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The pawpaw fruit is custard-like and smooth, with a delicious flavour and $$PLAIN_TEXT_PREVIEW$$
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Fig Festival, Farming at 15, Urban Farming Program, Soup Festival, Grow Pawpaw, Heat-Free Hot Peppers
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Welcome. I’m Steven Biggs, a farm, food, and garden writer and speaker. This is my newsletter. Thank you for your interest in what I do. |
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Gardening can take patience. This fall I harvested my first pawpaw fruit. I’ve been eagerly waiting for fruit from my pawpaw tree for…over a dozen years! It was a worthwhile wait. The fruit is custard-like and smooth, with a delicious flavour and smell. I didn’t expect it to take so long, but there were setbacks. First, I moved…and had to dig up and move the pawpaw tree, which slowed it down. Then I realized I needed two trees, so I planted another. And when things were looking promising, a neighbour’s tree dropped a big bough on one of my fruiting-size pawpaw trees and broke off a lot of branches. If you’re interested in growing Pawpaw in Ontario, click here to read more about the work of horticulturist Dan Bissonnette, a pawpaw expert who has written a pawpaw growers manual. If you’re looking for pawpaw trees, check out Grimo Nut Nursery in Niagara on the Lake. |
My daughter Emma and I are stoked to be involved in the Toronto Soupalicious festival again this year. We’ll be making a tomato-basil soup with chef Barb Zabinsky. Drop by the Plant • Grow • Share a Row table where Emma will be sharing seeds from many of the 130+ tomato varieties she had in our garden this year. This even is all about harvest and sharing. Proceeds support the Plant • Grow • Share a Row program, which fosters relationships between communities and their food banks, and helps communities plant, grow and harvest produce for local food banks. Click here to find out how you can grow and share. |
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I was honoured to teach vegetable propagation at Durham College again this past summer. The college has created a field-to-fork Food and Farming program, focused on urban and small-scale agriculture, on a former suburban industrial site. Culinary students at the college get to see food being grown; farming students learn about food preparation and the food industry. In the August episode of The Garage Gardeners Show I chatted with Durham College field supervisor Ryan Cullen. Ryan manages the diverse market garden that includes fruit, small fruit, cut flowers, field vegetables, greenhouse vegetables, and microgreens. Click here to tune in and hear about this game-changing food and farming college program. |
“We actually got figs…can’t believe it! Thanks to the Fig Pig’s guidebook: “Grow Figs Where You Think You Can’t.”
Thank you to Emma who shared her success with me on Instagram! |
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Are you passionate about the food system? I recommend that you check out a really useful newsletter by food thinker Wayne Roberts. He calls it Wayne’s Weekly Hacks. Wayne says that he wants to, “Help readers become more effective, successful, and fulfilled as volunteers, workers, farmers, home cooks, gardeners, landscapers, dietitians, researchers, activists, actionists, educators, bloggers, promoters, artisans, cooperators, entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs and food dudes for the real food revolution.” |
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Over the years, as I have written about the Toronto food scene, I have repeatedly turned to Wayne for his insights. I got to know him when he managed the Toronto Food Policy Council, a group of citizens, food activists, and experts that helps shape civic food policy. Wayne’s books include The No-Nonsense Guide to World Food and Food for City Building; A Field Guide for Planners, Actionists and Entrepreneurs. Click here to sign up for Wayne’s newsletter. Click here to listen to my chat with Wayne about growing food in cities in the latest episode of The Garage Gardeners Show.
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Ocracoke Fig FestivalI have never been to Ocracoke Island in North Carolina…but it is on my to-visit list. High on the list. That’s because there is a fig festival there every August. I chatted with Sundae Horn, who helps to organize the Ocracoke Fig Festival. She told me that this two-day festival celebrates figs through food, history, music, and all sorts of fig stuff. Find out more about the festival—and find the recipe for Ocracoke fig cake—at the website for the Ocracoke Preservation Society. Click here to tune into my interview with Sundae.
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Farming at 15In a recent episode of The Garage Gardeners show we chatted with 15-year-old farmer Dawson Mehalko from Texas. Dawson is in his second year of commercial production, and is selling at market, to restaurants, and directly to customers. He shares his tips on both growing and the business of growing. Dawson shares photos of his farm, Jubilant Fields Farm, on Instagram @jubilantfieldsfarm. Click here to find out about Dawson’s business and approach to growing. |
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From Harrowsmith Jr: A Real Peach of a Velvety TomatoBy Emma Biggs The name says it all about this tomato: delicious, fuzzy, and pretty, just like the orchard-fresh peaches we all love. Feels like a Peach The first thing that comes to my mind when I think of a peach is the fuzz. When I think of a tomato, I think of smooth, waxy skin. But just like a peach, the ‘Garden Peach’ tomato is fuzzy! This tomato feels like velvet! Looks like a Peach It not only feels like a peach, but looks like one too, with a thin yellow skin that has a pink blush when ripe. The inside of this beautiful tomato is yellow with a tiny bit of red. The size is a bit smaller than a peach, usually 55-110 grams. The flavour is deliciously mild, sweet, and fruity. It is very juicy, just like a good peach. Read the rest of Emma’ blog for Harrowsmith Magazine here. |
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Kids Gardening VideosEmma and her friend Ty in Pennsylvania have been busy sharing their love of gardening and cooking in another season of videos for kids on their channel From Dirt to Dishes. Here are some of Emma’s gardening videos. Please share, subscribe, and help inspire more kids to garden! |
Grow Lemons Where You Think You Can’tHurray! My book Grow Lemons Where You Think You Can’t is now available as an e-book. Want to look inside? Click here. Or click the picture of it to find out about getting a paperback copy. |
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Gardening with EmmaWe have been getting a lot of great feedback about Gardening with Emma. We love this heartwarming note: “We have been inspired to plan our own gardens for next summer by your Gardening With Emma book, which was given to us by our Grandma. (She has a huge garden with both flowers and vegetables). We just looked up where to buy some cucamelon seeds, and are looking forward to planting them next spring.”
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Garage Gardeners ShowOur guests share tips on how to push garden boundaries. Live on Reality Radio 101, 2 pm ET, the first Wednesday of every month. Previous episodes are on the web page and Apple Podcasts. We cover subjects ranging from veg in the Yukon, edible flowers, container gardening, backyard chickens, year-round herbs, northern nuts, figs in the north, passive solar greenhouses, fruit on the prairies, straw-bale gardening, and year-round veg gardening. |
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