The FarmGirls have been busy with vegetable garden classes, DFW Truck Farm events, and preservation classes. We are preparing for our upcoming Christmas and wreath making workshops that we are teaching through Light House for Learning Monday, November 5th and Monday, December 3rd, 2012, we would love for you to join us.
Like many gardeners this season, our leafy vegetables have been plagued with caterpillars in our fall garden. This is an important reminder to walk through the gardens and keep a watchful eye on the plants. We have sprinkled a product, Dipel Dust, on our leafy greens and it contains BT which is non-selective and kills all above ground worms. BT is also found in a liquid product called Thuricide that can also be sprayed on vegetables. This is a biological control and accepted in an organic program.
Our mission is to encourage people to eat local and fresh foods even if that means there might be some holes in the leafy greens but remember, when vegetables are grown on your property you will know the integrity of the vegetables served at your table. Our hope is to provide an opportunity for everyone to learn how to successfully grow their own vegetables.
If life is too busy to grow your own food, you can still be pro-active and meet the local growers at your farmer’s markets. Asking the farmers questions is another way to find out the quality and integrity of the foods you are choosing. Some questions you might ask at the market: What methods are used? Are the vegetables pesticide free? Did you grow the vegetables or are they purchased from another grower?
We find that many gardeners are on a mission to healthier lifestyle. They have planted and grown the finest vegetables but are overwhelmed with the bountiful harvest or perhaps, they want to purchase from the farmer’s market but are perplexed at the vegetables available. What do they do with mustard greens, collards, kale, and Swiss chard?
Recently we invited Chef Lisa Staffelbach, a personal chef and health coach from 24 Carrot Health, to our Grow It * Eat It * Store It vegetable garden class. She prepared the most delicious foods from our garden’s bounty. We have a field of red giant mustard and it has a strong bite. This was not a challenge for good healthy eating as she prepared a beautiful and delicious mustard pie, braised kohlrabi and turnips, and squash noodles. Our personal favorite was the squash noodles. As adventurous as the FarmGirls are, squash noodles were a first for us! This dish had an amazing taste, texture and flavor. The students swore she used butter but we all watched her prepare the recipe and she did it without any butter. Our goal for our students is to learn how to grow foods that do well in North Texas, learn how to prepare and eat the foods, and store the foods for later use throughout the year. We feel that Chef Lisa helped us attain that goal by providing simple and superb recipes in our class.
Eating healthier does require some lifestyle changes, but change can be good. Experimenting with vegetables that grow particularly well in North Central Texas is a lot of fun, are you up for the challenge?
Join the FarmGirls online, on the radio, or in a class to learn more about organic vegetable gardening in North Texas. Tune in every Friday to The FarmGirls Organic Gardening Radio Show on KAAM 770 AM at 1:00 PM, just after your organic lunch. Like us on Facebook at Garden Inspirations as we continue to make friends over the FarmGirls’ garden gate…