Hello everyone. I am Alex Sanders Grow Appalachia Garden Program Site Supervisor at Project Worth Outreach in Menifee County, Kentucky.
This is a very busy time of the year at Project Worth Outreach. We have held our latest meetings in Menifee and Rowan Counties recently. Our most recent meeting in Rowan County we held on April 15, 2014 with 35 families attending. Our speaker was Bob Marsh, Rowan County Extension Office, and he spoke on the topic of garden maintenance, disease control and organic remedies. He was very informative and the participants asked a lot of questions. Also, we completed our distribution of seed potatoes as well as other seeds that were requested by our participants. We also distributed approximately ½ of the fertilizer that we believe our participants would need according to the size of their garden.
Our most recent meeting of the Menifee County Grow Appalachia Garden Program participants was held on April 21, 2014. We had 39 families represented and a total of 45 peoples at this meeting. We completed our seed distribution and most of fertilize distribution. Our topic this evening was garden maintenance, disease control and organic remedies. Gail Mills led this lesson and we have strong interaction from our garden participants. We had lots of discussion about plowing, disking and tilling of garden spots. About a quarter of our gardens have already plowed and disked their gardens, These gardeners have a portion of their garden out and are starting to see some green sprouting up from underneath the dirt. A welcome sight for us. Unfortunately, due to wet weather conditions we are a little behind in getting our ground work completed. We also received our first harvest numbers for this year. David and Sandy Freyman turned in ¼ peck if lettuce and volunteer green onions.
Today, I’m going to start ending my blog post with a recipe as I did our first year with Grow Appalachia Gardening. I request these recipes from our garden participants, Project Worth Outreach and their families and community members. I really have only one condition, the recipes must have a least one item included that is grown in a organic garden. I submit these recipes as they are presented to me. Please feel free to substitute healthy ingredients whenever possible. Usually I use one recipe per blog post but sometimes I use two or three. I hope you will enjoy and share these recipes. Hope everyone has a great week.

 

Healthy Pasta Vegetable Salad
Organic Whole Grain Pasta (Penne, Fuseli, Macaroni, any type you like)
Cook pasta according to directions on package, a few minutes short so that it is not mushy. Rinse pasta quickly in cool water, drain then refrigerate until ready to add veggies and dressing. You can make half a package if you want lesser amount, 2-4 servings. Full package makes 6-8 servings.
This recipe is good for spring veggies or fall veggies. In other words, the veggies you have available will work.
Carrots, shredded ( 1-2)
Radishes, sliced (4-5)
Zucchini or Yellow Summer Squash, sliced or chop
Green Onions, small chop (2-3)
Lightly steamed Asparagus, Swiss Chard, Sugar Pea Pods or Snow Peas, Broccoli cut into bite sized pieces.
Any other veggies that you like could be used, Kohlrabi, Cabbage, raw Spinach, fresh Mushrooms, Cherry Tomatoes, etc.
Depending on how many different veggies you use, the amounts are about 1/8 cup to ½ cup each. Or to taste.
Chopped fresh herbs like Basil, Parsley, Tarragon, Dill Weed. Use what you prefer.
If you want to use pre-made dressing, you can use any Italian or vinaigrette. I usually make my own.
Dressing:
One part red wine vinegar or vinegar of choice to 3 parts Olive Oil or healthy oil of choice.
One teaspoon Dijon Mustard, one clove garlic, chopped fine. Fresh herbs chopped fine.
Salt and Pepper to taste.
Mix vinegar, salt, mustard, garlic and pepper with whisk. Then add oil slowly while whisking briskly until mixed well. Add chopped herbs, adjust salt and pepper to taste. Pour some dressing over pasta and veggies and toss everything until mixed. Refrigerate for half an hour to let dressing soak in a bit.
If you like grated Parmesan Cheese or sunflower seeds, you can sprinkle some at serving time.
ENJOY!!

Renee Stephens