Sunshine Community Gardens

4 June, 2020

www.sunshinecommunitygardens.org

Gardener's Picture page

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Does Your Garden Look This Good?

Photo submitted by Polly Porter.

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Sunshine Board Addresses Spring Service Hours

Jim Willmann Reports:

June 30 is deadline for Sunshine gardeners to complete their spring season service hours. Since the Covid-19 stay-at-home guidelines may have affected the time some gardeners were at garden, the Sunshine board has decided to modify the spring service hours requirement as follows:

• Gardeners will be permitted to carry over any unworked spring hours to the fall season in lieu of paying for those unworked hours. The carried over hours will be added to the gardener's required fall hours. For example, a full plot gardener who carries over 2 regular hours would need to work 10 regular hours (8 normal hours + 2 carried over) plus 1 TSBVI hour during fall season.
• Gardeners who were unable to work spring hours because of health issues related to Covid-19, e.g., is immune deficient, may request an individual waiver. (Note: This is actually not a modification since gardeners always can request a waiver because of special health needs.)

Tasks which currently need to be done include:

TSBVI Hour

1. Clearing fence line of hackberries and weeds. Do not remove vines. (Try to dig out hackberries and weeds below ground level. Hackberries should be put in dumpster.)
2. Clearing granite paths in TSBVI garden and raised bed area. (Try to dig out roots and not just chop off weeds at ground level. Paths must be raked smooth after weeding. Uneven paths are difficult for the TSBVI students to maneuver.)
3. Weeding wood chip and stone beds on west side of TSBVI garden by TSBVI building.)
4. Weeding dumpster pad. (Try to dig out roots and not just chop off weeds at ground level.)
5. Mowing along fence line both inside and outside.
6. Edging sidewalk and curbs along street
7. Picking up trash along street, bus stops and fence line
8. Picking up trash and other cleanup in compost area

Regular Hours

1. Weeding and putting down wood chips on common paths
2. Mowing
3. Weeding inside of green houses
4. Weeding and/or weed whacking weeds at front and back entrances to green houses.

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2020 Sunshine Elections

It is time to begin planning for elections for new board members scheduled for replacement this year. Elections will be held for secretary and 3 director positions. If you are interested in running for any of these positions or have any questions please email Polly Porter (pporter_scg@austin.rr.com) and Janet Adams (jartdaht@gmail.com). Details of what these positions entail can be found on the web site in the Bylaws document.

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Micah 6 Food Pantry News:

Walter Kuhl, a Micah 6 Volunteer at Sunshine reports:

For the month of June there will be two deliveries a week of Sunshine produce to the Micah 6 Food Pantry:

• Thursday at noon -- Added delivery during peak harvest donation periods.
• Saturday at 9am -- Usual year-round delivery time.

Micah 6 volunteers currently check the white cooler on the trailer front porch at least twice a day and move produce into the trailer cool room and/or refrigerator. Thank you so much for your generosity. Much appreciated and much needed!

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Lots of Cherry Tomatoes?

Try this Tomato Salad recipe from Bon Appetit.

While it's a repeat recipe from last year, it is a great one. Ila Falvey submitted the recipe and says that pomegranate molasses and pine nuts can be purchased from Phoenicia Bakery around the corner from Sunshine on Burnet Road.

Recipe

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Ila Falvey also submitted the following Gazpacho Recipe below and recommends the addition of basil to the recipe

Best Gazpacho Recipe - by Julia Moskin More

from NYT Cooking 5/31/20

• About 2 pounds ripe red tomatoes, cored and roughly cut into chunks
• 1 Italian frying (cubanelle) pepper or another long, light green pepper, such as Anaheim, cored, seeded and roughly cut into chunks
• 1 cucumber, about 8 inches long, peeled and roughly cut into chunks
• 1 small mild onion (white or red), peeled and roughly cut into chunks
• 1 clove garlic 2 teaspoons sherry vinegar, more to taste
• Salt
• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil, more to taste, plus more for drizzling

Preparation Yield 8 to 12 servings, about 1 quart
Time 20 minutes plus chilling time

More of a drink than a soup, served in frosted glasses or chilled tumblers, gazpacho is perfect when it is too hot to eat but you need cold, salt and lunch all at the same time. Gazpacho is everywhere in Seville, Spain, where this recipe comes from, but it's not the watered-down salsa or grainy vegetable purée often served in the United States. This version has no bread and is a creamy orange-pink rather than a lipstick red. That is because a large quantity of olive oil is required for making delicious gazpacho, rather than take-it-or-leave it gazpacho. The emulsion of red tomato juice, palest green cucumber juice and golden olive oil produces the right color and a smooth, almost fluffy texture.

Step 1 Combine tomatoes, pepper, cucumber, onion and garlic in a blender or, if using a hand blender, in a deep bowl. (If necessary, work in batches.) Blend at high speed until very smooth, at least 2 minutes, pausing occasionally to scrape down the sides with a rubber spatula.

Step 2 With the motor running, add the vinegar and 2 teaspoons salt. Slowly drizzle in the olive oil. The mixture will turn bright orange or dark pink and become smooth and emulsified, like a salad dressing. If it still seems watery, drizzle in more olive oil until texture is creamy.

Step 3 Strain the mixture through a strainer or a food mill, pushing all the liquid through with a spatula or the back of a ladle. Discard the solids. Transfer to a large pitcher (preferably glass) and chill until very cold, at least 6 hours or overnight.

Step 4 Before serving, adjust the seasonings with salt and vinegar. If soup is very thick, stir in a few tablespoons ice water. Serve in glasses, over ice if desired, or in a bowl. A few drops of olive oil on top are a nice touch.

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Weeder Content

Please email your article or suggestion to Holly Gilman by end of day Wednesday.

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