Scorpacciata!

From recent publication in North Coast Voice…

Fairly recently, while sitting down to the dinner table with a local chef friend, Julie, the introduction to this term and the feast of scorpacciata began. Julie spent most of her cooking career in San Diego and grew up in Ashtabula, Oh. Having moved back to NE Ohio, she now shares her talents and taste with the locals. The essence of the word – to eat locally, abundantly and in season resonates with the soul and taste buds. In fact, many would argue that nothing tastes better than an Ohio tomato fresh off the vine! 

What is good now? Local food is happening all around you! It is a great time to enjoy your local food grocery, market, or neighborhood veggie stand that sits on a road near your house or destination. Ask around to find the best you-pick farms for fresh blueberries right now. Eat some now and throw some in the freezer for later. Garlic was recently harvested and now ready after curing for a few weeks. Tomatoes are coming on strong with basil, eggplants, onions, peppers, squash coming in right next to them…everything you will need for the recipe of the month. And, like scorpacciata…eat it in abundance! Pairs great with some Ohio-grown corn polenta. For dessert, fresh, sweet corn on the cob or a peach cobbler. We all know Ohio sweet corn is fabulous but did you know Ohio-grown peaches are delicious, too? Local wine, beer and spirits – found in and about the local food scene, make for a fabulous and festive feast. 

Watch out – eating so many fresh foods, that are in season, and so tasty, may make you a bit of a food snob. Your taste buds may become accustomed to the bright tones, rich flavor and sweet crunch of local food. You may have to ask, at the next meal you attend, from where are they getting their tomatoes? Or, gasp, you may find yourself growing your own. Then, you can invite your friends to your own scorpacciata…and indulge in the sweet abundance of local and seasonal food!

Makings of ratatouille – local foods in abundance – eaten in season – garden scape 2022 

Ratatouille – the recipe of Mediterranean Vegetable Stew with NE Ohio local veggies and herbs

For scorpacciata fun – go to the farmers’ market nearest you and procure the veggies for this dish there. Get to know your local farmers and/or try growing some herbs for yourself! 

Olive Oil 

1 head fresh garlic 

2 c. onion – diced

1 medium eggplant  or 2 small, long eggplants 

1 ½ t. Salt 

Handful  to a bunch of fresh basil (or, 1 ½ t. dry) 

3 Tablespoons of fresh oregano or 1 t. Dry

½ teaspoon of Rosemary

½ teaspoon of Thyme or 1 Tablespoon of fresh Savory 

1 medium zucchini 

2 medium bell peppers cut – diced 

Fresh ground black pepper 

4-5 fresh and local  tomatoes

1 fresh chili pepper – minced, or, 

Optional – freshly minced parsley 

  1. Heat olive oil in a large pot with a lid or Dutch oven/deep skillet. Add onion and saute over medium heat for 5-7 minutes. Add garlic and cayenne and give it a good stir. 
  2. Add eggplant, tomatoes, peppers, salt and herbs and stir. Continue to cook over medium heat for 5-15 minutes depending on how long it takes to get eggplant soft. Add the rest of the ingredients. 
  3. Cover and simmer until all vegetables are tender. 
  4. Serve hot over a bed of polenta, salad greens or basmati rice. 
  5. Enjoy the fruits of Ohio summer!

Join us, with Julie Meola, for a demonstration of Scorpacciata! at Harbor Gardens on Friday, August 12th at 6pm. Register here!

Welcome, Spring!

Hi, Friends and Neighbors!

We hope you enjoyed a long winter’s rest (two years, in fact). It’s feeling like spring….growth is all around us and babies are hatching in the pods and in the tree nests.

Folks have been requesting a class schedule…here it is for May…let’s enjoy some of it together!

The seed starts on their way: Kale, salad burnet, florist’s blue balloon flower, anise hissup, biquinho pepper, butterfly milkweed, Canterbury bells, compass plant, Eastern Columbine, green shiso, Malabar spinach and perennial beans!

SPRING SCHEDULE AND CALENDAR:

Saturdays starting April 16th

Sour dough! We will also have some loaves of Challah for the holiday! Can you hear French toast in your Easter future? Bread from the home kitchen of Alan at Flannel Dog Farm.

Saturday, April 23 at ACPL 11-2pm

Seed swap and inspiration for the new growing season! Join us and some friends at the Ashtabula County Public Library. This is a free event!

May 7th 12 – 6pm

Dorset Community Food Forest Fundraiser. Food, baskets to be raffled, solidarity, Fun! $13.00 per person – and can be purchased at Harbor Gardens, Dorset Community Store, from Donna Devadoss or Julie Wayman Ashtabula County Local Food Coordinator

Tickets

Monday, May 9 – 6pm How to Make Dandelion Wine with Gallo

For the novice, how to make use of the “weeds” in your back yard! We will have fun discussing the many uses of dandelions and basic fermenting.

Cost of $20.00 includes skills, knowledge, tasting and yeast for making some at home!

Tickets

Friday Nights in May with Local Authors! 6pm and Free

May 13: Donna Devadoss reading from her book, “Who Lives in the Apple Tree Guild: A Look Inside the Permaculture Orchard.”

May 20: Dr. Nancy Rung, “Footprints from a Cross-Eyed Monkey.”

May 27: Dr. Shanon Sterringer, “Forbidden Grace,” the journey of two women separated by centuries and bound by similar philosophy and passion.

Thursday, May 19th

Beans and Greens with Julie Meola

Demonstration kitchen will be open for food fun with Julie! This time this celebrated chef will show us what to do with local greens at this time and make up some organic beans and corn bread (grown in Ohio, of course). $20.00 class fee – tastings included! Meet at 6pm.

Tickets

Saturday, May 21st

Plant walk and early edibles with John of Red Beet Row

John Wright of Red Beet Row, a local agroecology educational farm, will engage you – the walker – in a delightful jaunt around Ashtabula Harbor and identify much to do about plants and local and local foraging! On return, delight in some tastings of local edibles! $20.00 class fee – tastings and walking included! Meet at Harbor Gardens at 1pm.

Tickets

Thursday, May 26

Road Map to Local Food with Julie, Ashtabula Local Food Coordinator

Have some fun food trivia!

5pm at Harbor Gardens – Free event!

Monday, June 6, How to make Kombucha with Gallo

Class will be led by Gallo. You will receive instruction, demo, AND a mother to take home (please bring your own glass container). If you need the equipment for making kombucha at home (one gallon glass jar, muslin clothe) please bring $10.00 to class and we will hook you up. Thank you – We look forward to having some fun with kombucha with you!

Tickets

The general store is open on Bridge Street and ready to serve you – Ohio-grown organic corn meal, spelt/whole wheat/buckwheat flours, beans, tortillas and kombucha. We also carry Lodge cast iron cookware, pressure and water bath canners, glass jars, fermenting crocks, air locks and yeasts.

Additionally: art work by Julene Schwarz and organic bath and body products made locally by Red Beet Row’s Steph Blessing and Stacy Bryan of As Nature Intended.

A few photos from April 2022:

Email us at HarborGardens21@gmail.com

https://www.facebook.com/AshtabulaCountyOhio

Welcome, Spring!

Hi, Friends and Neighbors!

We hope you enjoyed a long winter’s rest (two years, in fact). It’s feeling like spring….growth is all around us and babies are hatching in the pods and in the tree nests.

Folks have been requesting a class schedule…here it is for May…let’s enjoy some of it together!

The seed starts on their way: Kale, salad burnet, florist’s blue balloon flower, anise hissup, biquinho pepper, butterfly milkweed, Canterbury bells, compass plant, Eastern Columbine, green shiso, Malabar spinach and perennial beans!

SPRING SCHEDULE AND CALENDAR:

Saturdays starting April 16th

Sour dough! We will also have some loaves of Challah for the holiday! Can you hear French toast in your Easter future? Bread from the home kitchen of Alan at Flannel Dog Farm.

Saturday, April 23 at ACPL 11-2pm

Seed swap and inspiration for the new growing season! Join us and some friends at the Ashtabula County Public Library. This is a free event!

May 7th 12 – 6pm

Dorset Community Food Forest Fundraiser. Food, baskets to be raffled, solidarity, Fun! $13.00 per person – and can be purchased at Harbor Gardens, Dorset Community Store, from Donna Devadoss or Julie Wayman Ashtabula County Local Food Coordinator

Tickets

Monday, May 9 – 6pm How to Make Dandelion Wine with Gallo

For the novice, how to make use of the “weeds” in your back yard! We will have fun discussing the many uses of dandelions and basic fermenting.

Cost of $20.00 includes skills, knowledge, tasting and yeast for making some at home!

Tickets

Friday Nights in May with Local Authors! 6pm and Free

May 13: Donna Devadoss reading from her book, “Who Lives in the Apple Tree Guild: A Look Inside the Permaculture Orchard.”

May 20: Dr. Nancy Rung, “Footprints from a Cross-Eyed Monkey.”

May 27: Dr. Shanon Sterringer, “Forbidden Grace,” the journey of two women separated by centuries and bound by similar philosophy and passion.

Thursday, May 19th

Beans and Greens with Julie Meola

Demonstration kitchen will be open for food fun with Julie! This time this celebrated chef will show us what to do with local greens at this time and make up some organic beans and corn bread (grown in Ohio, of course). $20.00 class fee – tastings included! Meet at 6pm.

Tickets

Saturday, May 21st

Plant walk and early edibles with John of Red Beet Row

John Wright of Red Beet Row, a local agroecology educational farm, will engage you – the walker – in a delightful jaunt around Ashtabula Harbor and identify much to do about plants and local and local foraging! On return, delight in some tastings of local edibles! $20.00 class fee – tastings and walking included! Meet at Harbor Gardens at 1pm.

Tickets

Thursday, May 26

Road Map to Local Food with Julie, Ashtabula Local Food Coordinator

Have some fun food trivia!

5pm at Harbor Gardens – Free event!

Monday, June 6, How to make Kombucha with Gallo

Class will be led by Gallo. You will receive instruction, demo, AND a mother to take home (please bring your own glass container). If you need the equipment for making kombucha at home (one gallon glass jar, muslin clothe) please bring $10.00 to class and we will hook you up. Thank you – We look forward to having some fun with kombucha with you!

Tickets

The general store is open on Bridge Street and ready to serve you – Ohio-grown organic corn meal, spelt/whole wheat/buckwheat flours, beans, tortillas and kombucha. We also carry Lodge cast iron cookware, pressure and water bath canners, glass jars, fermenting crocks, air locks and yeasts.

Additionally: art work by Julene Schwarz and organic bath and body products made locally by Red Beet Row’s Steph Blessing and Stacy Bryan of As Nature Intended.

A few photos from April 2022:

Email us at HarborGardens21@gmail.com

https://www.facebook.com/AshtabulaCountyOhio

Coming Soon!

Harbor Gardens – 1022 Bridge Street – Ashtabula – OH – 44004

Be on the lookout for all-things (especially food) from Ashtabula County. We will be opening up the demonstration kitchen for locally-grown vittles and classes on how you can do it, too! For example – we will be having a sweet and spicy pepper class, fermenting class and canning class this fall. You will be able to sign-up and register in person or on-line.

We look forward to seeing you soon!

Introduce Yourself (Example Post)

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

  • Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
  • Because it will help you focus your own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

  • Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
  • What topics do you think you’ll write about?
  • Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
  • If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.

Introduce Yourself (Example Post)

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

  • Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
  • Because it will help you focus your own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

  • Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
  • What topics do you think you’ll write about?
  • Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
  • If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.

Introduce Yourself (Example Post)

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

  • Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
  • Because it will help you focus your own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

  • Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
  • What topics do you think you’ll write about?
  • Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
  • If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.