and a few fruits) was the focus of this farm at the time, although they are still expanding. The farm also had chickens and a few animals, and they distributed CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) baskets twice a week. Although every day was different, some of my daily activities included feeding the chickens, watering the plants in the greenhouse, weeding, harvesting, helping to prepare the CSA baskets, helping to prepare meals in the kitchen, and more.

The house, the kiosque (farm stand), and the greenhouse

The barn and the greenhouse

Time to weed!

Bringing the chickens water

Preparing the CSA baskets

Besides getting to work outside and being able to work with some fabulous people (including some fellow WWOOFers), one of my favorite things at the farm were the communal meals. At lunch, they were an absolute must. After working for the majority of the day, it was wonderful to enjoy everyone's company for a group meal of delicious and farm-fresh food.

Making chapati

And because we were in the Québec region, I was able to practice my French skills and learn various farming terms and expressions en français! In addition, I learned how to cook with all the new vegetables I was being introduced to. (I now love kohlrabi, my second favorite vegetable after carrots!)

WWOOFing is a great way to learn about farming, sustainability practices, and where your food comes from, and it's a great way to travel and to improve your language skills as well!

Interested in WWOOFing?
Every country runs its WWOOF network just slightly differently, so look them up at WWOOF.org. There is usually a small fee to get the detailed listing with the addresses and contact information of the farms, but once you receive the booklet/online access for the detailed listing, you're all set to go! From there, the only fees you should need to pay for is transportation to and from your farm.

My insights as a WWOOFer:

• It's usually recommended to stay at a farm for at least two weeks to get accustomed to it.
• Most WWOOFers only stay at one particular farm for a few weeks. (Farm-hopping is common). If you're interested in staying for longer, it's sometimes recommended to see how the first two weeks go first, before making that extra commitment. But communicate with your farmer - it will all depend on the situation! I ended up staying at my farm for 6 weeks.
• Farmers may be difficult to get a hold of. Don't give up, and be persistent! And don't always rely on e-mail, you may want to give the farmer a call (or 10 ;) ).
• Communicate with your farmer ahead of time to make sure that you're on the same page, and so that you know each other's goals and expectations.
• People's WWOOFing experiences vary, so you may also want to try searching online to see if the farm you're interested in has any past WWOOFing reviews.

WWOOFing again is definitely in my future! Please consider doing it, and ask me about it if you have any questions!