Ashtabula Local Food – Ashtabula Local Food

Aug 11th – Ashtabula Grows! Mid-summer garden dreaming

Posted on August 11, 2020 by gallo3000

Maureen demonstrates the bounty of last fall’s garlic planting

Hello, friends!

It is difficult to remember how life was just a year ago. Our world has turned upside down and there has to be a silver lining. Actually, it is pretty exciting to imagine a new future for our community. Now is the time to dream big as we have the opportunity to not restore things to the way they were – but make our world even better!

You may say I am a dreamer…sit with me a minute and imagine…with plenty of evidence that we can reverse heart disease and Alzheimer’s through diet (1, 2), access to more fresh water than almost anywhere in the world, and the largest county in the state with plenty of rich soil with plenty of knowledgeable farmers and tools..can you picture what we can accomplish together? Envision every person eating fresh food, grown here with our own hands, a bountiful table of colorful, and shared in kindness. Eliminating food scarcity and malnutrition while working together toward a common goal. Everyone could win! And, we have the natural resources to make this happen. We have enough and there is enough to share. A perfect opportunity to introduce our topic for tonight’s class – seed saving.

Tonight’s class on seed saving is a piece of building our strength and resilience…join Sarah and John, of Red Beet Row, as they discuss the how to’s of seed saving.

Looking forward to seeing you tonight!

1. “Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease: The revolutionary, scientifically proven, nutrition-based cure.” Caldwell B. Esselstyn Jr, MD.
2. “The Alzheimer’s Solution: A breakthrough program to prevent and reverse the symptoms of congitive decline at every age.” Dean & Ayesha Sherazi, MD. Codirectors of the Brain Health and Alzheimer’s Prevention Program at Loma Linda University Medical Center. 2017.

Missed a class? Last week we had an opportunity to practice our tomato pruning and test our knowledge with Sarah Brower. Click here to view all previous classes.

The new 2020 Local Food Guide is out! Download it from our website or click here https://ashtabulalocalfood.org/local-food-guide/

We look forward to seeing you Tuesday, August 11th at 6pm!

Check out our website at AshtabulaLocalFood.org for class videos, presentations, handouts and the Ashtabula Local Food guide.
Join us for week long discussion, photos, Q&A on fb: AshtabulaGrows: an online community garden
Email us at AshtabulaLocalFood@gmail.com

Maureen teaches her neighbor to braid garlic for a beautifully displayed bounty

Aug 4th – Ashtabula Grows! Tomato pruning and garden tour tonight at 6pm

Posted on August 4, 2020 by gallo3000

So, your summer garden is growing! Perhaps you have been overtaken by the joy and bounty to harvest, prepare and share? The summer garden is filled with life and living food and reminds us what homegrown means – more color, more nutrition and more taste! The ratatouille of tomatoes, egg plant, onions, zucchini, with herbs of rosemary, thyme, oregano, parsley….straight out of a Pixar/Disney movie (but without the mice).

Building community resilience starts at home and if you are growing a garden…you are already doing it! Seed saving and pruning will help make even more of your garden and ensure that it continues to thrive – through the season and into next year. Join us tonight as Sarah Brower returns this week with special guest, Hope Paluga of Yellow House Farm in Jefferson, to walk us through the summer garden, prune some tomatoes, consider which seeds to save and more!

A sneak peak at pruning tomatoes

Missed a class? Last week we had an opportunity to practice our meditation garden with Dia Fleming of The Connection Center. Click here to view all previous classes.

We look forward to seeing you Tuesday, July 28th at 6pm!

July 28th – Ashtabula Grows! The garden meditation

Posted on July 28, 2020 by gallo3000

Today, listen to what the bees have to say

Have you ever been in the middle of gardening, planting, digging or weeding and you stop and notice your thoughts. Perhaps you are thinking about your to-do list, or what happened this morning at the breakfast table or your ears and head are ringing with the latest news update? It is in those moments it really interesting to just stop and take a look around. You may notice the birds singing, the bees buzzing and if you listen really closely, you may even hear the plants breathing. At this time you may even take a deep breath in and notice the smells of the day. Tomato plants and basil are some of the local favorite smells at this time of year. Taking in your garden, with all your senses helps one to be in the moment now. Clearing your mind and focusing on the present are just a few ways we can reconnect with ourselves and our garden. And then you might notice that that is all that matters – it is the moment.

Dia Flemming of Connections Center returns this week to breathe us through a garden meditation! A chance to reconnect with ourselves, with nature and our community.

How gardening can change your attitude

Missed a class? Click here to view all previous classes.

We look forward to seeing you Tuesday, July 28th at 6pm!

July 21st – Ashtabula Grows! OSU extension & Survey

Posted on July 21, 2020July 21, 2020 by gallo3000

What a dynamic week of hot, humid and heavy rains. This is a sure-fire combination to set the stage for a large crop of bush beans, squash, cucumbers, melons and tomatoes. We are so curious what you are harvesting now and what is on its way! We have also been getting out the pickling recipes and freezing some of the bounty already. And tomatoes are just starting to ripen on the vine – no store bought tomato can compare. Oh, life is slightly better knowing there is food growing in the back yard. We have also been having some fun trading crops with neighbors.

George and Maureen have a beautiful crop of garlic they recently harvested and Barbara’s watermelon is growing circles around her small, raised bed of corn, tomatillos and lovage (a perennial plant used like celery with a stronger bite to the tongue). This week Julie shared her purples: cauliflower and figs, Sandy is busy fermenting her cukes and John Werner’s beans and carrots round out the colors for the week!

This Tuesday join us with our special guest from OSU extension, Andrew Holden. Andrew will walk through the many resources at the extension in Jefferson and invites us all to take a closer look at what is going on over there.

Start thinking about your summer planting for a late fall harvest!

Missed a class? Click here to view all previous classes.

Survey of classes and possible potluck dates available here

We look forward to seeing you Tuesday, July 21st at 6pm!

July 14th – Ashtabula Grows! Hugelkultur Beds and Survey

Posted on July 14, 2020July 14, 2020 by gallo3000

Scruff Le Puff surveys the gardens and is on guard for rodents and other tasty treats

Hello, Friends!

How does your garden grow? After the loving rain storm of last week we hope your plants are happy, blooming and productive! Here at the harbor garden, there have been peas-in-the-pod breakfasts, raspberry lunches and summer squash salsa tacos for dinner. We hope you are getting to enjoy the sweet summer sun through the bounty of your garden, too!

We are back on this week with special guests; Mardy Townsend of Windsor to discuss the benefits of Hugelkultur beds and Emily Hall of Medina will be presenting some of the lessons learned in her first year utilizing this dynamic permaculture technique. There has been a lot of excitement around this topic so we hope you will join us!

Missed a class? Click here to view all previous classes.

Survey of classes and possible potluck dates available here

We look forward to seeing you Tuesday, July 14th at 6pm!