My favorite part about this house is that: 1) this is the first time in over a decade that I will not be sharing walls with anyone (huge) and 2) we have a yard! Not just a small yard, but it’s almost a full 1/4 acre (for us city folks this is a huge deal)! There’s even a little stream and a bird bath – believe me when I tell you I am dreaming BIG on this one. We haven’t even gotten the keys and I’m already planning out where we’re going to plant herbs and researching how one grows peanuts.

The reasonable one in this relationship said “Elyssa, let’s wait to see what kind of sun we get back here and who knows, maybe the yard has pre-existing bulbs that will sprout….” At this point I am already diagramming our vegetable garden and I am only half-listening…. After all of the food safety scares that we have had over the last few years, I am really excited to start growing our own food, knowing that we are reducing our footprint by just a tad and at the same time increasing the amount of nutrients that we consume.

To celebrate this glorious spring, we made a lovely and colorful meal: chicken lettuce wraps with peanut sauce, saffron rice and a lovely Virginia Rose. The recipe for the chicken follows, we just used saffron rice from the store but of course you can make your own if you’d like. Enjoy!

Zomppa’s Peanut Sauce

Peanut Sauce

Adapted from a recipe on allrecipes.com

1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup coconut milk
3 tablespoons water
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon hot sauce
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger root
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Mix together everything but the cilantro, add that just before serving. Take some cubed chicken breast and toss with some sauce (however much you like). Take a big leaf from Boston lettuce and fill with chicken mixture, add shredded carrots, cucumbers and green onions. Serve with a side of saffron rice. Enjoy!

Check us out on Full Plate Thursday, Simple Lives Thursday, Tip Day Thursday, and Friday Potluck!

This time I volunteered at SEEDS in Durham, NC, a wonderful non-profit that focuses on teaching the young people of the city to “care for the earth, themselves and each other through a variety of garden-based programs.” About 12 high school students from the Durham Public Schools receive small stipends to work after school, learning to farm, run a food business, and participate in leadership development. They learn about issues of social and economic justice, food safety and security, and environmental sustainability.

On this day, they served as impressive tour guides for visitors from around the state.

SEEDS is more than a urban garden for youth, however; they actually sell their produce at the Durham Farmer’s Market every week. From giant peppers to luscious lettuces to succulent eggplants, these youngsters grow, harvest, and sell their produce grown from their own Durham Inner City Garden located right across from their educational garden space. The students even manage their own bee apiaries to make their honey.

Every Friday evening, instead of hanging out at the mall or watching TV, these young gardeners also share their week’s lessons and discuss issues of relevance at the fire pit. A program called SEEDlings reaches out to even younger children with an afterschool program that teaches them how to care for the earth, grow and enjoy food. There is even an outdoor clay oven where the youngsters make their own pizza with fresh tomatoes, mushrooms, and herbs grown with their own hard work.

In a time when we hear about the terrible, horrible state of our youth, it is so heartening to know that if the young people of SEEDS are the stewards of our Earth, we might be OK after all.

Food concerns more than nutrients; it concerns social and economic justice; it is empowerment, it is a change agent, it is art.

Never fear.  I managed to buy some miniature plant pots, some paints/paint brushes, a tiny watering can (for tiny hands), some soil and seeds (for growing flowers).  On a random Saturday a few weeks back, we sat on our kitchen floor, laid out some paper bags and pimped out our plant pots.  We dumped in some dirt, added the seeds and watered (actually, almost drowned) our newly planted seeds.

So much for our gardening project.  The entire project took less than 5 minutes!  I broke out a pair of gardening gloves for no reason!  The oldest child lost complete interest after 5 minutes and the baby tried her best to eat some acrylic paint.  Disaster.  The worst part is that, after two weeks of watering and watching, NOTHING sprouted!  The only thing we had after two weeks was two pots of WET DIRT!  Sad, Sad, Sad.

But you know what?  Within those five minutes, we created instant memories.  I know, it sounds cheesy, but when these kiddies are in their 30’s and looking back through the photo albums, they’ll fall over laughing at our sad attempt to introduce them to our fragile, but incredibly vital, ecosystem.  There will definitely be other opportunities to teach my kiddies a few things…. perhaps next time, I’ll see about renting a plot of land at our local neighborhood garden and recruiting the help of a green thumb!   Here’s to creating memories!

Just Food, for example, is a fantastic organization that promotes a sustainable food system in New York City. My old professor, the venerable and renowned Joan Gussow, sits on the board.

See her book here–great read!

With my nonexistent light, I found a little community garden in Spanish Harlem, just north of Central Park on the East Side. A few plots were already filled with greens and I cleaned up my spot and planted basil, lavender, thyme, mint, and sage. For months, I had fresh herbs and dried the rest. I hardly had to do anything because the soil was rich with nutrients and fat worms and the shade appropriately shared with the sun.

I moved before I could really get involved as I would have like, but these spaces are perfect for things like community yoga classes, resume workshops, and children’s gardening activities.

What I found is there is no real excuse for not trying. These spaces can be found, and it just needs a little initiative and watchful eye to avoid your plants being overrun, but in a community garden, you are all in it together.