Early September: Gardening Like We’re Here to Stay

This week we’ll introduce you to permaculture, our full-time job. We’ll also share a recipe for ratatouille, a tasty way to use your summer harvest.

We're so grateful to share in the trials and triumphs of vegetable gardening with all of you this summer. Seasoned gardeners, newbies, whatever your motives, we hope you're having fun and learning new skills. With harvest season upon us, our gaze turns to the future. How can we prepare to do better next year?

Permaculture: Gardening Like We're Here to Stay

Vegetable gardening changes your relationship to food, soil, and biology. As you think about your future plans to grow more, enjoy it more, and support the health of your home and land, we invite you to explore how the principles of permaculture can guide you in making that happen.

Permaculture is a way of designing landscapes that grow food and create biological abundance by mimicking the way nature designs an ecosystem. In practice, permaculture looks a bit like landscaping, a bit like creating a forest, and a bit like gardening or farming. Though it's a new term, permaculture is the probably oldest way our species farmed, encouraging the land to grow more of what tasted good.

Using a permaculture approach involves carefully observing your growing area and natural conditions, then tweaking it with slow and thoughtful responses, while understanding and incorporating basic principles and techniques.

If you're looking for some help envisioning how to incorporate more edible plants into your landscape so that you have an aesthetically pleasing and ultra-productive outdoor space, Resilient Roots can help. Our permaculture-certified designer can provide design and consultation services.

Taking Your First Steps: Perennial Vegetables

If you've gotten comfortable with a traditional veggie garden with annual species (those that we replant each year), consider adding a perennial vegetable bed. These plants remain year after year and create an ecosystem in which each species benefits the others.

A garden like this could include these plants:

Asparagus—shades the plants from the hot summer sun with its ferns.
Horseradish—brings nutrients up through its deep roots and into their leaves, which will later feed the other plants in the bed.

Strawberries—act as a ground cover to keep the soil moist.
Rhubarb—shades the soil.

Each plant has a function and helps the other plants in the bed.

“Companion Plants for Strawberries: Asparagus, Rhubarb, and Horseradish” by John Vivian goes into more detail about creating a perennial bed with companion plants.

Why Transition Your Garden or Yard Toward Permaculture?

Permaculture offers several benefits that might help motivate your next steps:

It uses local (and often free) resources to grow food and be more self-sufficient.
It's a low-maintenance approach (once your landscape plants are established).
It increases biodiversity. Let nature back into your land!
Nourishing your soil by practicing permaculture sequesters carbon. You are actually doing good for the world!

Resources to Learn More About Permaculture

In our opinion, one of the best introductions to permaculture is Toby Hemenway's book Gaia's Garden: A Guide to Home-scale Permaculture.

A National Geographic short film called “A Forest Garden With 500 Edible Plants Could Lead to a Sustainable Future” provides an excellent summary and visual tour of a food forest in the South of England. Just 3 minutes long, it’s worth watching!

Are you trying to imagine what your tiny backyard might be able to produce if you were able to use permaculture methods to grow your food? Take a look at “The Plummery,” another well-done (and short—just 8 minutes!) film about a garden of just over 1,000 square feet.

Did you know that our very own University of Massachusetts was the first college campus to start a permaculture garden to grow food for its cafeteria? Ryan Harb of UMass presented a TED talk about how and why the university built the garden; the video also features a home garden example.

You can join Resilient Roots at a permablitz or workshop to learn how you could transform part of your yard into a permaculture garden.

Let's Eat!

Ratatouille is a delicious and versatile dish that is perfect for cool, late summer nights. The base ingredients—tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant, onion, and garlic—are all in abundance now. See how much you can source from your garden or from other local growers!

Feel free to adapt this recipe based on your tastes and fresh ingredients on hand. For a complete meal, pair with chickpeas or hummus on crusty bread. Bon appetit!

Late Summer Ratatouille

(adapted from Delish.com)

Serves 4, easily doubled (it saves well)

Ingredients

2 medium summer squash (zukes or pattypans) sliced into 1/4 " coins

2 medium eggplant, diced into 1/2" pieces

2 bell peppers, cut into 1/4" spears

2 cups diced tomatoes (cherry and plum varieties work best!)

1 large onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic

1/2 cup dry white wine

...

Salt

Olive oil for cooking

Freshly ground black pepper

1 bay leaf

Small bunch of fresh basil

1 tsp. dried oregano

Pinch of crushed red pepper flakes (if desired)

Directions

(Salting and frying the eggplant separately keeps it from being too soft in the final dish. We recommend it, but it is a matter of time and preference). Dice eggplant and toss with a big pinch of salt. Let sit for about 20 minutes, then pat dry to remove excess moisture. In a large pot, heat 1 tablespoon oil. Add eggplant and season with salt and pepper. Cook until golden brown (about 5 minutes), then remove.
Add another tablespoon of oil to your pot. Add onion, bell peppers, and bay leaf and cook, stirring occasionally until onion and pepper begin to turn tender, about 6 minutes.
Add the white wine, stir well to combine, and reduce until most of the liquid has evaporated.
Stir in zucchini (and eggplant, if you skipped step 1) and cook until tender, about 4 minutes more. Stir in garlic, cherry tomatoes, and oregano.
Season mixture with red pepper flakes, salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally until the tomatoes start to break down. Turn off the heat.
Add the eggplant back to the pot and stir to combine. Garnish with basil and serve warm or at room temperature with good bread, or on a bed of brown rice or barley.

Garden Extras

Don’t panic, eat organic! Switching from a diet of "conventional" to organically grown food can dramatically reduce pesticide residue in your body—perhaps as much as 70% in just six days. This is according to peer-reviewed research on glyphosate, the cancer-causing chemical found in RoundUp and sprayed on much of our field crops in the US. See the original research papers here and here.

“Three Things You Can Do to Help Avoid Climate Disaster” is a quick read from YES! Media. The answers might just surprise you (hint: lift up your neighbors).