I am really loving these embellished vintage boxes from Sabine at La Marquise Des Anges. I adore sharing food from my garden and can imagine filling these delightful creations with all sorts of homegrown, handmade goodies.

Wouldn’t it be fun to bring this box stuffed with Herbes de Provence as a hostess gift?

Or you could nestle lavender shortbread cookies on a bed of dried chamomile blossoms and give this box, along with a bottle of wine and a good book, to a friend who needs to an excuse to relax.

The boxes are such a fun way to make a gift from the garden just a bit more special, and with a pricetag of only $15, very affordable!

I know I promised a pepper growing guide for you today, but it’s not quite done. So I thought I’d share a few snaps of the coolest chicken tractors I’ve seen. They belong to Cheri Van Hoover and her husband Rocky, who garden in a to-die-for spot near Port Townsend, Washington.

The couple’s lovely vegetable garden overlooks a wetland area and orchard and is framed in on all sides by an adorable white picket fence. Cheri’s daughter designed the chicken tractors to fit right over the garden’s raised beds, so the chickens can dig for insect larave, leave little deposits of nitrogen, and aerate the soil.  I took these photos when I stopped by their garden in January and was excited to see that Cheri and Rocky raise Buff Orpingtons, too! I’m hoping to get an invite to visit again this summer so I can share photos of the garden when it is full of vegetables.

This weekend I plan on celebrating summer’s unofficial arrival by walking around in bare feet, throwing back a few beers, and breaking out our trusty charcoal grill.

On the menu? Grilled pizza!

The inspiration for our summer kick-off comes courtesy of my wonderful guest blogger, Chassie from CB&J. Chassie’s food is simple, beautiful, and tasty, and her recipes do not have an ounce of holier-than-thou food snobbery. Nope. Chasssie is just a girl who like to cook and eat. Maybe that’s why I like her so much!

Enjoy the pizza, Chassie’s post, and her husband Steve’s lovely photo of their pizza-Q. I’ll be back on Tuesday with a growing guide for peppers ~ Willi

I am so excited to be a guest on Willi’s lovely blog. I spent weeks contemplating the perfect recipe. After all of the agonizing and testing dish after dish, I realized I was over thinking things. So, I decided to share one of our favorite foods…bar-b-qued pizza. We invited some of our friends over for an evening of beautiful weather, fresh squeezed lemonade, and a variety of pizzas straight from the grill.

BBQ and pizza may not be words you would traditionally find together, but believe me, they are a match made in foodie heaven.  I’ve tried a variety of methods for cooking pizza dough, but that perfect crunchy, chewy, flavorful pizza crust was eluding me. It wasn’t until my very good friend, Chris, suggested I try a Martha method and throw the dough directly on the grill. No stone. No pan. Nothing. Sounded crazy, but I love to experiment with new techniques and the results were out of this world. It was like the pizza gods let me in on their little secret and I was hooked. The flavor is unbelievable – it reminds me of the pizza in Italy – the dough has a distinct earthy flavor and a crunchy outer shell with a tender core, plus it allows you to be outside and in front of the grill, and how fun is that?!

I also choose this recipe because it seemed very appropriate for this time of year. After a long winter full of too many root vegetables and not nearly enough fruit or grill time, Spring opens up her arms and gives us asparagus, artichokes, lettuce of all shapes and sizes, herbs, herbs and more herbs. So many goodies, but it is arugula that makes my heart beat fast and my mouth water for it’s peppery, lemony leaves of goodness.

Arugula is most often used in salads, but I love to use it in pasta, soups, and oils.  Perhaps my favorite way to eat arugula is on a pizza with garlic, mozzarella, roasted red peppers, toasted pine nuts, and Parmesan cheese. The arugula adds an extra level of freshness that doesn’t usually come with a traditional pizza. This recipe works fabulously on a grilled dough.  Place your ingredients on the dough, close the lid, let the cheese melt and voila! A quick, easy and delicious meal that will impress you and your guests.

Arugula and Roasted Red Pepper Pizza

To grill the dough, roll or stretch it to about a 12” circle/oblong shape. I can never really get a perfect circle, but then again I never try too hard because the funky shapes help give it that homemade touch. Turn your grill to a medium heat and spray with non-stick spray or brush it will olive oil. Place the dough directly on the grill grates and watch her start to crisp and pull away from the grates. Once the dough is a little firm, flip it over and brush with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt. Flip the dough over a few times so it cooks evenly on both sides. Now turn the grill to low, add your toppings, close the lid, and cook until your toppings reach your desired doneness.

What you’ll need:

8 – 10 slices of good quality mozzarella cheese
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1/3 cup shaved or grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup olive, plus extra for brushing
1/4 cup chopped roasted red peppers
small handful of toasted pine nuts
1-2 cups of fresh arugula leaves

Instructions:

Slowly heat the olive oil and garlic in a small sauté pan. Don’t let the garlic brown. You just want to cook it enough to infuse the olive oil with the garlic flavor. On medium to low heat this should take about a minute. Turn off heat and let stand.

Toast your pine nuts slowly in a pan. Don’t walk away. These babies can burn quick! Toast until light brown and fragrant.

Now arrange all of your ingredients on a tray or cooking sheet and carry it to the grill. When your dough is almost done cooking, add your ingredients. Brush the garlic olive oil onto the dough making sure you get every little bit of garlic. Next add the mozzarella slices, then the arugula, red peppers, pine nuts and Parmesan. Let it cook until the cheese is melty and the arugula is slightly wilted.

This is great as a main course or an appetizer. For more ideas, check out my blog. You’ll find my pizza dough recipe and see the other combos we did at our Pizza-Q.  Have fun and enjoy! ~ Chassie

A few weeks ago the New York Times did a story on Felder Rushing, a Mississippi-based gardener and writer. Rushing kind of reminds me of The Dude from the Big Lebowski and not just because he frequently gardens in his bathrobe. He operates under a Dude-like philosophy he calls slow gardening. The basic tenets? Chill out. Don’t try to do everything at once. Have fun.

My favorite part of the article mentioned that Rushing grows basil in the bed of his pickup truck. It’s his “container garden on wheels”. I happen to have a huge soft spot in my heart for cars and trucks with gardens in them. We once had an Organic Gardening reader who wrote in that she starts her tomatoes in the back of her Gremlin–the big glass window made the perfect greenhouse. While I don’t have my own garden on wheels, I thought I’d share photos of a couple that I saw on my trip to the Bay Area in March. These babies don’t roll any more, but they sure are cool!

This truck was parked on a sandy road about a block from the beach in Bolinas. I almost walked right on by until I glanced in the back. A garden of weeds and wildflowers had sprouted up in the decomposing leaves that filled the bed of the truck. It was just begging for someone to throw in a few basil seeds.

A few days after I spotted the garden truck in Bolinas, I met Kelly from Make, Grow, Gather at Flora Grubb–a fantasy land of a nursery that specializes in succulents and palms, but also has a small, but fascinating, collection of edibles. Other than the salsify that Kelly picked up, my favorite part of Flora Grubb is an old car that Flora (who owns the nursery) turned into pretty much the coolest planter ever. I think it proves that one person’s junk is another’s treasure.

The West Seattle Edible Garden Fair is coming up this Saturday, May 23rd! I’ll be there talking about how to grow warm season crops like tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants in a cooler climate and I’m also giving a presentation how to maximize the flavor of vegetables.

The fair is FREE! And the list of presentation topics is awesome! You can attend a workshop on permaculture basics, learn how to can, hear about raising bees, goats, and chickens in the city from a panel of experts, find out how to turn your garden into an edible landscape, and more! Plus, there will be door prizes, kids activities, and cooking demonstrations.

I hope to see you there if you live in the Seattle area! Here all the nitty gritty details:

What: West Seattle Edible Garden Fair (http://www.gleanit.org/Fair.html)

Where: South Seattle Community College, 6000 16th Avenue SW

When: Saturday, May 23 from 9:30 am to 4:00 pm

Wanna see me? This is what I’m talking about:

10: 00 AM–Some Like It Hot: How To Grow Warm Season Crops in the Cool Northwest

Seattle is a great climate for gardening, but growing crops like tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants is a challenge! This workshop will demonstrate how to warm up your soil earlier in spring, show off essential season extension techniques, and give a step-by step plant for maximizing your harvest of warm season crops. Plus, get a list of tried-and-true tomato, pepper, and eggplant varieties!

12 Noon–Gourmet Vegetabless: Tips & Techniques for Growing Your Best Tasting Vegetables Ever

One of the best reasons to grow your own vegetables is they taste better! Learn how to maximize the flavor of your crops by choosing the tastiest varieties, preparing healthy soil, and giving your plants the best possible growing conditions. This workshop will feature specific growing plans for tomatoes, squash, beans, peas, and beets.

On a recent sunny day I stepped out into our backyard and wandered over barefoot to a quiet corner. I knelt down, just to the side of our new beehive, and breathed in. The air smelled faintly sweet, like beeswax candles, and honeybees swirled all around.

I sat still, listening to the low thrum made by the worker bees buzzing in and out of the hive. For their part, the bees completely ignored me. I was just an unobtrusive observer, and they had more important business than me to attend to. These girls fly all around our neighborhood gathering pollen, storing it on the back of their legs, and then brining it back to the hive. Along the way they spread pollen from flower to flower, helping to ensure that our neighbors’ cherries, apples, and plums will produce fruit this summer.

A hive is like a society in miniature, every bee has a role in keeping the hive healthy and alive. I feel lucky that I get to play a small part in this fascinating process and promise to share more about our bees—the honeys, as well call them—through out the season.

Spring is my least favorite season. As a gardener, I understand that this is completely counterintuitive. But summer is just so much better in Seattle. We have endless sunny days, no bugs, and I don’t have to suit up in a rain jacket to garden. For me, spring is just kind of in the way of summer’s arrival.

I am willing to concede, however, that spring does have its charms. Like little baby chicks peeping at the feed store. And quivering droplets of water on oxalis. Oh! And rhubarb, tiny lettuces, asparagus, peas, and unfurling raspberry leaves.

The best part about rhubarb is Jon doesn’t like it. That means more Strawberry Rhubarb Sauce for me!

My favorite way to dress up baby greens is with a light Lemon Thyme Vinaigrette.

Mmmm….Roasted Asparagus with Pomegranate Syrup!

This year I forgot to order seeds for this lovely snow pea, but I’ll have big harvests of Wando English peas soon.

Raspberries are my all time favorite food and they taste delicious in a tart with creamy marscapone filling.

So last night, as the sun was setting and I was sorting through my mini mountain of seed packets, I had a revelation: I am a definitely obsessed with my vegetable garden. Here is the irrefutable evidence:

* I take pictures with my vegetables like they are a dear member of my family (see above).

* My bedroom window is lined with 7 gallon-sized tomatoes and 5 eggplants because it is too cold from them to go in the ground

* I live in Seattle. Our average nightly temperature in August is 55 degrees. I am trying to grow okra this year.

* We have a family dog. And pet chickens. And bees, too.

* I have so many vegetables, I had to dig out a  15 x 5 section of my front lawn to fit them all in.

* I sweet-talked my neighbor into letting me grow salad greens and cucumbers in containers on his driveway.

* My friend gave me 15 winter squash plants. And I have found a place for all of them.

Clearly, I have veggie mania. On the bright side, it should be a very tasty summer at our house!

Flower buds from overwintered kale, collard greens, and arugula top the list of my favorite things to snack on in the garden this year. The tight green buds look like mini heads of broccoli, but taste like their parent plants. I like to harvest the buds before they open, saute them in butter, and top them off with lemon zest for a quick, healthy side dish. The buds also produce pretty, crepe paper thin flowers that make perfect garnishes and an unexpected addition to a bouquets!

I picked up this bunch of flowers for $5 at my local farmers market. It featured tulips, daffodils, dried babies breath, kale flowers, and kale leaves. It was super pretty and the flowers looked great for nearly a week. I’ve been told that tulips are also edible. That may be the case, but they aren’t worth sampling. Trust me on this.

Last week I found a neatly wrapped box on my front step. When I opened it I let out a little squeal and did a quick happy dance in the kitchen. My seed and recipe swap package had arrived!

My swap partner Kelly sent me a recipe for Honey Tomato Buschetta with Ricotta, including instructions for homemade ricotta! I absolutely cannot wait to make the recipe with my ‘Black Cherry’, ‘Green Grape’, and ‘White Currant’ tomatoes this summer.

Kelly also sent along bees wax candles and an Eggling with basil seeds. I have been longing for an Eggling for years—it is a little egg-shaped ceramic container that you crack open with a spoon and grow herbs in!

I’m dying to know what everyone else who participated in the swap got. Do tell! I know for sure there was at least one other extra lucky swapper. Check out the package that Christine from Lavender and Limes put together. I just love the sweet details on the handmade envelope, especially the vintage button!

Today I am so excited to share photos from organic gardens and farms taken by Seattle-based photographer Jennifer Stanton in the Pinar del Rio region of Cuba. I’ve long been fascinated in Cuba’s transformation from an import dependent, cash crop, industrialized agricultural system to a sustainable, localized food system. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Cuba saw its farm, food, and petroleum (including petrochemical) subsidies vanish. Coupled with the US trade embargo, Cuba faced a severe food crisis that forced the development of a new system that relies on traditional agricultural methods and a vast network of mainly small scale urban and rural organic farms. Jennifer told me that in Havana she saw community gardens all over the place:

They had very, very extensive raised bed systems in the middle of the city. At the time of year that we were there they were growing tons of greens, flowers, carrots.

On her 2007 trip, she also traveled through the more rural parts of Cuba, where she ran across this bean farmer winnowing dry black beans from their pods:

In Cuba, they follow old agricultural practices. Their corn fields are built everywhere and they plant beans right at the base of the corn plants. The beans are dried in the field. You could pick a pod that was dry and open up the pod and there would be red or black beans.

I’d been considering growing beans up my popcorn stalks this summer, but Jennifer’s beautiful pictures sealed the deal. They also created an enormous amount of curiosity on my part about Cuba. I’d love to have the chance to travel there and see how their food system works, especially in urban areas, and bring those lessons home. I hope you all enjoy the photos. Thanks so much for sharing, Jennifer!