10,000 Garden Challenge is headed to Springfield, Mo

The 10,000 Garden Challenge is headed to Springfield, Mo. The Missouri Department of Agriculture will visit the “A Tribute to the Red, White & Blue: A Patriotic Flower Show” event, Friday, May 27 to register gardens, share gardening advice and encourage Missourians to participate in the Challenge.

The 10,000 Garden Challenge is an initiative to register 10,000 Missouri gardens to promote agriculture, gardening, health and nutrition. Department staff will be at the Library Center in Springfield, Mo. from noon to 8:30 p.m. to add to the more than 3,100 gardens already registered at AgriMissouri.com.

On March 14, Governor Nixon, the First Lady, and Director Jon Hagler of the Missouri Department of Agriculture challenged Missourians to register 10,000 gardens in the state of Missouri and put them on a map to promote gardening, health and nutrition throughout the state.

Galena Farmers And Crafters Market a Success

The Galena Farmers And Crafters Market kicked off it’s 2011 season earlier this month and by all accounts it was a success. More vendors are needed to supply spring produce including lettuce, cauliflower, cabbage and onions. Fee’s are $10 and according to Debbie Bridges you can sell all summer long! It is a perfect way for the community to come together and provide fresh fruits and vegetables, canned goods and local crafts for our community and visitors alike. And once a month on Saturday’s we can all enjoy some family entertainment! For more information on how to join call Debbie Bridges at 417-559- 1089 or Connie Johnson at 417- 357-6061

The Crane Creek Market also looking for vendors

Crane Creek Market opens at 8:00 a.m. till noon every Saturday. Located on highway 413 at the old grocery store parking lot. There is still vendor space available. Vendors that have not already signed up are welcome to come that morning, and remember that everything must be locally produced, homemade or handmade. There will not be any fees for vendors. The are also looking for local musicians so grab your fiddles, guitars and banjos for an hometown jam session. Come join us Saturday to sell or shop and support your local community. Contact Patty at mcmpatty@gmail.com for more information and with any questions.

Home Grown Festival and House Tour This Weekend – in Old North St. Louis

Be prepared to be inspired at the “Old North St. Louis Home Grown Festival and House Tour” Saturday, May 14, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. There is so much to enjoy about the redevelopment of Old North St. Louis. And AgriMissouri will be there to help celebrate every bit of it.

Just this year the community-based revitalization efforts of ONSL led to St. Louis’ first co-op grocery store, the re-opening of Crown Square, recognition by the National Historic Trust for Preservation, Habitat for Humanity’s completion of 17 new LEED platinum homes and the development of the 13^th Street Garden. The self-guided tour allows visitors to visit homes and gardens and witness some of the dramatic changes of the neighborhood at their own pace. A free shuttle service will also be provided.

Tickets are available online and on the day of the event. Included in the tour booklet is a coupon for free ice cream from Crown Candy, an Old North Saint Louis landmark since 1913. For more information go www.onsl.org. To learn more about AgriMissouri, head to AgriMissouri.com.

Download Old North flyer here. pdf

1000 Gardens – Make space for berries.

In Missouri The 1,000 Gardens Project gets people to register their vegetable gardens. It’s hoping to sprout 10,000 new gardens in 2011.

Locally it’s relying on the community to get things started. The idea behind the push is sustainability. “I think if you looked at the number that are actually exploring this issue, you’d be very surprised. I think this is a very attainable goal,” said Shelley Vaugine, a volunteer. Organizers say local gardens would make Springfield less dependent on store bought food, and I’m sure it would. People in the Ozarks are known for their resourcefulness and their ability to get things to grow in spite of all the rocks. Back at the turn of the century tomato canneries were commonplace in these hills. Everything seems to be going full circle here as the community as a whole supports not only themselves, but the growers in our area through the multiple farmers markets.

We plant everything from pole beans to tomatoes. In our garden we have set aside an area for blackberries and raspberries. We like to make jelly and sauces and those berries really pay for themselves over the season. If you haven’t tried growing berries here’s a source we use that’s Missouri based and provides the right planets for our area. Stark Bros. out of Louisiana, MO sends us Thornless Boysenberries which are great juicy deep purple berries – just wade in and pick ‘em! Berries grow to a whopping 1½ inches long and as big around as one full inch! You’ll want them for dessert every day during the season, but save a few for the greatest jam you ever tasted. Usually ready late July. We also have Natchez Thornless Blackberries as big as your thumb that are disease-resistant and one that the University of Arkansas has helped produce. The berries we have are much like the monsters you sometimes find at your local farmers market…you know the ones that look like a purple baseball. All kidding aside, it’s a pleasure to have the canes included in our garden space, no thorns and the benefit of the berries, how can you lose?

I think we can all agree sustainability should include a few choice berries. They should be in the mix. Our friends at Stark Bros. have graciously given Hootentown readers their own discounted coupon if you want to plant some berries in your garden.

COUPON Code: HOOTENTOWN
Valid: April 1, 2011 – April 30, 2011
$5 Off all orders over $50 (prior to S/H).
Online (www.starkbros.com) use only
1 use per customer

P.S. Don’t forget the fertilizer!

Blackberry & Bramble Fertilizer

Finally…a fertilizer that is formulated especially for blackberries. Easy to use 12-10-10 formula is developed to give your blackberries and other brambles the perfect nutrients needed for strong growth and high yields of large, healthy berries.

Bee options for all

Making honey – total involvement

Beekeeping is all the rage these days, and my friend Pam is one of the many who’s become “Hooked on bees in suburbia.”  That’s my story of her first year of beekeeping, including the highs, the lows, and the enormous worries that go along with it.  I’m calling this the “total involvement” option because that’s what it seems to demand.  I say, better Pam than me!

Making honey, with help
But for people who don’t have the time or cajones to deal with bees themselves, there are people who’ll come and tend their hive for them, for a modest fee or for just the honey.  But why would you have bees if you don’t get to keep the honey?  To pollinate your garden, and for the fun of having a hive without all the responsibility.

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New Gardening Classes in 2011

University of Missouri Extension Master Gardeners will partner with Springfield-Greene County Park Board locations, Rutledge-Wilson Farm Community Park, 3825 W. Farm Road 146, and Springfield-Greene County Botanical Center, 2400 S. Scenic, to offer several new classes that will enhance gardening knowledge and skills.

The Farm Park series is titled “Growing Knowledge at the Farm.”All classes are held from 6 – 7 p.m. on Thursdays. Pre-registration is required at 417-837-5949.
Series topics include:

* March 17: Discover the Benefits of Grafting ($15)
* April 28: Growing Tomatoes ($5)
* May 19: Meet The Three Sisters ($5)
* June 16: Manage Insects and Diseases in Your Garden ($5)
* July 21: Plan Now for a Fall Harvest ($5)

Botanical Center’s classes are titled “Into Gardening Series.” All classes are held from 9 – 11 a.m. on Saturdays. Pre-registration is required at 417-891-1515 and each session has a fee of $10.
Series topics include:

* May 7: Spring Into Gardening
* October 8: Fall Into Gardening
* January 21, 2012: Getting Beyond the Garden

Registration for both locations and series can also be made online at www.swmogardens.com/fogcalendar.

Garden Fever

Ozarks Gardening Feb 16, 2011

By: Jim Long

It may not feel like it with all the deep freeze cold and snow we’ve had, but it’s garden planning time. Mid-February to mid-March is the best time to plant peas, onions and potatoes if you want the best growth and the fewest insect problems. Ozarks tradition dictates peas be planted by Valentine’s Day, but I didn’t accomplish it this year. My garden was still under several inches of snow that day. Next week will be soon enough.

Beetle provided by: Horn Farm Community Gardens York, PA

Potatoes, as I’ve mentioned in this column every winter for almost two decades, will tolerate a lot of cold in the spring. The earlier they are planted, the better you will avoid potato beetles. Onions too, benefit from early planting.

February is also the ultimate month for pruning grapevines and muscadines. Why so early? Because as soon as the daytime temperatures start easing upward, the sap rises in grapevines. If you wait too long to prune, the vines will “bleed” sap, sometimes gallons a day, for a week or more. Early pruning while the weather is still cold will prevent that.

This is also the month to prune back sage and lavender plants. Both herbs should be if cut back by two thirds in early spring before new growth begins to prevent die-out of the center of the plants. Hard pruning also encourages more vigorous growth and blooming. (More)

About The Author: I have been a columnist for The Herb Companion magazine for the past 19 years and have regular columns in The Heirloom Gardener and The Ozarks Mountaineer magazines. My syndicated Ozarks Gardening column runs in newspapers across the Missouri and Arkansas Ozarks and I am the author of 25 books on herbs, gardening and cooking. I travel and lecture for groups and national conferences throughout the year and travel abroad in search of new culinary plants to grow, photograph and write about. Visit my website

 

Morel Mushrooms – A World Class Delicacy

Story by Jim Long

There are some specific things I look forward to each year. Baked turkey at Christmas; lilacs in bloom in April; the first tomato, the first sweet corn, the first dogwood to bloom, and….morel mushrooms. They are without a doubt, a world class delicacy, up there with truffles, the best Italian cheese, a fine wine and birthday cake when you’re 4 years old.
If you have grown up with morels, you know never to ask someone where they found theirs. You know, too, that when someone asks you to hunt with you, or for you to show them where to hunt, as lots of readers did some years back when Gourmet magazine came to the farm to write an article about one of my meals, which included morels, then you know that person doesn’t have a clue. One never shares their morel hunting grounds, not until just before they’re ready for that last great morel hunt in the sky. Those secret morel hunting places are guarded and passed down from generation to generation. “Where’d ya find your morels?” is a phrase only spoken by an outlander, an outsider, someone who just doesn’t have understand the secrecy and mystery involved in morel hunting.

Josh spent early Easter morning out in the pouring rain, in the woods, hunting over one of his favorite morel grounds and came back home with a big ole bag full of morels including some fairly large ones. And, knowing full well, I will be battling gout by tomorrow as penance for my eating, I fixed a batch and indulged myself for tonight’s supper. Two things will give me gout with near absolute certainty: a plateful of morel mushrooms, or biscuits and gravy (gout is from the build up of uric acid and relates to kidney function). So I have my prednisone at hand for the middle of the night when my foot will likely feel an elephant stomped on it, but for this evening, I et a mess o’ morels and enjoyed every last crumb.

My recipe for cooking morels is my own concoction and it works for freezing morels as well as cooking them. People who’ve tasted it, including those fine folks from Gourmet magazine, say it’s the best tasting morels they’ve eaten. I don’t fry many things, but morels are best fried to a golden brown, crispy state and eaten immediately.

First split the mushrooms in half and soak in salt water if you need to, to chase out any ants. Drain. Get a little bowl of buttermilk ready. And put a sleeve of saltine crackers in the food processor and process to fine crumbs, then pour those into a zipper baggie. Drop the morels into the buttermilk, then drop into the baggie of cracker crumbs and shake to completely coat the mushrooms. Lay them out on a cutting board. (At this point you could lay them on a cookie sheet and put them in the freezer for overnight, then bag up in zip bags. They’re just like fresh for about 3 months in the freezer and can be taken out and immediately fried).

Heat a pan of cooking oil to hot (peanut or canola oil works best for this; olive oil doesn’t do well heated that hot. The oil needs to be hot, not smoking, just good and hot, about 360 degrees. Hot enough that when you drop the mushrooms in, they sizzle and simmer, not losing the breading, but not cooking so fast they burn, either. Drop the mushrooms in, 3 or 4 at a time. It should take about 2 minutes to cook the mushrooms, turning once. Drain and keep hot and cook up the rest. Sometimes I dust the mushrooms with crumbled dried dillweed, but usually, just a tiny salting is all they get. They’re crispy on the outside, so tender and sweet on the inside and there just aren’t many foods as good. Nothing whatsoever, in the springtime, looks like a morel mushroom, either. Or tastes as good.

Enjoy! Jim Long

About the author

Jim has been a columnist for The Herb Companion magazine for the past 19 years and has regular columns in The Heirloom Gardener and The Ozarks Mountaineer magazines. Jim’s syndicated Ozarks Gardening column runs in newspapers across the Missouri and Arkansas Ozarks and he is the author of 25 books on herbs, gardening and cooking. Jim travels and lectures for groups and national conferences throughout the year and travels abroad in search of new culinary plants to grow, photograph and write about. Visit his website Long Creek Herb’s

World food prices reach new historic peak

Photo: ©FAO/Walter Astrada

03-02-2011
3.4 percent surge in January – FAO updates Food Price Index
Food prices keep rising.
3 February 2011, Rome – World food prices surged to a new historic peak in January, for the seventh consecutive month, according to the updated FAO Food Price Index, a commodity basket that regularly tracks monthly changes in global food prices.

The Index averaged 231 points in January and was up 3.4 percent from December 2010. This is the highest level (both in real and nominal terms) since FAO started measuring food prices in 1990. Prices of all monitored commodity groups registered strong gains in January, except for meat, which remained unchanged.

High prices

“The new figures clearly show that the upward pressure on world food prices is not abating,” said FAO economist and grains expert Abdolreza Abbassian. “These high prices are likely to persist in the months to come. High food prices are of major concern especially for low-income food deficit countries that may face problems in financing food imports and for poor households which spend a large share of their income on food.”

“The only encouraging factor so far stems from a number of countries, where – due to good harvests – domestic prices of some of the food staples remain low compared to world prices,” Abbassian added.

FAO emphasized that the Food Price Index has been revised, largely reflecting adjustments to its meat price index. The revision, which is retroactive, has produced new figures for all the indices but the overall trends measured since 1990 remain unchanged.

The FAO Cereal Price Index averaged 245 points in January, up 3 percent from December and the highest since July 2008, but still 11 percent below its peak in April 2008. The increase in January mostly reflected continuing increases in international prices of wheat and maize, amid tightening supplies, while rice prices fell slightly, as the timing coincides with the harvesting of main crops in major exporting countries.

The Oils/Fats Price Index rose by 5.6 percent to 278 points, nearing the June 2008 record level, reflecting an increasingly tight supply and demand balance across the oilseeds complex.

The Dairy Price Index averaged 221 points in January, up 6.2 percent from December, but still 17 percent below its peak in November 2007. A firm global demand for dairy products, against the backdrop of a normal seasonal decline of production in the southern hemisphere, continued to underpin dairy prices.

The Sugar Price Index averaged 420 points in January, up 5.4 percent from December. International sugar prices remain high, driven by tight global supplies.

By contrast, the FAO Meat Price Index was steady at around 166 points, as declining meat prices in Europe, caused by a fall in consumer confidence following a feed contamination scandal, was compensated for by a slight increase in export prices from Brazil and the United States.

So…you want to live in the Ozarks!

I was looking around the internet for an angle for a new piece and I ran across a group of people who are wanting to, as they put it, live off the grid. No electricity, indoor plumbing, telephones, those things our folks worked so hard to get. I remember how tickled Grandad was when he finally got indoor plumbing. I can hear him now “I won’t use that dadburned thing, I don’t *hit where I sleep”. There were a whole lot of people in that generation who thought the same thing. Now were catching wind of those people wanting to revert back to the simple times. That might not be a bad idea with the way the economy is headed and the current rage for organic produce. Farmers Markets are sprouting up all over the place, it seems to me as a youngster we had farmers markets on nearly every busy corner, then we called the fruit stands. There were tomato factories all over the Ozarks in every small town it seemed.

In my search I found an article “The Success and Unsuccess of It All” that really hit the mark. Penned by Victoria Drake and her adventure into our hills, complete with all the up’s and down’s of trying to make it on nothing more than a dream. Sound familiar? I was caught off guard by the fact she hadn’t really spent a hard winter in the hills, or thought about how she was going to make the land payment with no income, not to mention how she was going to feed herself. However bad it seemed she had the guts to give it a go, you have to give her credit. I think that it might be best for all us “Hillbillies” to make a few suggestions so she might get a good foothold this next go round. Suggestions and ideas from some of us old timers might make the difference. Show some Ozarks spunk and post them up here in the comments section so she can find them.