Friends, Flowers, Food and Art

A great way to spend a Saturday afternoon in August is with friends enjoying the street fairs in downtown Bellingham. Today I found myself admiring the exotic wax-like blooms of the hoya plant in the window at the comfortable Three Trees Coffee House as I visited with Aaron and Kriss.

Appetites ready to indulge, we set off to purchase our tickets and feast on some of the great food offered by twenty of our local restaurants and eateries set up in booths in the middle of Cornwall Avenue during the annual Bite of Bellingham hosted by the Downtown Renaissance Network - pizza, baklava, crepes filled with a special Japanese citrus curd, pulled pork sandwiches, seafood dishes, Greek foods and so much more was available.

What fun we had as we sampled some of the different foods from the many booths, often stopping to visit with other friends we ran into along the way as we all worked our way up and down the booths along both sides of the block. My personal favorite, a very decadent and oh so rich chocolate cream cheese dessert served up by La Vie en Rose.

After that, we headed back down toward the main music stage, admiring the art on display in the different booths along the way during the annual La Bella Strada festival sponsored by the Allied Arts of Whatcom County.

Several blocks of Cornwall Avenue were closed to traffic for the festival as rows of vendor booths filled the street. Walking past some of my favorite shops along Railroad Avenue - The Bagelry, Avenue Bread, Wonderland Teas, we stopped in Sweet Art, a fun little shop combining handmade chocolates and sweet art.
Owned and operated by a husband and wife team, their tiny shop has a counter filled with a grand selection chocolate treats - hand made with great zest by the husband, aka "the candyman" - and brightly colored oil paintings by the wife fill the shop walls. Sweet Art is Bellingham's perfect example of a mom-n-pop shop. You can often find their chocolates available at the Bellingham Farmers Market on Saturdays. Their chocolates are well worth trying and they are one fun and friendly couple to visit with.

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More photos from the day.

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With the annual Chalk Artfest postponed until tomorrow due to the rain this morning, some of us will back tomorrow to watch as the artists draw their colorful designs on the sidewalks and to listen to more music on their main stage - that is, if it does not rain!

Ginger Root Sprouts

When ginger root is left out on the counter in the summer, sometimes I end up with what I call "ginger root sprouts". Not sprouts like you might think of bean sprouts, but ginger root that has sprouted! Enjoying that extra burst of flavor ginger root gives to the stir fry dishes I often throw together, it is as much of a staple in my kitchen as cloves of fresh garlic. When I saw so many healthy sprouts emerging from this particular chunk of ginger root, my first thought was to plant it to see what would happen. Since I was heading out to check on the Friendship Garden today, I took along my sprouted ginger root and we planted it in a special mixture of very rich soil in a plastic pot and watered it well.

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Meanwhile, our Friendship Garden continues to do well.

There were even a few radishes ready for harvest. Pulling close to a half a dozen, their tender, crisp flavor was enjoyed immediately after pulling and rinsing them off under the running water right out in the yard. You just can't find radishes any more fresh than that!

The cucumbers continue to grow!

As do the edible flowers.

I think I can almost see those young plants grow right before my eyes as I water them.

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Later I researched growing ginger root on the Internet and discovered that we are on the right track with how we planted ours. The information I found makes growing your own ginger sound so easy. We will see if that is really the case!

Following is some of the information found on the Internet about growing, harvesting and using ginger root. Found at The Herb Gardener, a blog by Sara Elliott, a freelance writer, devoted gardener, reader, quilter, and environmentalist, the information she shares about growing, harvesting and using ginger root seemed to me to be well written and easy to understand.

Growing and Harvesting Ginger - Ginger grows from a spreading, tuberous rhizome. It does well in moist fertile soil in warm winter areas. If you have seen ginger in the grocery store, the root looks like a flattened, beige, segmented bulb. The foliage is tall and dark green in color, springing from upright, rigid stems. Even in areas that experience a hard frost, ginger can be grown in large pots and over-wintered indoors.

Sprout Ginger from Root Stock - There are many of varieties of ginger, but for a good introduction to keeping this useful herb, select your stock from the local grocery. The resulting plants should be hardy and attractive, probably producing small, yellow flowers. Look for large root pieces that are shiny and fat.

Start ginger in a large shallow pot that contains one-part sand to one-part potting soil. I generally use a 14" pot filled three quarters full with soil. Lay rooting pieces horizontally, placing them two or three inches apart around the center of the pot. Cover with one inch of soil. Ginger likes to grow in dappled light to light shade. While sprouting, make sure to keep the roots uniformly moist.

When the sprouts appear, you will see small portions of root poking through the soil. As the root is visible, it will be easier to harvest small segments as the plants mature. Avoid harvesting ginger for a season. This allows the plants to get a good start on life.

Once you have a thriving set of shoots, place the plants in a shady spot out of doors for a few hours a day after the overnight temperature rises above 50 degrees F. Increase the time outside over a four day period, and then place the pot in a shady permanent location. The three things to remember are that ginger needs shade, regular water, and won't tolerate freezing temperatures. Apply an all-purpose fertilizer to your plants twice during the growing season.

Overwintering Ginger in Cold Climates - In the fall, bring the pot indoors and place it in a storage area where the temperature stays above freezing. Allow the tops of the plant to yellow and then trim them off. Moisten the soil once a month to keep the roots viable. In the spring, after all threat of frost has passed, place the pot in a warm shady spot and watch for a new set of shoots. Repot every couple of years.

Harvesting Ginger - As the root is near the surface, you will often see small nobs at the soil line of your plant that can be selectively cut for culinary use.

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Low in calories, yet rich in potassium, magnesium, copper, manganese and vitamin B6, detailed information about the health benefits of including ginger in your diet is found on the World's Healthiest Foods website at

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=72

and includes simple serving suggestions as well as links to recipes.

CSA - Week 8 - Little Red Potatoes

It is week eight of the Community Supported Agriculture season and the first of the red potatoes showed up in the harvest basket.

Also under the lid of the basket, plenty of onions for the week, broccoli, lots of summer squash, garlic and a bunch of red potatoes this week.

More fresh red raspberries!

Kale and carrots.

I shall enjoy a big bowl of potato salad this week with all those tender, fresh potatoes!

She Came for the Rock

As we shared those tender bites of the first radishes we harvested from the Friendship Garden, it was confirmed that the time spent tilling and toiling in the dirt finally paid off with yet a promise of more to come.

Donna stopped by to check out the new baby Kubota that had arrived just that morning, and ended up taking it for a test drive.

Torrie, always welcoming when someone returns.

Then it was time to load the big rock, so out comes the big Kubota to be put to the task.

Donna, she is a hard worker!

He had to line it up just so!

Do you think it is too heavy for my truck?

Need to push it in just a little further.

And then just a little more!

How much did you say it weighed?

She said she planned on driving slowly and taking the back roads to get the rock home!

She calls it land fill, one rock at a time!

Keith and Christy

After the Common Ground monthly potluck/annual BBQ at Lake Padden Park, we went on to Sherri's for coffee so Keith and Christy could fill us in on their upcoming wedding plans. Wanting a photo to use for their upcoming wedding announcements, we enjoyed lots of laughs as we snapped dozens of pictures.

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Christy and Keith posing for photos.

Kriss and Fred laughed.
I laughed with Greg.

Marked on our calendars for September 20th is their wedding reception. We all look forward to putting on our dancing shoes and gathering for the party to celebrate their marriage with dancing to Jon's great DJ tunes.

Congratulations, Keith and Christy!