The Final Word

Enough tears had fallen from my eyes while sitting contemplating what to write in this last blog that the person sitting next to me in the library felt compelled to ask why I was so distraught. What could I say? That an international group of gardeners had come together to create something beautiful from the very ground we were standing on. Of course not, that poor old man would have become needlessly depressed at the thought of a such a loss and while I may sow many things, the seeds of sorrow are not one. So I simply said: A fantastic and far-reaching faction of four came together and, given finite space, fought for a formula to free them from foraging forever. They were Le Foux Du Fafa and will be sorely missed.

However, while the structures of man may tumble and fall with time, natures creations burst forth with new life. As our class ends and our group separates and departs to the distant reaches of the globe, our garden pushes along. A few strawberries are beginning to form and while they may be green now, I hold no hesitation in my mind of their red future meeting with my stomach. Also the tomatoes have finally been staked and they also have put out their first fruit. My relationship with them too has been reduced to a waiting game, one that I am sure I will win. 

There will be pictures sometime soon to corroborate my tales of growth, but until the day comes when I can figure out how to use the Bluetooth capability on my phone, the patient reader must use their minds eye.

Th-th-th-that's all folks!

This is where it all began

Wonder what that is ?

Take a look at the video clip of the song "Foux du Fafa" from Flight of the Conchords :

And you will understand where our garden name comes from !

Enjoy this silly song and these silly characters!

"Foux du Fafa ayaaaaaaa"

Let's be Gourmet !

 Here is a french recipe coming directly from Foux du Fafa's cookbook!

Tarte aux épinards et au fromage de chèvre 

(spinach and goat cheese tart)

serving 5 persons (a big tart or 10 tartelettes) :

For the tart case:

- 150g (5,3 oz) of flour

-75g of soft butter

-a pinch of salt

-a little bit of water

For the topping:

-500g (1 lb) of fresh spinach

-2 Tbsp of crème fraîche (sour cream is ok)

-2 pinches of salt

-a log of goat cheese 

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

For the tart case, mix the flour, soft butter, salt and water. Spread out the dough in a tart tin.

Cook it in the oven (the tart must be hard but not brown), it will take probably about 15 min.

While the dough is cooking, boil water and cook the spinach for 10 min. Drain them and mix them in a blender with the cream and salt and pepper.

Pure the mix on the tart. Add on top slices of goat cheese.

Cook for 10-15 mins i.n the oven

Serve while it's warm and enjoy it with a glass of wine! 

Bon appétit!

A few References

To create these blogs we used a few different sources. Here are some of them:
-http://www.motherearthnews.com/garden-planner/vegetable-garden-planner.aspx
-http://www.oregonexplorer.info/

May 30th

Some pictures to illustrate Henry Cakebread's story + extras

The whole garden is doing pretty well !

Nikki's bed is particularly amazing

Elsa's bed is doing quite good too !

Spinaches are recovering from cucumber beetles (still here though !)

Anne's bed is not that productive but beautiful !

Some delicious radishes show their pink outfit

And concerning the team...

Our scribe is writing on the notebook, which is good !

Henry is working, which is worth noticing too !

But most important, everybody seems to enjoy the Garden experience !

A Gift From Me to You

As I sit here contemplating what fun tidbits of information to share with you, our readers, I realize I am robbing you of a life experience. I could tell you about the collards that are exploding from the earth in Nikki’s section, the courageous lone strawberry in Elsa’s, the miserable failure of a first attempt at basil in mine or the young carrots in Anne’s that are shyly pushing their first growths into the sunlight. I could continue with a long tirade about the many weeds that seem to think our beds are a great place to call home or charm you with a tale of victory in the perhaps temporary defeat of the dastardly cucumber beetle. However all that would serve to do would be to simulate the true experience for you, the avid reader. This of course excludes our teachers who I’m sure get just about as much gardening as a soul can take. Or just enough, depending on how you look at it.

            That is why I am encouraging readers this week to escape the confines of their comfy swivel chair and get out into a garden of their own creation. Grow your own food! Stay Healthy! Experience Fulfillment!

            I understand feelings of extreme gratitude may arise towards me for this freedom I have just given you. Gifts of thanks can be sent to 1045 NW 26^th Street, Corvallis Oregon. No perishables. 

A picture of the author (by Anne)

May 16th: Au secours !!! Pests are coming!

A couple of surprises this week!


Some intruders have settled in Oak creek! How dared they!
First a bird has laid its eggs in a neighbour lettuce's bed. Its calls are alarming! It is probably trying to make us leave!

Sorry Bird, but we first have to irrigate our garden, finish planting, and get rid of the second intruders!

Spotted cucumber beetles have attacked our spinach.  

Spinach are not in a very good shape! 

Let's give a few information about this pest. Diabrotica undecimpunctata, part of the family, is a major agricultural pest insect. Adult cucumber beetles overwinter and emerge in spring. It eats and damage leaves of many crops. They feed on weed and other plants until their preferred food source, cucurbits, is available. (squashes, cucumbers...).

Unfortunately, there is nothing much we can do to prevent this pest from eating our vegetables, apart from killing them by hand. 

Hopefully our next observation will be more positive, fingers crossed!

Anne finishes planting her bed

Nikki checks on the other plants

Apart from the spinach, the rest of the garden looks pretty good! 

What about the soil?

Some people may wonder,
"What is the key for creating a beautiful garden?"

Imagination 

 Love 

and a more scientific aspect... 

SOIL! 

All is about soil!

So let's give a brief description of Oak creek's soil :
The soil is part of the Dayton silt loam series, which means that the soil is mainly composed of silty loam. Soil composed of a lot of silt usually make excellent farm land!


Loam is about the best soil there is, just nearly the right mixture of sand, clay and organic matter. To keep it very productive the organic matter needs to be replenished often.

Characteristics of the Dayton series according to National Cooperative soil Survey:
Dayton silt loam are usually moist and are saturated with water during the winter and spring. The mean annual soil temperature is 54 to 55 degrees F. The soils are more than 60 inches deep.

Source: Oregon explorer

So, we are pretty lucky with our soil! good structure, no rocks, etc...
But adding organic matter is a MUST! and adding a fertilizer is a good idea too, to make our garden more productive, ORGANIC, of course!

May 9th

 Take a look at what we did last week !
That was a good gardening day too. We almost finished our four beds !
Kale, spinach, lettuces, chards that we planted the week before looked good.

everybody is doing allright

But wait, did we only introduce yourself ?

Henry and Anne gardening hard

We are a team of 4 young gardeners
(or sometimes more because we have some cool friends coming to help us !)

called "les foux du Fa fa"

(whatever that should mean)

and composed of:

Nikki, the scribe
Henry, the seeds man
Elsa, the planting master
Anne, the garden design woman

"I found some beebalm to plant !"

Here is Nikki, our scribe.

Very professional. Is that the truth ?

Okay !

this one obviously was not.

And here is Elsa. Oh yeah !
She has been eating all our plants before we planted them, to make sure there were suitable.









So what did we plant last week ?

Some sunflowers, strawberries, green beans, radishes and lettuces, and ...

And then here are Hanae and Lucille, two French friends (did I mention than Elsa and Anne are the terrible Frenchies of the team ?) that came to help us that day.
Thanks to them !

Veronica

Seen on our first day of gardening, Veronica persica,

 a common plant that belongs to the Plantaginaceae family.

Even though it is considered as a weed, it is a refined small plant that has

sky-blue with dark stripes flower 

with an awesome white center

And that is why it is called bird's-eye

Bird's-eye has been found growing between two clods of soil

It obviously like our plot's soil and contributes to its biodiversity

That is why... we will keep an eye on it ! 

May 2nd Observations

Working the soil

At its infantile stages...

Placing our babies in with mother earth

Happy gardener...

Thanks Cassidy for all the help!

Wow, what a transformation!

Bellissimo! 

April 25th Observations

First day on the garden !!!

Here is our plot at the Oak Creek Center for Urban Horticulture :

It is 20*20 feet (36m2).

We decided to form our bed in 4 rows. Each row is about 3.5 feet with 1.5 feet in between the rows.

The spacing in between the rows allows us to walk through the garden without compacting the soil.

Each of us has designed one row, as you can see on our projected garden plan :

 

Lots of things are going on !

   

A part of the team working on the garden design before actually starting deal with it !

 

 Here we go ! Measuring the rows and starting to dig the beds.

We had a pretty good team working on it :

 

This is how looked our beds at the end :

 Good job !

See you next week !