Pipe Dreams in the Garden

Author: Vinay Magadi

"I am a resident of Bangalore. I graduated from Christ College, Bangalore (now Christ University) in 1989 with botany and zoology as my subjects.

In my childhood, we had a huge garden and all that we wanted, we grew in the garden. I had to shift to terrace gardening due to lack of space in our current residence.

I have grown a wide variety of vegetables like Maize, Kidney beans, ChowChow, Bush beans, Purple beans, Tomatoes, Cherry tomatoes, brinjals of different varieties, various greens, amorphophallus, Okra etc. in the terrace successfully."

Today I can say that with my pipe garden I can grow 14-22 vegetable plants in a footprint of 1 square foot.

You can read more and see more photographs at the links. I am going to try this for Strawberries. 

Edible Cities

Edible Cities is a new book about gardening in unusual urban spaces. New to me that is. It is out in a paperback edition.

You can have fresh Herbs, Fruits and Vegetables without pesticides and with fabulous flavor. You can have them if the only space you have to garden is a sunny window, a wall, a balcony or an abandoned building next door.

Trust me, your own homegrown Oregano will have a flavor that is intoxicating. Fresh or dried, your Oregano will surpass any dusty commercial pulverized Oregano you can buy in the supermarkets. I thought I did not like Oregano.

Did you know that it is easy to grow Mushrooms at home? Oh the possibilities are many and fascinating.

Inside the book you will find:

• Principles of permaculture
• Worldwide examples of urban gardening projects
• Ideas for flats and balconies
• Green roofs
• Vertical gardening and urban beekeeping
• Guerrilla gardening and successful community projects
• Illustrated practical techniques with clear instructions

Scorzonera

A few plants that will grow in a sunny window:

Watercress (Nasturtium officinale)

Mustard cress (Lepidium sativum)
Swiss chard (Beta vulgaris ssp. vulgaris)
New Zealand spinach (Tetragonia tetragonoides)

Parsley (Petroselinium crispum)

Peppermint (Mentha piperita)

Lettuce (Lactuca sative)

Scorzonera (Scorzonera hispanica)

Art from Broken Things

I collect vintage China, Serving Pieces and Kitchen Tools. I have chipped plates that have lovely 1935 borders. I have been historically unable to part with them. Now I see my hoarding and the condition of my basement is not entirely insane. A link to the artist's website can be found below:

http://www.mussimosaics.co.uk/information.php

What a bunch of PLARN!

PLARN is yarn made from the plastic bags we are all inundated with. I am green. I carry a cloth shopping bag. No matter what I do, I get plastic bags. Everything seems wrapped in plastic.

There is a way to put those bags to use and out of the landfill and out of the Ocean. Make them into yarn and crochet them into utility. 

Just google "PLARN" and lots of articles and photographs and videos about this new FREE yarn turn up. Some folks are making sleeping mats for the homeless. Some folks are making flowers and shopping bags and good looking rugs.

Neighborhood Infusions - Fallen Fruit Park Update

UPDATE: I did more research about Fallen Fruit artists cooperative. I think the ongoing INFUSIONS project is fascinating. These projects are a new frontier for this Community Artist.

An ongoing project by Fallen Fruit, in collaboration with Greenbar collective in which we pick the fruit we find on a certain street or locale, infuse it in vodka, and name it for the neighborhood.  We’re interested in the essence of that place, to think about its unique qualities but also look at it as a template for creating more livable and individualized neighborhoods. The question Neighborhood Infusions asks is tinged with irony: can you capture the essence of a place in a bottle?  The work is served off the wall by docents (rather than bartenders), who take time to interpret its implications for those interested in consuming it.

I found the City Farmer News website. It seems to be The Blog about urban farming. Those with an interest must go there. I found this new work of art there - a Fruit Park. I have been envisioning turning the many pocket parks in Philadelphia into mini fruit farms. I cheered when I saw that I am not alone in my thinking, planning, plotting ...

Grand Opening On Saturday, January 5, 2013 At Del Aire Park

Press Release
Dec 26, 2012

The trees were planted with the support of the Los Angeles County Arts Commission Civic Art Program and the guidance of Fallen Fruit, an artists’ collaborative founded by David Burns, Matias Viegener and Austin Young, whose mission is to unite communities through the creation of sustainable public art projects. Del Aire residents planted 27 fruit trees, eight grape vines, more than 60 trees were given away to neighbors. Once the trees bear fruit, all park visitors will be encouraged to pick from the new edible landscape at harvest time. Within three years, the trees are expected to be completely sustainable and drought tolerant.

The Fruit Park, which was funded through a creative use of county civic art dollars, is part of a lTarger plan by Chairman Ridley-Thomas to see community gardens planted in every unincorporated area in the Second District. So far, new gardens have been established in Florence-Firestone and Lennox, and locations and funding have been identified for gardens planned for Willowbrook, Athens and Baldwin Hills.

Ms. Sadie Dell's Chicken Curry to Make at Home

I think of Sadie Dell's Chicken Curry as British Soul Food. Take Out Indian food is as common in London as Take Out Fish and Chips. This is a delicious easy Curry. I give it to you as Sadie Dell wrote it.

Curried Chicken to Make at Home

1/2 cup unbleached all purpose Flour

Salt and Pepper

3 boneless whole Chicken breasts halved

5 tablespoons unsalted Butter

1 medium Onion

2 cloves Garlic

2 Red Peppers, seeded and diced

3 tablespoons best quality Curry Powder

1 can stewed Tomatoes

1 can Coconut Milk

a dash of Tabasco Sauce

a dash of Worcestershire Sauce

1/2 cup Currants or Raisins

Gather up all the ingredients and preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Finely chop the Onion and mince the Garlic cloves. Seed and dice the Red Peppers.

Season the Flour with Salt and Pepper and lightly coat Chicken with the mixture. Heat 3 tablespoons Butter in a skillet over medium heat, add chicken and lightly brown on all sides. Remove the chicken. 

Add the remaining 2 tablespoons Butter to the skillet and melt over medium heat. Add Onion, Garlic and Peppers and saute, stirring frequently until the Veggies are soft (5 to 7 minutes). Stir in the Curry Powder and cook 2 minutes longer. 

Place Veggies and Chicken in a casserole dish. Combine the Coconut Milk with Tabasco and Worcestershire Sauces, Currants and stewed Tomatoes. Add the Coconut Milk mixture to the Chicken and Veggies. Bake for 30 minutes.

Aunt Lola's Meatloaf

Years ago, Dear Abby published a Meat Loaf recipe that she billed as "the best."  Aunt Lola has got her recipe beat 9 ways to Sunday dinner. The secret is the topping. Try this recipe. It is simple and delicious. And you do not have to buy that expensive too salty onion soup mix to get flavor. 

Aunt Lola Lease's Meatloaf

Ingredients:

2/3 cup Bread Crumbs

1 cup liquid (milk, stock, or water)

1 and 1/2 pounds Ground Beef

1/4 cup chopped Onion

2 Eggs, beaten

1 teaspoon Salt

Topping Ingredients:

6 tablespoons Brown Sugar

2 teaspoons Dry Mustard

1/2 cup Catsup

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Beat the Eggs and then add the Liquid, Salt, Onions and Bread Crumbs. Mix a bit. Add the Meat. Mix again. Form into a loaf. Mix topping ingredients and spread over the meat. Bake for 45 minutes.

Note: I never make this with Milk. I use Stock or Water. I reduce the Brown Sugar to half. For best results mince onions finely.

Children like this a lot. And it slices well for Meat Loaf Sandwiches. Sure, you can add all sorts of embellishments like minced Green Pepper or a little Worcestershire Sauce in the Topping but why gild a Lily? 

Ms. Sadie Dell's English Pickled Red Cabbage

Click Me!

"We always had a jar of Pickled Red Cabbage to go with any meat at a meal sitting on the dining room table. Makes 3 one pound jars.

Red Cabbage Pickle

1 large Red Cabbage

Salt

2 1/2 cups Vinegar

1 tablespoon Pickling Spice

2 teaspoons Dry Mustard Powder

Quarter the Cabbage and rinse. Cut out the thick centre stalk. Shred the Cabbage finely, place in a very large flat dish and sprinkle with Salt. Leave to stand in a cool place for at least 24 hours. Drain the Cabbage in a colander thoroughly, then pack it into clean jars. Boil the Vinegar, Spice and Mustard for 5 minutes, then leave until cold and remove the Spices. Pour over the Cabbage in the jars and seal or cover." - Sadie the Brit. 

Editor's Note: Sadie the Brit has her own LABEL. Look in the LABELS in the left margin to find more of her recipes. I think you could add a tablespoon of Mustard Seed instead of the Dry Mustard Powder.
COMING SOON: Sadie's Almond Cake, Chicken Curry and English Cottage Pie. Stay tuned.

Wild Garden Art

"Gardening is not a rational act. What matters is the immersion of the hands in the earth, that ancient ceremony of which the Pope kissing the tarmac is merely a pallid vestigial remnant. In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt." - Margaret Atwood

I am Italian. I love formal gardens like the gardens of the Villa d'Este. I saw many formal gardens in Europe. They are lovely, grand, spacious and orderly. I look at them long and long.

I love to walk through a formal garden. I would not want to live and garden in one. All that order and grandeur would then make me uncomfortable. At home, I like a little more whimsey and disorder.

In my own garden, I am far from formal and orderly. I thought I would share some wild, funny, creative garden art with you. Maybe one of these ideas will spark some crazy garden art plans in you.

Think color. Think found materials. Be bold and silly. Please yourself.

"Doesn't matter what you do, or how you do it, your neighbors are gonna talk about you anyway." - Felder Rushing

F. Scott Fitzgerald Talks Turkey

I found this in Fitzgerald’s 1945 collection of essays, notebook excerpts, and letters, The Crack-Up

TURKEY REMAINS AND HOW TO INTER THEM WITH NUMEROUS SCARCE RECIPES

At this post holiday season, the refrigerators of the nation are overstuffed with large masses of turkey, the sight of which is calculated to give an adult an attack of dizziness. It seems, therefore, an appropriate time to give the owners the benefit of my experience as an old gourmet, in using this surplus material. Some of the recipes have been in my family for generations. (This usually occurs when rigor mortis sets in.) They were collected over years, from old cook books, yellowed diaries of the Pilgrim Fathers, mail order catalogues, golf-bags and trash cans. Not one but has been tried and proven — there are headstones all over America to testify to the fact.

Very well then. Here goes:

Turkey Cocktail: To one large turkey add one gallon of vermouth and a demijohn of angostura bitters. Shake.

Turkey à la Francais: Take a large ripe turkey, prepare as for basting and stuff with old watches and chains and monkey meat. Proceed as with cottage pudding.

Turkey and Water: Take one turkey and one pan of water. Heat the latter to the boiling point and then put in the refrigerator. When it has jelled, drown the turkey in it. Eat. In preparing this recipe it is best to have a few ham sandwiches around in case things go wrong.

Turkey Mongole: Take three butts of salami and a large turkey skeleton, from which the feathers and natural stuffing have been removed. Lay them out on the table and call up some Mongole in the neighborhood to tell you how to proceed from there.

Turkey Mousse: Seed a large prone turkey, being careful to remove the bones, flesh, fins, gravy, etc. Blow up with a bicycle pump. Mount in becoming style and hang in the front hall.

Stolen Turkey: Walk quickly from the market, and, if accosted, remark with a laugh that it had just flown into your arms and you hadn’t noticed it. Then drop the turkey with the white of one egg—well, anyhow, beat it.

Turkey à la Crême: Prepare the crême a day in advance. Deluge the turkey with it and cook for six days over a blast furnace. Wrap in fly paper and serve.

Turkey Hash: This is the delight of all connoisseurs of the holiday beast, but few understand how really to prepare it. Like a lobster, it must be plunged alive into boiling water, until it becomes bright red or purple or something, and then before the color fades, placed quickly in a washing machine and allowed to stew in its own gore as it is whirled around. Only then is it ready for hash. To hash, take a large sharp tool like a nail-file or, if none is handy, a bayonet will serve the purpose—and then get at it! Hash it well! Bind the remains with dental floss and serve.

Feathered Turkey: To prepare this, a turkey is necessary and a one pounder cannon to compel anyone to eat it. Broil the feathers and stuff with sage-brush, old clothes, almost anything you can dig up. Then sit down and simmer. The feathers are to be eaten like artichokes (and this is not to be confused with the old Roman custom of tickling the throat.)

Turkey à la Maryland: Take a plump turkey to a barber’s and have him shaved, or if a female bird, given a facial and a water wave. Then, before killing him, stuff with old newspapers and put him to roost. He can then be served hot or raw, usually with a thick gravy of mineral oil and rubbing alcohol. (Note: This recipe was given me by an old black mammy.)

Turkey Remnant: This is one of the most useful recipes for, though not, “chic,” it tells what to do with the turkey after the holiday, and how to extract the most value from it. Take the remnants, or, if they have been consumed, take the various plates on which the turkey or its parts have rested and stew them for two hours in milk of magnesia. Stuff with moth-balls.

Turkey with Whiskey Sauce: This recipe is for a party of four. Obtain a gallon of whiskey, and allow it to age for several hours. Then serve, allowing one quart for each guest. The next day the turkey should be added, little by little, constantly stirring and basting.

For Weddings or Funerals: Obtain a gross of small white boxes such as are used for bride’s cake. Cut the turkey into small squares, roast, stuff, kill, boil, bake and allow to skewer. Now we are ready to begin. Fill each box with a quantity of soup stock and pile in a handy place. As the liquid elapses, the prepared turkey is added until the guests arrive. The boxes delicately tied with white ribbons are then placed in the handbags of the ladies, or in the men’s side pockets.

There I guess that’s enough turkey talk. I hope I’ll never see or hear of another until—well, until next year..

What's Cooking Uncle Sam? - Treasure Trove of Vintage Food Posters

I found this glorious WEBSITE for Foodys and those who appreciate graphic arts, history and political posters. I tell you, there are treasures there. Just hit the Preview buttons and enjoy.

"Food. We love it, fear it, and obsess about it.

We demand that our Government ensure that it is safe, cheap, and abundant. In response, Government has been a factor in the production, regulation, research, innovation, and economics of our food supply. It has also attempted, with varying success, to change the eating habits of Americans.

From the farm to the dinner table, explore the records of the National Archives that trace the Government’s effect on what Americans eat."

Antibiotics in Our Food

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“If we are not careful, we will soon be in a post-antibiotic era,” Dr. Tom Frieden, the CDC’s director, said in a media briefing. “And for some patients and for some microbes, we are already there.”

Some very bad bacteria have developed resistance to antibiotics. The Center for Disease Control has released a new report  Antibiotic Resistance Threats in the United States 2013.

A number of these antibiotic resistant bacteria result in food borne illnesses. Antibiotic use in food animals can result in resistant bacteria, Campylobacter for example, that can spread to humans through the food we eat. Remember what Mom told you: Wash your hands!

The CDC warns us:

The use of antibiotics is the single most important factor leading to antibiotic resistance around the world . Antibiotics are among the most commonly prescribed drugs used in human medicine. However, up to 50% of all the antibiotics prescribed for people are not needed or are not optimally effective as prescribed .

Antibiotics are also commonly used in food animals to prevent, control, and treat disease, and to promote the growth of food-producing animals . The use of antibiotics for promoting growth is not necessary, and the practice should be phased out . Recent guidance from the U .S . Food and Drug Administration (FDA) describes a pathway toward this goal.

It is difficult to directly compare the amount of drugs used in food animals with the amount used in humans, but there is evidence that more antibiotics are used in food production . 

What can you do to help with this serious health concern? The CDC answers many questions HERE. One way, and an increasing popular way to protect yourself and your community from antibiotic resistance, is to become a Vegetarian and/or reduce your consumption of commercially produced meat. The money quotation from the article:

Q: How can I prevent antibiotic-resistant infections?

Only use antibiotics when they are likely to be beneficial

A: By visiting this website, you are taking the first step to reducing your risk of getting antibiotic-resistant infections. It is important to understand that, although they are very useful drugs, antibiotics designed for bacterial infections are not useful for viral infections such as a cold, cough, or the flu. Some useful tips to remember are:

1. Talk with your healthcare provider about antibiotic resistance:
   • Ask whether an antibiotic is likely to be beneficial for your illness
   • Ask what else you can do to feel better sooner
2. Do not take an antibiotic for a viral infection like a cold or the flu.
3. Do not save some of your antibiotic for the next time you get sick. Discard any leftover medication once you have completed your prescribed course of treatment.
4. Take an antibiotic exactly as the healthcare provider tells you. Do not skip doses. Complete the prescribed course of treatment even if you are feeling better. If treatment stops too soon, some bacteria may survive and re-infect.
5. Do not take antibiotics prescribed for someone else. The antibiotic may not be appropriate for your illness. Taking the wrong medicine may delay correct treatment and allow bacteria to multiply.
6. If your healthcare provider determines that you do not have a bacterial infection, ask about ways to help relieve your symptoms. Do not pressure your provider to prescribe an antibiotic.

World Food Day Poster Contest 2013

You can see more World Food Day Posters on their Facebook Page. And you can vote for your favorite young artist there. The posters below are my choices. Maybe you have a young artist at home who would like to enter their work in the contest for 2014? Enjoy.

Small Space Spiral Herb Garden

Spiral Gardens are the new hot idea for small space gardening. You can tuck one of these small gardens into the most unlikely tiny spaces. This technique is particularly suited for growing Herbs. Nothing tastes better than fresh Dill or Basil. 

You can use all sorts of  things to make the spiral from the grand to the mundane. Use bottles, bricks from an old building, river stones. You will get lots of building instructions and information at The Micro Gardener. As is usual for me, I just winged it when I made my spiral garden. Turned out just fine.

These gardens are particularly suited to Herbs. Choose one tall imposing plant like Zucchini for the center. Trust me, no family needs more than one Zucchini. Or maybe one lovely Okra. Do not forget that elevated beds need extra watering to do well.   

Vintage Photographs - Old New York City Restaurants

I have found another fascinating Blog about old New York City entitled Eater.

You can find collections of fabulous vintage photographs there. It has been a very long time since a slice of Pizza cost 25 cents. 

The Blog also provides food industry news, reviews of restaurants and job listings in the local food industry.

You can also find photographs from a time when Coney Island was the happening place to go in New York.

And you can see what passed for Fast Food at the turn of the century.

A Park for Fruit and People

I found the City Farmer News website which covers all aspects of sustainable farming. I have been envisioning turning the many pocket parks in Philadelphia into mini fruit farms, so I was cheered on when I saw that I am not alone in my thinking. I love the idea of a Fruit Park which is at once a source of corporal and spiritual nourishment.

 Grand Opening On Saturday, January 5, 2013 At Del Aire Park

Press Release
Dec 26, 2012

The trees were planted with the support of the Los Angeles County Arts Commission Civic Art Program and the guidance of Fallen Fruit, an artists’ collaborative founded by David Burns, Matias Viegener and Austin Young, whose mission is to unite communities through the creation of sustainable public art projects. Del Aire residents planted 27 fruit trees, eight grape vines, more than 60 trees were given away to neighbors. Once the trees bear fruit, all park visitors will be encouraged to pick from the new edible landscape at harvest time. Within three years, the trees are expected to be completely sustainable and drought tolerant.