Self-Contained

 
The interest in growing food is itself growing. Sustainability is also on everyone’s minds. Imagine a closed system for growing food that irrigates plants automatically and also feed them by making its own fertilizer. Grace Sylke and Oliver Duffy of Aquaponics USA have developed a compact (4’ x 6’), self-contained unit that includes everything you’ll need but plants and fish – yes fish – in an approach that melds hydroponics with aquaculture (fish farming). The idea is to not only grow plants, but protein in the form of tilapia. Fish waste is used as fertilizer, and plant roots and beneficial bacteria filter the water. You can learn more about the tanks, timers, automatic fish feeders, etc., on the show and at www.aquaponicsusa.com.

Plant it Black

This Halloween week, I visit with Paul Bonine, author of Black Plants: 75 Striking Choices for the Garden (xeraplants.com). We chat about some of our favorite plants with strange, sinister, mysterious and beautiful black foliage or flowers (above, center, brass buttons, Leptinella squalida ‘Platt’s Black’, photo Glenn Kopp, MoBot; right, giant bird of paradise, Streliztia nicholai, photo Lynne Harrison).

For hellebore photos, northwestgardennursery.com.

The Root of it All

By popular demand, the recipe for Root Stew -- an autumn favorite that only takes about an hour to make, and serves 12 or more for a Halloween buffet.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup yellow onions cut into half-inch pieces.

2 cups each of five or more assorted roots peeled and cut into one-inch chunks. (Plunge chunks into cold water to keep them from turning brown.) Roots: sweet potatoes, white potatoes, rutabaga, and a tropical root that is new to you (such as boniato, cassava, taro, yucca). Butternut squash, although a fruit not a root (optional additions, see below *).

4 cups chicken or vegetable stock (one 32-ounce box if you use that)

2 cans coconut milk

Thai five spice powder, or curry powder (optional)

1 package raw cranberries.

3-5 gingersnap cookies.

Accompaniment: Basmati or jasmine rice; assorted garnishes, for example salted peanuts, golden raisins, shredded sweetened coconut, chopped cilantro, mango chutney and the like.

PREPARATION

In a non-stick sauté pan, cook onion in olive oil until translucent and dump into a large stew pot. Lightly sauté the roots in batches and add them to the stew pot. Add oil when necessary.

Add the liquids, which should cover the root chunks, turn on low fire and bring to a gentle boil (uncovered). Add seasoning if used. Salt, or one chicken bullion cube.

When the roots are just about tender (around 30 minutes), crush four or five ginger snap cookies into the liquid to flavor and thicken it. Stir gently and continue to cook.

Just before serving, pour in the contents of one entire package of raw cranberries. Gently fold so as not to break root chunks. (The cranberries will explode in your mouth.) Turn off the burner. Cover the pot and let the stew rest until ready to serve.

Serve over rice. Provide garnishes in small bowls with little spoons for serving.

* There are so many things that can go into this stew. Perhaps I should call it Kitchen Sink Soup.

Optional additions to try: 1 cup of one or two of the following: partially cooked cut carrots, cut parsnips, cubed beets, cooked chickpeas, cauliflower florets added towards the end.

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I have several crabapple trees. One came by accident – not from a seed dropped by a bird. I was sold the wrong variety, which I discovered when it was old enough to bear and it’s yellow fruit turned out to be red. It is a lovely tree, though, with red buds that open to white petals – backed by cerise. The display of fruit is also outstanding (left). There were so many little apples on it this year that I decided to pick some and see if my jelly- and jam-making neighbor could put them to use.

Well, we tried, but the little fruits (about the size of peas) just did not have it in them. We came up with bitter, inedible applesauce. So, I’ll leave this tree to the birds that come to eat the fruits in mid-autumn.

This week’s radio show/podcast is a bit of a catch up covering the sculpture show at the Tower Hill Botanic Garden(www.towerhillbg.org), bulb planting, word of a new book on plant disease identification coming out in December, and a few other topics. And please tell your friends about the newsletter and the radio show.

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This week’s guest is television host Joe Lamp’l.

Joe is familiar to viewers of Fresh from the Garden on DIY Network and as the host of 
GardenSMART on PBS. Joe also runs The joe gardener® Company, devoted to eco-friendly gardening and sustainable outdoor living. He speaks about his philosophy of gardening and his upcoming new series Growing a Greener World premiering next spring. Each episode will feature the people, organizations, and events that are making a difference by raising awareness and influencing others to better stewardship of the environment we all share.

Click on the small black arrow at the left on the bar below to start listening, or click on the MP3 link to download the show into Windows Media Player or iTunes: