Welcome to 

Yaffa's Yard

Co-Founder | Director

Fun DIY activities and recycling:

Repurposing common items for gardening

September is the perfect time for fun "Do it yourself" projects that also teach about recycling and nutrition. In this newsletter you'll find fun ideas to do with kids or friends, tips on gardening for the fall, and a delicious recipe that will bring back that summertime magic.

Did you know you can turn a simple bottle into a self-watering planter? Here's how: 

Step 1: Cut a plastic bottle in half. The bottom part will hold the water, and the top will be the planter.    

Step 2: Next, thread a piece of fabric or wick through the bottle neck. This will draw water up to the soil. 

Step 3: Fill the top half with soil and plant your seedling. Place it inside the bottom half, which you've filled with water.    

Tip: Make sure to check the water level regularly and refill as needed. This setup keeps your plants hydrated with minimal effort. For bigger plants use bigger containers. 

How would you like to show off your home-grown harvest for Thanksgiving?

There is still time to start growing vegetables that will be ready to harvest by Thanksgiving. Let's put those self-watering planters to use!  

Carrots in containers:

You can grow carrots in as little as 7-9 weeks. For baby or dwarf carrots, a 6-to-8-inch-deep container is needed (a typical 52oz bottle). Standard carrots need a depth of at least 12 inches, so try a half-gallon size container or larger. Combine earth with some sand for an airier mix that allows carrots to grow. Apply low nitrogen fertilizer every 2-3 weeks.  

Peas or beans in containers:

Peas or beans don't require a lot of depth and are easy to sprout. You may want to put the seeds first in moist paper towels and once sprouted plant in containers as small as those from 12fl bottles. You can use bigger containers if desired for more surface area and more plants.

Tip: Try inserting a larger stick in the earth for the vines to grow around.

Aster flowers in containers:

Asters are a hardy flower that come in a variety of colors. They can survive the occasional frost that may come in the fall. Plant seeds in containers as small as those made from 12oz bottles. Dig a hole 1/4 inch deep and drop a couple seeds in the hole.  Seeds should sprout in 10-14 days and it takes about 60-90 days from planting to flowering. 

If you missed our Facebook live ask and answer video with our
Master Gardener Emiliano, you can watch it here!

Pear Crumble:

Eating Well brings us this delicious 1-hour recipe that is just as fun to bake as it is to eat. Make the most of ripe pears at the close of summer and transform them into a mouth-watering crumble, topped off with pecans and caramel.
Enjoy warm with vanilla ice cream! 

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats, 1

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup whole-wheat or all-purpose flour  

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

5 tablespoons canola oil

3 1/2 pounds ripe but firm Anjoy pears, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces

1/2 cup pure maple syrup

1/2 cup raisins

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons minced crystallized ginger

Instructions:

Step 1

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Step 2

To prepare topping: Combine oats, walnuts, brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Drizzle with oil and stir until evenly moist.

Step 3

To prepare filling: Combine pears, maple syrup, raisins, flour, lemon juice, and ginger in a large bowl and mix well. Transfer the mixture to a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Sprinkle the topping over the pears.

Bake the crumble until the pears are tender and the topping is golden, 45 to 50 minutes. Let stand for at least 10 minutes before serving.

Emiliano Camargo

Master Gardener

An Edible Garden is more nourishing than you'd think!

The most critical outcome of edible gardening is getting delicious, nutritious, and priceless produce from our garden beds. Still, there are additional health benefits that come from gardening. From physical activity, to being outdoors, to socializing; gardening is a holistic practice that can enhance our lifestyle and health in more ways than we can imagine. For our healthy ancestors, farming was just life, and for us, gardening can be a great way to engage with nature while we enrich our body and mind doing things we don't get to do at the office. 

Have you read the book Eat Dirt by Dr. Axe? The book is not about making mud pies. It dives into the importance of getting in contact with the healthy microbes that are in natural environments by gardening. Those microbes in healthy doses can enter our body through our hands and feed, and this in healthy doses can make our immune systems more robust. Believe it or not, it is actually super important for our digestion to eat some natural dirt; this can happen naturally if we nibble on the garden plants here and there.

Being outside getting Vitamin D from the sun, sweating, walking barefoot, and even getting a little workout can all be helpful for your body. This is what I call healthy stress. Your skin needs stress to be resilient; a little bit of sun (use proper sunblock!), a small scratch and blister here and there, and even insect bites can be "healthy." All of these micro stresses can exercise your body in ways the gym will never do. As crazy as it sounds, I like my kids to go out into the garden and experience a little discomfort because I know their bodies are getting good training. God willing, they will always be safe; but if they get a little hurt their bodies will adapt to the situation. Our body gets so much feedback on many levels that we don't know all that is happening - but we know it feels good.

When we garden, we can even exercise our social skills by sharing the experience with family and friends. In addition to the meditative state achieved by gardening, the mind is primed to produce new ideas and who knows? Maybe that weed pulling will lead to an office breakthrough! Eating veggies that grew from our love, patience (and blisters!) makes them taste even sweeter - and makes us appreciate what we so easily buy at the grocery store.

Thank you to our Founding Partners!

Thank You To Our Supporting Partners!

Our Contact Information
*{{Organization Name}}*
*{{Organization Address}}*
*{{Organization Phone}}*
*{{Organization Website}}*

*{{Unsubscribe}}*