Oak Park Hates Veggies

My motto as a homeowner has always been "More garden, less lawn." That means taking up grass whenever possible and planting veggies. Then, I learned about the City of Oak Park, MI prosecuting a homeowner for doing just that...

The town rips up your front yard to put in a new sewer line. Instead of planting grass you decide to put in a veggie garden. Nice raised beds to plant tomatoes and cucumbers to feed your family. What a good example to set for your kids to teach them where their food comes from.

Then, the city gives you a ticket because your garden is not to code. Why? Because the city thinks that the only things you can plant in your front yard is grass and trees. You put up a website and Facebook page to show the insanity of the ticket in hopes that the city will see the error of its ways. Instead, you are charged with a misdemeanor and face 3 months in the gray bar hotel. Much media coverage ensures and the City Planner, instead of making an apology digs in his heels. In the end, there is a happy ending. The court drops all the crazy charges against you.

A postscript to this story has the woman in Oak Park, MI moving to Seattle with her family so her husband can take a new job with Amazon.com. I am sure the city of Seattle is more accommodating to veggie gardens.

Dried Chiles

We grow a lot of hot peppers (chiles) at One Love Farm. But, we don't often sell them at the farmers' market. Instead, we dry them in a dehydrator, crush them into a powder using a blender and mix them with herbs to make a chili powder. This year we are growing the usual suspects; Cayenne, Hot Portugual, Anaheim and Pablano. We also got some Big Jim Chile seeds and are growing them for the first time. They seem similar to Pablano as evidenced by this recipe in Saveur. We like our Chile Rellanos with potatoes and cheese, but this recipe is really nice, too.

Onions

50 pounds of onions

Onions are a favorite to grow at One Love Farm because they can be planted in early spring before many of the more tender crops. So when you are itching to get something in the ground, onions are a good choice along with your peas, beets, radishes and hearty greens. We plant onion sets. Those are the mini onions that you plant directly in the ground. You can also plant onion seeds, which we have difficulty germinating or seedlings which are tiny onion sprouts.

This year I planted red, white and yellow onion sets in early spring. Onions like full sun and beds with good drainage that are weed free. We got two out of the three criteria. Can you guess which one wasn't accomplished?

This weekend I dug up the onions, washed them off and put them on a screen in the garage. We will use the onions fresh this summer and store the rest in the basement for fall and winter. Here is a link to a good article about growing and storing onions. I have found in researching onion growing a lot of conflicting information about growing and storing onions. Some say to wait until the leaves have all turned brown before harvesting, some say to harvest when only some leaves have turned brown. Some say to pull out onions and others say to dig them up with a garden fork like a potato. Some say to wash the onion before curing, others say to leave the dirt on. I say experiments and find what you think works best.

Potatoes

I'm sure you've always wondered what 35 pounds of Fingerling and Blue Potatoes looks like. Wonder no more!

Stolen veggies

Snack for a rabbit

Rabbits take a bite out of a sweet pepper. Deer munch on a grape vine. Woodchucks mow down a row of lettuce. Once I even saw a bird flying from my garden with a tomato in his beak! But that is nothing compared to old ladies who will pick your plants clean when you are not looking. Here is a link to a great story I read in the New York Times today about "sidewalk grazers."

Cayenne

It has been hot and dry the last few weeks, so the peppers have thrived. We picked some bell pepper and Karen stuffed them with rice and veggies. Pablano are a few weeks away, but Cayenne and Hot Portugal have started to turn red and some are ready to pick. I'll be drying them for Chili Powder this week. I've already started drying parsley as well which is a key ingredient in Chili Powder.

Sunflowers

Sungold Sunfowers. Check out the bees pollinating the flowers.