15th February, 2012 - Posted by katherine - No Comments
The Natural Gardener has 2 upcoming classes on organic gardening. These classes are free and sound very informative with excellent speakers. The first is this Saturday and is an intro to organic vegetable gardening, and the second is the following Saturday and covers general organic gardening (not just vegetables). If you’ve never been to the Natural Gardener, it’s a really cool experience if you like gardening at all. Plus if you take a class you get 20% off one item purchased that day. Check them out! Here’s more info from the website:
February 18: Rosina Newton, Horticulturist and Education Coordinator at the Natural Gardener, presents “Organic Vegetable Gardening 101.” Beginning gardeners – or experienced gardeners from other regions of the country – often ask for this class. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn how to create successful vegetable, herb, and flower gardens in Central Texas. Learn site selection, soil preparation and fertilization, planting methods, pest control, and more! Rosina is a 1984 graduate of Texas A&M University in Horticulture and has been assisting customers and serving as horticulturist at the Natural Gardener for over 15 years.
February 25 at NOON: John Dromgoole presents “What it Means to be an Organic Gardener.” John is the founder and owner of The Natural Gardener and Lady Bug Brand, and host of the longest continuously-running organic gardening radio talk show in the nation, Gardening Naturally on KLBJ-AM. He hosts two weekly television segments, Backyard Basics on KLRU’s Central Texas Gardener and The Weekend Gardener on KXAN. John was the host of the first national organic gardening television series, The New Garden, on PBS. For over 29 years John has been answering gardening questions on air; this Saturday John will be live and in person, talking about organic gardening and answering your gardening questions!
14th March, 2011 - Posted by katherine - No Comments
Johnson’s Backyard Garden, an organic garden in Austin, recently started distributing weekly boxes of organic fruits and vegetables at my husband’s work place, so we decided to sign up to get a box for the next 4 weeks (however, when my husband paid for 4 weeks, the people at Johnson’s emailed him and said he would get a 5th week for free.) You can read about my previous experience trying the Greenling box here - Greenling is another local company that distributes boxes of fresh fruits and vegetables in Austin. I think the JBG box is similar in quantity and price to the Greenling box, but at the time I tried out the Greenling box maybe I had too high of expectations and that’s why I didn’t have as good of an experience. Anyway, so far we’re enjoying getting the JBG box (although we’ve only gotten one so far) and we’re not finding it super hard to use up the contents of the box. (I gave up meat and seafood for lent though, so that’s probably making it easier to go through all the fruits and veggies.)
Here’s a pic of the contents of the box (a cost of $32):
It came with 5 or 6 small turnips, probably 15 very sweet carrots, a small bag of lettuce mix, cilantro, parsley, 2 grapefruit, 4 oranges, a small bunch of spinach and rainbow chard, brussel sprouts, and scallions.
The grapefruit was really good. I don’t think I had ever eaten a whole grapefruit before, but I’m trying to be healthier and I don’t want to waste any of the food. It was a messy but delicious experience. I used the cilantro in chicken tikka masala I made for my husband, and then made a couple of Indian side dishes -one with the carrots and one with the turnips. One night we sauteed the spinach and it turned out well. And my husband made this dish with the brussels sprout greens (we still have the actual brussels sprouts left over):
1 bunch brussel sprout greens (or any greens)
2 T butter
salt, pepper, pinch nutmeg
2 T flour
1 c milk
4 oz (about) cream cheese
1 c orzo, uncooked
Cook orzo according to package directions. While it’s cooking, bring about 4 c salted water to a boil. Roughly chop the greens, add to the boiling water, and cook until tender (about 2-4 minutes). Immediately transfer cooked greens to an ice bath to stop the cooking process. When the greens are cool enough to handle, squeeze the water out by hand. Puree greens in a food processor.
Melt butter in a large saucepan (the one used to boil greens, cleaned). Add pureed greens. Sprinkle with flour and stir to keep from sticking. Slowly add milk, stirring the entire time. This should leave a thick green mixture. Add cream cheese and stir over low heat until melted. Add orzo. Top with bacon crumbs or Parmesan.
It looks a little funny but it was good!
One really nice thing about JBG is their website. My husband found the above recipe on their website – prior to this we didn’t know that brussels sprouts had greens or that you could eat them, but here was a recipe that made use of the greens. Plus every Tuesday they post a picture of what will be included in your box (pretty accurate quantity depiction of what you will get) which is very very helpful, and you can click on each item in the box you are going to get and find tips on how to wash/prepare/store that item and how to cook it. It’s a very well designed website
2nd July, 2010 - Posted by carsi - No Comments
photo credit
I eat at Little City pretty frequently because it’s conveniently located within walking distance of where I work but also because the food is really tasty. They have several vegetarian options that aren’t too expensive and are great for a quick, light lunch. Also, they use organic greens in a lot of the salads and sandwiches, and their coffee is fair trade. When I go, I usually do the combo, which is a half sandwich and half salad with a drink and chips and salsa, all for $6.95. Not bad. I like the Mediterranean Veggie sandwich: tomato, cucumber, bell pepper, olives, hummus, and sprouts on wheat bread. It’s surprisingly filling and the bread always tastes really fresh. The salsa is spicy and flavorful, so that’s a nice little addition. I’ve also had the Raspberry Pepper Salad, which combines greens, dark chocolate, strawberries, and blue cheese for a really interesting flavor. My one complaint with the salad is that even the large size doesn’t feel like a completely full meal. It’s satisfying, but it typically leaves me hungry a few hours later. The same is true for the Avocado on the Half Shell–a whole avocado stuffed with tomato, red onion, chili powder, and cilantro, drizzled with hot sauce and citrus. It’s really good, but not one of their more substantial items. Several of my friends have ordered the Poet’s Plate, which offers seasonal fresh fruit and vegetables, hummus, olives, pesto, havarti cheese, blue cheese, and fresh bread. While I haven’t ordered it myself, it looks like a good amount of food and seems to be one of the more popular items on the menu. I also enjoy the place itself–there’s usually interesting art on the walls inside and there are spaces to sit outside and watch people pass by on Congress. Overall, it’s a really nice, local establishment near a lot of downtown offices, and it’s nice to have a veggie- and organic-friendly option for weekday lunches or coffee breaks.
1st July, 2010 - Posted by carsi - No Comments
Have you ever found yourself standing in Whole Foods trying to figure out what shampoo to buy? Or ever wondered what the labels meant when soaps are labeled as organic but they don’t have that reassuring USDA Organic sticker? That’s because, as of now, the USDA doesn’t regulate organic personal care products the way it does food. Whole Foods is planning to help out in that area by requiring all personal care items in their store, such as shampoo and soap, to meet the same federal USDA organic requirements that are imposed on food. This means that a product labeled “organic” must be made from at least 95% organic ingredients and products labeled as “made with organic ingredients” must have at least 70% organic ingredients. This is very helpful to the consumer, because, like me, I’m sure many people have felt like companies can be deceitful in the way they advertise natural products. The requirements will start next June, and many are saying that this will lead a change in the organic personal care product market. Check out the Statesman article for more info.
photo credit
7th May, 2010 - Posted by carsi - No Comments
A new report by the President’s Cancer Panel suggests that reducing your exposure to chemicals in the environment will decrease your cancer risk. Specifically, the panel recommends eating organic food, microwaving food in glass containers, and filtering water. This shouldn’t come as a surprise to advocates of organic food who have argued for years that the chemicals in pesticides used on produce have negative effects on our bodies, but it’s nice to see a mainstream and distinguished panel recognize this important (and scary) fact. The panel itself is made up of distinguished doctors, appointed by former President George W. Bush, who report to the President directly about America’s cancer policies. From the NYT:
The report blames weak laws, lax enforcement and fragmented authority, as well as the existing regulatory presumption that chemicals are safe unless strong evidence emerges to the contrary.
“Only a few hundred of the more than 80,000 chemicals in use in the United States have been tested for safety,” the report says. It adds: “Many known or suspected carcinogens are completely unregulated.”
The study urges more regulation of these environmental pollutants.
