Greenblade - creation - faith - justice

Weeding the Garden

Finally the heat wave has broken and it didn't seem like a bad idea to get back into the garden.  Most of the plants are in, the seeds have sprouted, we've been eating luscious salads and rhubarb concoctions for weeks.  Now, I am on to the next phase of the garden cycle - maintenance.  At least for my garden, "maintenance" means lots of weeding, or “cultivating” in garden lingo.  And each year I think about what it means to “cultivate”.

There are several ways to approach the cultivation of a vegetable garden. I have one dear friend, who happened to grow up in an apartment building in Brooklyn, who would rather cut off one of her arms than pull out a growing plant, whatever species it may be. However, as a gardener, decisions must be made. If certain plants aren't pulled up, cut down, rooted out, they will crowd out the plants that you want to grow, stunting them or ... MORE

Compassionate Christianity

One of the more interesting events in the life of the Greenblade group occurred a few weeks ago.  We hosted philosopher/author Matthew Halteman and animal rights activist Harold Brown to come talk to our group, lead a discussion and then take us on a tour of the Farm Sanctuary in Watkins Glen.  Unfortunately, the weather didn't totally cooperate with us and somehow after the soggy farm tour, half of the group disappeared while the other half retreated to the comfort of the local ice cream parlor (which serves excellent vegan ice cream!!).  It would have been interesting to have had the farm tour first, with the discussion following...

Now I will be the first to admit that I wasn't totally present for the whole discussion as I had young Sabina in tow and she decided that it was time to roam the building just when the conversation really started getting going.  However, I know that ... MORE

Ramps and Routes

Right about now the smell from that bag of wild leeks is slowly emanating from my car windows and down Main Street in Newfield.  Before my weekly sojourn to the Newfield Public Library for 4 uninterrupted hours of dissertation work (and catching up on everything else I've neglected over the week that can be accomplished on my trusty computer), I had what can only be described as a locavore adventure.

A good friend who lives in Newfield mentioned that the ramps, otherwise known as wild leeks, were thick for the picking on one end of his sprawling wooded property.  I took him up on his offer to join him in some wildcrafting.  The season for these beauties is short, really only a few weeks, so you need to know when to jump on them.  Now I will admit that I have never picked ramps in the wild before.  I've savored them from Farmer's Market and Greenstar has ... MORE