This wind and brush of snow in early April makes us pine for those flowers in the photo above. You can still have your fresh greens and root veggies while you wait for the planting season. Eat green and fresh and get your body sensibly ready for the upcoming summer activities.
THIS WEEK @ Cafe Bocado Farmers Market
Lodestar Gardens will offer GREENS and ROOT Vegetables
(lettuces, kales, spinach, Swiss Chard, turnips, Asian greens, baby beets and carrots)
Bowls & cups created by RA, Lodestar Gardens Ceramic Studio Instructor.
We will also offer Kestrel Koffee freshly roasted organic, fair-trade coffee from Kevin The Koffee Guy.
Kathleen’s BEE Flags help support the Lodestar Gardens Grassroots Mini Co-Op, and they beckon bees to your garden with new spring colors.
Making summer plans? Thinking about getting into shape inside and out?
This month we feature recipes for dark, leafy greens. If you haven’t encountered Sally Fallon’s Nourishing Traditions: The Book That Challenges Correct Nutrition & the DIet Dictocrats, then let us introduce some simple nutritious excerpts:
“Kale is one of several dark, leafy vegetables of the cabbage family, related to collards and mustard greens All of these greens provide calcium, iron, and carotenoids in abundance, as well as many anticancer factors. Kales and related greens should always be eaten cooked–but not overcooked–so that the oxalic acid they contain is neutralized. Make an effort to buy organically grown kale. Dark green leafy vegetables grown in nitrogen fertilized soils tend to concentrate nitrites, compounds that are transformed into carcinogenic nitrates and nitrosamines in the intestine” (Fallon 389).
A Simple Kale Preparation:
Remove stems, wash well in filtered water, tear into pieces and place in a large covered pot. Place over a medium flame. When kale begins to simmer, reduce heat. Simmer about 8 minutes until leaves are wilted. Transfer to a strainer or colander and squeeze out liquid. Chop coarsely, place in a heated serving dish & toss with a generous pat of butter (Sally says YES! to butter 🙂
Lodestar Gardens Customers’ Farm Tour and Harvest event was awesome!
On Sunday, March 30, twenty Lodestar Gardens customers braved the winds and took a tour of Lodestar Gardens and Learning Center. The event was hosted by members of the Lodestar Gardens Mini Grassroots Co-Op who grew the food in the Lodestar high tunnel. Customers filled baskets with our winter produce. The Co-Op is preparing to plant seeds and transplant starts for the spring season. To learn more about the Lodestar Co-Op, check out our Projects on our lodestargardens.com site.
Ducks & fish help fertilize produce grown in the greenhouses
Co-Op members assist customers on harvest techniques.
Blooming Blue-Green Algae for plant nutrients.
Families enjoy the tour–never too young to know your food.
LSG Co-Op members want to thank all of you who came out, learned more about your food, and supported the Co-Op with your harvest donations. Thanks to Zach for IMO info and Rachel, Terry, and Catherine for volunteering time in the gardens. Your enthusiasm is very contagious!
Stay Tuned . . . Lodestar Calender & Registration Open April 14, 2014 for local community workshops, farm tours, and residential session for ALL ages. Enrollment limited. For more info: www.lodestargardens.com and Facebook Lodestar Learning Center.
Questions? Call Barbara: (928) 587-1660
Summer Adventures in Art, Ceramics, Literature, Gardening, Small Animal Fun!
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