Spring Break: Gardening 101

Monday, March 14, 2011
I LOVE Spring Break! A week away from work and it feels like I might catch up on a few outstanding projects.... Yeah right! Really just a chance to be lazy!!

I have wanted to plan a garden for years but never wanted to put in the work to get it done. I decided to stay in Phoenix for S. B. so it was time to 'Just Do It'! The weather is perfect in March and no one was visiting this year so I definitely had the time. Some time back in January, I asked Jeff a few questions about his garden from last year. He was very excited to talk about it and was planning to plant again the week of Spring Break. We even arranged to share the cost of the rototiller rental since he did not need it for the full time and we could take care of my plot as well.

I bought 3 bags of organic potting soil at Whole Foods over the weekend. But I had work to do! I was only using a portion of my backyard for my small garden plot, a little cut-out between the back of the garage and the south block wall. I have desert landscaping so the backyard was all rocks! I started around 10:00 A.M. with tunes and water. I made sure to start in the shaded section and shoveled rocks to another corner of the south wall for 2.5 hours. Man, my arms and back hurt at 1:00 when Geyer called to start the rototilling! There were still errant rocks in the corners and I knew I would try to hurt him if he told me those had to be moved too! We picked up the rototiller at his co-worker's house (did I mention that we got it for FREE?), stopped by Big Lots for more potting soil and headed to the Geyers. Jeff dragged all the bags to his backyard and we spread 4 bags over his plot. He started the rototiller and I picked up old plastic twist ties while I watched how he moved across the rows. We were at his house less than 45 minutes, I believe. We put the rototiller back in his truck and drove to my house. Then it was my turn to move some dirt! I was a little nervous after hauling rocks for hours. We spread the potting soil over the tiny plot and I got to diggin'. It was harder than I imagined and part of the problem was that we kept finding rocks and concrete pieces from the original build 8 years ago. I went over a few times and I think Geyer took pity on me and worked a few rows. Then Jeff had a great idea to use my compost pile and mix it into the freshly turned soil! Boy, did everything smell earthy after that!!

Jeff cleaned the rototiller, back into the truck it went and we returned the rototiller to his co-worker. Then we drove to Baker's Nursery. Just as I was determined to plant an organic garden, Jeff was determined to support a local nursery! I was hopeful that they would carry organic plants and seeds and they did! We looked around, Jeff went on and on and on about tomato plants, and I got to shopping. For starter plants, I bought 4 kinds of peppers (banana, green 'better belle', purple beauty, Thai hot), 3 zucchini squash, 2 tomato, and 1 each of basil, cucumber and parsley. For seeds, I bought carrot, celery, cilantro, green onions, lettuce (mixed greens), sugar snap peas and tomato. Jeff suggested that I let the plants settle in my house overnight, rake the fresh dirt (had to buy a rake at Home Depot!) to even it out and water it that night.

I hiked the next morning so I planted late morning. I read the seed packages, realized that I needed to soak the sugar snap peas overnight so those would have to be planted later, and placed seeds in the south end of the plot as they needed less sun and the starter plants could handle full sun in the north end. Check out the picture of the garden below (minus the sugar snap peas)!I am so curious what the Purple Beauty Bell Pepper will look and taste like? Yummy for sure!

Next task...
sun shade!! :)

Homemade Organic Granola Bars

Making more food! I found this recipe, posted in 2006, on the AllRecipes website. I made the granola bars last night and they are super yummy. Be prepared to get your hands really sticky! I enjoyed licking my fingers after pressing mixture into the pan. YUM!! Next time I will use less brown sugar and honey. The bars were a little too sweet. The recipe makes 24 bars (approx 1 ounce). Amount Per Serving: Calories: 161, Fat: 5.5g, Cholesterol: 9mg. ENJOY!!!

Ingredients:

2 cups organic rolled oats

3/4 cup packed organic brown sugar

1/2 cup organic wheat germ [I used 1/4 cup each: ground flax seed & wheat germ]

3/4 teaspoon organic ground cinnamon

1 cup organic spelt flour

3/4 cup organic raisins (optional) [I used 1/4 cup each: shredded coconut, cranberries, raisins]

3/4 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 cup organic or local honey

1 organic egg, beaten

1/2 cup organic vegetable oil (I substituted canola)

2 teaspoons organic vanilla extract

1/4 cup chopped organic almonds and walnuts [I added the nuts]

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9x13 inch baking pan.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the oats, brown sugar, wheat germ, cinnamon, flour, raisins and salt. Make a well in the center, and pour in the honey, egg, oil and vanilla. Mix well using your hands. Pat the mixture evenly into the prepared pan.
3. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes in the preheated oven, until the bars begin to turn golden at the edges. Cool for 5 minutes, then cut into bars while still warm. Do not allow the bars to cool completely before cutting or they will be too hard to cut.

Homemade Organic Granola

Well I am trying out this blog thing so I decided to write about my other favorite topic besides running...FOOD! For much of the last year, I have been exploring more ways to make my food...to add what I want and leave out ingredients (salt, sugar, long/unpronounceable words) often found in commercially processed foods as well as reduce packaging. Admittedly homemade food takes longer to make but it tastes super yummy and usually costs less than store packages. So I finally gathered all the ingredients and set aside the time to make granola in my crock pot. I found several websites/blogs that included homemade granola recipes so I hobbled it together from several lists . First, I ground the flax seeds (1/4 c.) in food processor because it takes "forever" and any seeds I missed would get ground some more in next step. Then I ground 2 of the 5 cups of rolled oats. I chopped up the almonds and switched the pumpkin and sunflower seeds for walnuts. I added twice the amount of butter and honey as suggested and added a touch (maybe a few more!) of maple syrup. After that I added unsweetened shredded coconut, dried cranberries and raisins. I turned on the crockpot and stirred the ingredients every 30 minutes or so (or when I smelled the granola - "the sign"). I forgot a few times during the 3.5 hours so I burned some parts which another blogger called 'Toasty' when she burnt her batch! I put my "toasty" granola on parchment paper to cool and 30 minutes later, I scooped 5 cups into a Ziploc freezer bag and 1 cup into a glass jar for easy access on the counter. It was toasty and tasty when I mixed it with low-fat yogurt (made in my crock pot!) and local AZ honey for a yummy snack this afternoon. Next time I make it (hopefully in 2011 if 5 cups lasts for awhile) I will add the dried fruit during the last hour because they expanded to Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade float size after 3 hours of cooking on HIGH! My next foodie adventure....homemade granola bars! :D