Weekly Column by Cerena Childress – Sustainability, Eating Fresh and Organic
April 15, 2011 I had my first encounter with a huge male carpenter bee – see image! Awesome! They are all fuzzy and yellow (not all black like the females), sometimes called Teddy Bear Bees, and I could totally see why! They hover closely and look you right in the eye, buzz off and come back for another look! They are the largest bees found in California, don’t sting. What a pollinator!
May Magic in Your Garden, it’s Cantaloupe Time!!
Keep planting your summer veggies and year-arounds! If you haven’t put in the summer heat lovers, do it NOW! That’s peppers, eggplant, okra, melons. Absolutely get winter squash in now. It takes time to mature and harden. Beans, beets, carrots, chayote, corn, cucs, summer lettuce varieties, pumpkins, radish, zuchs, chard, tomatoes, more tomatoes, turnips! Omigod, I’m hungry!
The mushroom kingdom really is a fantastical one. There are thousands of species in many shapes and sizes. To eat, they can be delectable, poisonous, or powerfully medicinal. But they themselves will feed off the nastiest stuff acting as biological filters, and as such are incredible tools for bioremediation. So incredible, they have their own noun – mycoremediation. Paul Stamets, mycologist extraordinaire, believes that mushrooms will save the earth. His studies have proven that their talents are just beginning to be discovered. As organisms that thrive on hydrocarbons (e.g. oil), ecoli and other bacteria, rendering them all harmless, can rid a home of termites or carpenter ants, are antiviral and antimicrobial, can be used to make fuel, and are all around habitat restorers, maybe they will save the earth!
I went to our local Certified California Farmer’s Market this week. The colors of California’s Spring bounty were breathtaking. The sweet carrots were in a rainbow of colors: purple, orange, yellow and white. The daikon radishes were bursting out of their opalescent skins just ready to be sliced up, salted and accompanied by a good, artisan California beer like Firestone brews. The market’s horticulturalist was busy assisting his patrons to pick out their seedlings. It seems as though everyone was motivated to begin their vegetable gardens in anticipation of warmer days to come. Another great thing to see was how many shoppers rode their bikes to the market. It was a cheerful sight seeing their bicycle baskets overflowing with carrot tops and the last of the season’s fresh lilacs. This mode of transportation seems to be a growing healthy trend.
Mr. Ha was their with his crispy apples from Hong’s Organic Apple Farm in Tehachapi. He still has some of his most flavorful varietals available. It’s almost heartbreaking to know that soon these apples will be sold out, but comforting to know that we can then embark on enjoying California stone fruit such as cherries, nectarines, plums, apricots and peaches.
The crucifers are still rich in color, flavor and form as well as the citrus in it’s glory. I bought twelve limes for my California Lime Pie which is very similar to a Key Lime Pie. You could actually use this recipe with any citrus to make a California Citrus Pie too. This recipe makes 2 – 9 inch pies. I top one with the Sour Creme Topping and one with Meringue Topping :
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