Please continue to bring a canvas bag, brown paper bag, or box to take home your garden goodies. We appreciate it.

 

Regarding the produce ... Welcome to October! And there is still no frost! Cantaloupe and eggplant are on the list for this week, but we most likely won't have enough for everyone. I will distribute as much as we have. Stay tuned ... there are more onions, leeks, potatoes, carrots, parsnips, gourds and assorted squash in the last weeks.

On a personal note: Many people ask me what I do in the garden "off-season." Sleep, eat, read, knit, spend more time with family and friends, dream about and plan the next season's garden. Here are two other things of note that I've been working on.

 

I'm leading a retreat at the Spirituality Center, Saint Benedict's Monastery, called "Garden to Table Spirituality", from Friday, November 15 through Saturday, November 16. "Stewardship, fruitfulness, perseverance and listening are themes we'll chew on as we spend time praying, reflecting, cooking and eating together with ingredients from the monastery's Common Ground Garden." Register online.

 

I'm publishing a collection of reflections with the Liturgical Press: Benedictine Living: Reflections for Prayer and Meditation. This is a book of meaningful and insightful reflection that offers Benedictine and scriptural wisdom to the timeless themes of our lives. Benedictine Living will be available in ebook format January 2014. For more information or to pre-order, visit Liturgical Press.

 

The 2nd graders from All Saints Academy (formerly the St. Joe Lab School) came on Friday, September 27, to pick up their pumpkins. Back in the spring, the class as 1st graders planted seeds and then came to the garden to plant their pumpkin seedlings, rehearsing their knowledge of the plant cycle along the way. This is the longest running garden partnership (maybe 20 years?) and we look forward to many more years of 2nd graders coming to the Common Ground.

 

 

Contact information 

Garden Evening Hours 

Garden evening hours: Mondays 5-7 p.m. Guests, visitors and helping hands of all shapes and sizes are always welcome at the garden but especially on Monday evenings. Your assistance in the garden helps us live our mission of providing local produce to people throughout central Minnesota ... and its really fun! Come garden with us.

 

Warm Sunshine Soup    

from our garden friend, Steph Hart, who found this on the Seward Co-op's Web site several years ago. 

 

I (Kate) was skeptical that squash and orange juice would be a good combination, but this soup is delicious.

 

1 butternut squash, roasted

1 cup orange juice

1 onion

1 cup chopped mushrooms (optional)

veggie broth (1-1/2 cups or so)

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp coriander

1 tsp cinnamon

3/4 tsp powdered ginger

salt to taste

Halve, seed, and roast the squash at 350 for 40 minutes or until soft.

 

Chop onions and caramelize in a soup pot. (When onions are done add the mushrooms and saute until liquid is released and cooked down.) Add broth as needed.

 

After onions are caramelized (and mushrooms are done) add the spices to the onions and stir to coat. Then add lentils and remaining broth. Simmer gently until lentils are cooked, adding water if necessary.

Serves 4

 

from my sister, Emily Ritger

 www.101cookbooks.com/archives/roasted-pumpkin-salad-recipe.html 

 

fine grain sea salt

2 cups cooked wild rice* 

1/2 cup cilantro, finely chopped

 

Preheat oven to 375. Toss the pumpkin in a generous splash of olive oil along with a couple pinches of salt, and turn out onto a baking sheet. At the same time, toss the onions with a bit of olive oil, sprinkle with salt, and turn out onto a separate baking sheet. Roast both for about 45 minutes, or until squash is brown and caramelized. The same goes for the onions, they should be deeply colored, caramelized, and soft throughout by the time they are done roasting. You'll need to flip both the squash and onion pieces once or twice along the way, so it's not just one side that is browning.

In the meantime, make the dressing. With a hand blender or food processor, purée the sunflower seeds, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and honey until creamy. You may need to add a few tablespoons of warm water to thin the dressing a bit. Stir in the cilantro, saving just a bit to garnish the final plate later. Taste and adjust seasonings (or flavors) to your liking. I usually need to add a touch more salt with this dressing.

 

In a large bowl, toss the wild rice with a large dollop of the dressing. Add the onions, gently tossing just once or twice. Turn the rice and onions out onto a platter and top with the roasted squash (I'll very gently toss with my hands here to disperse the pumpkin a bit). Finish with another drizzle of dressing and any remaining chopped cilantro.

Serves 4

 

* To cook wild rice:

 

Contact information

commonground@csbsju.edu

Ryan Kutter, Garden Director, cell: 320-219-3389

Kate Ritger, Production Manager, cell: 262-339-7737

 

 

Common Ground Garden is a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farm, where members purchase a share of vegetables and each week during the farm season receive a bountiful box of fresh produce. We pride ourselves on producing fresh, clean, healthful food picked at the peak of flavor and nutrition. As much as we are able, we grow our vegetables without the use of any chemical herbicides, pesticides or fertilizers. We use cover crops, rotations, compost and ingenuity to produce your food in a way that's healthy for you and for the community. When necessary for pest control or to combat disease, we use only products approved for organic gardening.