Two months ago I dropped my camera face-first into the soupy mix of treated sewage at this year’s wet and wild Austin City Limits music festival. While I was without the graphic support of images, I took a short break from the blogosphere and rejoined the land of the living. I spent a couple of weeks working in our Dallas office. I spent time with my friends. I ran the Race for the Cure. I saw some great bands. I discovered new artists on the East Austin Studio Tour. I spent a few Saturdays at Johnson’s Backyard Garden and celebrated Citizen Gardener graduation at the Barr Mansion. I reunited with a friend who returned from Afghanistan in August, and discovered an exciting new relationship. And all the while, my garden kept on growing.

first carrot. suspicious.

Since the last update in September I’ve added radishes, cilantro and sage to my garden. My baby carrots exploded into tall ferny greens, and my heirloom tomatoes had finally started to push out golf-ball sized babies. My green peppers were still producing wildly, and my fresh basil continued to be the backbone of the tomato/feta/basil salads I’ve grown to love so much. Things were looking pretty darn good. I was really excited about my heirloom tomatoes. Mother Nature, however, had other plans.

frosty.

On Friday afternoon little tiny snowflakes ran panicked in the air, clearly confused as to why they’d been sent to this part of the world. Friday night brought temperatures in the 20’s. Standing water froze solid. But water in other areas froze solid too – water in plant leaves and vegetables, particularly. In spite of my pathetic attempt at blanketing my plants with an old shower curtain, my tomatoes, peppers & basil plants didn’t survive our first hard freeze. The good news is that my carrots & radishes are going to flourish now that they’re out of the shadows of these larger plants. I’m also excited to begin clearing out these less hardy plants so that I can begin implementing my plans for the garden next year. With the experience gleaned from this first year, plus the expanded space from the new raised bed that I built last week, 2010 should be a year with a little better productivity, a few less mistakes, and perhaps a few more experiments!

Here are more pictures of the destruction.  Next year I will harvest before this happens – so much food wasted!

droopy peppers & tomatoes.

compost fodder.

more compost fodder.

all cleaned up & almost ready for 2010.

Let me tell you all – it has been one crazy month.  And I’m not just saying that because I’ve turned thirty and the world is suddenly flying by me at a rapid pace.  I’m saying that because just one month ago I made the decision to put together a benefit for Sustainable Food Center and I only gave myself three weeks to do it.   While it was admittedly a stressful & challenging three weeks, I don’t regret the decision for one minute.  I had the help of some fantastic friends (Sara P., Andy, Melissa, Hollie, Sarah Cash – you are awesome).  And I had the support of an entire community of people who are genuinely interested in our food future.  I want to use this post to look back and appreciate all that came together in such a short time and provide some insight into some of the phenomenal things that came from it.

First of all, we raised $374 for Sustainable Food Center - a fantastic little chunk of change for a non-profit!  Susan Leibrock, Community Relations Director from SFC, shared with me that just 5% of SFC’s annual budget comes from private donations.  Events like this soiree are critical to helping SFC generate funds through private donations.

The second amazing and unexpected thing I experienced while organizing this event was the involvement of people & the community.  I have never seen such a tremendous outpouring of support - it was downright overwhelming.   I sent cold-call emails to folks I’d never met before and they were happy, if not eager to support the cause.  Paula from Paula’s Texas Spirits was the perfect example.  I emailed her to see if they would be willing to donate a small item to give away as a raffle prize.   Paula responded with this:

How do you respond to that?  Words could not express my delight over receiving this email.  Of COURSE I wanted Paula to come mix some drinks!  And that’s exactly what she did – showed up on Sunday with a cooler in hand & mixes of some of the best cocktails our guests had ever tasted. 

Through similar cold-call emails I received gift certifcates from Greenling.com, Wheatsville Co-op, Farmhouse Delivery, Boggy Creek Farm & Waterstone Aesthetics.  Tito’s vodka & Paula’s Texas Spirits chipped in gift baskets to raffle off.   Trey from U-Clique Studio agreed to come out and set up his hilariously fun photo-booth for the day (and was kind enough to put the “NSFW” photos in a secret, seperate account for us) and Jeff from Break it Down Austin brought out a compost bin.  Throughout the day we loaded it up with corn-starch plates, compostable tableware & kitchen scraps.  Amy from Independence Brewery chipped in a keg of delicious Austin Amber, and even Miscellaneous Rentals got in the action by giving us a sweet discount on rental tables & chairs for the day.  One of the crowd favorites was by Diana of The Cake Lab, who brought by her famous carrot cake cupcakes that gave us visions of sweets all through the next week.   

That all of these folks contributed at all was such a gift – but that they agreed to contribute on such short notice was a blessing.

And then, of course, there were my friends & co-workers who came out to show their support.  Whether you were there to party, to support SFC, or just to say happy birthday & support my cause: thank you for coming out and contributing to this event with your time, $ and cooking skills.  This event could not and would not have happened without you – I am so grateful!

For more pictures from the event, check out Melissa Robledo’s photographs: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cooperella/sets/72157622437122066/

And our photobooth pictures:
http://ucliquestudio.blogspot.com/2009/09/mindys-birthday-bash-and-benefit-mixer.html

For her ability to please bellies & bring yelps & whistles during the judging round, Mallary received a $15 gift certificate to Boggy Creek Farm.  

Below is the recipe for these yummy eggs, which hails from her hometown in Louisiana.  Thanks for sharing your recipe & cooking skills with us, Mallary!

Mallary with her hard-earned gift certificate to Boggy Creek.

Deviled Eggs

1- Boil eggs for 8 minutes.  Cover for 8 minutes.  Run under cold water – add ice – peel immediately.  Cut eggs in 1/2.

2- Place yolks in a bowl.  Crumble yolks with a fork.  Add all ingredients.  Salt & Pepper to taste.  

3- Stuff egg whites.  Can cut into quarter slices, if desired. 

4- Half or quarter green olives & add as garnish to top of finished eggs.

Sarah with her judges: Sara Partridge, myself & Andy Thibodaux.

Congratulations to Sarah Cash, the winner of the Judge’s Favorite award on Sunday!

Sarah’s tomatoes were garlicky, oily, seasoned, DELICIOUS, and best of all: local.  She purchased her supplies from farmers at the Sunset Valley Farmer’s Market – even her olive oil was Texas-made!

For her hard work & deadly/delicious tomatoes, Sarah received a copy of Growing Good Things to Eat in Texas, by Paula Walker.  She was kind enough to share her recipe & personal notes, which I am copying below.  Thanks, Sarah for your good cooking & committment to local farmers!

Pomodori al Forno

1- Prehead oven to 250.  Pour 1/2 cup oil into 13 x 9 x 2 glass baking dish.

2- Arrange tomatoes cut side up.  Drizzle with remaining 1/2 cup oil.  Sprinkle w/oregano, sugar & salt.  Bake 1 hour.  Using tongs, turn tomatoes over.  Bake 1 hour longer.  Turn tomatoes over again, bake until deep red and very tender, transferring tomatoes to plate when soft (time will vary depending on ripeness of tomates) about 15 – 45 minutes longer.

3- Layer tomateos in medium bowl, sprinkling garlic & parsley over each layer.  Drizzle tomatoes with oil from dish adding more if necessary to cover.  Let stand at room tempurature 2 hours.  Cover, chill up to 5 days.  Bring to room temp before serving.

Serve with aged goat cheese & toasted baguette slices.

Sarah also included these notes on how she adapts this recipe to her liking:

Congrats & Thanks again to Sarah!

While I await some much-anticipated photos from Sunday’s successful birthday benefit, I wanted to share with you one of the most awesomest creations to appear at my party: Hollie’s garden-themed cupcakes.  When asked how long they took to create, Hollie answered, “You don’t even want to know…”. 

The toppings are all edible, created out of things like graham crackers, starburst, even icing-coated cornflakes to create individual leaves on a head of cabbage.   Unbelievable, isn’t it?

Click on the photo below for more info on these amazing works of art – and be sure to check out Hollie’s other creative endeavor, rubigirl photography, while you check out her website!

Check back soon for a full recap of Sunday’s event!