Winter Gardening 101

Welcome to The Fortress. This is truly my sanctuary. Our garden never sleeps. And anyone who maintains that you can't garden all year long in a place like Oklahoma, is poorly mistaken. Our seasons are marked by extreme temperatures and incredible fluctuations. When choosing crops and plant material here, it is always wise to consult a local gardener or farmer for advice. The tags that come with plants in greenhouses reflect a generalized spectrum of hardiness, zones and tolerance. Something that says full sun doesn't always mean full sun in an Oklahoma summer. The best gardeners are the ones who learn by trial and error the varieties that grow well and can really stand up to extreme cold and heat. This comes from failure. In any undertaking, you must be willing to fail in order to be good. The same principle applies in the kitchen when trying new recipes and learning your way around the knife. All of this said, I've put together this post with lots of delicious photos of my winter garden and methods for you.

This bed was all started from seed in September. It contains from front to back, green leaf lettuce, speckled green leaf lettuce, mesclun mix lettuces, radishes, spinach, mache, endive, carrots, kale, mustard greens, fennel and leeks.

This is a standard blue kale that you can keep miniaturized as baby kale if you pinch the leaves back every week. The young leaves are also more tender and mild. They work perfectly in salads but you can also wilt it or saute it. The mature leaves can be a little bitter to eat raw but they make great kale chips and can stand up to a soup or a quiche.

I love the radishes as they fatten up and turn red. The tops peek out of the soil to let you know they are ready to pull. These were pretty spicy even for radishes. The tap root is the spiciest part of the entire plant. The sprouts are delicious when they are about an inch or two tall. As the tops mature, they develop little prickly spines on the under side and aren't as enjoyable.

This is giant oxford purple mustard greens. The flavor is intense and has quite a bite to it. These are traditionally sauteed and wilted down with garlic or you can chop them up and add to a hearty soup with beans or sausage.

The tender and delicate flavor of mache makes any salad less ordinary. I'm not sure what I love more than a giant salad with tons of mixed greens. This is my favorite way to get my greens in. I don't juice very often because it doesn't always agree with me. I prefer all of the fiber and I really love the crunch. I have a big raw salad with every meal so a variety of greens are essential in my winter garden.

These bushy radish tops are so pretty. You can look down between the rows and see little pops of red when they are ready to be picked.

This was about the equivalent of two packs of seeds. Lettuces have good germination rates and you can find good organic seed at health food stores. You can also order online if you can't find any locally. I recommend Botanical Interests and Seeds of Change.

How beautiful are these carrots? They're lacy and feminine and the most fun to pick. Louise Riotte called carrots the glamour girls of the root group. She was an incredible organic gardener from Ardmore, Oklahoma. Her books Carrots Love Tomatoes and Astrological Gardening are my two sources for everything. She is my source for companion planting and following the cycles of the moon as they correspond to each ritual of the garden. Sewing, planting, watering, feeding, picking and pulling. We definitely speak the same language.

These radishes are so beautiful! I picked these on December first. I'll be able to do this every couple of weeks all the way through February. It keeps the rows thinned out and productive and gives me fresh, crunchy vegetables for salad, coleslaw, sandwiches and hummus!

I served these at my Kombucha Home Brewing Workshop the day I picked them. I paired this bundle with a garlicky hummus for a real treat for my clients. Everyone loved them. What a simple and satisfying thing it was to serve them to others. Small accomplishments with big rewards.

I eat this every day. A huge pile of beautiful mixed greens, at a minimum of twice a day. Sweet, spicy, crunchy, green, alive. Totally organic and grown from my organic compost. Want to know more about starting a compost pile? Check out my post here. It's a really conscious practice that not only gives you incredible garden amendments, but it reduces methane in the environment. The first step to reducing your kitchen carbon print is by separating your trash. When you remove the organic, compostable waste and the recyclables, there is little left to throw away. Our family only creates a bag of kitchen trash every two weeks! Composting is a win-win-win. There is no other way around that.

Kale is my favorite green of the garden. Brassica oleracea, the most nutritious and versatile of this family of plants. I can't think of another green that has more super status than this one. Eaten raw, it contains loads of calcium, beta carotene, vitamin C, cancer - preventative compounds, and sulfur which has antibiotic and antiviral properties. Check out my post from last spring here to read about the health benefits of a variety of greens I grew and some beautiful photos.

Leafy radishes almost ready to pick and baby spinach that is a couple of weeks behind. The spinach is tougher than the radishes when it comes to cold tolerance. They almost enjoy a gentle thaw when there is a light winter frost. But during hard freezes, snow and ice, we cover these beds to keep them perfectly green and damage free. It extends the life of them all the way until March. They will bolt when the weather changes and remains warm for a period of time.

Okay, so here's my secret to our homemade cold frame. We take our tomato cages and lay them on their sides, big ends together. This creates a hoop effect so that when we stretch the greenhouse plastic over the beds, it doesn't touch the plants. When ice or snow accumulates, it can actually still cause freeze damage if the plastic is laying on the leaves. This elevates it and creates a little heat pocket. We put these between the rows and on the walk ways. We secure the sides with bricks or heavy pots or wood. It has to be sealed up all the way around in order to really work good. Everything we use is repurposed or simply a found object from the yard. It's easy to roll back on warmer days and allows the exchange of fresh air so that mold and mildew don't start to form. 

This is exactly what happened to us a few weeks ago. The beds were covered up for almost two weeks with frigid temperatures that plummeted to 6 degrees one night! A thick layer of snow like this almost behaves like an insulator. It was much colder outside of the greenhouse, probably 10 - 15 degree difference. After everything thawed and the temps were above 40, I uncovered it, not sure how everything managed since I couldn't see in. 

This is what I found as I peeled the greenhouse back. A warm, glowing earthy garden alive and well. The lettuces are the most tender of all the winter plants, and as you can see, they survived immaculately! Proof that this method works. It's simple, inexpensive and ecologically sound. I encourage you to try your hand at winter gardening. Start with a small version of this and experiment with different varieties of cool loving plants. Eating fresh, green home grown vegetables through the winter is wonderful as a mood lifter and gives you a fun outdoor project to work on. Most of all, it's pretty awesome going to a dinner or holiday party with an armload of beautiful things that you grew. Talk about wowing your friends and family! Everything tastes better when shared.

Kombucha Home Brewing Workshop 2 + 3

In September, I taught my second home brewing workshop in Norman at Scissortail School of Art. My good friend Lindsey is the owner there and she allows me access to her studio for shows and classes. She also rents the studio for art - themed birthday parties and private events. It's perfect for kids. Check out her site for a little tour and to contact her for bookings.

We had an intimate gathering of ladies that afternoon for a quaint discussion on the art of home brew and women's health. I was encouraged by the fact that I did not know any of them. We created new friendships and continued the ongoing conversation about creating our tribal intersection through modern culture. We sipped on flavors of my personal elixir and snacked on tasty, healthy treats. It was pretty perfect.

I'm happy to announce that I've been invited to teach another workshop in December at the new Native Roots Market location in downtown OKC. This will be the first workshop for the city. You can get the details and see the event flyer below.

I always bring four different and unique flavors of my personal home brew to sample. You can get a taste of the variations at your direction when you do it yourself. Controlling the flavors, herbs, acidity, carbonation and nutritional profile are all part of perfecting your elixir. Taking ownership of the ways in which we heal ourselves puts us in the driver's seat of optimum wellness. We are creating our personal lifestyle brands and signatures, writing and editing success stories as we go.

We also passed around SPIDER CIDER and discussed the symbiotic benefits to having that and kombucha flowing through our bodies every day. They both regulate PH and keep our digestive and immune systems firing in top form.

Though kombucha is made from green or black tea, I have been experimenting with Hibiscus flowers. They're really beautiful in their dried form and contain a natural bright pink dye that turns the tea and the culture pink.

This is raw kombucha culture. The round one was made with Hibiscus. It is not actually a mushroom though it is commonly referred to as one. Because it ferments, it falls under the science of Mycology, which is the study of fungi, including their genetic and biochemical properties, their taxonomy and their use to humans. Consider the the implications of penicillin and it's antibiotic properties. The same activity is present in the tea made from kombucha.

The next workshop is scheduled for Sunday, December 1 at Native Roots Market, located at 131 NE 2nd Street in downtown Oklahoma City. I'm bringing some tasty appetizers from my garden to table menu and seasonal flavors of home brew to sip on. Attendants get to take home starter culture and literature with complete brewing, bottling, flavoring and safety guidelines. Starter kits will be available for purchase separately. They include everything you need to start brewing immediately.

Space may be limited. If you would like to pre-register and save your spot, you may do so through Pay Pal by posting your payment to redmagnetic@gmail.com. Cost is $40. You can RSVP, ask questions, get directions and additional details on the Facebook event page here.

Join us and bring a friend!

Photos by Keisha Register and Greer Inez.

Kombucha Home Brewing Workshop | 2

I'm really excited about teaching my second workshop over the simple, sustainable practice of home brewing your own Kombucha. I did my first one about a year ago. I've had a crazy love affair with this curious, effervescent beverage for many years. A friend of mine gave me a raw chunk of culture one summer and showed me how to brew and I was immediately hooked. I loved watching it grow and change into something incredible. I loved watching it become a powerful medicine in my tool box. I love things with a super status. Like other super foods, Kombucha is a raw, fermented probiotic drink that supplies tons of antioxidants, organic acids, living bacteria, minerals and detoxifying compounds to our bodies. It heals the gut and the digestive tract while balancing ph. It creates a pristine environment inside the body and out. Human skin radiates. 

The origins of this ritual are ancient and rooted in longevity. It has been part of Asian, Russian and German culture for centuries. I'm a firm believer in taking control of my health and creating a lifestyle brand that is uniquely written just for me. I think that when we own our wellness and our recovery efforts, we harness the power of the will, channeling it into our core as it materializes into the chi. This is the true path of a seeker. Knowledge is never wrong or wasted. As we learn to take possession of our practices, we learn that the gift is increased tenfold by sharing it with others. 

These photos show the process of bottling which was captured beautifully by Greer Inez of Mama Hussy. She's the bad ass behind all of the best photography on my blog where I make it into the shots. She spent the day with me documenting, step by step, the monthly ritual of flavoring, juicing and secondary fermentation.

The first step is to uncover my finished homebrew to sample and bottle for a second fermentation. I'm also peeling the ginger root with a paring knife and getting it ready to be juiced into liquid gold.

This is a nicely brewed, fizzy batch that was mature and ready to bottle. The layer on top is the baby which formed during the brew process. I like to let mine go about three weeks. The bubbles are the co2 that has developed from the fermentation and the combination of tea, sugar, yeast and culture.

I always use freshly juiced ginger in mine, which is totally a personal preference. Raw ginger is really spicy and very intense when juiced compared to infusing with the whole root.

Removing the culture from the brew before you strain it requires clean hands and a piece of clean cotton. I use old t-shirts and cut them up for my filters and jar covers.

Straining is not necessary as you can drink the brew straight away as soon as the culture is removed. There will be some chains of yeast that float around which is normal and occasionally little bits of culture that have started to form. They're actually good for you but it's really just a textural issue. Straining makes a smooth, refreshing drink that is delicious alone, flavored or even as a cocktail mixer.

I have a lot of different juices that I like but I usually stick to my favorites which are cherry, bluberry and pineapple. You can use any of your favorites, just make sure it's something high quality and not from concentrate. Organic is always best. I re - use my store bought Kombucha bottles because they're glass and have a lid that screws on air tight. Allow your capped bottles to sit on the counter at room temperature for 2-3 days and this will trap the co2, creating a carbonated drink. Then refrigerate them and enjoy.

This is how they look when they're ready to start all over. You brew new tea and sugar, add some starter tea retained from the previous batch, and drop the culture in. Two weeks later, you've got a delicious Kombucha that is awesome to have around at all times, especially to offer your guests!

Other than my children, my garden is my greatest accomplishment. It's really my sanctuary where I am totally at ease, confident, relaxed, meditative, happy and content. I have made horticulture my life's work for nearly 20 years. Growing things is truly second nature to me. I've used my blackberries to sweeten my Kombucha. It's tart! Garden to table philosophy is certainly the epicenter of a sustainable practice around here. Our waste is our compost and our compost makes food for us. The cycle has no end or beginning, just a continual dance of symbiosis. I have no formal teaching or experience. I am guided by my instinct and my own power doubled.

My youngest is my little shadow outside, always right behind me with a shovel or an intelligent question. He loves being in the natural elements just as much as I do. We love to pick berries, pull weeds, turn compost and plant seeds together. I can't imagine a greater feeling of pride. My oldest however, is entirely on the opposite end of the spectrum and is creative and conceptual beyond measure. He lives in his ethereal mind which one day, will make it's way outside. I'm hoping he will design me a state of the art greenhouse. That would be just about perfect.

XOXO

Raw Almond Milk + Meal + Flour

I never realized how easy it was to make my own almond, or any nut milk for that reason, until I did it once. Super simple. All you need is a blender and a  Rawsome Nut Milk Bag.  You can also use a couple of layers of cheesecloth if you do not have one of these. But get one! Not only does this organization donates a portion of profits to The Bumi Sehat Birthing Center and Yayasan Widya Guma Orphanage in Bali, Indonesia where the bags are made fair trade.  This is an awesome sustainable ritual because you can take the leftovers and turn them into meal and flour for your pantry. They're just different textures. If you've ever tried to buy organic almond flour, it can be expensive. Meal is more coarse and obviously, the flour is finer and better for crusts and pastries. Want to WOW your next round of guests? Make a seasonal cobbler with almond flour left over from making milk and serve them together! The flavors compliment each other nicely. You can refer back to two of my favorite recipes that I blogged earlier this summer where I used the meal. The Almond Thumbprint Cookies and Blueberry Crumble Bars are both vegan and gluten free!

INGREDIENTS
2 cups of raw, organic almonds soaked overnight in filtered water and drained
4 cups filtered water
1 tablespoon raw honey
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon bee pollen
pinch of sea salt
omit the honey and vanilla if you want it unsweetened

DIRECTIONS
Put all of the almonds and just enough water to make a slurry in a blender. Add the remaining ingredients and slowly the rest of the water. You can add more water if you want your milk to be thinner. It's a personal choice.  Pour the mixture through the nut milk bag or cheesecloth set over a bowl or widemouth jar. Your leftover solids will be your meal + flour. Preheat your oven to 250 degrees. Turn your wet almond meal out onto a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Turn once. After everything has come to room temp, jar it or put it in the food processor for to make flour. Store in the refrigerator. The milk will keep for about 5 days.

ENJOY!!