The Plant A Row for the Hungry program has been incredibly successful–over 10,000 pounds of food donated by local greenthumbs to fight hunger in the Greater Triangle. It’s still going strong, with Fall gardens producing tasty greens.  We are already looking forward to next Spring and to an even bigger bounty of fresh fruits and vegetables.

The PAR blog has been great fun. You’ve been coming here to get updates, gardening tips and great recipes. The feedback we’ve gotten is that you’d like to see the PAR blog consolidated with the Farms and Gardens blog. That makes a lot of sense to us. You’ll still get all the tips, updates and recipes and you’ll also get information on the  community gardens and small farms we help operate throughout the Triangle, all in the same spot.

So go ahead and mark farmsandgardens.wordpress.com as the place to go to keep with with all things PAR.  As a matter of fact, what are you doing right now? Go ahead and click here to check out your new virtual garden plot on the web!

 Greek Lentil Soup

• ¼ pound each, brown lentils & green split peas
• fresh rosemary 1 pound sausage (lamb or Italian turkey sausage)
• ½ – ¾ C dry white wine
• 1 qt. chicken stock
• 1 large yellow onion
• 1 stalk celery
• 1 carrot
• 2 tbs minced garlic
• 1 tsp dry oregano
• 2-3 C firm-packed chopped collard or kale leaves
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• fresh lemon

Directions:

1. Take about 1/4 pound each of brown lentils and green split peas. Rinse, and cover with water, add about 8″ stalk of rosemary and simmer until the beans soften, replenishing water as necessary.
2. Remove rosemary twig when beans are tender. Then sautee about 1 pound of sausage in a skillet. I used Greek lamb sausage from Whole Foods, but Italian turkey sausage will work fine.
3. After the sausage is well browned, remove from pan and slice. Deglaze pan with 1/2 or 3/4 cup dry white wine, and simmer to reduce slightly. Add juices to beans. Add 1 quart chicken stock to beans.
4. Then, in several tbs of olive oil, sautee 1 large onion, coarsely chopped, 1 stalk celery chopped, and 1 carrot chopped. Add 1 tsp dry oregano.
5. When veggies begin to release their juices, add 2 minced cloves of garlic. Sautee till the onion begins to become translucent. Then add 2 or 3 cups chopped collard greens (chopped kale will also do). Continue to sautee until the greens are well wilted.
6. Add sausage, veggies, 1 can diced tomatoes to bean pot & continue to simmer for another 1/2 hour.
7. Add salt & black pepper to taste. Serve with a squeeze of fresh lemon on top!

But, we wanted to interrupt the typical PAR blog post to invite you to an exciting event!

Bob Dylan’s new album- Christmas in the Heart will be released on October 13th. The Food Shuttle is having a listening party for the album’s release at Boylan Bridge Brewpub, and we would love to have you join us for a great night!

Over 13,100 lbs. have been donated to provide food to people in need since June! It has been exciting to watch people get behind this campaign and bring in extra produce to the Food Shuttle and to Logan’s Trading Co! Thanks to all the gardeners and farmers who helped over the past few months!

Do you have any suggestions for next year’s PAR campaign? We would love to hear your ideas.

Tomatillo Salsa on the grill

• 12 tomatillos* (about 1 pound), husked, rinsed
• 4 garlic cloves, unpeeled
• 2 jalapeño chiles, halved, stemmed & seeded
• 1 medium white onion, sliced thick
• 2/3 cup (lightly packed) chopped fresh cilantro
• Juice of 1 lime
• Salt

In a grill basket combine the first four ingredients and roast over medium-high heat turning occasionally and allowing vegetables to sear & char just a bit. Remove items as they finish, and place them in a bowl or in a food processor. Peel the garlic before adding it to the other veggies. Then coarsely chop with a knife, or lightly process the veggies until they have reached a “salsa” consistency. Add the fresh cilantro, lime juice and salt to taste.

This simple salsa is good with anything grilled … chicken breasts, pork chops, flank steak. I particularly like it with grilled salmon … the colors are pleasing, and the tanginess of the salsa plays nicely off the rich salmon. Serve with beans & rice, or slice the meats and make soft tacos using steamed corn tortillas.

If you’re new to gardening, or new to fall gardening, we teamed up with the staff at Logan’s to make some helpful videos to get you started. Last time, we looked at container gardening.  This week, our friend Chris will show you how to plant a row using seed germination trays.

The Plant A Row for the Hungry program has now received over 10,000 pounds of fresh produce! It is exciting to see how gardeners and farmers around the Greater Triangle have planted extra rows of food and given produce to help people in need!

PAR Announcement:

Because the response has been overwhelming to Raleigh’s 1st year of the Plant A Row for the Hungry program, it will be extended through the fall season! Plant extra spinach and collard greens this fall, and bring your extra produce by Inter-Faith Food Shuttle or Logans Trading Co.

And just because summer is winnding down doesn’t mean Plant A Row is going away.  Did you see Gov Perdue planting a row at the governor’s mansion last week?  We hope you’ll consider doing the same.  Fall gardens can yield delicous, nutritous greens and we will will continue collecting your Plant A Row produce througout the year.  You can bring them right here to the Food Shuttle or to Logan Trading Co in Dowtown Raleigh.

And if you’ve never had a garden before, we’ve made some helpful videos with our friends at Logans to show you how to get started. First up is how to plant your fall crop in a container.  This is perfect if you don’t have space in your yard but still want to grow fresh vegetables and Plant A Row for the Hungry!

News 14 Carolina was at the Governor’s Mansion as the fall crops were planted:

http://bit.ly/2Lgetu