Tag Archives: dirt2table

Dirt2Table: Springing into Autumn: A Gardening Celebration

Now that community residents have been through their gardening season, fruits of our labor are being realized through fresh vegetables and fruits harvested, eaten, canned, and dried!

But just because summer is coming to a close does not mean the gardening is over!  We would love to hear your gardening stories, share a taste of your goodies, and participate in continuing education on gardening.

springintoautumneventTo that end, Fairpark Community Council and Dirt2Table will hold an Autumn Equinox Celebration on Saturday, September 30th from 10-2pm at the Northwest Community Center.  We will have workshops on grafting and pruning, making cold frames, and fall and winter garden maintenance. We will ask residents to celebrate their garden adventures through the sharing of seeds, bulbs and scion wood as well as something from the garden (fresh, canned, dried, a recipe from garden goodies, etc.).

So as you enjoy the results of your gardening efforts this month, begin gathering your ideas for goodies to share, and plan to attend the celebration! Bring your friends and neighbors! Please save the date and watch for more details, including workshop times. Check our website, Nextdoor, Facebook page, September’s Gazette and posted flyers in the community.

 

More information:  dirt2tableslc@gmail.com

Second Annual Fairpark Festival of Spring Huge Success

18216421_1505291439489374_3659562656535945756_oGardeners from all over our community, as well as from surrounding areas flocked to the event on a cool spring day. There were over 300 people who attended, and the Plant Sale sold almost 2,000 plants during the four-hour Festival. Although some needed sweaters on the cool day, the weather didn’t stop hundreds from visiting the various tables. Salt Lake County Recreation, Lead Safe Housing Program,18278182_1505292946155890_2616975938661617678_o
Jackson Elementary and Utah Department of Health Safe Kids Injury Prevention Program all provided outreach and education materials for the Festival.

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Because of the enthusiasm and support for this year’s event, organizers are in the process of planning another complimentary event this fall. The current plans for the event will include a workshop for grafting fruit trees, a seed, bulb and scion wood exchange, a cold frame workshop and a garden veggie based potluck! See fairparkcommunity.org for more information.

Dirt2Table: Spring is Coming! Plant your Seeds Now!

dirt2tableIsn’t it fantastic? The days keep getting longer, the low temperatures keep getting higher and the dirt is thawing out. Soon, we can get our hands in it and prepare it for giving us back the fruits (and vegetables) of our labor.

During the month of March, we should all take advantage of the dirt’s willingness to start growing an array of wonderful treats for our tables. Among those plants that can be planted by seed in March are greens such as kale, spinach, chard and lettuce. It’s also a good time to plant seeds for root vegetables such as carrots, beets and onions. There are many varieties of each of the food plants mentioned, so have fun and plant as many varieties as you can!
Don’t forget that the Fairpark Community Council will be working hard between now Save the Date Flyer 2017and April 29th to grow a delectable assortment of starter plants, ready for you
to plant out in your patch of dirt by May 1st. We will be starting herbs, tomatoes, eggplant and pepper plants soon so that by the end of April they will be established
and ready to thrive in your garden. This year, to create an event that provides more value to our Community than just a plant sale, we are having the First Annual Fairpark
Community Festival of Spring and Plant Sale. The event will feature a seed giveaway and plant sale like last year, but will also include many educational booths and workshops to help make your spring and summer more enjoyable for
all.

If you have any ideas to help make this Festival of Spring and Plant Sale a success, please reach out to Tom King at 801-502-1991 or write to dirt2tableslc@gmail.com.

Dirt2Table: Preserving Your Fall Harvest for Food All Winter

dirt2tableThis time of year we find ourselves dealing with more fruits and vegetables than we can eat fresh. So, we have to find ways to preserve our produce for use during the winter months.

There are many ways to preserve our fruits and vegetables, including drying, canning and freezing. There isn’t any one best way, although some produce gives better results with a particular method. We found for instance that our green beans were better frozen than canned. We haven’t tried drying them yet, but plan to do that this year.

Some examples from the Dirt2Table project this year include making jam, fruit leather, dried fruit, salsa, spaghetti sauce  and frozen green beans. Our plans for the rest of the fall include more fruit drying, (apples haven’t been harvested yet), more tomato based canning and further experiments with drying food from the garden.

We recently obtained a second food dehydrator, an Excalibur 3900 nine tray unit. We strongly recommend that you get one of these or something substantially similar if you intend to do any food drying. You can make fruit leather, dried fruit of many kinds, even jerky with a food dehydrator. If you don’t have a dehydrator you can still dry foods like peaches, apples etc. by putting them on a tray and putting them in the oven set at 150 degrees (actually 130 is better, but most ovens don’t have that low of a setting) and if possible direct the flow of air from a small fan across the items being dried.
Have fun with whatever way you choose to preserve your produce this year!

Stellar Success for 1st Annual Plant Sale!

Be proud Fairpark Community residents! The 1st Annual Fairpark Community Plant Sale was a big success. We achieved our aim of sending over 4000 healthy vegetable plants home to happy gardens both within our neighborhood and beyond.

IMG_3202After growing and selling the 28 varieties of Heirloom tomatoes, 16 kinds of Peppers, 3 Eggplant, and herbs we recovered the costs for growing the plants and we were also able to give away hundreds of packages of FREE Seeds, as well as pots, soil and seeds for the younger ones to take home and watch grow. Everyone had a really fun time, especially those that spent the whole day volunteering for the big event. From the end of February until May 14 over 400 volunteer hours into the growing and operating the event.IMG_2980

This event would not have been so wonderful without the dedicated hard work of volunteers. No amount of gratitude is sufficient to express how thankful we all are that these volunteers were able to give so much of their time.

We also couldn’t have done it without a few other pieces of unusually good luck. Two of these lucky breaks stand out. First to happen was getting the majority of the Greenhouse building materials donated. But by far the most important lucky break was being allowed to put the Greenhouse right at the wonderful Vegan Vietnamese restaurant, All Chay. We can’t heap enough praise on the kind and generous owners of that restaurant. Not only did they allow us to assemble the Greenhouse right against their front window, but they provided many hours of volunteer help with the project, from its assembly, to tending the plants and making sure the windows were always clean for the plants and for patrons to view the plants from the outside.

13179217_502151873328537_5370420345864887587_nFairpark also got some media coverage out of this project:  KRCL, KUER and Salt Lake City Television.

For you patrons that supported our community by getting plants and planting them in our garden, please send photos of your garden and/or any gardening activities to dirt2table@gmail.com or text to 801-403-0121. Please add your general location (e.g., Fairpark) and your first name and any comment you’d like to add. We want to see your gardens and post them to our social media!

We are already planning for next year. Stay tuned for a re-branding and details about the 2017 event.

Garden on!

Start Your Garden Catalog!

dirt2tableThe long awaited Dirt2Table Start Your Garden Plant Sale Catalog is finally here!  View the catalog and follow instructions for accessing the pre-order form.

Plants are $1 each, or $5 for a six pack or $25 for 6-six packs. Mix and match is ok!
(all proceeds will be used to enhance the next Annual Fairpark Community Plant Sale).
Fill out your pre­-order form and submit it via any of these methods:

  1. at the All Chay Restaurant, 1264 West 500 North
  2. Scan and email to
    dirt2tableslc@gmail.com
  3. Text photo of order form to
    801­502­1991

Order pick ups will be arranged using the contact info you provide on the order form. We anticipate starting to have orders picked up on May 6 th or 7th
in advance of the May 14 th event in the park.

For status on your order you can call Tom at 801-502-1991.

*** Attention! Quantities are limited! All orders will be filled on a first come first serve basis. Please get your order form to one of our partners as soon as possible to try to ensure your order can be complete. Payment will be at time of pickup, in case substitutions or subtractions apply***

To view the full catalog, click garden catalog.

To print an order form, click plant order form.

To print a flyer, click flyer.

New! (April 19, 2016):  Seed Giveaway Listing for anyone who attends the event on May 14 – even if you have pre-ordered and picked up your order! Click here for the listing.

Click the thumbnail images below to view one catalog page at a time.

Pages 1 and 2

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Pages 3 and 4

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Seed Giveaway Listing image

seed giveaway listing-1

Dirt2Table: Holiday Stuffing

This article is being written just before Thanksgiving. As such there is not a lot going on in the garden this time of year. We planted our garlic, cleaned out the dead annuals like tomato and pepper plants and now we just wait for spring. I have come up with a few twists to the Thanksgiving/Holiday Stuffing that I would like to share with everyone. dirt2table

The modifications I make to the standard recipes on the box or bag of bread cubes are as follows. First, I increase the amount of onions, from 1 cup of chopped onions to 2 cups of chopped onions. I also increase the celery to half again or twice as much as the directions call for. I sauté the onions and celery with the butter called for ion the recipe, and I add a generous amount of hand rubbed sage, thyme and rosemary to this sauté.

Wait a second, back up.
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Dirt2Table: Home Made Snacks!

dirt2tableThis month we are offering a couple of ways to make great snacks. One is Fruit Leather (an alternative to Jam for preserving sweet fruit) and the other is Roasted Curried Chickpeas. Kids and adults alike will eat all that is offered of both of these healthy snacks! The trick is making enough to meet the demand.

The first batch of fruit leather we made was from peaches. We had picked one of our peach trees and were struggling to find enough time and jars to process it all into peach jam. With 4 gallons of cut up peaches waiting to be cooked down into jam in small batches, we decided to put one gallon of them into the food processor and puree them. Then we cooked them for about 3 hours, stirring frequently to prevent sticking. After they had reached a consistency that looked thick enough we added one quart of honey from our hive, cooked a few minutes more and then poured into thin layers on parchment paper spread out on our food dehydrator screens. After fruitleatherpeachone week in the dehydrator at the 120 degree setting, the leather was ready to eat! We ate some and cut the rest into strips the height of canning jars and rolled it up with the parchment paper still on it and put it into the jars to enjoy through the winter. With all the honey and sugar from the peaches the fruit leather stays preserved for a long time without growing mold or going bad. If you don’t have a food dehydrator, the drying could be done by placing the thick fruit mixture onto parchment paper on baking sheets and place in a 180 degree oven for about 4 to 6 hours until it becomes leathery.

IMG_9694Since that first batch we have made two more batches. One out of plums and grapes, the other out of pears and apples. All three kinds of fruit leather are delicious. We cut down on the amount of honey, since the peach leather was a little on the sweet side. The second and third batch we only added a pint of honey as sweetener. You could also use sugar if you haven’t started beekeeping yet.

Our second snack this month is Roasted Curried Chickpeas. Here is what you will need:

  • 1 lb of dried     Garbanzo beans (chickpeas)
  • 3 – Tbsp     Olive Oil
  • 4 – Tbsp     Tamari or Soy sauce
  • 1 – Tbsp salt
  • 2 – tsp.     Curry powder
  • 1 – tsp.     Cumin powder
  • 1 – tsp.     Chili powder
  • 1/2 – tsp.     Cayenne powder
  • 2 – tsp. Lime     juice
  • large baking     sheet (cookie sheet_
  • Parchment paper
  • Large pot or     kettle for cooking beans
  • large bowl for     mixing ingredients

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