This delicious dessert was a huge hit at the 8th Teaching Garden Anniversary party!  Marika generously shared her recipe!

INGREDIENTS

• 1 lb. glutenous rice flour (aka sweet rice flour/mochiko)
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 2 cans coconut milk (13.5 fluid oz each)
• 4 oz butter, melted

This is a great “clean out fridge“ dish.

So, use what you have...

INGREDIENT SUGGESTIONS:

• Japanese fish broth (you can substitute with vegetable or chicken stock)
• yard long beans
• cherry tomatoes (you can substitute with regular tomatoes, cut up)
• malabar spinach
• kamaboko
• bits of beef
• leftover corn
• udon noodles
• a dash of soy sauce
• ginger (optional) 
• 1 Tb butter
• 2 tsp honey
• 2 Tb Harissa
• 2 Tb mint

The 2023 Earth Day observance was a big success, lots of fun, and very informative.

Sam brought very personable hens - and again they were a hit with both children and adults. Maybe if more people wore feathers and were slightly peckish, they'd be popular?

Shalimar and Mary (and Naba helping out) were culinary hits -- a dynamic duo who showed everyone how to make really delicious food with vegetables — one of the ways all of us can help the earth by putting less pressure on resources and reduce carbon emissions. If EVERYONE did meatless meals even one day a week – it would make a difference. Shalimar's richly colorful and tasty greens (and orange), including with our garden veggies, was refreshing and fresh-tasting. Mary made an impressive pesto with carrot greens (which impressed all) and lightly candied dried lemon peels. Lots of questions about how to make all these - a sign of true interest. You can find the pesto recipe here.

Denise brought some unusual items to reduce waste and save resources - especially bamboo - which grows and replaces itself quickly - so it's a great renewable resource: bamboo eating utensils, including chopsticks, a straw and a tiny brush to clean it out. All fit into a nearly pocket fitting compact kit. Great to keep in your purse or in the car.

I talked about the value of native plants for supporting the environment, including wildlife (and even people). I brought some samples - placed in vases - to show people they are as beautiful as any fancy rose. Go hiking in the next few weeks - local mountains are filled with these CA native plants - all in bloom, smelling fragrant and announcing Spring.

Grace and Beth grew a variety of seedlings (cilantro, broccoli), and I brought peppers, tomatoes, basil from friend Steve List at Sylmar High School. People were delighted to carry home vegetables/herbs to plant.

Jennifer made and gave away the cutest “earth” seed balls. Can’t wait to drop them before the next rainfall.

At the Good Earth Community Garden/LA Green Ground's Earth Day 2023 event, Mary MacVean gave a demo, "Eating Your Scraps". She explained how you can use parts of vegetables that are often thrown away.

A few people asked that her tasty carrot top pesto recipe be added to our LA Green Grounds website. 

You ask. You get!

At the end of February, garden keepers planted just 6 sprouted potato buds. By The end of March, we had lush green plants. And by the end of May, Florence advised us that it was time to harvest our potatoes.

GROWING HINTS:

• plant potato buds deep
• cover potato buds with mounds of dirt and hay as they grow

In June, the old potato bed was dug up and compost added to plant squash there next. Found a few more potatoes! Good finds!

That was a good place to plant them - and people really took care to water that bed.

HARVEST HINTS:

• Keep the potatoes out of sunlight
• It only takes 15 minutes exposure for that green skin to develop, which is toxic to eat
• Peel off the green part and still eat the potato
• Don't leave potatoes out on the bed to "cure" - you bring them into shade right away

Contributed by Naba, Grace and Florence

A garden in winter. We imagine it to be resting, regrouping for the burst of spring and summer. And for some plants, that does mean something of a retreat. But at LA Green Grounds, there is plenty of flowering beauty in the middle of January. Enjoy.

Kevin picked and shared some of his fabulous mustard greens this week.  I sautéed a bit of bacon and them added some of what I had on hand: mushrooms, squash, and garlic.  I tossed in the greens. Yum! Super delicious. The greens were incredibly delicious. 

- Florence Nishida, Master Gardener and LAGG Founder

1. First, I cut up the kuri and saved the seeds for planting next spring.
2. Then I sautéed the kuri until lightly brown and removed from pan.
3. In same pan, I sautéed the chicken that I had cut into bite-sized pieces.
4. I then tossed the kuri back into the pan, added 1 T miso, small bits of small julienned ginger, leftover green beans (you can also use or chard or spinach), dash of soy sauce, add enoki (or any kind of) mushrooms.
5. Heat and stir all.
6. Serve with rice and a green vegetable.

Hi all good gardeners, cooks, and enthusiastic eaters of fresh produce.

Here's a simple, tasty, EASY stir fry to make. 

I had some pretty old (in fridge over a week) parts of a chicory plant and didn't want to waste it.  And a bit of broccoli (not my favorite brassica).  So starting with sliced or chopped onions, a minced garlic, and oil, I flavored the pan, and then threw in the greens and about 1/4 cup water to steam.  The crowning touch is the mushroom - you can get those at most Asian markets. They're called "shimeji" or "beech" mushrooms. Put them in at the last 2 minutes, so they're nice and chewy. Flavor with oyster sauce, a bit of soy sauce, maybe ginger, and red pepper - mix into your stirred up greens.

ALL greens taste best when freshly harvested or purchased, but if they ended up at the back of your refrigerator, this is a good way to not waste.

- Florence Nishida, Master Gardener

A new item has sprouted up at L.A. Green Grounds. It grows on the inside, needs no water, and with luck will never fail. It’s a library.

The library can be found in a wooden box painted yellow and blue, at the junction of Carmona and Boden avenues. Next time you are near the garden, take a look at what’s on the shelves and take a book that appeals to you. Or, if you have books you’ve read and want to pass on, please leave them in the little library for others.

LAGG has the library thanks to the efforts of Veronica, one of the garden volunteers. She contacted the Downtown L.A. Rotary Club; one of its members had built a library in her neighborhood. Ronnie of the Inglewood Rotary Club donated the free library to L.A. Green Grounds; the chapter built and installed it on Sept. 14.

Since then, many books for all ages have been donated and borrowed.

One of the goals of the service organization is to increase literacy, so the libraries fit right in.