Monday, May 23, 2011

Forage For Wild Edibles & Mushrooms



July 18, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. 
With Alan Muskat, The Mushroom Man Muskat_Alan.jpg
Join Asheville's epicure of the 
obscure, Alan Muskat, on a quest for 
the edible and incredible wild 
mushroom! 

Alan really knows 
how to pick ‘em. Since 
1995, he’s sold hundreds of 
punds of wild mushrooms a 
year to restaurants & hotels 
including The Biltmore 
Estate & The Grove Park 
Inn. 

Author of Wild Mushrooms: 
A Taste of Enchantment, this 
stand-up comedian has 
popped up in The New 
Yorker and in Country 
Living. He even appeared 
on the Travel Channel’s 
Bizarre Foods with celebrity 
epicure Andrew Zimmern.  

 
During the workshop we will sample “exotic” local wild fruit, ants 
and other extreme cuisine.  Learn how to safely find, identify, 
appreciate — maybe even eat — these 
elusive delights! 

Workshop will be held at  
Tom Gray’s Pottery  
1480 Fork Creek Mill in Seagrove 
Fee: $45  
Includes 40 pg 
introductory 
E-book 

Deadline for 
Registration 
is June 15 
To Register, call Anne Pärtna at (910) 428-9001  

Or visit STARworks at 
100 Russell Drive in Star 
Space is Limited. Register Early! 

For more information visit 
www.starworksnc.org 

Summer heat is here.

Just a quick update on what's up in the garden. As you see the rose bush has been putting out some beautiful blooms!

We had another Star Elementary School first grade class in the garden a few weeks ago.
They had a lot of fun painting pictures of what they saw and experienced in the garden - we tasted strawberries and peas for instance:)
 I put their stories and pictures together into a book and delivered it to their classroom last week. The same kids came to the garden in April and planted sunflower seeds, and this time they got to see how much their plants had grown. Those flowers have again doubled since...
 The "other" STARworks Garden complex is looking pretty good too. Potatoes are in bloom and I expect to start pulling some taters out in mid June, to add to the CSA shares. I have also planted nearly 60 tomato plants there - all of which need pruning and cages by now!!!
 The pear tree by the greenhouse is loaded with fruit and the branches really need support... I hope to get to it this week. There may be enough pears for every CSA share to get one to taste...
 And since I have already mentioned CSA - here's some of what goes out with the shares this week:
I pulled the first red onions and garlic, there are greens (not pictured) and carrots and some beets and beet greens. Quite a variety of herbs also: dill, parsley, sage, oregano, green onion, thyme, cat mint, rosemary.
 And last but not least - the lily bulbs I planted last year came back strong and are in full bloom now! That deep red is gorgeous!

Monday, May 2, 2011

Spring is in full bloom!

Today was the first day or STARworks Garden CSA first session which runs from the beginning of May through the end of July.
Asian greens, lettuce, kale and cool weather herbs are available for a few weeks. Hopefully soon we can pull the first beets - they are looking great right now.

The week before last (last week was a SPring Break for Montgomery county kids) we had 2 first grade classes from Star Elementary in the garden, planting seeds, and painting labels to take home for their own little garden patches.




Everybody had a good time, and will be back this week, to draw, paint and write a story about plants and bugs and growing good things!
Below is a picture of a bed that 3'rd graders planted 3 years ago - the poppies they planted have settled in well, and come back every year!