Don't feed the landfills

Subaru had been a zero landfill plant since 2004. Check it out! @subaru.com

and check out #dontfeedthelandfills
What can I do every day to reduce the trash going to the landfill? Can I use less disposables? Can I recycle more? Can I compost? Can I reuse or pass stuff on to someone else who wants to reuse?

(Not) for the Birds

Winter crop: kale, spinach, Swiss chard

Another garden mystery solved for me! I have tried and tried over the years to grow vegetables from seed, with little success. I have carefully planned out spacing, depth and design, planning for taller plants in the back, and shorter plants in the front. I have carefully prepared the soil with organic fertilizers, my own compost and worm tea, figured out companion plantings, etc. I have carefully watered to keep the seeds moist and at the same time not blast them with any streams of water.

I could not figure out where I was failing, but finally, I found the culprit - birds!! These cute little birds were visiting my pots and garden beds with fresh warm soil ripe for scratching, dirt baths and maybe even finding a worm or two. Great for them, but not for me. I recently purchased this black netting and draped it over my pots and voila! I have a bounty of winter vegetables springing up!

I love these organic seeds from Botanical Interests, and now I know I can get them to grow!

+Botanical Interests, Inc

@ebstoneorganics

#birdnetting #organicgardening #organicseeds #wintervegetables

Trail Etiquette

Had a lovely hike on a clear blustery, chilly (for California) Christmas and was thinking about writing on trail etiquette, but LNT does a great summary. Bikers yield to everyone, hikers yield to horses, and downhill yields to uphill, but there are some considerate exceptions in this article. Leave No Trace Trail Etiquette 101 And I would add that around here there are a lot of mountain bikers that have a ton of fun on the trails and I love it when they hang bells on their bikes so others can hear them coming! And of course it never hurts to be considerate and not expect that everyone will know the rules.
#trailetiquette
#mountainbiking
#hiking
#horsebackriding
#lnt
@leavenotrace

EZ-PZ Compost Bin

Check out this EZ-PZ turning compost bin made by a high school student! You can purchase one for $150. It's currently on display at the Natural History Museum in Los Angeles as part of an exhibit on going green. https://swagcompost.wordpress.com/

Fresh cabbage and cucumber salad

So I'm getting the tail-end of the cabbage (winter vegetable?) from Muir Ranch organic garden CSA and the beginning of the cucumbers (definitely summer vegetable/fruit?). So I dug through my fridge tonight and came up with a fabulous recipe, if I do say so myself.

1 head of green cabbage, sliced and diced into dime sized pieces
2 cucumbers, peeled, sliced and diced
1 jar of marinated artichoke hearts from Trader Joe's, including the juice
5ish jalapeno-stuffed olives from Trader Joe's, diced (add more to taste)
Rice vinegar to taste
Sesame oil to taste
Salt to taste
Divine!

+Trader Joe's
@MuirRanch.org
#eatlocal
#eatseasonal
#organic
#eatwhateveryoufindinthefridge

I love artichokes (aka garlic butter delivery mechanism)

Harvesting seeds from the artichokes I let go to seed last year. I hope it's not too late to start the seeds for this year. Notice the difference between the infertile pieces on the left and the two fully developed seeds in the middle. Be careful if you try this, because you could get the worst splinter ever from something on this plant. I think I still have a little irritating piece in my thumb, but it is all worth it for fresh artichokes.  I learned last year that artichokes do come back from the root left from the previous year and the second year was way more productive for me - possibly because I added worm tea.

To cook artichokes, I cut off the smallest end of the stem I can, and then steam in a large pot with a steamer basket for about 30 minutes (longer for larger artichokes). For the sauce, when I was little we used mustard mixed with mayo, which I absolutely loved, but now I prefer garlic butter. Mince fresh garlic and brown in butter over a medium low heat with a dash or four of salt. Any leftover garlic butter can be refrigerated for future recipes.

To eat artichokes, come over to my house and I'll cook them for you. Or, serve one to each person, or cut in half if they are large. Pull off one leaf at a time, dip in sauce, and use your teeth to scrape off the flesh from the inside of the leaf. Keep doing this until you get to the very center where the leaves are very soft - you can pull these all off at once and nibble off the tender ends. Then comes the best part: scoop out all of the furry center with a spoon until the artichoke heart is smooth and concave, dip in sauce and eat, stem and all!

Using what I've got

Saw this in a book this weekend and decided to try it for breakfast on Sunday. I used from my organic garden: red ruffle bell peppers, one little tomato, a tomatillo and cilantro (basically picked everything clean). The leeks and cabbage were from Muir Ranch and the celery was from Vons. All organic, except maybe the eggs.

So, the way the picture looked in the book was mostly red bell peppers and onions, but since my pepper harvest was not yet bountiful and I had no onions on hand I improvised by adding in the other veggies to fill the pan. I sauteed all of the veggies together in a teaspoon or so of garlic butter I had left from the last time I made artichokes, and then I added in a tablespoon of olive oil and some salt. Once the veggies were soft, I cracked the eggs right on top and it looks absolutely delicious, which it was, but it would have been even better if I had left the eggs just a little runny. I put a lid on at the end to speed up the process and that completely cooked the eggs. I'll try it again and let you know.

@MuirRanch #sustainable #organic #eatlocal