Gardens Grow Minds: Schools as Green Educator Author Mary Quattlebaum’s new article discusses value of school gardens and highlights a native plant pollinator garden I have had worked on. Mary’s new book is Jo MacDonald Had a Garden is a lovely book for young children to sing along with. Dawn Publications has many books that share stories about children in nature.

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Thanks to all who visited the Abundant Backyard tent at Fenton Street Market yesterday. I hope all the moms’ enjoy the fragrant herbal porch pantry container baskets they receive today. In effort to reduce paper waste, I promised recipes and instructions posted for the baskets.

Care Instructions: At least 4 hours of sun. Let herbs dry out between watering- Too much moisture may cause root/leaf rot. Note: Wash all flowers, herbs and greens before consuming. Do Not Eat Moss -it only used for decorative purposes and to retain moisture. Snip leaves on all plants to keep compact in container. In a few months, consider transplanting to larger containers or put in ground. Some are perennials and will return each year.

Fragrant Tea Herbs

Lavender has been valued as a scented herb throughout the centuries. The fragrance of lavender is known to relax and soothe the mind and the body.
Chamomile a fragrant herb known for its apple-like taste and scent. In fact, this relative of the daisy gets its name from the Greek word kamai, meaning melon or ground apple. For thousands of years, people all over the world have been brewing chamomile into teas to aid digestion and calm nerves.
Lemon Verbena Very fragrant strong lemony flavor, you can plant in your garden to grow to become a 4 foot tall shrub. It can be used to add lemon flavor to drinks, marinades, or butters.
Chocolate Mint very strong mint used for teas. Has a smell like a peppermint patty. Add fresh leaves to strawberries for a special treat. Great dried and added to black tea or used by itself.

Seasoning/Grilling Herbs
Curry Plant Has a strong aroma with a sage like fragrance or that of a mixture of curry spices. It is not the same as the curry spice. Use sparingly in dressings to season salads or to flavor meats, such as chicken (tuck it under the skin of the poultry during cooking). Add the leaves to soups, stews, steamed vegetables, rice dishes and pickles for a mild curry flavor. Remove sprig before serving.
Thyme this herb imparts intense flavor to the recipes and should be added sparingly. In order to keep the fragrance and flavor intact, thyme herb is generally added at the last moment in the cooking recipes. This is because, prolonged cooking results in evaporation of its essential oils.
Sage It is generally used in marinades for meat, fish, pork sausage, lamb and even vegetables like peas, eggplants, lima beans and carrots. It is the perfect seasoning for poultry. It is also used as a flavoring in certain biscuits, scones, breads and other baked foods. When added in small quantities at the start of cooking, it pairs up nicely with other cooking herbs, like rosemary, thyme and oregano.
Corsican Mint An indispensable herb for many dishes; it easily complements chocolate just as naturally as it does a rack of lamb. The herb enlivens Middle Eastern meat dishes, is behind tabbouleh’s flavor, and along with cilantro and basil, contributes a distinctive herbal freshness to Thai and Vietnamese salads and soups.
Marjoram is suitable for all meats, fish and poultry. It’s sweet and spicy taste and aroma is very versatile. Use it in egg dishes, soups, stews, potatoes, squash, marinades, and in salads. Its great combined with bay, garlic, onion, thyme, and basil. Try adding 2 tablespoons of minced marjoram to your cornbread recipes, or a tablespoon of fresh in minestrone soups.
Rosemary Used in a wide variety of dishes, including fruit salads, soups, vegetables, meats (especially lamb), fish, eggs, stuffings, dressings, and even desserts. Rosemary is a delightful herb in both savory and sweet recipes.

DISCLAIMER: Great care was taken to provide pesticide free, eco friendly plants. The Abundant Backyard and its Sole Proprietor assume no liability associated with the consumption of any other foods sold at market or through its website. The purchase of such materials from the Abundant Backyard and its Sole Proprietor presumes that the user assumes all risk associated with such use. Do not take herbs during pregnancy or breastfeeding without doctor’s advice.

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Come to The Abundant Backyard tent at Fenton St. Market in Silver Spring on Mother’s Day Weekend
Enter a drawing for a gift basket that celebrates the abundance of our region with locally produced, sustainable products!
Basket Includes:
Abundant Backyard Gift Certificate for One hour “Garden Buddy” Consultation for ideas on sustainable gardening strategies to make your landscape deer resistant, drought tolerant with cost saving perennial blooms!
Banner Bee Company Honey-recently voted by Maryland Life Magazine as Maryland’s finest.
Black Ankle Vineyards (Mid Atlantic Award Winning Vintner) Passeggiata Maryland Wine
Chesapeake Bay Roasting Company Coffee- the Mid-Atlantic’s premiere coffee roaster focused on sustainability. 2 cans and coffee mug
El Rosal Sewing Cooperative- Handcrafted Reusable Grocery Bag
Amy Carmichael Smith, local Silver Spring Photographer -Handmade Set of Note cards of Native Flower Photos
Suggested Donation $1.00 per drawing entry- all proceeds to go to help Silver Spring Green achieve its vision for A vibrant clean, green economy and healthy quality of life for all who live, work and play in the greater Silver Spring area.

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Come see us each Saturday in May! Despite the chill and overcast sky it was a great day for the new 2012 season at the market. The Abundant Backyard responded to Fenton St. Market customers' requests last year by creating edible container gardens for balconies and porches with locally grown pesticide free plants in reclaimed containers. Collections include a Fragrant Herbal Tea Plants, Woody Herbs for Grilling and Roasting and a colorful Salad Sampler of edible flowers, greens and herbs. We will also be selling our Sustainable Native Plant Sampler Kits with plants native to the mid Atlantic for Shade Gardens and Butterfly Gardens.

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Hands on Heritage -Exploring Community Museums is my new article, in February’s Washington Parent Magazine. It features 3 community based museums with interactive family activities that take you back in time while exploring the cultures of local residents. Plan family outings to each of these museums located in Great Falls, VA, Anacostia/Southeast, DC and Sandy Spring, MD. Each museum provides a differerent snapshot of the diverse communities that built the greater DC Metro region. Expand your family’s sense of place to the larger community through connections you discover to the past.

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Less need for cold frames for your winter lettuce crop? Tomatoes and eggplants fresh from the garden to your Thanksgiving table? These are only a few of the changes local gardeners have noticed over the last several years convincing them climate change is upon us. In fact, suspicions were confirmed last Wednesday, January 25, 2012, when the USDA released a new plant hardiness zone map. This map is the standard by which gardeners and growers determine which plants are most likely to thrive at a location. The map is based on the average annual minimum winter temperature over the past 30 years, divided into 10-degree F zones. Much of our Chesapeake Bay region including lower Delaware is now in a warmer zone which in the past had only gone as far north as Tidewater VA. For example, many areas of Virginia and Maryland are now in Zone 7. Prior to the map change, these states were in the colder Zone 6, along with much of the Appalachian piedmont.

Not only does this impact a longer growing season for fruits and vegetables, but it also provides longer bloom time for garden natives into late fall and an earlier flowering of spring bulbs. However, the new USDA zone map is only a guide and each garden site should also take into account the affect of nearby buildings, soil drainage and other factors that affect plant success. The map does not indicate rainfall and is not used to officially track climate change.

This weather change provided fresh picked sage, rosemary and thyme harvested out the kitchen door for our New Year’s dinner.

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Our school’s Art Teacher, Miss Chiddo introduced the 2nd grade class to art of Georgia O”Keefe and then asked the class to do their own paintings of the fall flowers in the school garden. 

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The 5th graders at our school recently studied how different parts of an ecosystem interact in our school’s native plant pollinator garden.  They were very engaged in dentifying  producers, consumers, decomposers and examples of symbiois.   During their exploration they found our resident praying mantis who has been in the garden since school began.  They named him Fred.   They also found a family of salamanders, spider webs, aphids, and other insects.  The highlight of the garden lab was dissecting fallen logs to discover the interedependent world of fungi, lichen, termites, centipedes, grubs who all were sustained in the woody decomposing remains.  Also as part of the lab they identified a food chain of plants, insects and animals living in the garden.

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Here is the progression over 3 years!

3 Years Later July 2011

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A favorite part of parenting has been watching children discover and explore the world around them. It is an invitation to step out of our daily routines, see our surroundings with new eyes and reclaim a sense of wonder. For ideas in creating discovery areas in your own backyard check out my latest article on page 56 in the June Washington Parent Magazine.

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