Local Food for the Holidays

If you still have some last minute shopping to do, consider stopping at Three Rivers Market on Central Street. Thanks to their support of local growers, there is an abundant selection of produce, meats and baked goods grown and made by our neighbors in the Tennessee Valley Region. Here are just a few of the items available:

Eggs
If you have not tried a genuine free range farm egg, you are missing out. The market stocks eggs from several local farms. My personal choice is eggs from Circle V Farm in Hancock County. I like them because the carton is stamped with a "sell by" date that is 30 days from the date the eggs were harvested. As a result, you know exactly how old the eggs are. Circle V also packs duck eggs. They are highly valued for baking, as the amount of yolk is greater than a hen's egg of the same size, and they taste absolutely delicious prepared any way you like hen eggs.

Miso
Believe it or not, you can buy organic miso made locally. Check the cold case for the different varieties by "Miso Master." Miso is fermented from soybeans and has a delicious, almost meaty, flavor.

Cheese
Three Rivers Market probably has the best selection of local and regional cheeses around. Check out "Shakerag Blue" from Sequatchie Cove Creamery, or sample one of the exceptional offerings from the legendary Blackberry Farm in Walland. Sweetwater Valley produces some fine cheddars and flavored cheddars, and you will be hard pressed to find a better Gouda than the one from Kenny's Farmhouse in Kentucky.

Meat Products
In addition the the best bacon and country ham in the world from Benton's of Madisonville, you will find sausages and pork from JEM Farms and West Wind Farms, and fresh beef from Strong Stock Farms and Mitchell Farms. The latter two are both located in east Knox County. Circle V Farms produces the ground turkey I noticed today, and you can get farm raised trout from across the mountains in North Carolina.

Vegetables
The abundance and quality of cool season vegetables now available, most from Grainger and Loudon Counties, is remarkable. I cannot recall seeing bak choy, beets, kale (several kinds), collards, and turnips of such fine quality anywhere else in the area.

Cornmeal is not, strictly speaking, a vegetable, but I could not fail to mention the stone ground cornmeal from Grainger County. Made from the heirloom Tennessee Red Cob dent corn, it will make a pan of cornbread so good you won't believe it. Best of all, it is found in the bulk section, so you only have to purchase the amount you need.

Baked Goods
Magpies, Flour Head, Tellico Grains, and several others have outdone themselves with holiday treats and breads. The big problem for shoppers will be resisting the temptation to try one of every kind of the cookies, cake and other sweets on offer. Flour Head, a sister company of the Tomato Head restaurant, makes excellent sandwich breads and buns, and for a true artisanal sourdough you can't beat Tellico Grains, with their brick oven.

Brewskies
Dozens of craft brews are available, many produced within a couple of hundred miles of Knoxville. My personal favorite is "Loose Caboose Lager" from Depot Street Brewing in Jonesboro, but there are numerous others to try. So much to do...

Non-Food Items
You can also find a great selection of books on cooking, food gardening and related topics, including one of mine, The New American Homestead. I am hoping that Santa will leave a copy of Sean Brock's Heritage under the tree this year. Brock is the executive chef of McCrady's in Charleston, SC, and Husk, with locations in Charleston and Nashville. He is well on his way to becoming one of America's foremost chefs who specializes in the traditions of Southern cooking. Like many other great chefs, he was in the kitchen at Blackberry Farm for a while.

Whether you are looking for a special treat for the holiday table, or just want to support local businesses, check out Three Rivers Market.

October Bounty

October brings all sorts of goodies. Apples, pumpkins, glorious foliage, and mushrooms. Lots of mushrooms, in fact. Local foragers have been out in the woods, bringing back treasures like the chicken of the woods mushrooms I purchased today at the Market Square Farmer’s Market. Mossy Creek Mushrooms was the vendor.  I received helpful suggestions on preparing the mushrooms, and an invitation to a mushroom log cultivation workshop offered by Mossy Creek Mushrooms on Sunday, October 26, beginning at 2:00 at Panther Creek State Park near Morristown. Find more information on the Mossy Creek Mushrooms Facebook Page.

Chicken-of-the-woods, Laetiporus sulphureus, typically appears on trees in October. Recent mycological research indicates that this fungus only occurs east of the Rocky Mountains. Several similar-appearing species constitute a group once thought to contain only a single species. The “true” species lives on hardwood trees, often oaks, and the fruiting body appears some distance off the ground. Related species growing on conifers or near the ground should be avoided, despite the superficially similar appearance. In fact, unless you are an experienced mushroom forager, you should rely on the pros to find local edible mushrooms.

Chicken-of-the-woods should not be consumed raw. Clean them of any surface debris, and place in a saucepan. Cover with water, add a big pinch of salt and a dribble of vinegar. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer gently for 10 minutes. Drain, rinse, and use as you would a cooked chicken breast.

Vegan “Chicken” Noodle Soup

2 ounces chicken-of-the-woods mushroom

1/3 cup EACH chopped onion, celery and carrot

2 teaspoons olive oil

1 bay leaf

¼ teaspoon dried thyme leaves

3 cups vegetable stock

2 tablespoons extra-thin egg noodles

salt and freshly ground black pepper

minced fresh parsley

Prepare the mushroom as described. Chop into bite-size pieces. Reserve. Place the olive oil in a large saucepan, add the onion, and heat gently, covered, until the onion is softened. Add the celery, carrots, bay leaf, thyme, stock, and the reserved mushrooms. Adjust the heat and simmer, covered, until the vegetables are tender, about 15 minutes. Add the noodles, salt as you prefer, and a few grinds of black pepper. Cover the pan and continue to cook until the noodles are done, about 5 more minutes. Serve garnished with minced parsley.

The farmer’s market was also brimming with late summer produce. Plenty of tomatoes, squash and eggplants are still available. Hot peppers are really at peak season now, and cool season greens and brassicas are back. I saw beautiful kohlrabi and cauliflower. Greens, from arugula to tatsoi, seemed to be everywhere. Seeing the bounty at the market today, all from regional farms, reminded me that Knoxville used to be known as the “asparagus patch of the East Tennessee garden spot.” Our soils and climate are ideal for a wide variety of vegetables, and the forested mountains to our east and west support a mind-boggling diversity of edible wild plants, including chicken-of-the-woods.

Speaking of wild plants, now is a good time to go looking for elderberries. The juice makes great jelly and if you have enough you may want to try making wine. Sumac, an important spice in Middle Eastern cooking, as well as in the cuisine of Native Americans, is showing off its bright red, pointed seedheads as if they were flaming torches. Cut the entire head and allow to dry at room temperature. Sumac adds a lemony flavor. Persimmons will be ripening, but you should wait until after a frost to gather them. Wild grapes are ripening, and several cultivated varieties derived from them are available at the farmer’s market.

Now is also a great time to stock up on vegetables that store well without much fuss. Turnips and kohlrabi should go in the crisper or in a root cellar. Sweet potatoes, pumpkins and winter squashes all keep best in warm, dry conditions, such as a dark closet or pantry. Many varieties of apples keep well if cold and dry. Check with the farmer for advice on storing any of the late season produce you see at the farmer’s market.

New Directions for the New Year

I have decided this blog would be more generally helpful if it were more focused. Therefore, in 2014 I plan to fill more space with words about food gardening and cooking, with the emphasis on Southern-style food. Last year friends mourned the passing of John Egerton, a Nashville author who in 1987 produced the first really definitive work on the subject, Southern Food: At home, on the road, and in history. In over 200 restaurant reviews and a similar number of recipes, Egerton sought to explain and explore Southern food in the hope of preserving some of our best traditions for future generations. Throughout this entertaining and well-written narrative, we read the words of cooks and restaurant owners from all over the South, lamenting that "this kind of cooking" is dying out, or that, "not many people do it this way, anymore."

Upon Egerton's well laid groundwork, I hope to spend this year discovering to what extent those predictions have come true, and (hopefully) to learn that not only have the old Southern food traditions not expired, but rather they are, like an elderly maiden aunt when you visit her after a long absence, unexpectedly robust.

Besides re-visiting some of the restaurants that Egerton visited and researching and cooking some of the foods we Southerners treasure, I also plan to spend some time digging up, if you will pardon the pun, information on the vegetable varieties that have traditionally been used to create those memorable Southern dishes. We already know about Hickory King corn and Cherokee Purple tomatoes, but I think it will be fun to explore the flavors of older varieties of peas, okra, and beans, also.

On the recipe front, it is encouraging to note that dozens of Southern-style cookbooks have appeared just in the last three years. If from these we subtract those from Emeril, Paula, Duck Dynasty, Southern Living and similar celebrity authors, we are left with a remarkable selection of serious work about serious Southern food. Rather than dying out, it would appear that our distinctive regional cuisine is more widely popular than ever.

With gardeners and farmers here in the Tennessee Valley and throughout the South becoming ever more skilled and successful at growing food, we are in a great position to lead a "return to the roots of Southern food" movement. In future posts, I will talk about cooking some of the recipes I have found in my research, and about growing some heirloom vegetable varieties in my garden this year.

Here is a list of a few of the great new Southern cookbooks published in the last two years, and some that are coming out this year.

Vienneau, Nancy (2014) The Third Thursday Community Potluck Cookbook: Recipes and Stories to Celebrate the Bounty of the Moment. Thomas Nelson.

Gabriel, Johnnie (2014) How to Cook Like a Southerner: Classic Recipes from the South's Best Down-Home Cooks. Thomas Nelson.

van Beuren, Alexe and Dixie Grimes. (2014)  The B.T.C. Old-Fashioned Grocery Cookbook: Recipes and Stories from a Southern Revival. Crown Publishing Group.

Little, Stacey. (2014) The Southern Bite Cookbook: 150 Irresistible Dishes from 4 Generations of My Family's Kitchen. Thomas Nelson.

Link, Donald and Paula Disbrowe. (2014) Down South: Bourbon, Pork, Gulf Shrimp & Second Helpings of Everything. Crown Publishing Group.

Fowler, Damon Lee (2013) Essentials of Southern Cooking: Techniques and Flavors of a Classic American Cuisine. The Lyons Press.

Currence, John. (2013) Pickles, Pigs & Whiskey: Recipes from My Three Favorite Food Groups and Then Some. Andrews McMeel.

Randolph, Mary. (2013) The Virginia Housewife: Or, Methodical Cook. Reprint of an 1824 volume considered to be the first Southern cookbook. Andrews McMeel.

Van Dyke, Louis and Billie Van Dyke (2013) The Blue Willow Inn Bible of Southern Cooking: 450 Essential Recipes Southerners Have Enjoyed for Generations. Thomas Nelson.

Walsh, Robb (2013) Barbecue Crossroads: Notes and Recipes from a Southern Odyssey. Austin, University of Texas Press.

Tolley, Lynne and Mindy Merrell. (2012) Jack Daniel's Cookbook: Stories and Kitchen Secrets from Miss Mary Bobo's Boarding House. Thomas Nelson.

Dupree, Nathalie  and Cynthia Graubart (2012) Mastering the Art of Southern Cooking. Smith, Gibbs Publisher.

Beall, Sam. (2012) The Foothills Cuisine of Blackberry Farm: Recipes and Wisdom from Our Artisans, Chefs, and Smoky Mountain Ancestors. Crown Publishing Group.

Thompson, Fred. (2012) Fred Thompson’s Southern Sides: 250 Dishes That Really Make the Plate. Greensboro, The University of North Carolina Press.

Fox, Minnie C. (2012) The Blue Grass Cook Book. (Reprint of 1904 edition). University Press of Kentucky.

Caldwell, Patsy and Amy Lyles Wilson. (2012) You Be Sweet: Sharing Your Heart One Down-Home Dessert at a Time. Thomas Nelson.

Savor the South Cookbook Series, University of North Carolina Press, Okra (2014), Pickles and Preserves (2014), Bourbon (2013), Biscuits (2013),  Peaches (2013), Tomatoes (2013), Pecans (2012), Buttermilk (2012).

All of the above titles are hardcover releases. Some may also be available in other formats. Books with less comprehensive coverage tend to be released in digital format only these days. One e-book that readers may want to explore is this one:

Kellner, Hank. (2013) The Taste of Appalachia: A Collection of Traditional Recipes Still in Use Today. Smashwords.

Not Too Late for Veggies

It's not too late to plant a vegetable garden. In fact, many of the most popular backyard vegetables will thrive best now that the weather is warm and settled. This weekend would be a great time to plant sweet potatoes, okra, beans, southern peas, squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and basil. All these crops will be ready to harvest long before the first cool night arrive in September.

Soak okra seeds overnight before planting them out, about three inches apart, in well-drained soil that is not too rich. Excess nitrogen will delay blooms and thus reduce your harvest. When plants are six inches tall, thin them to stand about a foot apart. Okra has achieved new popularity with backyard gardeners in recent years, and breeders have responded with compact varieties, such as 'Baby Bubba,' that produce a good crop on space-saving plants. If you have the room, old standard varieties, such as 'Clemson Spineless,' have proven themselves over the years. Heirloom okras are also available, offering additional possibilities in flavor and plant growth habit. The only drawback to the heirlooms is that many of them retain the spines that cause itching and irritation of unprotected skin. If you are a sensitive person, you should wear long sleeves and garden gloves when working in the okra patch. Also remember that older okra varieties will grow to more than six feet in height.

Beans are among the easiest and most productive backyard crops. Although more work to pick, bush beans are less trouble to grow than pole beans. The latter require a sturdy support at least six feet above ground level, but once the begin bearing they continue all season as long as you keep them picked. Bush beans tend to produce one large crop and then taper off quickly. But you can find a greater variety of bush beans in most seed racks. Among our favorites is Romano, a flat Italian type bean with great flavor. Yellow wax beans, such as 'Goldrush,' are wonderful by themselves with just enough cooking to make them tender. They are also an essential component of that church supper staple, three bean salad. For gardeners with a little experience growing beans, the French filet types, also known as haricots verts, are among the tastiest and tenderest beans out there. A good bush selection is 'Fantastic Filet.' These beans are harvested when they are a bit smaller in diameter than a pencil, and typically are steamed whole and served with a simple dressing of butter or oil and fresh herbs.

Cucurbits will practically leap from the ground now that the weather is hot. Cucumbers for summer salads, gazpacho and pickling will produce a bumper crop about two months after sowing. Zucchini, crookneck and pattypan squashes, if planted around the first of June, typically avoid the onslaught of squash borers that plague earlier sowings. Research has shown that adult squash borer populations are at their lowest point during this time of year, allowing tender new shoots to toughen up before the borers go looking for a place to lay their eggs. For gardeners with plenty of room, now is also a great time to plant watermelon, pumpkin, winter squash, melons, and gourds. All enjoy the hot days and warm nights of Southern summers.

Basil is the quintessential summer herb, and it goes well with all the summer veggies, from beans to zucchini. We start basil several times in spring, spacing our sowings about two weeks apart. Plants are transplanted to the garden as they become large enough. This technique provides for a continuous harvest of the fragrant leaves from late June until frost. Repeated picking leaves basil plants looking "worn out." If appearance is important, try our succession method, and just pull up and compost the plants when they get ratty looking. Basil likes water, but grow it in not-too-fertile soil, perhaps at the corners of the sweet potato or okra patch.

June is also a great month for flowers. One of the best choices for the Tennessee Valley, and indeed most of the eastern United States, is the daylily (Hemerocallis). Available in any color except true blue, daylilies are hardy, easy and reliable perennials. They require at least six hours of sun in order to bloom well, but that is about the only hard and fast rule. Daylilies love water, but are extremely drought tolerant once established. They prefer a moist, well-drained soil enriched with organic matter, but will grow in poor, clay soils as long as they are not waterlogged.

Daylilies are also edible, but they vary somewhat in taste. Choose fragrant selections for the best flavor. Unopened buds can be added to stir fries, and the opened blooms can be battered and fried like squash blossoms. Flower petals can also be chopped and added to salads.

This year, whether you are a novice vegetable gardener or a veteran, consider planting a little more than you think you can use. (Most of us end up with extra produce each season, anyway.) Bring your surplus fresh produce to the UT Gardens Farmers Market on Wednesdays between 4:00 and 7:00 PM. UT staffers and volunteers will be available to collect your excess and distribute it to area charities that feed the hungry.

The Busy Time of Year

If you're not busy this week, you're not gardening! I've been working around the rain showers all week. We transplanted tomato and parsley plants, and planted cucumbers, corn and beans. We have a second round of tomatoes and our pepper crop to pot up to four inch pots from the cell trays in which they germinated about three weeks ago. And it is time to start more basil and parsley seeds for transplanting in late June or early July.

I find it is hard to have too much of either parsley or basil during the summer months. For one thing, both go great with tomatoes and cucumbers, the king and queen of the summer veggie garden. Parsley is also a preferred host plant for the black swallowtail butterfly. Hardly had I put my four new plants into the garden when they were visited by a female black swallowtail, deftly placing individual eggs here and there on my plants. I don't mind, as the colorful green, yellow and black striped caterpillars don't usually kill the plants. After the caterpillars are done, the parsley usually bounces back and provides plenty of leaves for the table. I do try to give them a little cottonseed meal or other nitrogen source, to help things along.

The relationship of parsley and parsley worm involves more than eating and being eaten. The chemicals that give parsley (and other members of the celery family) its distinctive flavor provide the caterpillar with raw materials for an interesting defense against its predators. When disturbed, the caterpillar rears up and exposes a specialized scent gland, the osmetarium, releasing an unusual odor, faintly reminiscent of...parsley. The osmetarium looks like a pair of antlers, yellow orange in color. Besides parsley, the caterpillar feeds on carrots, dill, celery and golden alexanders. You may see the caterpillar on Queen Anne's lace, which is a feral carrot.

The corn variety we selected this year is Ambrosia. It is a bi-color, sugar enhanced hybrid cord that bears early. In other words, purely the creation of plant breeders. Modern hybrid sweet corn, however, is not only easier to grow than older types, it is much more forgiving to the novice gardener who may not be sure when to pick. With, for example, Silver Queen, the window of perfection may only be a couple of days. With Ambrosia, you can be off by a week and still have an acceptable quality ear. Corn takes a lot of room and a lot of nitrogen, and you can buy it for $5 a dozen at the farmer's market. But there is nothing like truly fresh sweet corn for summer flavor.

We are growing an old standard cucumber, Boston Pickling. I intend to convert at least six pounds of our crop into a batch of my grandmother's sweet pickles. Last year was a lousy season for cucumbers. We are hoping for better results this year.

We planted Bush Romano and Goldrush beans. The former are long, flat Italian-type beans that are loaded with flavor and can stand up to long cooking. The latter are yellow wax beans that are perfect for summer salads after a brief blanching. Beans can be planted every two weeks from now until the middle of July, for a continuous harvest. Later plantings are more subject to bean beetles than are earlier ones.

UT Gardens Farmer's Market Now Open
Last Wednesday, May 15, I had the pleasure of staffing a question-and-answer table at the UT Gardens Farmer's Market. Thanks to the efforts of market director Becca Mattingly and a great group of local farmers and craftspeople, the kickoff was a huge success. The market is open every Wednesday from 4:00-7:00 PM at UT Gardens off Neyland Drive. Parking is free, there is music and food, a tent-full of activities for the kids, and the area is pet friendly. You can tour the gardens, grab a Vietnamese spring roll or a Tennessee fried pie and shop for dinner all in one place. I tried the Thai-style iced tea and loved it. Wildflower honey and organic beauty aids all await your perusal from Honey Dew Naturals of Strawberry Plains. Baked goods from great local vendors like Hillside Bakery and VJ's complement all the fresh produce and cut flowers on display by multiple growers. I or another person will be there to answer your gardening questions every week, so please drop by and say hello.

Community Supported Agriculture in Knoxville

Event Announcement:
Please join me on Saturday, March 2, at 10:30 AM at Stanley's Greenhouse for a special presentation on planning this year's vegetable garden and growing the most popular backyard vegetables.

Garden Talk Radio
I will also be back on the radio, beginning March 2. I will be joining Dr. Sue Hamilton and Andy Pulte from UT Gardens for "Garden Talk" from 8:00 to 9:00 AM on WNOX-FM 100.3. Call in with your gardening questions!

Community Agriculture Fair at Three Rivers Market

On Saturday, February 23, Three Rivers Market looked like Kroger's after Todd and Matt have predicted snow. In other words, it was packed. The event was the 2nd annual Community Supported Agriculture Fair, and by any measure it was a resounding success. One vendor said the crowd was at least triple the size of last year's.

In the parking lot, a large tent held tables with displays and literature for 16 local farms that offer various types of CSA arrangements. I threaded my way through the crowd, picking up literature and speaking with as many of the farmers as possible.

From the snippets of conversation all around me, I could tell that plenty of enthusiasm for local food and local farmers exists in this area.

Inside the store, Knoxville Bread Co-Op, a one woman operation offering CSA-type service for baked goods, was handing out delicious samples, along with other local and regional vendors, including Asheville's Dolci di Maria bakery, Flour Head Bakery, Haze & Co., Magpies Bakery, Roots and Branches, and Yazoo Brewing Company from Nashville.

If you've never tried the Hefeweizen from Yazoo, by the way, you are missing a beer lover's treat. This award winning brew has almost floral undertones and is smooth as silk. Cruze Dairy Farm had their food truck parked along the street, and were selling a remarkably reasonably priced thali meal as fast as they could serve them up. Judging from the looks on the faces of diners at the outdoor tables, the food tasted as good as it smelled to me. I did not sample Cruze's fare, but the Bread Co-Op cinnamon bread and the lemon poppyseed mini-cupcakes from Magpies were standouts. Entertainment was provided by local band Dixieghost. With beautiful sunny weather to remind us that spring is near, everyone appeared to be enjoying themselves immensely.

Here is the list of the participating farms, with web or email addresses where available.

• A Place in the Heart Farm, Campbell County, mailto:heartplace@peoplepc.com
• Clear Springs Farm, Knox County, http://www.clearspringsfarm.org
• Colvin Family Farm, Bledsoe County, http://www.colvinfamilyfarm.com
• Cruze Farm, Knox County, http://www.facebook.com/CruzeFarm
• Good Earth Farmers, Jefferson County, mailto:gardendelivery@gmail.com
• Hines Valley Farm, Loudon County, http://www.hinesvalleyfarm.com
• JEM Farm, Hawkins County, mailto:jemfarm@gmail.com
• McBee Dairy Farm, Knox County, http://www.mcbeedairyfarm.com
• Mountain Meadows Farm, Anderson County, http://www.mountainmeadowsfarmtn.com
• Rocky Chop Farm, Union County, mailto:rockychopfarm@gmail.com
• Spring Creek Farm, Campbell County, http://www.facebook.com/SpringCreekFarm
• West Winds Farm, Morgan County, http://www.grassorganic.com
• Wild Things Farm, Cumberland County, http://www.wildthingscsafarm.com
• Winged Elm Farm, Loudon County, http://www.wingedelmfarm.com
• Wisner Farms, Loudon County, http://www.wisnerfarms.moonfruit.com
• Zavels Family Farm, Knox County, mailto:zzavels@comcast.net

Local Food for Carnivores

“Garden Talk” Tomorrow

Please join me as I co-host “Garden Talk” with Dr. Sue Hamilton, Director of UT Gardens, Saturday morning at 8:00 on WNOX-FM 100.3.

Local Food for Carnivores

When we discuss local food, too often we limit ourselves to the vegetables and fruits our skilled local farmers bring to the markets each season. We also have numerous local producers of foods for carnivores, not to mention the lacto- and ovo-vegetarians in the audience.

In earlier posts, I have mentioned Benton’s Smoky Mountain pork products from Madisonville. They grow and cure some of the best bacon and country ham you will ever taste, made from their heritage breed hogs.

Closer to home, in Knox County we have Strong Stock Farms, whose grass fed beef from the herd they have developed for generations is unsurpassed for flavor, based on our recent taste test. (Recipe at the end of this post.)

Over in Deer Lodge, Tennessee, West Wind Farms grows and sells beef, pork and poultry. Available frozen, as well as in the meat case at Three Rivers Market, their poultry line includes duck and Cornish hen, as well as chicken and turkey.

Here are some local growers whose products are available at Three Rivers Market and other venues around town:

• Pastured Eggs, Pork --JEM Farm, Rogersville, TN
• Pastured Eggs--Riverplains Farm, Strawberry Plains, TN
• Milk--Cruze Dairy Farm, Knoxville, TN
• Trout—Sunburst Trout Farm, Canton, NC

Regarding the last listing, if you have never had trout produced in the Smoky Mountains, you should try it. Trout is featured on the menus of several of the better restaurants in Gatlinburg. I order it when I have the opportunity. Trout are in the same family as salmon, and their flesh contains healthy fats. Mild-flavored trout is delicious simply grilled or pan fried and served with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice.

All these products cost more than their supermarket counterparts. We set out to try grass fed beef in one of our favorite recipes. The result convinced us the extra cost is worth it for the flavor. We try to keep our consumption of red meat low in comparison to other protein sources, so we figure an occasional splurge on some great beef is reasonable.

The recipe that follows produces some of the best meatloaf you’ll ever taste, even if you make it with supermarket ground beef. With Strong Stock Farm’s grass-fed beef, it becomes a gourmet treat worthy of a master chef. It has the perfect texture for slicing, ideal for making sandwiches from the leftovers. (If you happen to have any.)

Knoxville Meat Loaf

Time: about 1 ½ hours
Servings: 4 to 6
Ingredients:

¼ cup oatmeal, not quick-cooking

¼ cup  V8 or tomato juice
1 teaspoon black Hawaiian sea salt
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
¼ teaspoon celery seed
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 shallot, minced
¼ cup minced green pepper
1 clove of garlic, minced

1 pound ground beef 

Combine the oatmeal and juice in a large bowl. Add the salt, pepper and celery seed. Melt the butter in a small skillet and sauté the shallot, pepper and garlic until the shallot is translucent. Add to the bowl with the other ingredients and mix well. Add the beef and mix gently with your hands until the mixture is well combined and uniform. Shape into a small loaf and bake in a preheated 350°F oven until a meat thermometer registers 165°F, or about 45 minutes to one hour. Remove from the oven and lest rest for at least 10 minutes, then slice and serve.

New Years Resolutions for Urban Homesteaders

Please join me again tomorrow morning at 8:00 on WNOX-FM 100.3 for "Garden Talk" with Dr. Sue Hamilton, Director of UT Gardens. I am filling in for the regular co-host, Andy Pulte. We will be taking phone calls from listeners, so give us a call!

Win a Free Subscription to Tennessee Gardener!
Email me with your best garden tip for 2013 and win a free one-year subscription to Tennessee Gardener. All entries must be received by January 31, 2013. A total of 3 winners will be announced in early February.

Popularity of Urban Homesteading Increasing
Our numbers are growing. Every day, as I drive around the area, I see evidence of the popularity of homegrown food and backyard farming. Gardens appear where none were last year. Tomatoes line the front walk, where petunias once bloomed. Herbs spill from fourth story balcony rails. With the launch of our Sustainable Suburbs project in 2013, we hope to introduce more people to the techniques they need to live in a saner, greener, more sustainable way, without giving up the comforts of life in the suburbs. The way we see it, suburban sprawl is a fact we will have to live with for the forseeable future. Why not encourage suburban sustainablity by all available means, whether that be conserving water with a rain garden, to replacing lawn with productive plantings, to using solar garden lighting? And the techniques that work in the suburbs can be applied to urban living, also, with appropriate modifications. For example, the urban grower will have to rely more on the farmer's market, due to limited growing space, but he or she can still take advantage of techniques like home food preservation. All it takes is the desire and a little thoughtful consideration.

The biggest impact any of us can make on our carbon footprint is to use less energy. This means not just using less heat in the winter and air conditioning in the summer, or limiting the number of trips we make in the car. It means we must learn to think about how our actions affect energy use on a larger scale. One of the biggest sources of energy use in our daily lives is the production, shipping and marketing of food. Every pound of food you obtain close to home is a pound that did not have to be shipped, stored or processed. Therefore, the first two resolutions we recommend are:

1. I will eat more like a hunter-gatherer.

and

2. I will shop more like a hunter-gatherer.

Human beings have been hunter-gatherers for about 97 percent of our time on the planet. Our bodies are designed to utilize the nutrients obtained from consuming a wide variety of fruit and vegetable foods supplemented by relatively small amounts of meat. Even if you don't grow much yourself, keeping this principle in mind should lead you to the local farmer's market, and to local producers, instead of purchasing processed foods designed for a long shelf life. The "hunter-gatherer" approach should also encourage you to utilize in-season foods. January and February are tradtionally the most difficult months to grow food, but they are great times to enjoy last season's preserved produce, and to savor storage-friendly crops like winter squash, sweet potatoes, root vegetables and nuts.

For the carnivore, slow cooked dishes featuring grass-fed meats or wild game are always appropriate for winter meals. Modern techniques are bringing pastured, all-natural or organically produced meats to virtually every urban center. We are fortunate to have several producers in the Knoxville area.

Our third resolution is meant to encourage the inexperienced to start growing food:

3. I will grow at least one thing to eat this year.

Even if you begin only with a pot of parsley, I predict you cannot limit yourself to only one crop. Pick something you use frequently and that everyone in the household eats, and grow it. In a pot or in a plot, it doesn't matter. You'll get all the great benefits of gardening with minimal expense and effort, and the satisfaction you will feel will boost your confidence as a gardener. So take the plunge.

If you are a gardener with experience, you will like our fourth resolution:

4. I will grow food more efficiently by planning better, using non-traditional garden spaces, and better succession cropping.

The bane of every food gardener is the unwanted surplus. Refine your plans so you produce what you need without too much excess. Online planning tools can be a real aid to vegetable garden design. Investigate the possibilities. Also, make arrangements early in the season to donate excess produce so you will know what to do with food you end up not needing. FoodPantries.org lists places to donate by city. Here is the link to the list for Knoxville.

And finally, remember that our planet is experiencing an extinction crisis, mostly brought on by human activities. Grow something this year that helps your local ecosystem, such as nectar plants or host plants for butterflies, or add some native wildflowers to your landscape design. That thought leads to our final resolution:

5. I will remember that I am part of the larger planetary ecosystem, and will act accordingly, as the responsible and intelligent creature that I am.


Here's hoping everyone has a great gardening year in 2013!

A Look Back on the Season

2012 Cucumber Crop Worst in Years

This past summer was not the season for cucumbers in the Knoxville area. I was overheard last week at the Farmers Market, bemoaning the absence of good cucumbers even in that venue. A lady in line near me turned and said she had had the same problem. Two attempts on our part yielded plants that quickly succumbed to cucumber mosaic virus. Ironically, a plant that came up volunteer in an area we’d amended with compost actually produced a few small cucumbers before it, too, became infected. Heat and humidity at the wrong times probably contributed to the crop failure.  We originally thought perhaps our choice of new varieties to try, ‘Picklebush’ and ‘Boston Pickling’ may have been the issue. But this would not explain the widespread nature of the cucumber shortage.

I have not had the opportunity to discuss this issue with locals who farm for a living. Whatever the reason, we’ll have no homemade pickles this year.

Rare Sweet Corn

Corn on the cob is one of the true pleasures of summer, but finding the genuine article locally has become increasingly difficult as the years roll by. Only a few of the 30 or more vendors at the FARM Farmer’s Market this year have offered corn. One of these was selling corn exclusively for a few weeks, then was seen no more. The only variety I saw offered that was not a sugar-enhanced type was ‘Silver Queen,’ the old standby for a white sweet corn around these parts. Unfortunately, the ears I purchased were picked a bit too late, and the flavor was not as good as it might have been.

All the other varieties we observed on offer were recently developed, high-fructose hybrids like ‘Ambrosia,’ ‘Peaches and Cream,’ and ‘Awesome.’ With all due respect to the plant breeders who have created these types of corn, they are almost too sweet for me. The original idea of sugar-enhanced corn was to increase the shelf life. As soon as it is picked, corn begins converting sugar to starch, so the fresher the ear the sweeter. Hence the old adage about bringing the water to a boil before going out to pick the corn.  Ordinary sweet corn varieties, like ‘IA Chief’ and ‘Golden Bantam’ were great eating, as long as you grew them yourself. If you wanted corn out of season, from someplace like, say, California, it just did not taste as good after its long journey, despite refrigeration. The answer, someone realized, was to grow sweeter corn that would remain sweet longer because it would take more time for enzymes in the ear to convert the sugar to starch.

Ironically, consumers have come to expect the farmer’s market to offer the same type of corn as the supermarket. Yellow and white varieties, like the so, so sweet ‘Honey and Pearl,’ tend to dominate because of their attractive appearance. But all of these lack the genuine, “corny” flavor of the heirlooms, and I wish local farmers would learn to grow them again. Offering ‘Silver Queen’ was a great idea, but you gotta know when to pick it. Burpee's seed catalog offers only three "normal sugar" corn varieties, 'Silver Queen,' 'Golden Bantam,' and 'Early Sunglow.' By contrast they have 10 "sugar enhanced" and 4 "super sweet" cultivars available. Locally, Mayo Seed offers some additional heirlooms, like 'IA Chief.'

We consumers should be dedicated to supporting local farmers who grow good sweet corn, regardless of the variety they offer. Few crops are less well suited to small scale production that corn. If you grow the modern hybrids, seed is expensive and it is often difficult to find seed not treated with chemical pesticides. (Burpee offers only one organically grown corn variety, 'Golden Bantam.') Further, corn is demanding in terms of both soil fertility and sunshine, and needs a lot of water to boot. Each plant will take up about 3 square feet of growing space, making it difficult for many home gardeners to squeeze in a patch. And for all its demands, corn rarely produces more than two ears per stalk. Given that the typical price at the FARM Farmer’s Market is $5 a dozen, it is easy to see why so few growers bother.

So if you are a local vegetable grower and you are reading this, I’ll make you an offer. Grow an heirloom sweet corn next year, pick it at the proper time, and bring it to market.  Let me know ahead of time, and I will do everything I can to encourage consumers to patronize your stand. And we locavores should be willing to pay a dollar an ear for the privilege.

Bloomsdays A Great Success

Bloomsdays at UT Gardens last weekend was a great success despite the rainy weather on Sunday. Saturday morning saw crowds thronging around the many booths, with vendors offering plants, garden art, and much more. The annual event just gets better and better.

James Newburn, Assistant Director of UT Gardens, told me they have hired a part-time person whose efforts are devoted exclusively to the Kitchen Garden. As you can see from the image at left, this is a large area with raised beds and many other features that would be the envy of any dedicated veggie grower. The buildings visible at the far end include two storage sheds and a shaded spot planted with mints. A rain barrel catches water from the roofs in this area, and there is a weather station housed in one of the sheds. The entire space is enclosed in a picket fence, with compost bins built along one side. Outside the fence, on the left side in this view, the staff has planted blackberries, raspberries and elderberries.

All the plantings integrate herbs, flowers and vegetables. Although it is mid-May, the beds were already hosting tomato, squash, cucumber and okra plants no doubt started in the greenhouses adjacent to the Gardens.

The Kitchen Garden illustrates virtually all of the design techniques that one might want to use. If only we all had this much space! And not everyone I have talked to likes the purple paint, but each to his own tastes.

Here's a shot of the raspberries outside the kitchen garden.

UT Farmers Market

On the Wednesday following Bloomsdays, May 16th, the UT Farmers' Market opened at UT Gardens. Complete with music from a banjo and guitar duo, the market offers produce from UT crop production classes, along with creations from the UT Culinary Institute and food and craft items from about a dozen local vendors. Some of these were familiar from other area farmers' markets, but not all.

The market is held at the Gardens every Wednesday from 4:00-7:00 PM from now until October 24.

Whippoorwill Winter

My grandparents would characterize this week's spate of lows in the 40s as "Whipporrwill Winter." By traditional reckoning, this is the last cold snap of the season, and we should have uninterrupted warmth from now until autumn. For those unfamiliar with our local lore, the earliest cold snap is "Dogwood Winter," which arrives as the trees are in bloom. A few weeks later "Blackberry Winter" arrives, as the snow white blooms of wild blackberries appear. Finally, the current cool-down, when the whippoorwills can be heard in the evening, calling out for a mate, provided you live far enough out in the country. (A bigger challenge each year, it seems.)

Tomato, pepper and eggplant plants can go into the ground now that we've passed this weather milestone. Many of us went ahead a planted tomatoes a couple of weeks ago, on the assumption that the season is running about a month early. Tomatoes don't seem much affected by a cool spell. They just sit there until things warm up. But peppers can be stunted by spending a night out in the cold, and eggplant is likely to develop an infestation of flea beetles. With these two, it is always better to wait than to rush the season.

This is also the season for herbs. Even the specimens in the supermarket look fresh and flavorful. In the garden, oregano, French thyme (at left) and tarragon are going gangbusters, and it will not be long before we have plenty of parsley. (I was late getting plants started this year.) Chives are blooming, and the sage plants are rapidly adding new leaves.

One of the best ways to preserve herb flavors is to make compound butter. Nothing could be simpler. Just soften a stick of butter, then use a fork to combine it with 1 tablespoon of minced fresh herbs. Turn the mixture out on to a piece of foil and shape into a log. Wrap in the foil and freeze. Tarragon butter makes a great topping for asparagus, also now in season.

Local Food Report
With farmers markets in full swing, no one has an excuse not to eat local. Our weekly check of Three Rivers Market turned up the usual suspects: arugula, bok choy, chard, lettuce, kale, and radishes. Strawberries and early red raspberries are abundant. The area farmers markets offer a much better selection, including French dandelion greens, asparagus, a kaliedoscope of lettuce varieties, early onions, and much more.

Local and Regional Food Finds

Local Food Report

Local food advocates are no doubt as happy as I am about the uptick in availability of local products as the growing season progresses. Strawberries are abundant, spring greens and onions are reaching perfection, and the area farmers markets are in full swing. This week’s visit to Three Rivers Market turned up kale, arugula, chard, bak choy, lettuce, and onions, along with the strawberries. Farms in Spring City, Loudon and Jefferson Counties are the sources.

A regional producer, Shuckman’s Fish Co. & Smokery in Louisville, KY, is featured in the meat and seafood case at Three Rivers. Besides producing fish flavored with Kentucky bourbon and slow-smoked, Shuckman’s offers what they call “spoonfish” caviar. This product is the eggs of the Mississippi paddlefish Polyodon spathula. Tennesseans know this same species as “spoonbill catfish” or simply “spoonbill.” This rather ugly river fish is a holdover from an ancient line that has survived in the Mississippi River watershed, and is esteemed for caviar rivaling the best that Russia’s Volga sturgeons produce. If you are planning something fancy, like a June wedding, this regional product should certainly receive your consideration.

Farmers Markets Opening Across the Region

Farmers markets across the region are operated by various entities. The Farmer’s Association for Retail Marketing (FARM) operates markets in Knoxville and Oak Ridge. Learn more about them here.

The FARM market opens in Knoxville on Tuesdays and Fridays, at the Laurel Church of Christ on Kingston Pike, across from the entrance to Cherokee Boulevard. Hours are 3:00-6:00 PM. In Oak Ridge, FARM markets are 3:00-6:00 Wednesdays and 8:00-noon on Saturdays.

The Market Square District Farmers Market operates on Wednesdays 11:00-2:00 and Saturdays 9:00-2:00. Maryville also has Saturday and Wednesday markets.

Last year, the Knoxville News-Sentinel published a list of area farmers markets.

If you are traveling anywhere in East Tennessee, you can find a farmers market, depending upon when you travel. Oak Ridge and Norris are the only ones open on Mondays, and none are open on Sundays. Saturday is clearly the most popular market day in most communities. A visit to the Saturday market on Market Square in Knoxville is a trip back to a time when this was the thriving center of commerce for the city.

I have made many pleasant food and gardening discoveries at each of the farmers markets I have visited. Extra-early Garnet Beauty peaches made the best jam I have ever tasted last season. I will be looking for them again. Wild blackberries, which may arrive prior to July 4 this year, are always worth bringing home. I admire anyone who endures the briars, bugs, hot sun and the occasional snake to pick wild blackberries. Furthermore, the flavor of wild berries is unmatched in the domesticated varieties. Arrive at any of the larger markets in late July and you may find more than two dozen varieties of tomatoes alone.  Growers explore new varieties, hoping to find one that makes their booth a stand-out. This gentle competition among the vegetable growers is a bonanza for shoppers looking for something different to cook with.

Vegetable, herb, fruit and flower plants also appear in abundance at the markets. Not only can you find new and interesting flowers, you can also locate old stand-by varieties of useful plants that people have grown in this region for generations. Novice gardeners take note: the old stand-bys achieved their status by not placing unreasonable demands upon the always-busy farm families of past generations. They will be equally forgiving in your suburban back yard.

Our pet project this year has been “Strawberry Fields,” a container garden inspired by the Beatles song. How we came to design it requires a little explanation. We bought one of those 10 by 10  canopies for the deck only to find the fabric was not particularly durable. After running through two roofs in as many seasons, we have this year turned the metal frame into a support for plants. Hanging baskets at each corner hold a pair of strawberry plants, and large pots on the floor under each basket have three plants each. We have additional pots of strawberries here and there among our collection of dwarf evergreens in containers that we display on the deck. Strawberry Fields has been giving us a nice bowl of berries every day, and they are free of dirt and slug damage because they are elevated above ground level.

Coldframe Pros and Cons

I'll say up front that we love our walk-in coldframes. Winter gardening will just never be the same again. But in our Tennessee Valley climate, especially with the unusually warm weather in March, they do have one big drawback. They get much too warm for good results with brassicas. We have tried various methods to produce spring crops of broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage without having to resort to almost daily sprayings with Dipel to keep the cabbage butterfly larvae from ruining the crop. We were hoping that the coldframes, which physically prevent the butterfly from reaching the plants to lay its eggs, were the answer. Alas, no. Even with all the windows open, the temperature climbs into the upper 80s on sunny days. We may get some decent cabbage, but broccoli and cauliflower would not tolerate the heat.

So instead of brassicas, we have planted some early beans, and we will soon be replacing the cabbage with squash and cucumbers. We plan to try some fall-planted brassicas, so the plants will be maturing during cooler weather in November and December. In the meantime, we may figure out some way to ventilate the coldframes better, while still screening out the cabbage butterfly. Stay tuned.

Recycle Beer Cartons as Weed Blocker
If you are planning on building a new raised bed and wondering how to deal with existing sod or weeds, you may have considered placing a weed blocker fabric over the undesired plant material. This works great, and you can build a bed right on top, but there is a free alternative: beer cartons. Those trapezoidal twelve-packs that bottled beer comes in make great weed blocker. Separate the cardboard at the glue seams and fold the container out flat. You will see that the flattened cardboard pieces can be interlocked, owing to the way they are die cut. A single layer of these interlocked pieces stops even tough weeds like poke and dandelions. It takes about 18 months for the cardboard to break down, which is plenty of time to eliminate all the weeds under the raised bed. Weedblock fabric, by contrast, does not break down at all. And it does not come packaged with a frosty beverage.

Local Food Report
The first local strawberries have appeared in the market. The ones at Three Rivers Market came from the Colvin Family Farm in Spring City, TN. They must have been forced in a greenhouse, but they are far tastier than the berries now coming in from Florida and California. Good work, Colvin Family! Several varieties of lettuce, along with beautiful rainbow colored Swiss chard, from Hines Valley Farm in Loudon County were also on offer. Watercress from Hancock County appeared to have been foraged. Wild watercress is better than cultivated, in our view, and the harvest of wild watercress is certainly not environmentally harmful.

Speaking of wild veggies, I am surprised that we don't see more foraged greens in specialty markets like Three Rivers. Besides watercress, there is upland cress (or "creasy greens" to oldtimers hereabout), along with poke salad, dandelions, wild asparagus, wild onions and many more. I used to go on foraging trips with my grandmother, who believed that eating a good mess of wild greens was beneficial to one's health. I also wonder why ramps never seem to appear in the produce section, despite having a degree of popularity among upscale chefs in the big cities.

Hurray for Regional Seed Suppliers

Local Food Report
Things are slowly picking up on the local food scene. This week's visit to Three Rivers Market turned up lettuces from Hines Valley Farm in Loudon County, along with mushrooms from Brewer's Mushrooms in Sevier County. We also found an especially good selection of bread and other goodies from local bakeries. I am particularly fond of the herb flatbread made by Tellico Grains Bakery in Tellico Plains. We enjoyed it with olive oil and parmesan as an accompaniment to minestrone, had panini the next day, and turned the leftovers into croutons for a panzanella. It was delicious in all three recipes. Three Rivers also offers baked goods from Hogan's Bakery and The Bakery Lady, as well as a great selection of local and regional cheeses, eggs and dairy products. They also carry Benton's bacon and country ham, both of which are gourmet quality. Anyone who wants to enjoy local food should check out Three Rivers. I know there are other stores that carry great local products, and I plan to venture out and explore them as the season progresses. I will also be reporting regularly on local farmer's markets, which will be opening soon. I just happen to like shopping at Three Rivers, and it is convenient for me. Please make suggestions, using the comments section at the end of the post, for local food producers and vendors. I will make every effort to visit them and share my experiences here.

Regional Seed Suppliers
While I am on the topic of regional businesses, I want to remind area gardeners about our local seed suppliers.  Buying seeds locally not only supports the small businesses that make up the bulk of the economy, but it also guarantees you will have access to selections that have a reputation for success in our area. Most people do not realize how much variation in performance there can be between different cultivars of the same vegetable. For example, Brandywine tomatoes are delicious, but they are difficult to grow in the hot, humid Tennessee Valley. They do better in cooler conditions. On the other hand, Cherokee Purple, a tomato heirloom that originated here, does just fine and produces excellent crops, despite having less disease resistance than most modern hybrid tomatoes. When you are looking for varieties adapted to the special needs of Tennessee gardeners, always look first at local seed suppliers.

D. R. Mayo Seed Company has been in business in Knoxville since 1878, and they are still my favorite place to look for heirloom seeds and old-fashioned flowers. Their online garden seed catalog is not the most visually stunning I have ever seen, but it is packed with helpful information on all the seeds they carry. Besides vegetable and flower seeds, the company offers seeds for turf grass and field crops, such as alfalfa. I have been growing Mayo's generic leeks, celery, scallions and parsley for many years. If you are a fan of sweet corn or green beans, they have many varieties of each.

Knoxville Seed and Greenhouse Supply has a web site that is presently under construction. Located on Rutledge Pike east of downtown Knoxville, the company serves primarily commercial growers, but also welcomes walk-in retail customers. They are a great source for pots, cell trays, and growing mixes as well as seeds. They are one of the few places that still carries bamboo poles in various sizes for garden projects. I find they have a particularly large stock of organic pest control products at reasonable prices. When you visit, tell Rick (who is usually behind the sales counter) that I said "Hi!"

If you shop these two companies and still don't find everything you want for your food garden, also visit the Southern Exposure Seed Exchange web site. This mail order house has consistently provided quality seed, many organically grown, for two decades. Selections that perform well in the South make up the bulk of their offerings. I am trying two heat-tolerant lettuces from them this year, and will report on the results in a future post. They also carry perennial onions, also to be discussed in a future blog post. I particularly like their seed selections for cold-tolerant vegetables.

A great garden begins with the right seeds. Start your seed search with our locally-owned businesses. It's a win-win.

"Serious" Homesteading

Local Food Report
Not much on the local scene this week in the way of fresh produce. Our weekly visit to Three Rivers Market turned up only shiitake, oyster and lion's mane mushrooms from Brewer's Mushrooms in Sevier County.

"Serious" Homesteading
One reviewer (posted at www.facebook.com/NewAmericanHomestead ) says The New American Homestead is "too broad" for anyone "SERIOUSLY" undertaking homesteading. I could not agree more.

Recycling: basic urban homesteading skill

Our intent from the book's inception was to provide a solid overview of the basic skill sets for self-sufficiency, with a stong bias toward horticulture. The book is an introduction to a topic that literally can encompass any "technical" aspect of daily life. We had no choice but to omit some detail. Anyone with the determination to go completely off the grid is probably also intelligent enough to dig up the in-depth, site-specific data they would need to pull it off. This book nevertheless offers all the basic information anyone might need to get started with home food production, togehter with an overview of projects that require a larger investment of time and money, such as keeping bees or chickens. For each topic covered, the existing literature is vast and accessible.

Who's the serious homesteader? I point out in the book that giving up life in or near a city to strike out into the wilderness and live off the land is a romantinc fantasy for all but a few of us. My aim in writing this book is to encourage more people to do more for themselves with the resources available in a urban or suburban setting. I assume, for example, that every household will have utilities and acess to a decent transportation system. Being connected to the municipal water supply does not necessarily imply, however, that I need not trap and conserve rainwater for irrigation purposes.

Living in a high-rise does not, similarly, imply that one should ignore the possibilities for sustainable living. Wheat may be out of the question, but not wheat grass for the cat.

Look for small, slow solutions; one of the principles of permaculture.

The heavy emphasis on horticulture in The New American Homestead stems first from my greater level of knowledge and expertise in this area, compared, say, to apiculture. Secondly, the single most important step anyone can take toward greater sustainability and self-sufficiency is to grow vegetables, herbs and fruits to the extent that climate and resources permit. Commercial production and transportation of food is enormously costly to the environment. By encouraging America's 100 million households to produce whatever they can themselves, we can reduce energy consumption while simultaneously re-awakening our society to the enormous value of wholesome homegrown food. In so doing, we "value the margins," another basic permaculture principle. Suburban and urban landscapes that now consist either of exotic ornamentals or grass are actually in many cases the remnants of land that once grew crops. It is time we reclaimed these spaces for something more useful.

Who, then, is SERIOUS about homesteading? Hats off to the brave souls who head out to the wilderness; their courage is admirable. The rest of us, hoping to achieve a more sustainable existence without giving up our home and community, we're pretty serious about that, too.

Strawberry Time

Local Food Report
We continue to have a dearth of local vegetables. Checking Three Rivers Market this week revealed NO local produce at all. Fortunately, we still have local and regional eggs, milk, cheese and cured meats.

Our greenhouse is now yielding spinach, kale, mache, lettuce, scallions, parsley and cilantro. Why are no commercial growers supplying this niche? Maybe next year....

Strawberry foliage can be decorative, too!

Strawberries
Now is the time to think about starting a strawberry patch. Strawberries are one of the easiest fruit crops for home gardens, and there is a variety for every location and need. Good selections for this area include Surecrop, Tristar and Sequoia. You can purchase bare root plants or containers. Bare root plants should soon be appearing in garden centers as they are best planted in late February or early March. Container plants will arrive later, and are a better choice for the novice gardener.

Plant all strawberries so that the crown (the point at which the roots and stems meet) is just at the soil level. Planting them too deep will prevent proper growth and may lead to a crop failure. Planting too shallow will allow roots to dry out and possibly kill the plants. If planting from containers, simply set the plants at the same level they were growing.

Strawberries require full sun and slightly acidic soil that has been enriched with organic matter. They need plenty of water during the early part of the season, then drier conditions as fruit is forming. Too much water when fruit is colored up leads to poor flavors.

Do not plant strawberries in soil that has grown any member of the potato family (tomatoes, peppers, eggplant or potatoes) for the past five years. These plants have many of the same diseases, and your strawberries may not do very well.

Strawberries are subject to numerous viral and fungal diseases. For this reason, a patch typically gives a good yield for about three years before it needs to be renewed. You can start new plants from runners and move them to a new location, or replace worn-out plants with new stock of a different variety. Container platns can be propagated from runners which can then be potted in fresh, sterile growing mix. This may sound like a lot of trouble, but the flavor of perfectly ripe strawberries is well worth it, in our view.

If you have limited space, consider the new Dutch strawberry varieties that are bred for container growing. They have names like Tristan, Loran and Merlan. Besides producing delicious fruit, these plants have glossy, dark green foliage and flowers in white, pink and hot pink. The flowers are much larger than those of other strawberries, about the size of a half dollar coin. The plants are quite decorative even when not bearing fruit. Best of all, they are day-neutral, meaning you will get a small crop all season, with peaks in spring and fall. During the first year, we recommend removing all blooms that appear before May 1. This helps the plant to establish roots, and will lead to a better crop later on.

The Out-of-Season Season

This time of year, everything seems to be out of season locally. My most recent visit to Three Rivers Market turned up no local produce items, other than storage sweet potatoes. Given that I am harvesting herbs and greens from both outdoor beds and my cold frames, you'd think someone would be doing this commercially.

Last month, there were plenty of local green crops on the shelves. So why now a dearth? I can think of lots of possible explanations. All of which boil down to a matter of timing on the grower's part. Hopefully, some enterprising farmer will realize that he or she could sell local produce during February and plan accordingly next winter.

Cabbage plants under artificial lighting

In all fairness to our astute local growers, it is much trickier to produce a winter crop around here owing to the sporadic availability of sunshine. Short days in December and January cause crops to slow down and stop growing. I have experimented with various types of supplemental lighting for years. Given our relatively low electric rates in the Tennessee Valley, about 9 cents per kilowatt/hour for residential customers, growing winter crops with supplemental lighting might be cost effective for an efficient operation.

It would be interesting to compare the carbon footprint for producing local crops with supplemental lighting, versus trucking the same crops long distances. I know, for example, that lettuce can be grown to harvestable size entirely under fluorescent lights. The photo at right shows sturdy lettuce plants now about a month old. And below, Ashley lettuce, grown under lights, has reached leaf lengths of about five inches, big enough for a salad. These plants are going out to the cold frame soon, but if they were potted up and left under the lights they would mature. Lettuce produced indoors has a much more tender texture. The leaves are thinner. We are experimenting with air movement to get a crispier lettuce. By using a small fan to gently circulate air around the leaves, we encourage them to become sturdier, and hence more palatable.

Lettuce 'Ashley' under fluorescent lighting

Home and commercial growers alike should experiment with supplemental lighting. New technologies, such as LED lighting arrays, offer promise of space-saving designs that use a fraction of the electricity of currently popular equipment, such as fluorescent and metal halide lighting. The biggest drawback to LED systems for home use is their high initial cost, but the price should come down as the equipment gains in popularity.

Crop Rotation in Small Space Gardens

If, like us, you are working on your food garden plan for 2012, you are probably confronting the perennial problem of crop rotation. The smaller your food growing space, the more difficult it becomes to avoid growing the same crop family in the same soil year after year.

Corn needs a lot of space, and can be a challenge
to accomodate in a small garden.

Crop rotation is one of the best organic means of controlling vegetable pests and diseases and of avoiding severe depletion of soil nutrients.

For crop rotation purposes, it is helpful to sort the popular vegetables into their respective botanical families:

• Potato Family--potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, tomatilloes
• Squash Family--cucumbers, squashes, melons
• Cabbage Family--broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, Chinese cabbage, collards, kale, kohlrabi, mustards, radish, turnip, watercress
• Carrot Family--carrots, celery, chervil, cilantro, dill, parsley, parsnips
• Onion Family--garlic, leeks, onions, scallions, shallots
• Pea Family--beans, English peas, snap peas, snow peas, Southern peas, soybeans
• Goosefoot Family--beets, spinach, Swiss chard
• Daisy Family--endives, lettuce
• Grass Family--corn
• Hibiscus Family--okra
• Morning Glory Family--sweet potatoes

The last three, corn, okra and sweet potatoes, need a lot of space, and are among the most difficult to accommodate in a small garden. Ideally, a given vegetable family should not occupy a given growing space but once every five years. To accomplish this, you obviously need at laset five distinct growing spaces. If you plan on growing more than one member of a particular family, tomatoes and peppers, for example, you will need additional room. Where garden space is at a premium, this quickly becomes a serious problem. Here are some strategies we use to manage crop rotation.

First, note that the majority of popular vegetable varieties come from only six families. These are the ones that will cause you the most problems. From any one of these families, then, decide which crop you will need in greatest quantity. Assign that crop to your main growing space. Repeat with each of the remaining families until you run out of space.

Next, go back to your list and decide what crops can be "tucked in" here and there. For example, you can grow scallions in between cabbage or pea plants or parsley between tomatoes or peppers. Swiss chard is a good choice for having just a plant or two here and there, as are bush beans and lettuces. Various herbs can also be tucked in, and often will do double duty in repelling crop pests.

If you can grow some crops in containers, you can supplement your in-ground space. Containers are great for all the "tucked in" crops mentioned above. Other crops that perform well in containers are peppers, tomatoes, celery, eggplant, spinach, watercress and cucumbers (if trellised). Root crops, including radishes, carrots, leeks, and beets, can also be grown in containers if the soil is sufficiently deep. Potatoes grow well in containers approximating the size of a 30 gallon garbage can or larger.

Miscellaneous green crops, although not included in the list above, offer some other great choices for container growing. Arugula, corn salad, dandelion, miner's lettuce, mizuna, purslane, tatsoi, and "baby" varieties of bak choi will grow in a window box.

The advantage of using containers is that instead of crop rotation, you can practice "soil rotation." You can empty the container and add fresh growing mix, if necessary. You can also simply keep track of which crop grew in which container last season and grow something else in it this year.

Another strategy is to try to rejuvenate the soil in your growing spaces. This will be much easier if you grow in raised beds, but can also be accomplished for in-ground spaces. Replenishing plant nutrients and trace elements is relatively easy. All you need to do is dig in plenty of compost and other amendments. The challenge is doing something about soil-borne pests and diseases.

One of the best options for "pasteurizing" soil is solarization. Cover the growing area with a sheet of black plastic. You can buy it in rolls at DIY stores and many garden centers. Leave the plastic in place during a period of warm, sunny weather. The soil under the plastic will heat up, destroying insects and microorganisms and encouraging dormant weed seeds to sprout. This technique typically works best from late spring through fall, when the weather is most likely to be sunny. You can, for example, dig potatoes in June, solarize the bed for a week (assuming it doesn't rain) and then plant peppers in the same spot to harvest in September.

Finally, allowing a growing space to lie fallow for a season does not mean you cannot grow anything there. Using a vegetable growing space for herbs or annual flowers for all or part of the season makes great sense.

Please use the comments section to share your strategies for small space crop rotation.

Weekly Local Food Report
This availability of local fresh food continues to dwindle this week. I found oyster and shiitake mushrooms from Sevier County, acorn squash from Macon County, and sweet potatoes from Grainger County in the produce section. Plenty of preserved foods from local and regional producers remain available, along with fresh, local milk and eggs. It is apparent that Knoxville needs some enterprising growers who can produce more fresh veggies during winter. Working in our little greenhouses, however, it is easy to recognize the challenge this presents. Mainly, it is the absence of sunshine that makes growing even the hardiest crops difficult at this time of year. Without the solar energy, crops simply cannot grow, and supplemental lighting not only consumes electricity, but greatly increases production costs.