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Upcoming Events
Seed House Construction
This next Saturday, June 1st, Starting at 8:00 am
Please call Paul at 680-9397 with your interest to help build the seed house, and also pass along this opportunity to others who may be like to participate. Volunteers are needed to help Paul dig and then pour a foundation. We'll also be painting all the framing pieces with a beautiful gray-green exterior paint. On another TBA date Paul will oversee the construction of the seed house. Our goal is to have it completed by July 1st!
Fundraiser “Empty Bowl” Lunch for Trinity Gardens at Local School
This Friday, May 31st - Two Seatings: 11:45 am and 12:15 pm
All Trinity Gardens folks and friends are invited for lunch at nearby Open Alternative School, located on Foothill Road behind La Colina Jr. High, THIS FRIDAY--suggested donation $10. This is the culmination of a year-long service learning project done for the second consecutive year, in collaboration with Trinity Gardens. The students have given many hours of community service support to project work at TG.
Students have made beautiful ceramic bowls for the event and will be preparing seasonal soups and salads for your dining pleasure. On the day of the event they will be your enthusiastic hosts. All money raised will be donated to the OAS school garden program and Trinity Gardens.
Reservations can be made by contacting classroom teacher Susie Melican at 252-8296, smel...@sbsdk12.org. Judy Sims will lead a carpool from the TG parking lot, meeting near the garden at 11:20, for anyone who would like to join her: 637-3201.
YOUTH CAMP - Titled "Stewards of God's Creation"
June 17th through 21st
The camp offers gardening, food education (including lunch and snacks), cooking (with Linda Vogel), music, story time (including a focus on the Bible story, “The Sower,”) arts and crafts, and games. Plot user Pablo will join TG committee chair Judy to conduct an array of garden activities with children entering K-6. Space for this summer camp is limited to 50 children. Information and registration is available on the Trinity Lutheran Church website, or by calling the church office at 687-1577. Scholarships are available; special rates for multiple family members attending.
Community Independence Day Celebration Potluck at Trinity Gardens
July 7th 11:30 to 1:30
The Trinity Gardens Committee and all those involved with the garden invite everyone to join a community potluck gathering, also paired with garden tours and a plant sale. A large shade structure will be erected in the grassy field, where chairs and tables will be added. Just prior to the potluck the church is holding a 10:30-11:30 outdoor worship service in this space, and is encouraging the congregation to join the potluck. Plot users would likely have the opportunity to personally thank the church for the use of their land and on-going support for Trinity Gardens.
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Trinity Gardens Welcomes Home School Families!
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Recent community service project work was completed during a two hour specially planned program for homeschool families, arranged by TELC member and home school parent, Chanin. After learning about the garden’s mission, site development, education and outreach programs, the group of nearly 40—all either students or parents involved in homeschooling—went to work with seed sorting, planting, painting the seed house structure, spreading mulch around the fruit trees, or building a lasagna bed, while also enjoying touring the garden
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Diana leads group activities for the younger children, focusing on Seeds, Plants, Soil and Worms
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Pablo gave an informative tour to the older students and parents. Providing information about our garden's organic practices and goals towards the community.
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Students loaded up wheelbarrows with mulch and brought it down to our Food Forest, where it was then spread to help keep down weeds and aid in moisture control.
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Students helped create a new lasagna bed by layering kitchen scraps, soil and compost.
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Garden News
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Seed House
The TELC Council approved a seed house/greenhouse proposal. This much needed structure will make it possible to grow hundreds of starts from seeds in an irrigated, pest-free, climate controlled environment. The custom designed, wooden framed structure was generously donated by former garden manager Rose, and plot user/carpenter Paul, who is overseeing volunteer labor for the construction, beginning with footings on the Sat. morning after Labor Day weekend. Want to help construct the seed house? Call Paul at 680-9397.
Fund-Raising Project
The garden’s healthy looking fruit tree food forest is growing well. The Trinity Gardens Committee and TELC Council invite people to select one or more trees for honoring a person or cause. A specially worded, permanent plaque will be positioned near any trees chosen for a commemorative purpose. For information about participating in this recognition, fund-raising project, please contact committee chair Judy Sims at 637-3201, or email judyg...@gmail.com.
New Produce Scale
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Katie hangs the garden's new scale, which will be used to better gage how much the garden is producing and we are able to donate throughout the year.
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Keith weighing a bag of kaleidoscope kale, that will be donated to the Organic Soup Kitchen later that day.
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Recent donations
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We’ve received another generous donation of a collection of good condition tools from TELC member Dick Landru, as he prepares to move from Santa Barbara. Since before the garden opened, Dick has generously refurbished many tools from various donors, woodburning “TG” on wooden handles.
Another generous donation from Dick is a quaint, old-style garden cart, which he found in pieces in a field in the 1970’s, and has fixed up to working order. We are so appreciative of the tremendous support Dick has given to Trinity Gardens, and wish him well as he and wife Shirley settle into a new home in another state, to be near family.
A generous gift of $200 has also been received, and is being applied to the seed house.
The garden also welcomes donations of time, talent and materials to help maintain the garden and various programs offered. For example, Linda Vogel offers cooking classes that highlight TG seasonal produce, and money received from participants supports our ongoing fundraising efforts. Plants may be donated for our upcoming plant sale. We also have TG T-shirts available for $15.
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Harvest
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This last month we had a large crop of lettuces coming in which we were able to donate to the food pantry! We also continue to donate to the Santa Barbara Rescue Mission’s women’s shelter (Bethel House) and the Santa Barbara Organic Soup Kitchen every Sunday.
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Trinity Gardens Summer crops have started to come in, several pounds of both Green Beans, Basil and Zucchini are starting to be harvest each week, Tomatoes, Peppers and different verities of summer squash will be harvested in the next few weeks.
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Judy displays the harvest basket that is offered to the church congregation, donations going towards the Lutheran SALT Food Pantry
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Congratulations
TG’s committee chair Judy Sims is delighting in the birth of granddaughter Elisabeth Austen Hinterplattner, born May 23rd. Judy’s daughter Amber and husband Andy reside in SB, where they oversee their business, All Stages Marketing.
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Garden Management
Scott and Keith have been working hard, supported by other volunteers, to plan out and plant new crops, while also cleaning out many spent plants. In addition, the front “sandy” field is being transformed into a growing ground, overseen by Judy, with the continuing construction of large, gopher-proofed lasagna beds. Two of these beds have now been planted with corn, beans and squash--a Three Sisters Native American companion planting plan. After the July 7th event, a “Three Sisters Pumpkin Patch” will be planted on what is now the grassy field.
We appreciate and need regular, monthly community service support from all plot users.
Special thanks to Sharon C. for organizing the area behind the shed, and to Scott and others for working on the inside of the shed. Adam has been working hard on overseeing our compost area. Some have signed up for being at TG on Saturdays, when we like to have the garden open to visitors between 10-12:00, as we do on Tuesdays and Sundays.
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Garden Education: Cucumber Beetle and Bagrada
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Cucumber Beetle
Description
Yellow and Black Striped and spotted cucumber beetles can cause serious losses in cucumbers, zucchini, and watermelons. Adults feed mainly on foliage, pollen and flowers, while larvae of these insects feed on roots and stems. The main potential damage comes through the transfer of Bacterial Wilt from adults feeding on the plants. Bacterial Wilt is a disease of the vascular tissue, Once infected the bacteria travels throughout plant eventually causing mechanical blockage of the water transport system, which will cause the plant to wilt and eventually die.
Control
Mulching – Using straw, hay, plastic, or fabric as mulch can deter cucumber beetles from laying eggs in the ground near the plants. While mulching will not halt egg-laying or feeding, it will limit direct access to the stem, as well as significantly slow larval migration through the soil.
Row Cover – Floating row covers can be a big help by excluding cucumber beetles during the seedling stage of life. This allows plants to mature and develop substantive leaf mass and a strong root system, enabling the plant to withstand a moderate pest attack. Remove row covers at the onset of flowering to allow for adequate pollination. Since row covers foster weed growth too, many producers use weed suppressing mulches in combination with floating row cover.
Trap Crops - Plant Baby Blue Hubbard Squash as a trap crop, as it is highly attractive to cucumber beetles, has particularly vigorous seedlings, and is less susceptible to bacterial wilt than many other squash varieties. Trap crops should be planted on the perimeter of the field in multiple rows if beetle pressure is particularly severe. We recommend planting trap crops a week or two earlier than your primary cucurbit planting to proactively direct migration.
Physical Removal - Weekly if not daily hand-picking, can be an effective management tool in breaking up their breeding cycle which can occur up to three times in a season.
Source
Bagrada Bug
Description
The Bagrada bug, also known as the painted bug or harlequin bug, is a serious pest of vegetable crops. Bagrada bug adults and nymphs feed on young cole crop plants including broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, brussel sprouts, kale, turnip, mustard, and radish. The insect’s needle-like stylet mouthpart sucks the sap from leaves; essentially killing or disrupting a plants growth.
Control
Mature Plants - Small seedling and direct sown seedling are the most susceptible to heavy damage, transplanting larger seedling will stand a better chance of surviving any damage.
Spraying - a mixture of ground up Bagrada and water is believed to help detour continued infestation.
Row Cover - Floating row covers can be a big help by excluding Bagrad during the seedling stage of life. This allows plants to mature and develop substantive leaf mass and a strong root system, enabling the plant to withstand a moderate pest attack. Remove row covers at the onset of flowering to allow for adequate pollination.
Plant alternative crops for summer and remove cole varieties - many of the varieties of crops that are preferred by the Bagrada are more suited to growing during the winter months a time when the Bagrada are more dormant. While many of the summer crops we can grow are not as susceptible.
Source
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Seasonal Cooking:Mushroom Stuffed Zucchini and Green Bean Almondine
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Mushroom Stuffed Zucchini
Ingredients:
4 medium-sized zucchinis
1 tablespoon olive oil
5 shallots, diced
12 ounces cremini mushrooms, diced
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon Salt
Pinch black pepper
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375˚F. Cut the stem end off the zucchinis and slice them lengthwise. Scoop out just the pulpy center that contains the seeds, and put zucchini cut-side down on a parchment lined sheet pan. Cook for 15 minutes, until just slightly softened.
2. In a saute pan, heat olive oil over medium heat, and saute the shallots until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms and saute, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms release their liquid and the liquid cooks off, about 7 to 8 minutes. Remove from heat. Sprinkle with garlic powder, stir in breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese. Season the mixture with salt and pepper.
3. Remove the zucchini from the oven, turn them over on the sheet pan so they are cut side up, and divide the mushroom mixture between each zucchini. Return the zucchini to the oven and cook for 10 minutes. Remove the zucchini from the oven, sprinkle each boat with mozzarella cheese. Return to oven or to broiler and cook until the cheese is melted, 5 minutes or less.
Green Bean Almondine
Ingredients:
2 Tablespoons butter
1/4 cup sliced almonds
Juice from half a lemon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 lb fresh green beans
Directions:
In large skillet, melt the butter over medium-low heat. Add the almonds and cook until lightly golden, stirring often. Remove from the heat and add lemon juice. Transfer the almonds to a small bowl.
Wipe the skillet clean then pour in about 1/2-inch deep of water. Bring water to a boil over medium high heat. Add the green beans and sprinkle with salt. Bring back to a boil, then cover the skillet with lid, leaving a slight crack to vent. Cook for 3-5 minutes, until the beans are tender crisp. You can test their doneness by poking the beans with a fork.
Drain the beans, then toss with the butter almond mixture right before serving.
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