|
...where you can see
the food growing in the ground, see us harvest it, and you know that it's fresh and truly local. A
farmer's market right at the farm!
Green People Appreciation Sale! From May 11 through May 22
get
$15 or more worth of greens and get 20% off your purchase. (Includes everything except onions, garlic,
eggs and mushrooms.)
|
| Hungry? |
Wanted: Seasonal Eaters!
We are growers of "our~ganic" (not officially certified organic - see below) fruits and vegetables
in Catalina, AZ, slightly north of Tucson. Our aim is to be a source of freshly harvested local produce for the Catalina
area, including Oro Valley and NW Tucson.
Hours are posted farther down this page, along with the current
harvest. See the "Contact" page to get in touch.
Directions to Our Garden are on the "Location" page (see links above).
Please drive slowly.
You may be sharing the long
driveway with bicycles, pedestrians, chickens, cats and dogs, not to mention on-coming traffic. Serious thank
yous to all you respectfully slow drivers.
Try to remember to BYOB (bring your own bag), but we have a few for those who
forget. I forget sometimes too!
Hours:
Wed. and Sat.
9am til noon
May is for Mushrooms!
oyster mushrooms
and these other wonderful offerings~
Amaranth
greens,
Arugula,
Tall
Top Beets,
and Golden Beets too,
Chard,
Kale,
Chinese Cabbage,
Bok Choi,
Green Garlic,
Young Sweet Onions,
Butter Lettuce, Romaine
Lettuce, Leaf Lettuce,
Turnips (2 varieties),
Mild Mustard
Greens,
Tyfon,
and Dandelion Greens!
plus fresh eggs from the chickens who still wander around next door (-:
 ************************
May 7th~
What better
time to write about food than right after dinner? The beets are small and sooooo tender- no need to peel. And
those mustard greens! These are not your boil down in bacon and onion variety. They are mild enough to eat in
salad. Not as sharp as arugula- just a piquant mustard taste- mmm mmm mm. On our pizza we had oyster
mushrooms, and I do believe they have a bit of an oyster taste- not so earthy as, say, portabella. I'd not
noticed that before... but it could have been influenced by the anchovies!
Big treat tomorrow~ Jesse
is running the register! He's looking forward to asking your opinion on the crops, so take advantage~
May
3rd~
The asparagus must have picked up steam ~ last week there was a little left over for us, yay! As
well as spinach, bok choi, and beets- woo hoo did we feast! Was so good I might go out there like a regular customer
tomorrow...
I'm getting into oyster mushrooms on a regular basis. Nicole has let us know that, like chard,
they have a bite unless you cook them a bit, so immediately after purchase I saute them on medium heat w/o butter or oil until
they start to squeak. Then I store them in the frige and add them cold to salads or reheat with whatever dish I'm
making. Mushrooms have been such a compliment to all the fresh veggies.
Tomatoes are in the ground!
And the peppers are about to join them! Transplants for squash and eggplant and okra are lined up ready to go too.
I have to admit to having bought a watermelon the other day- I just can't wait that long! But it will be July before
we know it and we'll be popping cherry tomatoes like candy. Meanwhile the onions are getting larger and we'll
be able to bug the gardeners for them sweet and fresh out of the ground. Garlic is not too far behind.
***************
As I've said in the past, we are similar to a CSA in that what is being harvested right here right
now is what you get to choose from. The difference is that you do have a choice within the current harvest. You
don't receive a huge bag of turnips for this week's allotment (which I'm sure doesn't really happen
all that often in CSA's!), and you don't pay ahead so if the current harvest does not appeal to your tastes you are
not out any money.
But for many of us eating seasonally is an adventure we enjoy. Often people who join
CSA's or shop at Our Garden go on to start their own garden. And often people who have had their own garden end
up joining a CSA or come here to shop since gardening is so time-consuming, exhausting, frustrating, and expensive.
Oh, but did I mention rewarding, fulfilling, and spiritually enriching?
*****************************************
|
| sunflowers as seen from the peppers viewpoint |
not always out but almost always available:
bay leaves, basil, rosemary, parsley, sage,
and Flowers!
and anything else I forgot!
********************
|
| Jesse on the tractor, getting ready for planting. |
Slow down. Be green. Shop local. Smile.
Every
time someone thanks us for doing this work, I am thanking them back for allowing us to do it. People who are appreciating
the value of having a variety of local, freshly grown organic produce... food right out of the ground.. actually still alive
when you buy it!... these people are contributing to the life of the community and the planet, as well as their own
little bodies. Thinking globally and acting locally isn't just for Earth First now, is it.
|
| Wayne with the old Troy Built, long before we had a tractor! |
You can click on this water color prickly pear to see some of Rebecca's art work. If
you are interested in purchasing any of her work, or contacting her for mural or other art-related work, just let us know.
|
| We have plants too! |
We also have a few native and climate-adapted
plants available, both ornamental and food producing, under the shade cloth in the garden. This is an area we would
like to expand once we get the food production under "control". Jesse is the one to seek out for info on the
nursery plants.
|
| Catalina resident |
This wise old resident is linking you to another Catalina web site, OurCatalina.com.
This site keeps up on local issues and interests, things to do, resources, etc., and is well worth checking
out. So put your pointer on the owl and he'll take you there.
| HUSKING PISTACHIOS THE OLD FASHIONED WAY |
|
| pistachio flowers |
|
"What are those trees?" When we first started doing this we thought people would enjoy driving through
the orchard. I took this picture of the flowers in early April one year, so look for them in the spring.
To learn about the orchard's history and odds and ends about us, click on this picture. We had a pretty good
harvest a few years ago, with much volunteer help. Above is a picture John de Coville had taken of many
hands doing the husking. The machinery to do it all ourselves was cost prohibitive unless we won the lottery, but
then we found out about using a commercial potato peeler. I've always said, farmers are a resourceful bunch.
This year (2010) Jesse purchased a used potato peeler and with a little advice from another resourceful pistachio
farmer and the help of a few garden friends, he was able to harvest enough to sell. The crops are generally heavy every
other or every 3 years, with light ones in between. If we are harvesting while you are here, please go over and check
out the operation. If you volunteer some time you can even leave with some fresh pistachios, not to mention an idea
of the time involved in harvesting from just one tree. Often this answers the question, "why don't you do anything
with those nuts?"
|
|
We call it "Our-ganic" Just a word or two (okay, I'm a wordy person) about the
word "organic" here. Finally we have a government definition for a term that's been tossed about loosely
for years by gardeners. Some gardeners probably still don't know the meaning of 'organic gardening', and
some may dispute the definition adopted by our wise public servants. My feeling on the subject is you are best informed
by asking the grower how he gardens (which means buying it from the farmer). This means you need to know what your own
priorities are. Our family has always considered organic to mean without the use of chemical pesticides (commonly
known as 'spraying') and without the use of chemical fertilizers such as ammonium phosphate, sulphate,
etc. We feel that the main issue is the spraying of chemical pesticides, insecticides, which
are very harmful to us and the environment. However, chemical fertilizers are not exactly harmless and it
is possible to do without them as well. While we are not certified organic, we are honest about telling you that the
food we sell is grown organically in the true sense of the word, thus "our-ganic". However, there is
a lot to be said for the nutrition in fresh truly local food however it's grown compared to that coming in by truck
from who knows where. I recently saw a sign on a contractor's truck that said "Unlicensed by Choice".
Right on ~~ me too. A license or certification doesn't automatically mean a good job done, and a lack of one doesn't
mean a lack of quality or honesty. If you are really looking for organics, ask the grower not only if his crops
are sprayed with pesticides, but also what he uses for fertilizers. Don't count on our government to protect you.
Really it is up to each of us to take the responsibility to be as well-informed as we possibly can.
|
| corny sunset |
 |
And, a tiny little word about pricing. So many new callers ask about our
prices, and I say it how it is- priced according to the local market (Whole Food and TJ's) for organics. What
we have over Whole Food and Trader Joe's (both of whom I really appreciate, don't get me wrong) is the freshness.
Where else can you get organic vegetables out of the garden the very same day unless you have your own garden? And if
you have had your own garden, you understand one of the major expenses. It's the water bill, isn't it!
For us the water bill is electricity to run a big enough pump to irrigate, not to mention the occasional thousands of dollars
on repairs. Don't look for bargains here. Look for quality.
|
