Did you know there are some flowers you can eat? And they are delicious! As summer approaches at the Urban Farm, there are a variety of tasty flowers in bloom. Keep your eye out for these unassuming treats as you meander through the farm.
Borage: This is a flower you might be familiar with by now if you have spent much time in the garden. It grows and spreads profusely after being introduced to a garden. The little indigo blooms are edible and have a mildly sweet taste. Make sure to only eat the petals and avoid the stem, which is rough and fuzzy.
Daylily: These are some of the best edible flowers, in my humble opinion. The petals are large and fleshy, and they taste super sweet! Tear off one petal for a taste, or eat the whole flower for a great snack.
Nasturtium: This annual flower is not sweet, as you might expect it to be. It is instead deliciously peppery. The soft crunch is oh so satisfying.
As a student who has demonstrated commitment to the Urban Farm, showing up time and time again since I arrived at the university, I (alongside my fellow urban farmer Grace) was so kindly given some plots at the Columbia Street Garden. Grace and I have now been taking care of the three plots in the southwest corner of the garden for more than a year, and it is as lively as ever. I recently took some photos of the garden’s intricate beauty that I thought I would share here. A healthy garden is always so full of life!
A ladybug on a mystery green–perhaps a hybrid of chard and spinach? It’s been thriving since the fall, and it is now almost as tall as I am!
California poppies! Pro tip: listen to the song Poppies by Nina Simone, and every time you see a poppy thereafter you will hear that song play in your head.
Artichokes growing! Did you know that the part of the artichoke plant we eat is the flower bud? Make sure to harvest them before they turn into vibrant purple flowers. If you harvest them when they’re too far along in their development, the stringy flowers taste like hair.
This lil dragonfly buddy was perched on the fence–perhaps injured? It was incredible to look so closely at its intricate detail.
Compost tea is a wonderful thing. We could get real technical here, but lets keep it simple. In essence, the idea is that you have sugar and inoculated compost and we fed it to the tomato plants on the new bed that has brand new soil and hardly any organics in it [May 12]. Compost tea is very versatile. Well you know how bad bacteria multiply on the counter top the way you leave chicken out, well good bacteria does the same thing; ‘exponential growth’ it goes crazy, so in a matter of 48-72 hours you have maximum bacterial populations. If you leave it around, it gets kinda smelly and the good bacteria starts to die off, and the bad bacteria starts to move in. There are designer versions, you can buy compost starter that have mycorrhizal (and stuff) and special bacteria. A lot of places like DTE have big monster machines that make it bubble all the time… [paraphrased from Harper].
Who doesn’t love watching their garden transform into an edible landscape? Let’s check out some of the oh-snap pea’s that have grown wonderfully since the spring term started!
It’s been rainy here the past couple days which as I’m sure you can imagine makes everything in the garden just POP! Thus far, we’ve harvested 37 pounds for the month of May.
Check out this ridiculous allium: (whose name I do not know!)
We transplanted some peppers already (we’ll see!) and check out the spinach that we planted from a Territorial Seed Co. seed strip (May 12):
At the bottom bed of this photo on April 21, you can see the spinach sprouting up!:
Bok Choy on April 14:
& on May 12:
I have a bunch of varied, what I like to call ‘general harvest work photos’ that I think it is time to share!
April 7, not even a storm can deter the Urban Farmers from prepping beds for spring planting:
Every group was busy working and harvesting April 9:
Someone took a leek in the sink:
April 14:
Tom sweeping up for the week on April 23:
Taking out some brassica’s April 21 to prep that bed for some Thai eggplant:
May 5, nice romaine harvest:
May 7:
May 12:
Okay so this isn’t a work shot, but look at how beautifully laid out this bed is!:
Great job everyone, and don’t forget to study your plant families for the exam tomorrow ;]
I would like to share more pictures of the Beltane celebration! Nancy was kind enough to share some of the earlier classes pictures with us, and I have more single shots that show just how confusing the dance can be (expressions are priceless!)
Noon class making adorable floral chains:
Setting it up:
Filtering the sun tea:
Time to eat!:
Just look at that spread!
Just a bunch of happy (and slightly blinded by the sun) garden gals over here!
Thanks a bunch for sharing the pictures Nancy!
Here are some more pictures from the later afternoon class performing the maypole dance:
The concentration, the fun!
hehehe!
Everyone’s hair is so pretty!
That’s all folks! For more pictures and videos be sure to check out our Instagram @UrbanFarmFriend!
Beltane celebration! I want to do a little write up about it, but it simply will not compare to Lauren’s version of the tale. Just let it be known we took a break from our normal activities to celebrate May Day. We had a potluck and danced around the maypole. Here are the lovely pictures (and a maypole timelapse video) that show the warmth from everyones smiling faces!
The dance is slightly complicated to perform, there are 36 ribbons- two groups of 18 students, going opposite directions, weaving in and out of one another! Here is a video to demonstrate the fun and dance (I know the orientation is off, dill with it):
Before we danced, Lauren told us the story of the sun god and goddess. Tom talked to us about the importance of the seasons and planting. Learning and celebrating at the same time!
In addition to the love we put into growing plants and enriching the soil– The Urban Farm fosters safe and welcoming relationships.
After the story we had to untangle the ribbons!
Almost there!
And manage to not get tangled in the ribbon yourself! ;]
Then it was time to begin the maypole dance:
But first it’s instagram time!
Such a pretty pattern
Since we don’t have a boom-box, meet our fabulous percussion and lead vocal section: (I head a rumor there was a wicked cool harmonica player floating around but never spotted them)
And in case you were wondering about the adorable baby, meet Theo, son of group leaders Keegan and Jenny Caughlin:
It got a little complicated and hilarious toward the end!
(yes these are slightly out of order)
When it got to the end, the next task was to braid the ribbons, and then braid those ribbons together:
Now it was time for us to celebrate by breaking bread with one another!
Check out this freshly popped popcorn Kasey donated from Lonesome Whistle Farm! Thank you so much!
Spring flowers were abundant!
Cheyenne holding red petaled sunflower starts (and some cool kid in the reflection of her glasses):
Dan and group relaxing in the shade of the orchard:
Shelly holding the centerpiece of the potluck, bravo! It looks heavy and delicious!:
I’ve got even more pictures of the dancers holding the ribbon as they weave in and out of one another, but now I must go to Sam Bonds and check out my Urban Farm friend and classmate Matt’s band :]
Today I went around and just took pictures of both classes and both locations, the Columbia street and the UO one. I’ll elaborate more on that later, but first I want to post these pictures!
Morning Class at UO Urban Farm:
Lauren’s group examining the bee’s:
Harper’s group setting up tomato cages:
Shelly’s group is all like ‘lettuce party over here’:
Morning Class at Columbia St. Urban Farm:
Some group dialogs about classroom projects and real-world events before beginning the days work:
Kasey’s group is Taking Care of Brassicas:
Using a machete helps to ensure they get chopped up into decent sizes for the compost pile! The more surface area the greater the exchange rate between microorganisms during decomposition which in turn leads to a faster rate of decomposition within the entire compost pile. Life!
Kasey is holding a sprayer full of compost tea!:
Goofing around:
Dan’s group getting ready to plant some Solanaceae:
Keegan’s group talking about reworking ‘the boneyard’:
Afternoon Class at UO Urban Farm:
The afternoon class ran out of sunshine and got rain instead, but fear not! they continued their journey and had a great turnout!
Dan’s group checking out their turnip & carrot bed:
Kasey’s group putting up tomato cages:
We learned that to improve water resources the tomatoes were going to be planted in little trenches- to help with watering come summer time when there are less ‘hands on deck’ in the Urban Farm.
Leeks!:
All of this happened within a normal day of classes at the Urban Farm!
We harvested about 18 pounds of food security today, radical! You can check out the up-to-date harvest log here.
