The Answer is Blowing in the Wind

Hurricane Irene is stirring things up here in Maine today, but that doesn't mean the gardening stops. Of course, we have moved our baby trees inside for protection, but our well-established garden plants are  loving all the rain.

The trees, newly planted in Fertil pots for our members, are enjoying life in their first outdoor home.

The plums trees, now inside, while the storm rages on.

(Watch our video at the foot of this page for coverage on the hurricane in our garden, and see why kale is the answer that's blowing in the wind.)

Meanwhile, we are spending the day indoors using our plants to make soup, smoothies, and tea...depending on whether or not we have power at the moment. (All of these are good practices for the end of summer--rain or shine.)

When we did have electricity, we used some of our neighbors' abundant zucchini, cucumber, kale and chard harvest to make soup, which we then froze for later in the year.

Here is the recipe for our delicious, end-of summer soup. (Please note that you may choose to substitute or remove any of these ingredients and still have a huge amount of very good soup.)

Homemade Vegetable Broth

Onion skins
Kale stems
Chard Stems
Water

Boil all in a medium pot, then simmer until the mix cooks down.  Strain the broth, compost the solids, and use the liquid in the recipe to follow.

End-of-Summer Harvest Soup

1 large (or 2 small) zucchinis, cut into large slices
3 potatoes, cut into large slices
1 large onion, chopped 
3 ears of pre-steamed corn, with kernels cut off the cob
1/2 head of garlic (or less, to taste)
1/2 cup cream or milk (optional)
dash of salt (to taste)
dash of black pepper (to taste)
Romano or parmesan cheese (to taste)

Add the zucchini, potatoes, corn and onion to the veggie broth. Bring to a boil, then cook on medium heat until vegetables are soft. Put softened veggies and broth into a blender, and add the corn, garlic, cream, salt and pepper before blending. Serve in a bowl with cheese on top.

Another good recipe (which requires electricity) is our Kale-and-Cucumber Smoothies...

1 kale bundle
1 large cucumber
2 cups frozen strawberries
1/4 cup blueberry or blackberry jam
3 apples
1 cup vanilla or fruity yogurt (optional)

Put into a blender with some ice cubes, and enjoy!

Once the power was out, though, we moved on to other plant activities...

The photo below, for example, shows echinacea flowers hanging up to dry for an immunity-boosting tea.

Dry echinacea (or cone flowers) upside down and out of direct sunlight.

Pods should be far enough apart to get sufficient air for drying.

We will let these flower pods dry, and then use tea balls to steep them in boiling water. We will probably also use some honey (which is also antibacterial) to sweeten it, as echinacea can have a bitter taste.

So, gardens can benefit from hurricanes, and we can benefit from our garden growth. Check out the video below for a glimpse of our kale bed's hurricane experience:

American Chestnut Day

Both Richard and I have been naturalists our entire lives; we explored the outdoors as youngsters and marveled at the magic of nature before we could talk.

Both of us developed our passions into careers of connecting others to nature during college, where he gained experience in agriculture and I studied environmental science and sociology. Both of us met key people then who challenged us and helped us grow, just as we are doing through ReTreeUS today. We look back on those people and experiences now with fondness, as they have shaped who we are and the progress we have made.

My mind slipped back in time this morning to the very first botany class I ever took--a rousing lecture taught by the one-and-only Dr. Hill Craddock: enthusiastic intellectual, botanophile-extraordinaire, and a true expert on the American Chestnut tree.

I thought of Dr. Craddock when Richard asked our forester friend to identify a tree in the yard. Based on its distinguishable sharp, shiny leaves and sea-urchin pods, we knew it was in the Chestnut family. I never would have guessed it was an American Chestnut, though, because Dr. Craddock and others had taught me about the terrible Chestnut Blight, which wiped out what was once a dominant tree and abundant food source on the east coast of the United States. (Learn more about the benefits and demise of our American Chestnut forests, as well as what's being done to help, by clicking here.)

The only American Chestnuts I had ever seen were tiny relics--only a few feet tall--of the majestic forest creatures they once were. I know that the fungus blight attacks the trees before they can get very tall, so looking at this giant towering at the edge of our yard never rang any bells before.

At first, our forester friend, Rob, came to the same conclusion. "It's probably a horse chestnut," he said quickly, remembering the tree he had just noticed moments before. But when we all went outside to reexamine the specimen, Rob changed his answer. "No, that's a real Chestnut," he said.

"An American Chestnut?" I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

"Yeah, it must be blight-resistant, or there just aren't any infected trees around."

All the folklore I have heard about this tree as a hardwood, a food source, and even a way of life, for thousands of people living in the eastern U.S. before 1950, came rushing back to me. When the blight killed the Chestnut tree, it took with it a quarter of the forest in the eastern half of our country. All the hope that was lost and poverty that resulted from the extermination of this tree was devastating to the ecosystem and society at that time.

Photo of people with an old American Chestnut tree, from the American Restoration Project website.

The American Chestnut was a staple of our culture--like cell phones, Starbucks, and blogs are today--in a time when the population at large still felt some connection to the natural world. (Click here for more information on the culture of the Chestnut before it was lost.) Some might even argue that the loss of the American Chestnut may be linked to the decreased connection to our forests and to growing our own food. Some might argue that the Chestnut blight, among other factors, contributed to the indoor norm and the limited idea that food comes from a grocery store, rather than from plants.

The mission of Dr. Craddock (click his link to find chestnut recipes and other information), and many others, is to find blight-resistant trees and mix their genes with our typically-intolerant native Chestnuts, so that we might restore this American icon to its original greatness.

Our mission, at ReTreeUS, is to reconnect our culture with the natural world and to where our food comes from. And here, on the future site of the ReTreeUS nursery, we have a (relatively) giant, (perhaps) tolerant American Chestnut tree! Its species is not only an excellent food source, but also an invaluable piece of U.S. history. Our history, rich with farming and connection to the patterns of the earth, could be restored as we build our mission of sustainable agriculture and environmental education.

I happily celebrate today, August 9, as American Chestnut Day! It is a day of new hope and beginnings for the global community and the inseparable ecology thereof.

Thank you for supporting our mission, and for helping to grow a healthier planet!

Sprouting Soon: Our First School Orchard

More time spent in Maine means more time spent growing ReTreeUS.  And if our organization were itself a fruit tree, that tree would be tall and fruiting. With the help of our generous sponsors, donors, members, and new friends with invaluable connections, the seeds of positive change are spreading.  We see a healthier planet ahead. 

We have acquired almost everything we need for a nursery now, including tools, compost, mulch, someone to till at a discounted rate...and, most importantly, trees!  Next spring will be a busy time for us; but all of our work is fun. 

From now until we till and plant cover crops, a lot of our time is still spent networking, grant writing, and campaigning from indoors.  

Richard and I work on our non-profit in the sunroom of his childhood home.
We hope to make this the greenhouse and official office for ReTreeUS.  

None of this time is rewarded with a paycheck yet, so we both found part-time jobs to pay the bills.  I am most excited today about my job, because I just found out I was hired by a nearby private school as Administrative Assistant.  Directing my own non-profit, combined with administrative work I've done for other non-profits in the past, make me a great fit for the job.  The fact that I am working with the school's founder, Michele, makes the job even better.

As the school's original founder, Michele fosters a philosophy of teamwork and responsibility among her students.  (Both of these ideals fit perfectly with ecology and sustainable agriculture.)  She leads many outdoor activities there and encourages students and parents to buy local, healthy food.  One of the Freeport Farmer's Markets is even hosted in the school's parking lot for that reason.

Michele began a garden with her students in the school yard, but she said maintenance was a challenge, and she is excited about the prospect of an orchard.  Fruit trees require less energy-input than a garden...and often produce much more.

She plans to make hers the first school to participate in the ReTreeUS program.  She has also connected us with key people who could help us expand in the very near future.

This entire process has been like a fruit tree: producing branches, giving way to fruit, then leading to more fruit in a chain reaction of giving.  Thank you to all who support us, to all who enjoy the fruits of our labor, and to all who will help grow a healthier planet.