Sumner Garden

This year, Junior Master Gardeners will help Sumner grow a straw bale garden. Students will get a taste-test of the veggies in the cafeteria when they are back in school in August. Veggies in a straw bale? Yes, it's true. The two bales set up at Sumner will be conditioned until they begin to compost on the inside, becoming a great place to grow veggies. They will be watered every day to keep the process going.

Junior Master Gardener and Sumner 4th grader Katie helped secure rabbit fencing around the bales today. A garden committee of about 15 Sumner 4th graders who live close enough to walk to the school will help with watering. These students will also meet with Junior Master Gardeners to plant the bale on June 7 and July 12 12:30-1 p.m. After a taste-test and vote, these are the student-selected veggies:

carrots 

peas 

lettuce 

cherry or grape tomatoes 

Watch our garden grow!

Special thanks to Mark and Laura Schaefer, Sheila Berger, Kristi Beckman and Enrique, John Wright, and Nate Wangen of Rolling Green Fencing. 

Seed Start: Consider this garden STARTED

Kids filled flats with seeds for crops like broccoli and cauliflower at today's Seed Start. The started seeds will be ready to transplant by the May 21 open house. New Junior Master Gardeners can come ready to put a plant in the ground.

That's not all. Come ready to see plants already growing. They also started some seeds right in the soil. Kids took turns planting red and white potatoes, onions, and spinach seeds. Spinach will be ready by the first summer session on Thursday, June 7 from 10 a.m.-noon, and it may even be ready by the open house.

But wait...there's more! They even started preparing something for open house visitors to eat. Youth shelled last year's dry bean crop. Around the table with moms, grandmas, and Master Gardeners, kids marveled at the many colors of beans. Community nutrition educator Ruth Neil will soak the beans and have samples of soup ready to try at the open house, May 21 from 5-7 p.m.

Start making plans to attend the open house, and be sure to note that a new Farm to School documentary will be screened from 6:30-8:00 at the 4-H building on the night of the open house.

Popcorn and Planning

Making Italian Ice from garden strawberries got 18 votes, and growing pumpkins got 12 votes. Youth came up with the ideas and ranked them last Saturday at the Junior Master Gardeners Popcorn and Planning meeting. After planning this year's garden, they tasted recipes like caramel corn and chili popcorn from popcorn they grew last season. Of the 20 youth who attended, 5 were new to JMG. Everyone is welcome to come to the next JMG event, April 14 at 1 p.m., to start seeds indoors. For more information call U of M Extension at 437-9552. This weekend's event was captured in video, print, and photo by Austin Post Bulletin.

Full of Beans

Beans, beans, the magical veggie: the more you eat, the more you may reduce the risk of heart disease and cancer.

Spurred on by kids' desire to make fudge from beans (done! and delicious...you can't taste the beans and it's an easy no-cook refrigerator recipe), this is the summer of the bean. We made Ranch Hummus and Bean Dip and you may remember at the open house we kicked it all off with Rhubarb Muffins made with a bean puree in place of some of the oil (trust me, it's like using applesauce! No one will even know they're getting more protein and fiber.).

Left: One of these bean bags held by Emily Brekke, JMG participant since 2008, is literally a bag of beans. The bean lessons are not all cooking--there's fun and games, too. For our bean bag game, when kids hear, "good for your eyes and skin," they toss the orange and green bean bags. When they hear, "good for your heart," they get to throw the pinto bean bag.

Yesterday, evals showed 89% (25 of 28 evaluated), knew it was true that orange and green vegetables are good for our eyes and skin. When asked, "What have you learned about dry beans?" 3rd-5th graders wrote:
* "dat it was 4 your heart"
* "there healthy for you"
* "The are good"

For bean recipes, add Ruth Neil on facebook or email neil0047@umn.edu or call 434-2653.

Another Beautiful Thursday in the Garden

It was a beautiful morning in the garden with 32 kids participating! Kids worked in the garden with Pam and Shirley picking, weeding and of course lots of watering. Many of the older kids continue to work on their own gardens that are part of the Teen Challenge. Each garden is unique in its own way and they are coming along very well. Several kids headed into the kitchen to try their luck at Ruth's Amazing Chocolate Fudge recipe which was made from beans. It was delicious! The Junior Master Gardeners had a session of Fruit Frenzy where they guessed and then actually counted the number of seeds in each fruit. I'll leave you with the fudge recipe and hopefully you will join us for Thursdays in the Garden from 10 am - 12 noon.
2 1/2 Tbsp margarine or butter
2 oz. unsweetened baking chocolate
1 1/2 cups cooked pinto beans (one 15 oz can equals 1 1/2 cups)
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
1/2 cup dried cherries (optional)

Spray a 8-inch square pan with cooking spray; set aside. Melt margarine and baking chocolate together. Warm the beans 1-2 minutes in microwave. This makes them easier to mash and the fudge easier to stir. Combine the beans and margarine/chocolate mixture in a food processor or blender and mash. Scrape bean mixture into a bowl, add cocoa and vanilla. Gradually mix in powdered sugar--mixture will be stiff. Stir in walnuts and or dried cherries, if you like. Press into pan. Cut into 48 pieces(6x8). Store fudge in refrigerator up to one week. It can also be frozen

See you Thursday!

The garden is sprouting! Seeds we put in the ground at the open house are taking off, and the rhubarb is abundant.

Pictured at left: Dry beans sprouting. Pictured below: Rhubarb harvested.

Our first summer session will be Thursday, June 9. Children who have completed grades 3 and up may attend. Arrive by car, bike, or foot at 10 and sign up for for 3 sessions. Programs presenting will be:

Simply Good Eating with Ruth Neil
JMG Certification with Patty Conradt
Healthy4U with Sandy Anderson
Garden with Master Gardeners Shirley Guild and Pam Schmidt

Free lunches will be available, and we finish up at noon.

Rhubarb Muffins

We made just enough muffins for a great turnout yesterday: 4 dozen mini muffins and 2 dozen regular muffins were gobbled up by 7 p.m. at the open house. A huge thank you to Elaine Braaten for helping prepare the muffins. The version "with protein and fiber" with Great Northern bean puree (see "Ideas" below the recipe) was actually the favorite with most tasters for texture and rhubarb flavor. My Simply Good Eating lessons at the garden in 2011 will feature beans. Stay tuned for lessons like "Bean Recipe Test Kitchen" and "Kids' Choice: Baking with Beans."
~Ruth Neil, Community Nutrition Educator

Rhubarb Muffins

Serving Size: 1 muffin
Yield: 2 dozen muffins

Ingredients:
¾ cup sugar
¾ cup brown sugar
½ cup vegetable oil
1 egg
2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup buttermilk
2 ½ cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
1 ½ cups cut rhubarb
½ c. nuts (optional)

Topping:
1 Tablespoon butter
1/3 c. sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease muffin tins or line with paper cups.
2. In large bowl, blend sugar, brown sugar, oil, egg, vanilla, and buttermilk.
3. In medium bowl, mix flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add to large bowl and blend until moistened.
4. Add rhubarb and mix. Add nuts if desired and mix.
5. Fill muffin cups about half full. In small bowl, mix butter, sugar, and cinnamon to make topping, and sprinkle on top of muffins.
6. Bake for 25 minutes.

Ideas:
Substitute raspberries or blueberries for rhubarb.

Try 2 egg whites instead of 1 whole egg to reduce fat.

If you don’t have buttermilk, add 1 Tablespoon vinegar to1 cup minus 1 Tablespoon milk. Let rest 5 minutes; use as substitute for buttermilk.

Try adding beans! Puree 1 ¼ cups Great Northern or light red kidney beans. Add in step two, reducing buttermilk to ¾ c. buttermilk and reducing oil to ¼ c. oil.

“Rhubarb Muffins with Protein & Fiber”
Nutrition Facts for rhubarb muffin with beans,
1 egg, ¼ c. oil, ¾ c. buttermilk, and no nuts:
1 muffin (makes 2 dozen regular-size muffins)=
140 cal., 3 g fat, 1 g sat fat, 0 g trans fat,
11 mg cholesterol, 131 mg sodium, 25 g carbs,
1 g fiber, 13 g sugars, 3 g protein, 1% vit A,
1% vit C, 4% calcium, 5% iron
(Compared to original recipe, fat is reduced
from 6 g to 3 g; protein is increased from 2 g
to 3 g.)

Family Fun This Week (Survey)

Harvest Party

Congratulations to all JMG participants!

3rd year of the Mower County Junior Master Gardeners was a success! This year produce was healthy and abundant. Produce was grown for the harvest party that happened Thursday September 2. JMGer's talked about a product from the garden and showcased their hard work over the past summer.

Meal served was Honey Roasted Root Vegetables, Garden Minestrone, and the ever so popular Zucchini Chocolate Chip Cookies. The pumpkin patch was invaded by the youth whom each got to take one home.

We are looking forward to next year and the winter season ahead!

We prepare for the fair!

It was quite an adventure last week at our gardening sessions! Jen had her groups making Watermelon smoothies. The blender was going, kids were cutting and juice was everywhere! Nothing beats a smoothie on a hot day. A few feet away Ruth had another group cutting up the yellow zucchini from the garden. This group was steaming zucchini and learning how to use it. The youth really seem to enjoy their sessions with Jen and Ruth!

The youth always have plenty of produce to pick from the garden each week. All the vegetables get weighed once they are picked and we are keeping track of how much produce we have grown. It will be exciting to add everything up at the end of the season. Everyone is doing a great job of keeping the weeds out and making sure everything is watered.

Yesterday we had a smaller group of kids than normal. Ruth and Jen couldn't be with us so we had all the kids in the garden picking vegetables, weighing, and logging totals. Master Gardeners, Pam and Shirley, are with us each week and they explain lots of gardening tips to the kids. The youth are able to take home lots of information to use in their own gardens.

The rest of our time yesterday was spent hanging posters and pictures of the kids and activities that we have done throughout the summer. We hope everyone will stop by to see the youth who have been part of our Junior Master Gardener program. Please look at the garden as well. Hopefully you will know someone who would like to be part of this wonderful program!!

Enjoy the Mower County Fair!!

Fruit Frenzy

The JMG group has another successful day at the garden and the rain stayed away!

Megan and the 4-H Ambassadors made Fruit Pomanders with the JMG session. The kids really got into it and some even knew why they are used!

In another session Jen made Citrus Salad using lettuce and spinach from the garden while Ruth demonstrated the textures, tastes and smells of fruit.

We'll continue our learning journey again next week....

Let's Jam

Our theme for July 15 was "Let's Jam." Master Gardener, Elaine Braaten, did just that with the kids. With the raspberries from her home, she demonstrated how to make jam. Everyone was able to take home a yummy sample!

While some kids were busy making jam another group was making Colorful Fruit Salad with Jen. Youth learned how to cut up fruit and how to use the juices from the fruit. The completed salad looked delicious. Hopefully the kids have tried the recipe at home!

The JMG session learned the methods of preserving foods. Freezing, Dehydrating and Canning methods were discussed. Patty brought in canned foods for the kids to look at. The youth tried canned Strawberry Jam and Tomato Juice and sampled some dehydrated foods.

Youth harvested green beans, lettuce, zucchini, swiss chard and kolhrabi from the garden. Some of the kids were taking the produce to sell at the Farmer's Market. Each week we are able to see how different the garden looks and we are amazed at how it is producing. The best part of this program is watching the kids grow and learn. These are valuable lessons that will last a lifetime!!