Sonia Tastes Hawaii

Open-faced Eggplant Sandwich

I've had this idea in the back of my mind for a long time and decided finally to make it today.  I think I can improve on it a little bit, but at least, this was good on the first try.

Our eggplants are doing great in the garden and I've been trying to come up with different things to make with them.  The eggplant I found today was not too big, but firm and really tender.

We had some 99% fat free multi-grain wheat bread in the freezer, so I took 2 slices out to thaw.  The slices are a bit bigger and wider than regular sliced bread. 

I cut the eggplant in slices about 1/4" thick, dipped them in milk and then in seasoned white cornmeal. 

Sautéed the slices in a small amount of olive oil, then when turned over I placed a slice of sorf mozzarella on each slice of eggplant and continued cooking until cheese had melted - I actually left it just a tad too long, but it was still fine.  Next time I will cover the pan and let it sort of steam a bit so the cheese will be soft and slightly melted but not cooked.

Meantime the bread slices were put in the George Foreman grill so it could toast with the grill marks on it.  After they were done I brushed the top of the bread slices with garlic infused olive oil.

On the dinner plate, place a lettuce leaf and then one of the slices of the bread.  On the bread, at an angle, place a slice of ggplant and mozzarella.  Add bits of  sun-dried tomatoes marinated in oil and a couple of sprigs of fresh basil.  Top with another slice of eggplant and mozzarella and repeat with the sun-dried tomato and basil.

I added a sprig of watercress to the plate as an edible garnish.  A delicious and easy, light summer meal.

How Does My Garden Grow...? update

I haven't done a garden update in a while....At this time everything is looking good!

Thank goodness the wild pigs haven't found us this year...(I know... I probably just jinxed it!)

 

Overview of garden - the total space of the garden is probably no more than 10 feet wide and about 30 to 35 feet long.  This is not counting the areas where we have some bananas, papayas and the Surinam cherry tree planted.

 
I like to mix colorful flowers with the herbs and veggies, some are edible and some are not.  We have two types geraniums (red and salmon), zinnias, mini-daylilies, two kinds of nasturtiums, snapdragons (pink and yellow) and orange and yellow marigolds.  The lavender blooms above with darn background are rom the garlic chives.

At this time we have plenty of dill, which is blooming profusely.  I cut some dill and saved in freezer baggies in the freezer to use as needed.

The strawberry bed produced a couple of dozen strawberries this first year and the bed is overflowing.  We need to either move them to a larger area or divide and share!

Our Roma tomatoes are producing steadily and we have harvested at least 15 or 20 already.

 
The lettuce mix is glorious and the nasturtiums keep on blooming.  Salads of lettuces, tomatoes and nasties are being eaten often.

 
The eggplants are now showing little fruit and this one plant is full of blooms and has 4 little eggplants showing.

 
The Malabar spinach vine is lush and prolific...I keep plucking leaves and it keeps growing.

 
The cherry tomato plants are huge.  You can't see them in this pic, but they are loaded with little green tomatoes.

Besides all of the above, we continue to harvest also Okinawan and Dawn Dewa (Moluccan) spinaches; we have plenty of sweet basil and a new planting of Thai basil.  The purple basil is there but not doing, much.  We need to move it.

We just planted a new rosemary besides the 4 older plants, which are beginning to show a new lease on life as well as the little bay/laurel plant which the pigs had destroyed...it is now showing new leaves!

The parsley is lush, the thyme and sage are thriving and we moved some of the Cuban oregano to a new place.  We have two different mints planted...Peppermint and Spearmint.

We haven't had enough rain this year, but so far I haven't had to water twice a day, as I had to in previous years...but the little evening and night rains we've had have been just enough to keep everything lush and green.

....and this is how my garden grows today!

GARDEN GREENS ....the 'so-called' Spinaches

Besides the regular greens growing in our garden, such as basils, an assortment of lettuces, arugula and other herbs, we have planted what many people call "spinach" but are not like any spinach you might be familiar with.   The closest to looking like spinach is the first one, the Malabar.

 

 
  

 

Malabar Spinach

Malabar spinach (Basella alba or Basella Rubra) is a perennial tropical fast-growing and soft-stemmed vine in the Basellaceae family and not an actual spinach.  The vines can grow up to 10 feet.  Does well on trellises or twisted around wire tomato cages.

 

The stem has a slight little ‘squarish’ look and can be either green or dark reddish purple as in the variety called Basella Rubra.  the plant has insignificant white blooms and shiny black berry-like seeds.

 

The Malabar spinach loves full sunlight, hot and humid temperatures and does best when grown at altitudes less than 500 foot elevation but has been known to grow at higher elevations.

 

High in vitamins A and C and loaded with calcium, it can be consumed as either a raw salad green or cooked as you would regular spinach.  The leaves and stems have a mucilaginous consistency and in some countries only the new shoots are cooked and eaten.

 

I first became acquainted with this plant while living in Cuba.  My mother made mainly salads with the leaves.

 

The mucilaginous texture is especially useful as a thickener in soups and stews.  We love to mix it in with other greens in salads, but have also used it in stir fries.

 

 

Moluccan (Dawn or Daun Dewa) Spinach 

Moluccan Spinach (Gynura divaricata), said to be originally discovered in Formosa, now known as Taiwan.  There is a variety called Gynura nepalensis said to have originated in Nepal.

 

A hardy, fast growing plant also related to the Okinawan Spinach.

 

This so-called cholesterol lowering plant is also said to be used in some countries as a tea to decrease the blood glucose of diabetic patients and has been used in China for bronchial treatments.

 

The plant throws long ‘shoots’ that will keep on growing if left unchecked.  I try to train them on trellises.  It can be rooted directly into the ground by cuttings.  The leaves have a slightly fuzzy texture that is not disagreeable to the palate.  I have never seen a bloom or seed pod on this plant.

 

Can be eaten raw in salads or mixed in stews and stir fries.  I prefer to cut a wad of them as a chiffonade in salads.

 

I have tried finding what vitamins and other properties this plant contains, but haven’t been too successful.

 

I first became familiar with this plant after moving to Hawai'i when a neighbor gave me a starter plant.

 

 

Okinawan Spinach 

Okinawan spinach (Gynura crepioides) is a sub-tropical perennial vegetable plant that grows as a ground cover and can be rooted directly into the ground by cuttings.  It has beautiful soft teeth edged lance-like shiny leaves that are green on top and purple on the bottom.  The insignificant flowers can be either yellow or orangey-red.

 

The plant can grow in sun or partial shade.  It is best to propagate from cuttings as when planted from seeds it reverts to the original all green plant and loses the beautiful purple underside of the leaves.

 

Like the Moluccan spinach, it is also purported to help lower cholesterol.  When cooking, add the leaves at last or garnish with raw leaves as the heat turns the leaves completely green and the purple disappears.

 

As with all edible vegetation, please take care to wash all leaves carefully before eating raw to avoid any contamination.

 

The cholesterol lowering claims of the Moluccan and the Okinawan spinach have not been substantiated nor made by me.  I have no medical information that supports the claimed properties of these plants.

 

The salad shown below has all three 'spinach' greens, as well as mizuna, parsley and basil.  The berries are poha or Hawaiian gooseberries; goat cheese, chopped and toasted macadamia nuts and liliko'i (passion fruit) vinaigrette gave it the finishing touch.

 

 

Notes from the Herbal Garden

Two of my favorite pastimes are cooking and gardening, which seem to go together. When you plant an herb garden, you get double the satisfaction!

Living in Hawai'i , you can plant an herb garden at any time, but this seems to be the perfect time of year to start one. The nights are a little cooler, the sun is still hot in the daytime and we should soon start getting some refreshing rain. If you don’t have the patience to wait for seeds to sprout, get cuttings that you can root in a glass of water or buy plants at your nearest nursery.

If you do go the seed route, my son came up with an ingenious idea so the birds would not get the seeds before they could sprout. We had some old wood framed window screens which he used over the seed plantings and just propped them up with big rocks on each corner. This way, when the first sprouts come up, they still have room to grow without getting mashed down. This system also serves as protection during heavy rains.

Planting herbs in raised beds seem to give them the drainage many herbs need to thrive. It is also an easier way to harvest them. Mints and other invasive type herbs do better in containers where you can control the spreading. Herbs are usually tough and trouble-free, but pests and diseases do sometimes attack. Pinching off affected parts is a quick and effective control measure.

Using fresh herbs in cooking is as old as the first time someone thought that a certain piece of green leaf would go well with a certain other ingredient.  Of course, the amount of herbs used in recipes is a matter of personal taste, but when following a recipe that calls for either dry or fresh herbs and you need to substitute, use this rule of thumb conversion: 1 tablespoon of fresh equals one teaspoon of dry.

When making stews or any recipe that needs to cook for several hours, you can avoid cooking out the fresh or dried herb flavor, by adding it in the last stages of cooking.  On the other hand, when preparing foods that will chill, you should do the opposite and add the herbs several hours in advance to give the flavors time to meld.

When cooking with herbs that are tough (Cuban or Caribbean oregano for one and bay or laurel leaves) or have woody stems and you want to use the whole stem, such as rosemary or even thyme, crush the herbs a bit and place them in a stainless steel mesh tea ball which you can then insert or drop into the cooking pot.  I have several sizes I use for just this purpose.  You can fish out the whole thing and not have to pick the herbs out before serving the dish.  

When harvesting your herbs, they can be preserved for months in the freezer.
You need to wash and dry them first, by laying on double layers of paper towel and then patting dry with more towels.  Place them in freezer bags. 

Some of the best herbs for freezing include tarragon, basil, dill, chives and parsley. Parsley, perhaps the most commonly used of all herbs, is also packed with Vitamins A and C.  When you eat the little piece of fresh parsley that is garnishing your plate, remember that it not only serves as decoration, but it can also be used to freshen your breath after eating.

The best herbs to dry at home are bay leaves, marjoram and oregano.  The microwave is the handiest method to use for herb drying at home.  Wash them well and pat them dry before placing the leaves between layers of paper towels.  At the lowest setting, zap them for about three minutes.

The most popular herbs to plant seem to be basil, rosemary, chives, parsley,
cilantro, mint, oregano, tarragon and thyme.

(c) Sonia R. Martinez

(Parts of this article first appeared in the Hawaii Tribune Herald of Hilo - September 14, 2004)

Garden bounty.....Growing edibles

If you are a long time reader by now you know that I am a strong supporter of planting edible gardens instead of just a ‘pretty garden with a lawn’.  You can plant an edible garden and still have a beautiful yard by planting trees and bushes that bear food instead of just sitting there looking pretty.

Growing edibles in your garden can be not only fun, but in these days of high food cost it can supplement your market purchases and keep a few extra dollars in your pocket.

Look around your yard...you probably already grow a few edibles.
Be it fruits, veggies or herbs, there is deep satisfaction in planting, growing, harvesting and cooking the fruits of our labors.

It doesn’t take a lot of room to plant a kitchen or edible garden. In fact, you can even plant some edibles in pots or any little strip of dirt around your lanai or near the kitchen door. In France, where they are quite popular, these type gardens are called “potagers”; just a place where a few snips of this or a couple of fruits of that can be transformed into a satisfying meal.   

Simple things to grow are cherry tomatoes, basil, rosemary, and little red Hawaiian chili peppers; okra, spinach, wing beans, Japanese eggplants, and even a few nasturtiums for color and taste (yes, you can eat both the bloom and leaves of these beautiful little flowers).

Cherry tomatoes and the nasturtiums can also grow in hanging baskets, which are also convenient to hang from the eaves of your house near the kitchen door, thus saving space in the yard or lanai.

Here in Hawaii, we are blessed with great year round growing conditions for most herbs and vegetables and there are lots of fruit available almost everywhere, so using our gardens to supplement our food shopping is more fun than work.

For many years I’ve been fascinated with the stories about the Victory Gardens that were popular during the World Wars and where we live, we are trying to have something of an edible nature growing at all times. We have a long ways to go for what I envision, but we made a start a few years ago.  Here is a link to see a collection of fascinating Victory Garden posters.

Since a family of wild pigs found a way to come up the gulch and destroyed our earlier garden last year, we had been hesitant to use the same place again and were planting things in the bed behind the cabin that sits in front of our house. This bed was getting pretty full and things didn't have room to grow, so we decided to start planting again in the old garden site, which is larger and the only area in this property that is ‘almost flat’. 

We hope the pigs don’t decide this is an open invitation to come dine at our expense again.  

It will not be as 'pretty' as our earlier garden, but we're still following the 'recycling' rules we set up when we were doing our first one and using things that we just don't want to send to the dump (see earlier blog posts about our original garden below)

We have two metal table frames (wood tops burned when we had the fire almost 10 years ago). The legs on these metal table frames are tall enough that some sun reaches underneath the tables at certain times of the day, even with growing trays set on top.

We also have some shallow (about 5-6 inches deep) metal wire baskets that were part of a display unit in our Inn gift shop that fit inside the top of the smaller table frame. We used some screening to line the wire baskets, filled with dirt and compost and turned them into growing trays. I don't think slugs will be climbing the legs - hope not anyway.

The table frames make fantastic raised beds when you place the metal basket–growing trays on them. 

 
So far we have planted mixed greens and strawberries in the growing baskets and the legs are wonderful as trellises, so we decided to use the larger table frame as trellises for tomatoes and chayote and underneath the smaller table we planted the Okinawan spinach, which can grow in partial shade.

We bought a paper shredder and have been shredding newspapers which we're using as mulch.

So far we've planted some heirloom tomatoes, tomatillo, purple basil, stick oregano and arugula in that area. I will leave the large stick oregano and the Cuban oregano where they are currently as they have really established themselves very well there.

Sage, thyme and Mexican tarragon are planted in pots which we can move around as needed.

We have some dill, pepper plants, Japanese eggplants, fennel and another variety of tomatoes which we will be planting in a day or two and will also redo an old bed with a section of dog fencing on which to grow peas and beans.

We still have 4 rosemary plants in the old garden area left after the pig attack and a small bay leaf (laurel) that doesn't seem to want to do much.

A friend introduced me to a tree that is almost all edible - roots can be used as a substitute for horseradish; leaves, flowers and bean/seed pods are edible and the dried seeds are also used to purify water in countries where the water is not clean.

Many Hawaii residents of Filipino descent know and make use of this tree already. It is called Moringa oleifera. Our friend gave us several branches which we just stuck deeply in the ground as instructed. They will supposedly root.

We shall see if all this survives!

Garden Journal - Intro

Garden Journal - The First Week

Garden Journal - The First Month

The Taming of our Garden

Garden Jounal - Summer Update

The Edible Garden

 

Is it a yellow orange or a Meyer Lemon?

About 6 years ago we bought two little citrus trees in one gallon pots. One was supposed to be a Mexican lime and the other a Meyer lemon. We planted them close together due to space limitations and my son wanted to have more or less “one tree trunk” producing two kinds of citrus.

They grew, but nothing happened at all until year before last when one of them flowered. We had no idea which one. Although it had quite a bit of blooms, it produced only one fruit by Christmas of ‘08, but it was enough to determine it was the Meyer lemon. The Mexican lime has never bloomed at all.

Last year, the little tree bloomed all over and we have been able to harvest quite a few lemons – 13 big lemons so far and we still have another 14 left on the tree.

The 13 lemons yielded almost 6 and half cups of juice!

The Meyer lemon tree (Citrus x meyeri 'Meyer') aka Valley Lemon in Texas, was named for Frank Meyer who introduced the tree to the United States while working for the USDA in China in 1908. After a virus infected the trees in the ‘40s, the trees were banned as a precaution since the virus could possibly attack other citrus varieties.

Lucky for us, a new and hardier version of the Meyer was discovered and the tree re-introduced in 1970 and went on to become a favorite in the home garden or patio, since they grow so well in large pots.

The shape of the Meyer lemon is rounder than other lemons, almost as big as an orange and the flesh is orange-yellow in color.

The fruit can be used as you would that of any other lemon, but it will have a distinctive and milder taste. At the end I list some ideas for using the fruit. I found them by doing a search on the Internet and through discussions with some of my Internet foodie friends.

As I mentioned above, our little harvest yielded a lot of juice. Some I froze in ice cube trays to then save in freezer plastic bags to use in iced tea or for cooking. Some I froze in small sized plastic bags and ended up making lemonade with the rest.

 
Meyer Lemon Lemonade

2-1/2 cups Meyer lemon juice
2-1/2 cups simple syrup
12 cups cold water

To make the simple syrup you need to bring to a boil equal portions of sugar and water until sugar dissolves completely. Do not boil for long or the syrup will get too thick.

Mix all ingredients well and pour into a pitcher or a cold drink dispenser jug and refrigerate.

I love to serve it with a sprig of spearmint.

Limoncello
Limoncello is a lemon liqueur that originated in the Amalfi coast of Italy and has become quite popular in the States. The lemons used there are traditionally Sorrento lemons, which are huge yellow lemons with a lot of juice, but almost any lemon zest can be used.

Zet or peel from 2 pounds of lemon – yellow part only
4 cups of 100 proof vodka
3 cups sugar
3 cups water

When peeling or zesting the lemons, be careful to peel the yellow only. If by chance you get some of the white pith, scrape it with the edge of a spoon. The white pith will give your liqueur a bitter taste.

Steep the peel in four cups of 100 proof vodka in a large bowl covered with a tea towel or cheesecloth for one week at room temperature. Make simple syrup by stirring three cups of sugar and three cups of water in a large saucepan over medium heat until the sugar dissolves; cool. Add to the vodka mixture and stir. Strain the liquid into bottles; seal and chill the limoncello for one month. Pour into small glasses and enjoy!

YIELD: Not supplied
SOURCE: Bon Appetit, May 2002

Limoncello Spritzers
The recipe for the spritzers is one my friend Diane shared in her family blog. The photograph is also courtesy of Diane.

Ice cubes
Seltzer water
Limoncello

Place ice cubes in a pitcher and add Seltzer and Limoncello (1 1/2 cups Seltzer to 1 1/2 cups Limoncello for 2 drinks).
Stir and serve in wine goblets.
Garnish with lemon slice if desired.

Diane used Meyer lemon slices from her garden for the garnish.
NOTE: The above amounts are per the recipe by Michael Chiarello, but Diane and her daughter found they liked more Seltzer mixed into the drink than called for. She also thinks that a touch of mint would be a nice addition.

YIELD: 2 drinks
SOURCE: Diane Willis
If you like home style Italian food, try Diane's Un Saludo a las Cucinas de Italia blog http://asalutetothekitchensofitaly.blogspot.com

You can also find Diane’s recipe for Limoncello Cheesecake in the following blog link: http://asalutetothekitchensofitaly.blogspot.com/2010/01/limoncello-cheesecake.html

If you have more lemon peel than you need for making limoncello:

Other tips for using Meyer Lemons –

*From my friends Diane in California and Deb in Georgia –Use a vegetable peeler and save the peel before juicing the lemons. Freeze the peels in small snack size bags. When lemon zest is needed, just take the needed amount out, defrost, mince and you will have fresh lemon zest to use in baking and all types of recipes.

The Meyer Lemon peels can be candied as well. They are really tasty and make pretty decorations for cup cakes, cakes, tarts, and other pastries.

The following are by Amy Scattergood Los Angeles Times Staff Writer in the January 16th, 2008 issue.

* Infuse your favorite olive oil with Meyer lemon peel: Warm a cup of olive oil and the peel from 2 lemons over very low heat for 15 minutes, then allow cooling for half an hour. Strain and pour into an antique bottle with a tight stopper.

* Make Meyer lemon vinaigrette with extra virgin olive oil, Meyer lemon juice, a splash of champagne vinegar, sea salt, cracked black pepper and a little lemon zest.

* Add Meyer lemon peels into a jar of honey and allow to sit for a few weeks; the peel will perfume the honey while it slowly candies in the jar.

* Perfume your sugar bowl by stirring strips of Meyer lemon peel down into the sugar.

* Make hollandaise sauce with Meyer lemon.

* Whisk the zest of a few Meyer lemons into your favorite meringue recipe.

* Throw the peel of a Meyer lemon on the grill before cooking shrimp.

* Peel a whole Meyer lemon in one continuous long strand and drop the peel into a mug of hot chocolate.

Bananarama...

I've written about bananas before (see links below) so am not going to go on about them except to say, we really love the sweet, small apple bananas, which are the ones we've been growing.

I took some photos of a banana bloom I thought was gorgeous and wanted to share

Banana Bloom just unfolding

 
loseup of the bloom from underneath - you can see the tiny bananas beginning to form

 
Banana blossom and keiki (baby) bananas growing

 
Full rack of banana 'hands'

Also check the post previous to this one for the recipe for a yeast Banana Bread

TROPICAL TASTE - Going Bananas...!

TROPICAL TASTE - The Versatile Plantain

Plainly Plantains...!

 Platanos en Tentacion - Temptation Bananas

Aloha!

Have you been paying attention to the news......?

The following is a bit different from my usual postings, but one that concerns me very much and should be of concern to all of us.

Have you been paying attention to the news......?

By Sonia R. Martinez

 

Not the news from Entertainment Tonight about the latest escapade in Hollywood or about Health Care or about the latest DC scandal, or the latest communication gadget or the latest computerized gizmo to play with......

 

I'm talking about the news about the water supply being cut off from a California farm valley that grows a large percentage of the nation's food supply, to save the smelt, a tiny little fish similar to a sardine.....

 

The farmers in the valley will go bankrupt, our food supply will diminish, but never fear.....the US government will save the smelt.

 

California Farmers vs. the Smelt

 

I'm talking also about the problem that even though it has been known for at least a couple of years that bees are disappearing, and thus will affect our food supply, the news media, except for a few who are aware, are not making a bigger stink over it.....but they can talk about Michael Jackson's life and death ad nauseum 24/7.

 

Photo by Sonia M - Hilo Farmers Market

 

Help the honey bees

 

The Silence of the Bees

 

Silence of the Bees video - intro and 4 parts

 

Why are the bees disappearing?

 

Photo by Sonia M - Richard Spiegel's bees - Volcano Island Honey

 

Americans, as a majority are not paying attention to the food situation in our country.  Believe me, they will when it hits them that store shelves are filling up more and more with imports from Chile, Mexico, Costa Rica and China......and less and less from California and the wheat and corn belt.... or maybe as long as there is food, regardless of where it comes from, mainstream America does not care, never mind we're bankrupting our own country, as long as they can buy the food....

 

We better wake up, people!

 

I'm not trying to be 'chicken little', but if we're not seeing the writing on the wall, we better get new glasses!

 

Big agribusiness companies don't want Joe and Jane Doe to be able to feed themselves....so the seeds from much of the vegetables and fruits we buy today are sterile - 'terminator seeds' as they are being called - through genetic engineering.

 

Seeds of Controversy

 

Regardless on how we stand on the GMOs (Genetically Modified foods) the end result is that ALL of us will be impacted in one way or another.

 

What are GMO foods?

 

The long and short of it is that we've been playing with Mother Nature and we will find out the consequences to our detriment in the long run....and that long run is not so far in the horizon.

 

Here is a novel idea.....Let's start planting small edible gardens in our yards and stop pouring money on useless lawns......Gosh, why didn't we think of that before?

 

Photo by sonia M - from our garden - tomatoes, basil, marigolds

 

Let's start saving viable seeds.  We will need them....and if the seeds we bought to plant our own edible gardens are not viable....here is a place where we can get some that will.

 

Survival Seed Bank

 

Join Slow Food , find a convivium (Slow Food's Latin terminology for group) in your area and learn more about helping small farmers and how to feed yourselves

 

Remember this, it is VERY important.....and keep saying it as a mantra: 

 

No Farms No Food!

The Edible Garden

Living a sustainable life should be more than one of the so-called political correct catch-phrases for anyone, anywhere; but when it comes to living in

Hawaii

it should be a way of life.

You hear the words sustainability, sustainable gardening, edible gardens, edible landscapes, “

Victory

Gardens

”, “Plant a Row to Fight Hunger” and other catchy names for what is basically planting an edible garden in your own yards.

Some people are starting to see where big business farming is taking our country and where it is also becoming a big concern due to the recent scares in tainted produce, meats and canned goods. 

These same people are ripping up their labor-intensive grass lawns and planting edibles even in their front yards.   After all, if you have to work so hard to have a pretty lawn that just sits there, isn’t it smarter to work just as hard and be able to reap an edible harvest in the same space?

If you take the time and care to think about ‘landscaping’ with your herbs and other edibles, your yard can look as pretty as if it was planted in masses of flowering bushes or trees.  Just make sure your flowering bushes are all growing edibles and your trees bear nuts or fruit.

If you don’t have much room to plant a big garden in your yard or you live in an apartment or condo, there is always a little balcony or small place to grow a few potted herbs, peppers or tomatoes… or you can always support your community by buying from local farmers and nearby farmer’s markets.

We live on islands in the middle of the ocean.  We are far, far away from most market sources.  In case of national or global emergencies we need to rely on our own resources.  Where else better than on our own bountiful island?

Prices of food have escalated quite a bit lately.  It used to be you could buy a butternut squash for a bit over $1 a pound…recently we noticed they were priced at $2.39 a pound.  When you purchase a 3 pound squash for $7.17, I would say that is a bit much, no matter how much we like them.....and milk is now called "White Gold"!

In the past, I have written several articles for this publication (*) on growing food in your garden or supporting your local farms.

 

If you keep copies of back issues of The Hamakua Times you can go back to reread “

Victory

Gardens

” (April 02); “Lucky Live

Hawaii

” (April 05); “Richard Ha – Tomato Farmer” (May 05) “The Bounty of

Hawaii

” (June 05) and “

Hawaii

…the Garden of the Pacific” (March 06) among others.

If you have read some of my articles in other publications, you by now know that I am a firm believer in “Eating Local” and helping sustain the local farmers.

Last September, my son Anthony and I started working on a little garden in the yard on the side of the house.  We live on a property that doesn’t have many level areas, and that was the ‘levelest’ place for one. 

This summer, we added more to the garden after it lay unattended for a couple of months when I was visiting the mainland.  It is now fully restored, producing and we are already planning on expanding it.

We are growing many herbs: sweet Italian basil, lemon basil, Thai basil, American blue basil, plain leaf and ruffled leaf purple basils, and a basil we can’t identify; Italian parsley, ruffled leaf parsley and Japanese Mitsuba parsley; 2 types of dill; spearmint, lemon mint, lemon balm, bay leaf, rosemaries, sage and pineapple sage; Mexican tarragon, 2 types of thyme, chives and garlic chives; lemon grass, mustard greens and mizuna greens; marjoram, stick oregano and Cuban or Caribbean oregano.

We have started growing a variety of peppers, some sweet and some hot.  Three varieties of small tomatoes; 4 varieties of eggplants; three varieties of spinach: Malabar, Okinawan and Dawn Dewa; long beans and a few edible flowers for salads and garnishing.

There are papaya trees, apple bananas, dwarf Brazilian banana plants, Cuban red banana, four varieties of avocadoes, coconuts,

Surinam

cherries, passion fruit vines, pineapples and a source for fresh bamboo shoots.  There are also several citrus planted throughout the property and a jaboticaba that needs to be moved.

There are many books to be found that can help you start your own small garden.  They will go a long way toward helping you supplement whatever you might have to buy at the grocery stores.

Start small.  The concept of ‘square foot gardening’ teaches you how much you can grow in just one little 4 foot square space when you combine taller plants in the center and placing graduating sized plants towards the edges, ending with your mounding herbs along the borders.

Don’t forget the foods that grow wild and can be foraged, such as coconuts, berries, guavas, bread fruit, fiddlehead ferns and even bamboo shoots, seaweed for salads, kukui nuts to make inamona paste for seasoning and there is always sea salt.

Recently harvested from the yard: avocadoes, eggplants, cherry tomatoes and peppers.

You can read a bit more about our garden by visiting my blog site at www.soniatasteshawaii.com – if you look on the right hand side, you can click on “How Does My Garden Grow” or even on “Fruits From the Garden” and several pages will open up about the garden and some recipes using the harvest from our garden and yard.

(*) The Edible Garden by Sonia Martinez -Originally published in the Hamakua Times of Honoka'a - August 2007 issue.

Garden Journal - Summer Update

A few weeks ago I reported on the dreadful condition of the garden and how we started taming it.  I can now say that even though we have been without any rain of consequence for several weeks and needed to water the plants at least twice a day, the garden is now making great progress.

Finally the rains came, a bit here and a bit there, in the last few days, but as of last night we have had a steady, soft, drenching rain and the garden looked very happy this morning!

As we stated in the begining of the Garden Journal, our garden beds are enclosed with recycled wood slats, layered inside with newspapers for weed control and then filled with mulch.  We make pockets in the mulch where we fill with organic soil and then plant our herbs and veggies in the pockets.

Since the garden is organic, we are using lots of Marigolds all over to deter pests and we have been spraying a homemade organic weed control close to the beds and around the new stepping stones.  See recipe below.

Laurel (bay leaf) in the rain... the laurel sits in the middle of the assorted parsley bed.

Pineapple Sage and Golden Marigolds in the back, Sweet Basil in front.  I'm getting ready to trim the basil down so it can bush out and I will be making pesto with the cuttings.

Malabar Spinach, a type of vining spinach, these are almost ready to start climbing the wire frame.  Mizuna greens, Rosemary and more Golden Marigolds.

Gold and Orange Marigolds, Roma Tomatoes and Lemon Basil - the little paper cups around the tomato stems are to discourage pests such as cutworms.

Overview of several beds, include Rosemaries, Orange and Golden Marigolds, Mizuna Greens, Red and Yellow Bell Pepper plants - you can also see a few of the Dwarf Banana plants in the background.

Baby Purple Japanese Eggplant growing in the lower branches and a cluster of blooms at the top of the plant.  Both Purple Japanese Long Eggplants and both of the Japanese Round Green Eggplant plants are blooming.

A future project will be to fill in the paths with creeping Oregano and plant it all around the stepping stones.  I have started the plugs of creeping Oregano in the beds as fillers and will be taking them from there.

Ripening Hawaiian Chile Peppers.

Recipe for the Organic Weed Spray

4 cups white vinegar

1/4 cup salt

2 teaspoons dish detergent

Mix all ingredients well and spray on weeds.  Watch them go Bye Bye!....As the weeds die, I will be pulling them by the roots to make room for the creeping Oregano to take over.

.......and this is how my garden is growing at this moment