A Narrative of the University of Oregon Urban Farm

Archives for vegetables

New Farm Happenings

Hello to the University of Oregon blog community! My name is Ayla Ginger.

I am so happy to be placed here on this wooden bench, spilling out my first, long awaited post for the Urban Farm blog. I wish to bid the previous blog writer and urban farm friend, Kat, a loving hello and farewell. It has been over a year since she last posted on this blog, now living in Portland and partaking in many great gardening endeavors.

My goal here is to post weekly updates on the growing narrative that is the Urban Farm, similar to Kat. I took the Urban Farm class almost two years ago and fell in love with the place, the process and the people of the farm. New plants, topics and issues are constantly sprouting. Hundreds of students occupy the outdoor classroom a term; think about all the hands that have collectively dug into this dirt that have contributed to its healthy state today! Who are these hands? What is their experience on the farm?

From what I have gathered over time spent and conversations had; this place, this outdoor classroom, this cultivated open space, has affected, and continues to affect the lives of an innumerable amount of species. I aspire to bring light to the place, process and the people, and to share this narrative with any who may be interested to listen. Gardeners, urban farmers, nature lovers, academics, ecologists, poets, what have you, all welcome!

I wish I had photos to share, but I am having some technological difficulties in that area. Photos to come soon!

Beltane

Currently listening: The Beach Boys- Vega-Tables

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):

Precelebreation Ribbons

Lauren telling tale

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!

Gather and Listening

Gather and Listening

In addition to the love we put into growing plants and enriching the soil– The Urban Farm fosters safe and welcoming relationships. 

Shelly and Jenny adorable
Gather and Listening

gather and listening tom 1

gather and listening tom 2

gather and listening tom 4

 

After the story we had to untangle the ribbons!

Tom KiKi ribbon twisted

toms group twised ribbon shannon

 

Almost there!

Top of Maypole

 

Twisted Ribbon Harper group 3 yes

 

Twisted Ribbon Harper Group

 

Twisted Ribbon Harper Group

 

And manage to not get tangled in the ribbon yourself! ;]

Twisted ribbon group

getting ready

KiKi untwisting ribbon

dance shelly holding ribbon

Then it was time to begin the maypole dance:

But first it’s instagram time!

cell phones out

Lauren love Dan
beltane ribbon designSuch a pretty pattern

working at it dance

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)

percussion crew 4

percussion crew 2

And in case you were wondering about the adorable baby, meet Theo, son of group leaders Keegan and Jenny Caughlin:

baby theo too cute yes

baby theo and keegan

baby theo and jenny

It got a little complicated and hilarious toward the end! 

(yes these are slightly out of order)

Braid maypole shelly laugh yes yes

end of dance 3

end of dance 4

end of dance 5 yes

end of dance 2

When it got to the end, the next task was to braid the ribbons, and then braid those ribbons together:

braiding bottom pole 2

braiding bottom of pole 1 yes

braiding bottom pole

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!

Pretty table setup

sun tea

queing to eat 1

Spring flowers were abundant!

wreath

Cheyenne holding red petaled sunflower starts (and some cool kid in the reflection of her glasses):

Cheyenne peace sunflowers

Dan and group relaxing in the shade of the orchard:

dan apple tree

Dans group photo

 

Shelly holding the centerpiece of the potluck, bravo! It looks heavy and delicious!:

Shelly squash

banana squash
Lauren love forever

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 :]

To be continued…

Later Days

-Kat B!

 

Olive You Lettuce Bee Together

Currently listening: Sheer Mag- Fan The Flames

We have 97.46 pounds of harvest for the month of April! Imagine if we had been recording for the winter term too! Epic :]

I am pumped and believe gardening is such an important part of LIFE! How blessed we are to be able to participate in such a course here at the University of Oregon.

The amount of changes since the term started are unbeetlievable, oh you want a couple progress shots? Coming right up!

Prepping the beds on April 7:
bed prep april 7

Making some new paths on April 9:
pathways april 9

Some starts added in April 14:
upper area transplants 4 14

April 2 start of Spring term:
april 2 before

April 9:April 9 pathways

April 14:
april 14

Happy 45th Earth Day, BTW! In honor, here is the unofficial official song of earth day:

Later Days

-Kat B!

Not Rhubarb Pie!

Currently listening: Tom Waits- Rain Dogs

Recipe time!

I think during every class I get asked, or hear someone else asking “What do I do with this? / How do I cook or eat this vegetable?”

Today we harvested rhubarb, I wanted to make something else besides ‘strawberry-rhubarb pie, that if you add enough strawberries it’s almost as good as strawberry pie’ :]

Being a person born in the late 80’s I naturally turned to my cookbook’s first, but they only had dessert’s. I was hungry for a savory dinner, which lead me to internet searches. I found one on Vegetarian Times. We also harvested leeks, broccoli, and cilantro today, which I wanted to use in my dinner. (If you want to view our up-to-date harvest log, click here!)
Each term (or last term and this term) students are asked to complete an “Eat Local” assignment, in which they must eat local for two days. This recipe fulfills that requirement, which is always a personal goal of mine. Seriously, try eating with the seasons, your body will thank you.

How I revised the recipe, I started by cooking lentils and barley, then sautéed the leeks in the spices suggested, and added those to the lentils and barley. I did not use as much, since I did not have as much, duh! I also added dried cranberries from hummingbird wholesale and raisins that I had dehydrated last fall. Once the lentils were almost done I added chopped up rhubarb (1.5 cups/2 stalks) and steamed for about 10 mins, also added broccoli and cilantro in the last bit of time. I added more seasonings like cumin, ginger, mustard, nutritional yeast, braggs amino acid, and salt n pepper.

Just look how tasty eating local is!:

Rhubarb Meal

And what is an Urban Farm post without a picture of the activities today?

Dan’s group inspecting their turnip and carrot bed:

april 16 turnip carrot bed

april 16 covering turnip bed

Later Days

Kat B!

Winter 2015

Currently listening: Blue Cheer- Vincebus Eruptum

It just so happens that I have some scattered pictures from winter term available to share with you!

Jan 24 (Saturday Session):

We went over to River Bend Farm/Orchard to learn and help them prune their pear tree’s!

RB Action Shot

Before (not our handy work):

RB before tree

After:

RB after tree

February 3:

I transplanted an m-9 honey crisp apple that Keegan (a team leader) taught me (and many other interested students) how to graft at the Sustainability Fair!  My friend Anna named the tree Isaac :]

Sustain Fair Feb 3

Issac tree m9

February 16:

It was a beautiful sunny day at the farm and we were able to harvest so much we had some leftover’s!  The winter classes are smaller than the fall/spring group sizes.

feb 16 leftovers
I spy: giant red mustard, cilantro, collard greens…

feb 16 garden shot

February 23:

This day our group elected to work in the greenhouse for planting seeds!  We planted a nice mix, such as beets, tomatoes, kale, cabbage, and more.  We worked with flats/trays, cells.. and talked about the benefits of using one over the other for each plant.  Seeds are donated to the Urban Farm through various community organizations/resources.  Previously in the term we went through the collection of seeds and set aside ‘old’ seed (prior to 3-4 years) and organized the lot.  The germination rate goes down with each consecutive year past the packaging date.

beet package

seeding trays

Inside the greenhouse! What plants do you see developing?

inside greenhouse trays

March 2:

Some lovely purple sprouting broccoli:

brassica mar 2

Beets from the Urban Farm, in the front doorway of my house:

beetz

March 9:

The last day of winter classes for me at the Urban Farm!  We got to transplant an entire bed of Walla-Walla Onions, “So good they had to name them twice!”  These are fresh onions, not storage onions, these will be ready in the summer time.

Keegan’s group came over to help once they were done with their projects:

walla walla

Dan looking accomplished!

onions mar 9 woo

I hope you have an enjoyed a brief and quick insight into what kind of tasks can be done at the Urban Farm during winter term.  As always, feel free to follow us on Instagram and Facebook! @UrbanFarmFriend

Instagram
Later Days

-Kat B!

Dino Kale

One of our tried and true vegetable crops on the farm is kale – specifically this great variety of Italian ‘Dino’ or Lacinato kale. It is available from a few different seed companies and we can never seem to grow too much of it. It has a great blue-green color and really cool texture, like the skin of a dinosaur.

Typically students in the class do not have much cooking experience, but this is a really versatile vegetable for them to play around with. It is really easy to steam, saute or mix into a casserole and bake. Drop a little maple syrup in for a slightly sweet side dish. You can also saute some garlic and butter for something more savory. We have been known to add just a spoonful of bacon grease, let it melt, then saute a big pile of greens – so goooooooood.

This variety is really high in iron and packed with anti-oxidants – a good thing for college kids to get in the habit of eating! We tend to let our plants get upwards of 5 feet over the growing season. They often make it through the winter and provide a continual harvest, as we just pick leaves off the bottom and slowly make our way up the stalk. Yum!

2010 Garden Harvest Tally

A common sight at the Urban Farm, among the compost heaps and tidy beds, is our baby scale. A baby scale? I know! But it turns out to be the perfect-sized scale to weigh all of the produce we harvest from the farm.

We keep monthly records of our harvests for a few reasons. People will make notes about certain pests, which helps us adapt for future plantings. And it tells us what worked well last year and how we might mix things up for the coming season. We might remember that we planted way too much zucchini and too little potatoes, so we adjust for the coming year.

This year we can celebrate 6,500 pounds of food grown from students and volunteers at the farm. Our goal is education, not to be the highest producing farm. Regardless, it was a good haul! Here is a brief look at the biggest producers:

  • Tomatoes – over 1,000 pounds
  • Summer squash – over 700 pounds
  • Beets, apples – over 500 pounds each
  • Onions – over 300 pounds
  • Lettuce, cabbage – about 300 pounds each
  • Potatoes, pears, pumpkins, swiss chard – about 200 pounds each
  • Broccoli, carrots, cucumbers, garlic, kale, leeks, shallots, spinach – all about 100-200 pounds each

Our produce goes home with volunteers and students in the class. When we have excess, we donate to local non-profits like Food for Lane County. It was a great year!

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