Monday evening work has shifted from weeding to picking green beans. If you've ever done this, you know it is slow and back-breaking work. The more hands the merrier, and you will definitely value your green beans more. If this doesn't sound appealing, there are still weeds to pull. Come out Monday from 5 - 7 p.m. All are welcome to volunteer (plenty of work for everyone!) or just spend an evening in the beauty of the garden: read a book, sketch, journal, paint, photograph or rest.

 

• Monday, August 4, Brownie Badge "Painting"
• Monday, August 11, Junior Badge "Digital Photography" Girls need to bring their own digital camera.

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Chocolate Zucchini Cake   

From my great aunt Carol

 

Note: In case you don't already have your favorite chocolate zucchini cake recipe, here's mine:

½ cup soft butter
½ cup oil
1¾ cup sugar (I probably cut this by close to half)
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
½ cup sour milk (add 1 Tbsp lemon juice to milk - or use a milk alternative)
2½ cups flour
4 tbsp baking cocoa (unsweetened)
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp cinnamon
2 cups grated zucchini
Chocolate chips to sprinkle on top
1/3 cup nuts (optional) to sprinkle on top

Grease a 9 x 13 pan (either metal or glass). If using a metal pan, preheat the oven to 350˚, if using a glass pan, preheat the oven to 325˚. Mix the butter, oil and sugar. Add the eggs, vanilla and sour milk. Add the rest of the ingredients and spread them in the pan. Sprinkle the chips and nuts on the top. Bake for 40 minutes (metal pan) or 45 minutes (glass pan). Enjoy with ice cream and fresh berries.

 

From Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi

 

Note: A Middle Eastern cucumber salad without yogurt?! There are plenty of cucumbers, so why not diversify!

 

Dressing
3 tbsp rice wine vinegar
2 tsp sugar
2 tbsp sunflower oil
2 tsp toasted sesame oil

1 small red onion, very thinly sliced (You could use scallions as well.) 

 

Salad 

1½ inches fresh ginger, peeled and sliced (Did you know you can store ginger in the freezer?)
1 tsp sea salt
2 large garlic cloves, peeled
4 small cucumbers, peeled
1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
3 tbsp chopped cilantro

 

To make the dressing, whisk together all the dressing ingredients in a medium mixing bowl. Add the sliced red onion, mix well and leave aside to marinate for about an hour.

 

To make the salad, place the ginger and salt in a mortar and pound well with a pestle (I don't have a mortar and pestle.I might try the food processor or using two spoons). Add the garlic and continue pounding until it is also well crushed and broken into pieces (stop pounding before it disintegrates into a paste). Use the spatula to scrape the contents of the mortar into the bowl with the onion and dressing. Stir together.

 

Cut the cucumbers lengthways in half,then cut each half on an angle into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Add the cucumbers to the bowl, followed by the sesame seeds and cilantro. Stir well and leave to sit for 10 minutes.

 

Before serving, stir the salad again, tip out some of the liquid that has accumulated at the bottom of the bowl and adjust the seasoning.

 

Cabbage and Kohlrabi Salad 

From Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi

 

Note: Goodness, I should get a commission for recommending his cookbook so often! Yotam makes the following note about this recipe ...

 

People always ask me what to do with kohlrabi, an often unwanted child in the organic vegetable box.
It seems too healthful, too weird, too German! In actual fact, this is a wonderful vegetable.
When mixed with root vegetables you can use it in gratins; you can shallow-fry it in olive oil
and serve with garlic and chives; and you can add it to an Asian stir-fry. But in this salad,
I think I have found the absolute best use for kohlrabi. It is wonderfully fresh-tasting,
with a good lemony kick and some sharp sweetness. You may end up going looking for kohlrabi!

 

1 medium or ½ large kohlrabi

½ white cabbage (8-9 ounces)

Large bunch of dill, roughly chopped (six heaping tablespoons)

1 cup dried whole sour cherries
Grated zest of one lemon
6 tbsp lemon juice

¼ cup olive oil
One garlic clove, crushed
Salt and pepper (He recommends white pepper.)
2 cups alfalfa sprouts

 

Peel the kohlrabi and cut into thick matchsticks that are about ¼ inch wide and two inches long. Cut the cabbage into ¼ inch thick strips.

 

Put all the ingredients, apart from the alfalfa sprouts, in a large mixing bowl. Use your hands to massage everything together for about a minute so the flavors mix and the lemon can soften the cabbage and cherries. Let the salad sit for about 10 minutes.

 

Add most of the alfalfa sprouts and mix well again with your hands. Taste and adjust the seasoning; you need a fair amount of salt to counteract the lemon.

 

Use your hands again to lift the salad out of the mixing bowl and into a serving bowl, leaving most of the juices behind. Garnish with the remaining sprouts and serve at once.   

 

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.