Spring/Summer 2009 crops

Community Garden 2(7x3) raised beds in the community garden (full sun)
Planter 1 (mostly from seed) --> cut and come again lettuce (my FAVORITE SO FAR); red leaf mesclun mix; green leaf mesclun mix; bright lights chard; mixture of carrots; early girl tomorrow; basil; pink brandywine tomoto; pole beans; bush beans; mixed variety of beets; sunflowers, marigolds; english cucumbers, lemon cucumbers, zuccini, summer squash, radishes

Planter 2 (mostly starters) --> Mr. Stripy Tomato, Sweet 100s, Italian plum, green zebra tomato, brocoli, basil, flat leaf parsely, marigolds, dahlia, black beuty eggplant, white eggplant, zuccini, rosemary, zinnias, cosmos

Flower Box (part shade, part sun): 2 coleus; miniature vining petunias, 2 sweet potato vines, pansy (overwintered from last fall!!!), flat leafed parsely, peppermint, lemon thyme, purple sage, fuscia (purple and pink)

Back Patio (part sun): Box w/ lemon verbena, globe basil and geranium, little pot of peppermint, Bay leaf tree, small pot of petunias and marigolds

4 2x2 planters
sweet peppers
sweet basil
genovese basil
petunias
dahlias
sage
cilantro
marigolds

Goschenhoppen Folk Festival

This past weekend was the Goshenhoppen Folk Festival, a two day festival dedicated to celebrating the Pennsylvania Dutch Culture of Southeastern Pennsylvania. As I am sure a lot of my readers who know me might not be surprised to hear, once upon a time I was an apprentice at the festival and spent two days in cotton skirts, quilting and knitting lace. I will spare us all the embarassment and not post pictures from my years volunteering... But this year I went with my mom.

From the Goschenhoppen Historical Society's website:

"The annual Goschenhoppen Folk Festival, started in 1966 is nationally recognized as an educational event to be enjoyed by the whole family. It is always held in August on the 2nd Saturday and the Friday before. It is a non-commercial family oriented day in Goschenhoppen. Old fashioned foods and Pennsylvania Dutch meals are for sale on the festival grounds. Young and old alike can leisurely enjoy more than 500 skilled and apprentice craftsmen giving live demonstrations of more than 150 skills of the 18th and 19th centuries. Dressed in authentic costumes of the periods (many of which are loaned from the Historian's extensive wardrobe), they use authentic tools in recreating traditional home skills, trades, pastimes, foods, and folk music."

Below are some pictures. A lot of the crafts and cooking really inspired me; this community was absolutely dependent on being as self-sufficient and frugal as possible. Their ideals of not wasting and using what you have around you can be easily put to use in the urban home. I make many of the foods I saw being prepared often in my own home. I'll be doing posts on most of these foods over the course of the next couple of weeks; most of them are great ways to use the local produce we have right now. I highly recommend making the trip out to Upper Frederick next summer to see this. It is only about an hours' drive from Philadelphia and is a great way to spend a weekend afternoon.

Homemade cheese. I am definitely going to try doing this at home.

One of the most delicious and satisfying foods ever. Chicken pot pie....

Red Beets!

Beets are one of the most fabulous foods, both in terms of nutrition and taste. Beets are said to have detoxifying properties and are a great source of folate, essential for women in their child-bearing years, and other nutrients. One cup of sliced beets contains only 60 calories, two grams of protein, and almost four grams of fiber. Beets are in season now so you should be able to find them readily at your local farmers market. They can be red, golden, or even white. If you can find them – buy the beets with the greens still attached and do not discard them! They are incredibly rich in nutrients and are absolutely delicious. My mother, ever the penny pinching Dutchwoman, would convince vegetable purveyors at our local farmers’ market to take the greens out of the trash that they were going to throw away and give them to her for free. They are great simply sautéed with a little garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper. The foliage is also very attractive and can be grown in pots on a patio. I will definitely be adding beets to my “crop rotation” next spring…

A couple of great recipes for beets are below.

Pickled Red Beets

Pickled red beets are great eaten on their own as a snack or served as a side dish as part of a meal. The cool and refreshing sweet and sour of the beets make a great way to cut through a more heavy dish, particularly when it is hot out.

1 quart fresh red beets
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Wash the beets thoroughly to remove all traces of soil. It is best to use a vegetable brush for this job. Place the beets in a pot with enough water to cover them and bring to a boil. Continue allowing the beets to boil until they are fork tender. How long this takes depends on the size of your beets of course. Drain the beets, reserving the boiling water. When the beets are cool enough to handle, remove the outer skin. The skin should peel right off or you might have to use a paring knife to help with the job. Cut the beets in quarters and set aside.





Bring the reserved beet liquid together with the remaining ingredients to a boil and cook on medium low heat for about 15 minutes in order to concentrate some of the flavors. Place the cut beets in a jar and pour the vinegar beet juice mixture over top so that they are completely immersed. You can either use saved used pickle jars or mayonnaise jars or you can buy Mason jars from the grocery store. You could also just put them in a bowl and cover it with saran wrap if you are going to eat the beets within the next day or so. Allow the beets to cool slightly at room temperature and then refrigerate at least overnight before serving. They should last about two weeks in the fridge.



PLEASE NOTE: This recipe does not purport to can. Canning is a very specific process that allows you to store fruit or vegetables for extended periods of time at room temperature. I might do a post on canning in the future, we’ll see how ambitious I get with this…



Beet and Feta Salad

This is a great recipe to use the whole of the beet. It also utilizes one of my favorite ways to eat beets – roasted. They are absolutely delicious and become so sweek that they almost taste like candy…You can use the roasted beets in any kind of salad or you could serve them at room temperature as part of an antipasto platter.

One bunch of beets (can be any color or variety) with greens attached
1/2 cup of good feta cheese (do yourself a favor, go to a cheese shop and get GOOD feta – really makes a difference)
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
Drizzle of vinaigrette (recipe below) or about 2 tablespoons

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Cut the tops off of the beets and reserve. Rinse all of the loose dirt off the beets. Peel and quarter the beets so that all of the pieces are of uniform size (you might have to cut a larger beet into six). Place the cut beets into a baking dish so that they are in one layer and toss with the tablespoon of olive oil plus a pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper. Roast the beets until they begin to caramelize and are fork tender. This should take about 40 minutes, but depends on the size of the beets.

Towards the end of the beet roasting time, begin to prepare the greens. Wash the greens thoroughly. Trim the stem only part off and discard. Cut the leaf portion of the greens into wide ribbons. Preheat a sauté pan with the remaining olive oil and when hot sauté the greens with a little bit of salt and pepper just until they are wilted. This should only take about a minute. Remove the greens from the pan and place in a bowl together with the roasted beets. Toss with just enough vinaigrette to coat. Sprinkle the beets and greens with the crumbled feta cheese and serve with a little additional fresh ground black pepper on top.

Basic vinaigrette recipe

Wisk two tablespoons of red wine vinegar together with 1/4 teaspoon of salt and fresh ground black pepper, as well as 1/2 teaspoon of Dijon mustard. While wisking, stream in 1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil. The amount of olive oil can be adjusted to your taste according to how sharp you prefer your vinaigrette. This vinaigrette can be stored in a sealed container in the refrigerator for at least two weeks. If the oil coagulates in the refrigerator, it’s not gone bad, simply let it set out on the counter until it melts and wisk it together again.

An introduction

Welcome to the Urban Martha blog. I was inspired to create this blog by my girl friends who are incredibly smart, creative professional women whose lives include making a home as well as pursuing their careers at full tilt. This site will be devoted to our most favorite hobby - being at home and enjoying home with family and friends. For most of us, being at home means living in a city, so my posts will have a decidedly "urban" tilt - looking for new ways to create a beautiful home while satisfying our tastes, style, budget and time constraints. A large part of this will include ways to reduce our impact on our environment, whether through growing our own herbs and vegetables in whatever containers and space we can find or reusing old fabrics in new ways or trying to compost on our decks and patios or making the most out of the neighborhood farmers market. I hope to include guest bloggers as well throughout the course of hosting this blog - I have many friends with very unique talents and areas of expertise in urban homemaking. So please enjoy!