Sign Up for the Ajo CSA Backyard Gardening Program
Anyone interested in installing a garden in their backyard (or expanding their existing garden and/or orchard) can join our Backyard Gardening Program. This program is funded by a grant from the Community Foundation for Southern Arizona, which allows us to provide funds for irrigation materials, fencing, construction materials, compost, seeds and seedlings. We organize work parties and provide technical assistance and advice, and encourage exchanges of knowledge in order to create a closely-knit backyard gardening community in Ajo. In return, we ask recipients (and all Ajo backyard gardeners who are so inclined) to sell a small percentage of their produce at the farmers market (on consignment) or donate it to the Ajo Community Food Bank. We also invite winter residents to allow us to glean any fruits and vegetables remaining in their gardens after they leave for the summer. We meet every first Wednesday of the month at 5 pm on the Plaza (during the farm stand/CSA pickup). There are currently ten gardens which have been installed or at least started, and another five waiting to go in. If you would like to know more, talk to Nina or Peter at the farm stand at the Plaza on Wednesdays from 4-6 pm or send an email to Nina at kat.altshul@yahoo.com.
PERMACUTURE STUDY GROUP
We are starting a permaculture study group which will meet for the first time at 11 am on Feb. 19th at the Oasis Café. The purpose of the group is to get everyone together who is interested in permaculture design techniques and talk about applying them in Ajo, on our properties and in the various gardening and other projects that are going on in town. The plan is to meet on the third Saturday of every month and share our knowledge and experience. Topics will include site analysis, contour design, water harvesting, food production, natural building techniques, pattern recognition, integrated systems, solar energy etc. No previous knowledge is required – this will be a learning and growth experience for all of us!
Everrything Stephanie and Christina served was fantastic!
Earth Day 2010: It’s spring again and time to celebrate Earth Day on April 22. Last year we gathered in the desert and shared our green tips for greener living; this year we are hosting a party in the Ajo Community Garden on Saturday, April 24. It will be a fun day for the whole family! There will be yoga, a tour of the garden with gardening tips, an herbal walk through the garden with Lynelle Wagner, the state of recycling in Ajo with Deb Morrow, an alternative energy workshop with Aaron Cooper, permaculture workshop with Christine Johnson and healthy foods demonstration with Christina Vega. And my favorite, kids’ activities: a “Meet-Your-Veggies” hands-on session, a “Who am I?” quiz, a Veggie Scavenger Hunt and Veggie Chalk Art. Kids of all ages are welcome!
Ajo Community Garden and CSA contribute salad for cultural dinner to wrap up Sonoran Desert Symposium
ACSA and the Community Garden supplied the salad for another ISDA event, the final meal at the end of ISDA's hjighly successful Sonoran Desert Symposium. Mimi Phillips again arranged a have a cholla bud salad from the Tohono O'odham nation, which was served alongside fresh garden greens from the Community Garden and Crooked Sky Farms, as well as nasturtium flowers from the Community Garden, and one of Nina's signature vinaigrette dressings. Everyone loved it! Thanks to Regina, Marilee, Jane, Stephanie, Carolyn, and Christine for all their help.
Ajo CSA and Community Garden supply salad for Cultural Dinner Cultural Dinner a big success!The first of the public events in ISDA’s new Ajo Cooks! program drew a full house (over 125 people) on Saturday, January 23, to a beautifully decorated Curley School auditorium. The Ajo CSA and Ajo Community Garden crew started harvesting in the Community Garden at 9 am and together with the harvest that Tania provided at the farm washed over 12 pounds of different salad greens in the commercial kitchen at the Ajo School! We added radishes, tomatoes and I’itoi onions from the garden, as well as sliced rutabagas and white turnips from the farm. ISDA contributed rehydrated cholla buds from the Tohono O’odham nation, which not only tied our salad to the peoples and traditional foods of the place we live in but also added an intriguing asparagus-artichoke- like taste and texture. The salad was dressed with a simple citrus vinaigrette using dried and fresh herbs from the garden, Ajo lemons and Queen Creek olive oil, and decorated with fresh nasturtium flowers from the garden. Many guests commented on the freshness of the greens and the salad in general, and all of the salad that we made was eaten!
Besides the salad, the menu featured foods by 11 Ajo cooks, including salsa, Southern-style sweet beans and turkey, beef tamales, carne asada tacos and nopales salad with guacamole. The desert was buñuelos (cinnamon-infused sweet fried tortillas) and Scottish shortbread Peace Cookies. Another traditional local food item was served as a drink – Agua de Jamica (hibiscus flower tea). Ajo CSA greens have been finding their way to plates at events in this town for over a year, but this was the first time that Ajo Community Garden produce was served at a public event.
Planned Harvest for Week 9 of 11 (February 9, 2011):
We are getting ready for the new session, which will run from March through the end of May. The session will be 13 weeks long and will cost $240 per full share plus gas money, which as usual will depend on the number of people who sign up. Partial signups are welcome (i.e. you can sign up for as many weeks as you want); the cost will be $20 per week plus gas. Please sign up before March 1.
Recipe of the Week
Spicy Asian Greens Soup (by Donna Stoner)
In approx. 1 Tbsp of olive oil sauté:
2 thin slices of ginger root
½ cup thin sliced onion cut lengthwise (crescent moon shape)
1 thin sliced celery rib
1 pressed garlic clove
Stir in a little sesame oil for taste and then add Approx. 1 tsp of Asian chile paste or some red pepper flakes. Add 1 ½ boxes or approximately 48 oz. of vegetable or chicken stock. Bring to low boil and add a handful of Bok Choi and a larger handful of a spicy Asian greens such as ruby streak mustard or arugula. Continue a low simmer for a few minutes to allow the flavors to mix and the greens to become tender. Then add 1/3 of a 10 oz. package of precooked udon noodles or ½ package of slightly broken ramen noodles. Add more noodles if you prefer more of a noodle soup to a broth with greens soup. If using the udon noodles you may want to break in half before cooking them. Allow the soup to cook on low a few more minutes. Cook long enough to heat the udon noodles or cook the ramen noodles. Then add a large handful of cilantro. Cook only a minute longer and enjoy!
