Squash and Black Bean Tacos with Avocado

As the colder months settled in, here is a fun variation to celebrate Taco Tuesday! The tacos are full of flavor and taste and best of all they used many seasonal ingredients. As we are finished clearing out the gardens, we still have a few squash left and decided to add them to make some tacos.


Taco Ingredients:

• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 2 lbs or 4 cups butternut or acorn squashed, peeled, halved lengthwise, seeded and cut into 1/2 –inch slices
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 large bell pepper
• 1 (14.5 oz) can black beans, rinsed & drained
• ¼ cup fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1 ripe avocado, peeled and sliced into 8 wedges
• Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
• 1 lime, cut into wedges
• 8 corn tortillas

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425
2. Spread squash on a large baking sheet. In a small bowl, stir together chili powder, garlic, oil and ¼ tsp salt and 1/8 tsp pepper; pour over squash and toss to coat.
3. Place into the oven and roast for about 20 minutes until tender when pierced with a knife, turning it once.
4. Combine the bell pepper and onion in a large skillet over medium-high heat with ¼ cup of water.
5. 
6. Combine the black beans, salt and black pepper in a medium sized saucepan.  Stir and cook for 5 minutes.  Lightly smash with the back of the spoon.
7. Warm a large skillet over medium-high heat and toast tortillas, turning them once, until charred (about 2 minutes per tide). Once heated, wrap tortillas in a clean kitchen towel to keep warm.
8. Fill the tortillas with squash, black beans, onions, peppers, avocado and cilantro
9. Serve with lime wedges
10. Eat and Enjoy this meal of seasonal vegetables

Possible Toppings:

• Shredded cheese
• Sour cream or Greek yogurt
• Hummus
• Hot Sauce

Happy Friday

Last week we gathered to watch Botany of Desire, which is based on a book by the same name by Michael Pollan. It goes through four plants that have had a great impact on the world. Explore more here. A couple quotes I found especially powerful are as follows:

"The order we impose on nature is never more than temporary or illusory. In the end the logic of nature will win out over the logic of capitalism, the logic of the factory, the logic of efficiency. It's always been so, and it always will be so. Nature is stronger than any of our designs, and nature resists our control."

"Everything we do, what we choose to eat, what flowers we choose to put on our tables, what drugs we choose to take, these are evolutionary votes we are casting everyday, in many, many different ways."

So let's adopt an outlook where the world of plants and animals, and the world of people (who sometimes forget we are animals) are not mutually exclusive. In fact, without plants, we would have very little time left on this big ol' globe. It's about that time of year to start the early seeds, like onions. Seed packets have already found their way to Greentree, the local co-op. Get planting!

Michigan Student Sustainability Coalition Summit

Roughly 200 students from all around Michigan met here at Central Michigan University this weekend in solidarity. Workshops and service learning projects filled up Saturday, with topics ranging from fighting destruction by fracking and tar sands, to divestment from fossil fuels. Networking opportunities abounded. Thanks to the creativity of those who joined our hands-on project, Campus Grow will have some new art for the Children's Garden.

We were able to send some succulents to new homes. Appreciative students were able to enjoy transplanting whole plants as well as growing new plants via leaves. For planters, we used recycled egg cartons, water bottles, soy milk jugs, and glass jars decorated in paint and fabric.

One great thing about these plants is their ability to grow from their bits and pieces. The undifferentiated cells at the base of the leaves, when plucked from the main plant and pushed slightly into moist soil, eventually grow roots, and then shoots. Sometimes this process takes months, and sometimes the leaves don't survive, but I always feel joy when everything works out.

Happy Spring Everyone

 First: praise to Austin Stowe from Grand Central Magazine for writing a superb article about Campus Grow.  Check it out here!

The warm front must have passed because we received a wonderful first spring rain. I'm not counting the tornado, though it gave us plenty of rain. It was a tornado. This was the lengthy drizzle (with a few lightening bolts to help change the nitrogen in the air to a usable form for plants) that left the air warm enough, and the cool weather delectable future meals sprouting. The rain also woke up the weeds, but Campus Grow's growing army of members and volunteers greatly reduced their take-over. A high five to everyone who has been out with us on our meetings weeding the little ones so they wont turn into monsters! Alas, I cannot commemorate you with photos because my camera is.. very grouchy. Thank you, nonetheless!

Though my camera is out of commission, I'll show some images from last year in hopes to educate and amuse. The following is the deadly cabbage maggot and some of its effects on foliage. This pest is the reason plants with the name brassica are banned from the big garden. It lives in the soil and sneaks in through the roots.

This is blurry, but the closest I could get. It's a white wormy thing with a black head.

 Effects are devastating.

 Foliage is very sad.

Cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, turnip, kale, kohlrabi, mustard are in danger. Radishes are supposed to be, but some volunteered to come up last year and were left alone. After some research, the following is the late pupae stage. Earlier, they will look like brown, shiny packets with a pointy end, but the only photos I have of that died with my camera.

As adults, they are called grey flies, and look like creepy flies.

On a similarly uncomfortable note, here is the tomato hornworm.

 All bugs above are several reasons we want to attract the following friend.

And, like MSU, eventually get a few of these..

And, with that, have a lovely week, and enjoy planting those cooler weather peas, spinach, carrots, potatoes, and beets!

A Map to the Gardens

 

^^^Click on this for a larger image^^^

Mulching Day

Those beautiful, scary, unpredicted warm weeks we've been experiencing were replaced by the normal gloomy March chill- though still milder than in past years. Yet, the sun came out to smile upon the Campus Growers mulching and weeding during this week's meeting. A booming thanks to CMLife who not only runs great articles on our efforts, but has donated old newspapers that we can use as mulch. They use soy-based inks, and the papers are safe for garden usage, so no worries as it begins to biodegrade. It'll just turn into good soil. We are, also, enormously thankful for our adviser, Patti, who donated a row of garden fabric that stretched from one end of the garden to the other. We've formed so many paths that we'll have to spend a few more meetings mulching, while numbering plots, and ever forever and always weeding as well.

We planted many rows of seeds inside for our plot renters, and in anticipation of our end-of-the-year plant sale. Included in the 5-7 weeks before planting warm weather crops outside list, we started peppers, eggplant, tomatoes, and purple basil. Soon, we'll be able to start cool weather crops outside. The excitement grows!

Sew, until next time, grow well.

Tabling in the UC

A special thank you to everyone who ran our table. Your fundraising, and signing up of interested new members and plot renters is much appreciated!

This zucchini-squash is from 2011, but I'm just so excited for things to grow again that I couldn't help putting it up. It was delicious, but the flowers were cross pollinated and would very likely grow into something too tough to eat if its seeds were used. Thus, the difficulty of open pollination, though open pollination is a great and necessary thing. Thanks to the farmers who are able to accomplish such a feat!