Can you tell me what kind of vegetable this is?  E-mail me at Brad {at} BuffaloReUse(.)org

Reward:  A seed sample from this little guy

Join us on our porch @ 158 Eaton on Wednesday, September 1st from 3pm – 6pm, where we will be demonstrating two different recipes for canning tomatoes.  Our workshop will overview blanching, a common preserving and cooking technique, as well as sterilizing, packing, and sealing your jars.  A $5 donation is appreciated to help cover the costs for the workshop, and attendees go home with their own jar of ReUse Tomatoes!

Summer harvest is here — the tomatoes are ripening, squash is in endless supply, and you’re wondering what you’re going to do to keep up with the hoard of fresh vegetables that are growing in your garden.  Preserve the bounty that you put so much time and effort into!  That’s what you’re going to do.  Rather than sending highly nutritional food (that you’ve worked so hard to produce) to the compost pile simply because you have too much to eat, you can devote a little bit more time to preserve your harvest, and enjoy what you’ve grown for months to come.  Growing a surplus of food in the summer and preserving it creates food security for the winter months.  Doing it yourself creates the feeling of accomplishment, and the assurance of safety and quality.  Preserving food is a tradition that dates back centuries, but in the last half century has lost its appeal and necessity as modernized commerce and global food availability have made eating much easier (imagine trying to find a banana in January in Buffalo, 300 years ago…)  Canning, freezing, and dehydrating are excellent ways to preserve food — as well as the nutrients and flavor it holds.

Freezing Vegetables

Freezing your harvest (or part of your harvest, unless you have a really big freezer) is a very easy and effective way to preserve food.  A common preparation to freeze vegetables is blanching, but vegetables can be prepared to freeze in many ways (depends on the recipe).  Blanching works well for most vegetables, and is a technique used for canning as well.  Blanching removes bacteria and dirt, etc. from the surface of your veggies, and more importantly, stops the process of enzymes inside the vegetable that would cause it to toughen, lose flavor and nutrients, and change color.  Blanching is done by putting fresh, prepared vegetables into boiling water for a short amount of time (amount of time varies from vegetable to vegetable), and then immediately moving the produce to ice-cold water to stop the cooking process.  Typically, vegetables should be cooled in ice-water for the same amount of time that they were cooked in hot water, unless a recipe notes otherwise.  Guidelines for freezing and blanching are easily accessible online, and can also be found in cookbooks and books on preserving food.  Here are some guidelines for freezing beets, tomatoes, and zucchini:

Beets

Select young, tender beets, 2 – 3 inches across.  Wash carefully.  Cook in boiling water until tender,  from 60 – 90 minutes.  Cool in cold water, skins peel off easily.  Slice.  When cool, transfer to containers.  Label.  Freeze.  Keeps for 6 months.

Zucchini

Slice into 1-inch pieces, do not peel.  Saute in melted butter until barely tender.  Cool, pack into plastic containers, leaving headspace at the top.  Label.  Freeze.  Keeps for 3 months.

Tomatoes

Dip into boiling water 1 minute.  Remove, and dip into cold water for 1 minute.  Remove and peel.  Place on a tray and freeze for 30 minutes.  Place in plastic bags, remove air, seal and label.  Keeps up to 6 months.

There are many resources and guides for freezing vegetables from A to Z, whether online, or in a book.  Check out GardenGuides and PickYourOwn for online guides to preserving vegetables.  Extend your season, and eat your home-grown foods until they start growing again next year.  Please join us, as we are holding a Tomato Canning Workshop on September 1st @ 3pm in our gardens @ 320 Northampton.  If it rains, we will hold the workshop indoors @ 158 Eaton St.

You are probably seeing more and more rain barrels popping up in gardens, driveways, and backyards — if you haven’t found one for yourself yet, look no further.

And if you do not yet know: rain barrels can make a huge impact on our local ecology by conserving rain water, slowing water runoff, and preventing pollution and debris from being carried into our waterways and municipal systems.  Installing a rain barrel allows you to catch clean, untreated water that has fallen from the sky and hold it there until you need it — taking a bit of the burden off your tapwater, and the municipalities that make it.  If everyone in the city did this, think of the difference that could be made!!!

You will most likely see rain barrels all over if you are out and about for Buffalo’s Garden Walk this weekend, so if you get jealous and have the urge to keep up with the Joneses (or just want to water your garden or wash your car), you can get yourself a rainbarrel from our store at 298 Northampton for just $30.

Looking to Volunteer?  Like to garden?  Look no further!

Grassroots Gardens has put out the call for volunteers to help at a few community gardens around Buffalo — now is your chance to get involved and get your hands dirty!  Join us on the following workdays to make these community gardens more wonderful than they already are:

7/17: The Cottage District Community Garden is looking for some muscle and a few extra hands to help out with a project at their garden at 10AM on  Saturday, July 17th @ 60 York St (between Normal and Plymouth).  They’re looking for at least five people, but more is always merrier.

7/31: Also, on Saturday, July 31st at 10AM the Community Garden at 20 Orton Place will need as many volunteers as they can get–they are going to be taking down / moving materials and replanting the gardens.

Come help out!!!!

Learn how to build that rain barrel that you’ve always wanted!

Stop by Buffalo ReUse on July 7th @ 4pm for a free workshop demonstrating how to prepare and assemble a rain barrel from a 55 gallon (food grade) barrel.  If you’d like, for $25 you can build your own rain barrel after the demonstration to take home with you.  And if you don’t want to build one but still want a barrel to harvest rain from your roof, you can buy one that’s ready to go at the ReSource on 298 Northampton for $25 as well.

What: Build-a-Barrel Wkshp

When: July 7th @ 4pm

Where: 158 Eaton St, Buffalo

Why: Because it’s fun!

The process of creating a rain barrel from a plastic drum is easy, doesn’t take much time, and needs only a few supplies.  At the workshop you will see the materials that go into assembling a barrel, and the process we use to put ours together.  We will have already-assembled rain barrels available for sale, and we will have the materials ready if you want to put your own together (so you know for next time, or if you want to show a friend).  Hope to see you there!

Throughout the last week of June, a concert series presented by The Good Neighborhood is being held in support of Grassroots Gardens of Buffalo and their efforts to revitalize and beautify vacant land in our community. Grassroots Gardens of Buffalo is a community gardening program in Western New York working with public and private sectors to revitalize neighborhoods and build quality of life through the reuse and beautification of vacant land. The event will take place at the Sportsman Tavern and Pearl Street Grill & Brewery over four nights (see below), from June 23rd to the 30th. Grassroots Gardens will be there to share information about the mission and programs and upcoming garden events, and will also be holding a raffle each night to support their work.

Check out the article about the Concert series at Buffalo Rising!

The full lineup is as follows -

Wednesday, 6/23, Sportsmen’s Tavern, 7-10pm, $5 – Dee Adams, Bob Buckley, Zak Ward, Alan Whitney

Friday, 6/25, Pearl Street Grill & Brewery, 9:30pm-12:30am, $4 – Lazlo Hollyfeld & Sonny Baker Talking Heads tribute, “Stop Making Sense”

Saturday, 6/26, Pearl Street, 9:30pm-12:30am, $4 – DJ Cutler Ultimate Breaks & Beatles, Photos of Wagons Magical Mystery Tour

Wednesday, 6/30, Sportsmen’s, 7-10pm, $5 – Pamela Ryder & Friends Homecoming Hoot

We hope to see you there!!!

Summer is almost (technically) here, but from a quick glance while passing by a garden, it is clear that summer in Buffalo is pretty much in full swing.  We are operating several gardens on Northampton near our store, and have built / created a few others around our neighborhood as well–including a rain garden on the corner of Michigan and Northampton.  Our gardens here at Buffalo ReUse are coming together nicely, and I wanted to take some time to show them off to the world over the course of a few blog posts, so keep your eyes peeled.

Patchwork Garden – our community garden, a piecemeal collective of 4′x8′ raised beds that we put up for adoption at the beginning of the growing season.  Neighbors and community members have adopted more than 40 of our 50 available beds.  At the Patchwork lot we also planted Three Sisters Gardens (a Native American tradition where the three sisters–corn, beans, squash–live and grow together harmoniously), onion mounds, potatoes, and a deep, tiered bed for carrots.  Here’s a sampling of what we have growing in the Patchwork so far this year:

Cabbage, Onions, Marigolds, and Choi

Raised beds planted by neighbors

Broccoli buds, collards, lettuce

Three Sisters

Children’s Vinery – just next door to the Patchwork Garden, this is where the “Tanglers, Danglers, and Creepers” live.  This garden’s primary focus is children, and getting them excited about and involved with the wonders of growing things.  We have peas climbing trellises made of reused materials and tree limbs, topsy-turvy tomatoes, colorful Swiss Chard, interesting squashes and cucumbers, potatoes and raspberries growing in old garbage bins, an earth oven, and a sweet, sweet strawberry patch.  We have already harvested almost twenty pounds of Strawberries this year, and more are coming! Join us on June 26th at 8pm, when we are hosting our Strawberry Moon Celebration–we will harvest our remaining berries, hold a workshop for making Strawberry jam, and project movies on the screen in the Patchwork Garden all while enjoying the early summer breeze and the company of neighbors and friends.  Here are some shots of the Children’s Vinery:

Rainbow Chard and Mr. Big Pea

Peas growing up

Our Strawberry Patch

Keep your eyes peeled for more garden biographies, and more pictures of our progress as the season goes on.  There is plenty more to come!!!

Are you growing your own tomatoes this year? Whether you are an experienced tomato grower or a blossoming gardener, come check out our first Tomato Care workshop of the season.  Come with questions, or come share your wisdom.

Join us at our Patchwork Garden @ 320 Northampton (near the corner of Jefferson) Saturday, June 12th at 10:00am, where we will demonstrate different methods for growing tomatoes, and discuss seeds, soil, feeding, companion plants, staking, pests, and plant disease.  This is a free workshop.  We hope to see you Saturday!

Planting, feeding, and staking tomatoes — a workshop to demonstrate different methods for growing tomatoes and important things to consider and address throughout the season. We’ll discuss starting seeds, amending soil for tomatoes, other plants that are good companions for tomatoes, planting, staking techniques, fertilizers, feeding, and …blight.

So our adventures in the world of compost are continuing, and we have begun experimenting with “Active Compost.” Previously, we explained the process and benefits of making and using passive tea–and have since been diluting it and using it in our garden beds.

To take our operation to the next level, we purchased a few supplies (and salvaged a few others) to begin the active tea brewing process. Here is our supply checklist:

1. A vessel to hold the tea (we used an old garbage can)
2. Garden compost
3. Aquarium air pump (ours is rated for 60 gallons)
4. Air tube for pump (10 – 15 feet is the absolute most you’ll need)
5. Air stones (to diffuse oxygen, placed at end of air tubes)
6. T shaped line splitter
7. Sugary food scraps (think rotten banana, apple core)

The supplies we needed cost about $30 new at a local pet store, but you could also find them at a garage sale, thrift store, or in your basement/attic . . . just gotta look for them.

Once you have your materials together, find yourself a good spot to brew the tea. It won’t take too long

(3-5 days), but your pump will need to be running consistently throughout the brew process, so make sure you have a safe location to plug it in if you’re doing it outdoors. We have ours working in the basement, and there is little if any odor at all.

The active compost tea is similar to passive tea in that it is a method of pulling beneficial minerals, fungi, microorganisms, etc. from compost and into water so that it can be quickly applied to and absorbed into the soil and thus, the plants in our gardens. Active tea differs in the way the beneficial microbes grow, but it’s essentially the same science project (just done a bit faster, and with slightly better results, we’re hoping). How? Why? We’re using the aquarium pump and stones to aerate the water, and some sugar from food scraps to feed the microorganisms, so that they can grow and multiply quickly (via more oxygen and food).

The only setup is the air pump system, which is very simple. This includes the pump, tubes, and air stones. Carefully cut your tube so there is 3 feet or so running from your pump out to your tea vessel. Our pump has two connections, so we cut two 3 foot pieces to reach the can.

At the end of the tubes we attached a line splitter and cut two short pieces of tube to connect the diffusers (Air Stones). Upon completing our pump system, we have a pump, two tubes running out, a splitter on each tube, and an air stone after each split. The only thing left to do is add the water and compost, and the brewing can commence. Don’t forget some food for your microbes–if you have some partially decomposed food scraps in your pile that should

work, but if you want to be safe, add an apple core or two, or perhaps a rotten banana and its peel.

We used 3 parts water to 1 part compost. First we put in the water, then we added the compost, stirred with a shovel, and finally dropped the airstones into the bucket. Every day, pull out the tubes and give the bucket a good stir.

Give your active tea about 3 days to brew, and it should be ready. Unlike the passive tea, this method doesn’t use a bag to filter the compost, so it’ll need to be screened / decanted to separate the liquid from solid. And when applying to your garden, make sure to dilute to avoid potential burning on your plants. You won’t need much more than a few tablespoons per gallon of water (preferably rain water, as chlorine, etc. in municipal water will kill your precious little microbes).