Making a yummy dish from what's on hand can be fun.

Cleaning up one planting bed, I pulled up the last two negi (long green onions), and snipped off a chunk of shungiku that was getting too large. And in my kitchen, I had some two-week old gobo, two sato imo (taro) left from my final fall harvest (the other four are starting to bud, so I'll plant those), a handful of Japanese sweet potatoes (satsuma imo), and kombu (kelp).

What did I do with all of these? I made a tasty stew.

When fall and winter comes and you've harvested the last tomatoes left on the plants, but they're all green. What to do?

Try this recipe by Anna Thomas of The New Vegetarian Epicure. Just made and tasted it. Fantastic! And amazingly easy to make. The combination of slightly tart tomatoes with the sweetness of the yams and onions is wonderful!

If you love persimmons and have a lot to eat now - this is a great salad:

INGREDIENTS

2 lbs Fuyu persimmons

juice of 1 lime

1/2 tsp. ground cumin

1/2 serrano chile, seeded and minced

salt

1 T. walnut oil (or good olive oil)

1/4 cup pomegranate seeds (about 1/4 pomegranate)

3 T. chopped walnuts, toasted (in a dry iron skillet)

2 T. chopped cilantro

DIRECTIONS

1. Cut off the calyxes on the tops of the persimmons, and trim any portions with aphids (yuck).  Slice each persimmon into 10 to 12 wedges.
   
   
2. In a small jar with lid, combine lime juice, cumin, half the chile, dash of salt, walnut/olive oil.  Tighten lid and shake to mix well. 
   
   
3. Combine the persimmons, dressing in a work bowl, toss lightly to coat well.  Slice narrowly crisp romaine lettuce (or combination of romaine and arugula) to make a slight bed in the bottom of a pretty serving bowl.  Add the persimmons on top, sprinkle remaining serrano minces, pomegranate seeds, walnut pieces and cilantro.  At the table, toss with salad spoon and fork just before serving.

Beautiful and delicious! 

Note: persimmons soak up dressing pretty quickly, so add the dressing and toss just before serving --after people are seated and ready to eat. 

Serves 8.

Saturday, September 28

UCLA students volunteered their time to the LAGG's Teaching Garden. Led by LAGG volunteers Beth, Shalimar, Naba, and Steven,  the students mulched the berm, path and orchards, saved seeds, rebuilt planting beds, cleaned up trash, translated a sage and a desert plant, and watered the garden.  Thank you for UCLA's Ashley for reaching out to LAGG and coordinating the volunteer day.

More pictures will be posted shortly and linked from here.

We had a swell dig-in renovation May 19, 2019.

Linda and Naba worked really hard clearing out some of L.A.'s most persistent, annoying weed (Bermuda grass) from the south yard, while Maggie had worked over the last week on clearing the north yard. Results were fine when we left - with fig tree pruned, tomatoes, peppers, kohlrabi, beets, black kale, garlic, thyme and parsley, rhubarb planted in pretty fluffy beds freshly-laden with good compost (city source and free).

Maggie made a great tasting lentil soup and I brought steamed fava beans from the LAGG teaching garden. Maggie said, "Thanks to the amazing Green Grounds team that came again to help transform that Bermuda grass lawn to a food garden!"

NOTE:  Maggie & John's garden was first built by LA Green Grounds in 2012.  The garden across the street a few years later, still has a beautiful pomegranate tree, an enormous artichoke with many buds, both in the parkway, and a corner of the lawn devoted to kale and mustard greens.

Photos from the May 2019 Gardening Class held at the LA Green Grounds Teaching Garden.

Photos from Spring harvest from one of a January 2015 LAGG's dig-in home in Pico-Union district of LA!  Nice to see the kids and garden are still thriving! 

The peas grew well on the netting set up. The kids helped prepare a tasty stir-fry dinner, and made a salad. The composted the scraps!

They are ready to plant a summer garden.

They also included photos from their Easter in the park event - got to do a puppet show in two parks!

See more pictures here!

The pine basket workshop was a fine success! Everyone very engaged and having a good time. Weather perfect (a bit overcast), cool and comfortable. The group, sitting around the table reminded me of a congenial sewing circle of old. And Elijah, the 8 year old boy who lives in the nearby apartment came and became part of the circle. 

One of the participants said working on the basket was like meditation.

A member of the class, Cathy, volunteered to stick around and help me weed the garden. Turns out she's very interested in gardening and food preparation.

Back in late March, Florence Nishida, Founder of LAGG and Master Gardener, had a nice email exchange from a fellow-gardener from Spain:

"I have my own 2.5 acre garden in Alicante, Spain which has pretty much the same climate as Southern California. I accidentally found your website and thought it would be great to get in touch. I am far away but knowledge sharing over the Internet is possible. In my garden I have the full range of citrus trees, fig, pomegranate and many more and 100% bio gardening, strictly no pesticides and using advanced computer aided irrigation system. Also If some of your members travel to Alicante, Spain they are more than welcomed for a visit my garden. Kind regards. Zsolt"

"Thanks for reaching out to us.  Always nice to find a kindred spirit.  

"Our current focus is on our teaching garden.  Our little orchard consists of Guava, Pineapple guava, Meyer Lemon, Loquat, Fig, Pomegranate trees bordered with lavender with a large bed of artichokes on one end.  Along the street side, by the pavement are planted California native plants - drought resistant, pollinator attracting.  I've also planted native sages - recently the migrating Painted Lady butterflies have landed on them (they are flying from the California desert in the south to the northern states of Oregon and Washington).

"The other day, I found an edible mushroom in the garden. The woody mulch that we spread on the garden paths has encouraged occasional mushrooms.

"Have you grown the Japanese Purple Mustard?  I'm sending a photo.  Beautiful plant, grows through spring and summer, has a very zesty, hot taste when raw (good for sandwiches and salad), but mild in a stir-fry dish.  

"Have a good growing season!
Florence"