Connie’s Garden

Greetings, 

A few days of good, hot weather in the Portland, OR area has made a world of difference in my garden. I just edited and posted the clip from July 3 and it was interesting to note the changes I have seen in just the past 12 days.

We have been eating yellow crookneck squash nearly every day. It’s great grilled (brush lightly with olive oil and place on the grill for 1-2 minutes each side) or pan sauteed with a bit of fresh parmesan. I still also have leaf lettuce, spinach and loads of Russian red kale (could use some help on that one). I should have green beans in about one week. I can pluck a few tasty leaves from the basil and cilantro plants and I’ve had a few strawberries and blueberries to toss on my morning cereal. The fruit will take another season or two to become established, though.

My son’s miniature tangerine tree is growing well in the hot sun. In the winter, he brings it indoors. He says he will take it to college this fall so hopefully, he will remember to water it occasionally. If he’s lucky, he may have a few bright orange tangerines next spring (in the same hue of the orange and black Oregon State Beavers!)

Cheers from my Garden,

Connie 

Spring in the Portland, Oregon area has been unseasonably cold and rainy. My garden is about one month behind normal. And “normal” for Western Oregon already means a summer that begins in July and ends in September. So if things don’t warm up soon, I could be looking at late September/early October for ripe tomatoes. The good news is that my spinach, lettuce, and peas are doing great.

So in the meantime, I will share the robin activity going on in my yard. It began one morning in mid-April. I looked outside and saw a robin hard at work building a nest on the high beam of my patio roof. Her mate was keeping himself busy by banging into my East windows – over and over again! It’s not like I have terribly clean windows so he wasn’t trying to fly through the window. I did a little research and found out the following tidbit from a bird website:

“Most robins that repeatedly crash into windows are territorial males. If a male sees his reflection in the glass, he thinks it could be another male on his territory.”

A few days of bird window crashing was nearly driving me crazy so I ended up putting paper sacks on the outside of my windows.

About one week later, the male bird settled down and the mama bird apparently laid her eggs (the nest was positioned too high for me to see into). By the beginning of May, both Mama and Papa Robin were attending to the nest so I’m assuming the eggs hatched about then. I saw the first poke of a little beak last week and I’m just amazed at how the birds are growing and changing each day (there are three baby birds).

Papa is making himself useful these days by bringing worms and other yummy insects to the little greedy birds. Mama is definitely the more nurturing one, warming the babies through the cold evenings. She is very protective and chirps and circles if I try to get too close for pictures. Such a good mom! 

I hope all of you mama birds out there have a great day on Sunday, May 11. At least you don’t have to go pull worms out of the ground, chew them up and spit them into your babies’ hungry mouths! 

Cheers from my garden,

Connie

P.S. I would love to hear from you. Leave a comment or question below.

March 30, 2008 

Greetings,

I am a farm girl at heart and have a real passion for growing fruits and vegetables. Even though I now live in the burbs of Beaverton, Oregon, I have found space to grow an edible garden. This year, I decided to share my journey from mud to table. The link for the video is at http://nutritionforkids.com/MarchGarden.htm

I don’t claim to be a real expert at gardening (or video production either!). In fact, I pride myself on the trial-and-error approach. So what I am really saying is that this will not be a “how-to” guide for gardening. It is simply what I do and what has succeeded for me.

One of my goals in teaching nutrition to kids is to instill a real appreciation and love of food. For me, growing things is the best way to connect with real food. I included a short chapter on “Growing Fun” in my new activity book, “Nutrition Fun with Brocc & Roll.” I hope that inspires educators and parents to get kids started in the garden.

I hope to have more to show you (besides mud) in the April segment. We have had a cold, wet week so I’m not seeing much progress yet. Next week, it’s supposed to warm up all the way to 50. So for those of you in warm climates, enjoy the sun!

Cheers from my garden,
Connie