Oct 19, 2022 / The Weekly Dirt / persis

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The Weekly Dirt 10.19.22

10.19.22

Around The Farm

Interactive Art Design Student Creating New Dynamic Signs for the UW Farm

By Oliver Norred, UW Farm Signage Design Intern – Mary Gates Leadership Scholarship

I am an interactive Art Design major, UW Farm intern and a senior at UW. Since the spring quarter, I have been working on an interpretive "Dynamic Sign" project for the UW Farm. My internship is funded through a Mary Gates Leadership Scholarship.

This week I had some exciting news: the Campus Sustainability Fund approved a small grant award for the my project! Three (and perhaps four) large signs for the UW Farm will be installed at the Center for Urban Horticulture can now move forward.

The dynamic sign project holds great significance for the community around the UW Farm. So many people, involved in UW or not, walk through the farm every day with no way of knowing what it is or how long it's been there. And if they do, they may not know what purpose it serves for the university and our community. These signs will educate the public not only about the farm itself, but about urban agriculture and food security in general.

Sign Descriptions

  • Flip-top Farm Entrance Signs – includes a detailed map with geologic and human history of the area. 
  • Interactive Produce Sign –  answers the most commonly asked question,"where does UW Farm produce go?" Visitors will be able to manipulate a 3-D tomato along its journey from farm to fork.
  • 3-D Worm and Vermicompost Sign – describes processes in the vermicomposting facility (another CSF-enabled project for the farm) and will include a three dimensional worm that displays the digestive system of a red wiggler.

Once the signs are printed, braille stamps will be applied, lift-the-flap components attached, and 3D interactive components will be mounted on steel signposts before the ground gets too cold. All signs will provide a link to the farm's Virtual Learning Library for additional resources.

Veggie Key for This Week's CSA

This Week's Recipe

 

Photo from Audrey Sun, pictured left to right: pickled peppers, beets, and green tomatoes
 

Pickled Kohrabi: A beginners guide to pickling

By Audrey Sun, Public Health-Global Health: Nutritional Sciences Major, UW Farm Fall Nutrition Education intern.

This week’s featured ingredient is purple 'Kohlibri' Kohlrabi, a Cruciferous vegetable and member of the  Brassica genus. Brassicas include produce like cabbages and collards which makes sense when you learn that Kohlrabi essentially means “cabbage turnip” in German. The outside skin is tough and fibrous, but the flesh is crunchy and mildly sweet, similar to a daikon radish.

The recipe for this week is essentially a beginners guide to pickling. The recipe  can be applied to many vegetables.  From carrots to cauliflower, this basic cooking technique will help you preserve your summer produce so you can enjoy seasonal ingredients all winter long.

A simple 1:1:1:1 ratio, a cup of vinegar, a cup of water, a tablespoon of salt, and a teaspoon of sugar. This can be scaled up as necessary and seasoned however you want. Common pickling spices can include, black peppercorns, red chili flakes, bay leaves, garlic powder, mustard seeds, etc. I cannot emphasize how customizable pickling is. You can use any combination of your favorite spices and adjust the sugar and salt levels to your liking. I will say, a 1:1 ratio for vinegar and water is quite sour but helps it keep longer, if you reduce the amount of vinegar make sure you eat it quickly.

Kohlrabi is a bit of a tough vegetable to work with but I have some tips to make sure you don't waste a single part! First, the leaves on top are also edible. Cut them up and saute them with some garlic and olive oil for a delicious appetizer. Second, the skin on the outside is rather tough so you’ll want to use a vegetable peeler to take it off, but don’t throw it away! I like to save my vegetable scraps (carrot tops, herb stems, onion peels, etc) and make a delicious no-waste vegetable broth. All my scraps go in a ziploc bag in the freezer until I need some broth for a recipe. Then I dump it all into a pot, boil it for 20 minutes, run it through a strainer, compost the leftovers, and add the broth to whatever recipe I’m making. 

Ingredients:
2 medium Purple Kohlrabi, peeled and cut into sticks as wide as you want. 
½ a medium onion, halved and thinly sliced (perpendicular to the root so that you get the half moon onion cross section)
3-4 cloves of garlic, lightly smashed
1 cup vinegar
1 cup water
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
Customizable pickling spices:
Red Chili Flakes
½ teaspoon of black peppercorns
1 bay leaf

Instructions:

  • Peel and cut your onions and kohlrabi. Take your cloves of garlic and lightly smash them with the flat side of your knife, if you’re scared of getting cut you can also use the palm of your hand. 
  • In a clean jar (I used a mason jar but you can reuse any sort of sealing jar: old pickle jars, jam jars, etc), add your kohlrabi, garlic, onions, and pickling spices. Make sure it's tightly filled, don’t be afraid to really pack it in.
  • Put your water, vinegar, salt, and sugar in a pot. Bring to a boil.
  • Pour the hot solution into the jar with your kohlrabi, fill to the top. Wipe the rim with a wet paper towel before capping. Flip the jars lid side down and let it sit overnight.
  • Store the jars in the fridge and enjoy with all your meals or eat it as a nice snack. Pickled vegetables are best if eaten within a few weeks after opening, but can store unopened for a very long time (I’ve had pickles in the fridge for over a year and they were still just as tasty). However, if you’ve adjusted the vinegar levels they will not store as long.

Nutrition Corner: Kohlrabi

Kohlrabi is an excellent source of fiber, vitamin C, potassium, and vitamin B6. Did you know! One serving of kohlrabi has almost a hundred percent of the recommended daily value of vitamin C!

A cup (135 grams) of raw kohlrabi provides:
Calories: 36
Carbs: 8 grams
Fiber: 5 grams
Protein: 2 grams
Vitamin C: 93% of the Daily Value (DV)
Vitamin B6: 12% of the DV
Potassium: 10% of the DV
Magnesium: 6% of the DV
Manganese: 8% of the DV
Folate: 5% of the DV

Source: USDA

News and Noteworthy:

Tilth Conference November 10-12


The Tilth Conference is an annual event bringing together hundreds of farmers, food system professionals, researchers and educators for more than 25 lectures, workshops and panel discussions that highlight Washington’s farmers. Tickets are offered on a sliding scale.

The conference changes locations each year and this is year's conference is in Kennewick, WA

To learn more visit this link:
https://tilthalliance.org/event/tilth-conference-with-worc/?mc_cid=305de6f205&mc_eid=6022c77f67

Nurturing City Soils for Healthy Organic Vegetables Webinar Series

Urban farming can bring lots of benefits, but soils in cities can be degraded and, in some cases, contaminated. This can make vegetable crops more susceptible to pests and put farmers and consumers at risk. During this webinar series, participants will learn how to determine if their soils are contaminated and what they can do to minimize risks while producing healthy and nutritious organic vegetable crops.

Attendees will learn how to restore degraded soils in cities and quantify results. All webinars are FREE, take place at 11AM Pacific, 12 Mountain, 1 Central, 2 Eastern Time, and advance registration is required. Please register for as many webinars as you like at the links below:

https://eorganic.org/node/35542



Agriculture and Food Systems Employment Opportunities:
photo of 2 pitchforks in the ground with someone's shoe behind them. This is taking place in a garden plot.

Food Access Resources

The UW Farm donates regularly to the UW Food Pantry. During peak season we also donate to nearby food banks. The links below are resources to help you or someone you know with food access.  

Help The Farm Grow!

Every year, we have the capacity to grow more food and increase our educational and research program at the UW, but not without your support. Every contribution goes to work immediately, helping us better serve students. Your support can sustain our momentum and help seed new opportunities for student internships, academic work, and future growth. Please consider making a gift to the Farm online

 

The Weekly Dirt is produced once a week by the University of Washington Farm, a program of the UW Botanic Gardens, School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, College of the Environment. It is published nearly year-round for educational purposes and the majority of the content is written or contributed by students and farm staff.

This issue's contributors:

Around the Farm: Oliver Norred, UW Farm Fall Signage Design Intern, UW Interactive Design Program
Recipe: Audrey Sun, UW Farm Fall Nutrition Education Intern, UW Nutrition Sciences Program
Editor: Chrina Munn, AmeriCorps Volunteer 2022-23
Photo Credits: Pamela Dore, UW Photography
Other photos retrieved from the internet and noted in sections 

Copyright © 2022 The UW Farm, All rights reserved.

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