July 2017 - Feed Me Fresh Food and Garden Blog

Archive for July 2017

A 4 Legged Garden Visitor

Posted by Dr. Susan Rubin

· Friday, July 21st, 2017

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Yesterday we had a 4 legged adventure in the summer camp garden. A large box turtle came to visit. We saw that she was on a mission, so we gave her the space to do her work. We put up a small fence to keep the campers back and give the turtle space.

Using her back legs, she dug a hole and deposited 7 eggs. After that, she pushed soil back into place, you’d never know she was there. We cleared the playground for some time to give her the opportunity to head back into the woods. She wasted no time heading up the hill back to her home.

Her eggs will take anywhere from 45 to 90 days to hatch. We will do our best to protect that space in the garden from predators and preschoolers.

preschool turtle watchers

July Garden Update

Posted by Dr. Susan Rubin

· Sunday, July 16th, 2017

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Preschoolers picking peas

It was a cool wet spring here in Mount Kisco, but summer is finally here. Our sugar snap peas were slower than usual this year and have finally been producing well in the last 2 weeks. But now they are reaching the end of their run as the sun gets hotter and the days are longer. The pea plants are now becoming dried out. This week, we’ll be popping them into the compost bin along with lots of weeds.

Once the peas are out, the cucumber plants are more obvious. We are working to convince them to climb the fence where the peas were. Cucumbers love the heat and will grow fast in the weeks ahead. Cukes are happy to be started by seed directly in the soil. No need to start them ahead of time and transplant, they grow fast and furious when the time and temperature are right. Like they peas, cucumbers produce lots of food. Summer campers will no doubt be eating them off the vine and will make pickle chips with the extras.

Beans are going in the ground after the peas have moved on. We like the Blue Lake variety of bush bean, they are skinny, tender and sweet. Bush beans are easy to grow and don’t need stakes to climb. Little hands can easily plant bean seeds since they are reasonably sized. Its not so easy for small kids to plant lettuces, carrots and kale, whose seeds are so tiny. Beans are a great crop, they are plentiful and can last into the fall months.

Its starting to get a little hot, so the lettuces might bolt soon. Fortunately, there is plenty of kale that can be harvested for salad. If you keep harvesting the outside, bigger leaves, your kale plant will continue to grow for many months. It starts to look like a funky sort of palm tree.

Some plants take a bit longer to harvest. We are working on growing pumpkins and watermelons in new garden beds this year. These plants need plenty of time, heat, sunshine and lots of space to grow.

Carrots are another crop requiring patience. Most take 90 days from seed to harvest. We planted many during the spring. They are quietly growing in many of our garden beds, we’re hoping for a fall harvest. In the meantime, we are harvesting “baby” carrots to make room for the remaining ones to grow bigger.

Kids love to eat what they grow.

Zucchini Cake with Lemon Zest

Posted by Dr. Susan Rubin

· Tuesday, July 11th, 2017

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On a recent rainy Friday, Stacey Ford, our head after school teacher, stumbled upon a delicious zucchini recipe on the internet. With plenty of zucchini from the garden she quickly convinced the kitchen to set up the summer campers with the remaining ingredients.

This recipe has plenty of things for kids to do. Measuring ingredients, shredding zucchini with a box grater, zesting lemons and squeezing lemon juice. The cake was sweet enough that the recommended lemon glaze was not needed.

Today the garden had two more zucchinis, so we whipped up another batch. This recipe is a winner and a great way to use zucchini. We will be incorporating it into our regular Feed Me Fresh cooking curriculum rotation.

Lemon Zucchini Cake

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar

6 T olive oil

2 eggs

1/3 cup milk

2 tablespoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cup shredded zucchini, drained and squeezed dry

2 tablespoons lemon zest

Procedure:

Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl, set aside

In a large bowl, add sugar and oil, whisk to combine.

Add eggs and milk

Add lemon juice and vanilla extract

Add the flour mixture and stir until it is just mixed together. Don’t over mix!

Fold in zucchini and lemon zest.

Pour the batter into a loaf pan that has been prepared with butter and flour.

Bake at 350 for 45 minutes

Note: you can use muffin tins instead, cooking time will be shorter.

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