Yesterday morning we were able to harvest our first beans from the IE site at Wellwood Park tennis courts. Our first pick of the season yielded about 60 mature Provider green beans and 1 Golden Rocky bean. We hope our Red Silk beans - which need 85 days to mature - will recover from all the rain, begin to flower and bear beautiful red beans! You can store unwashed fresh beans in a reusable container or plastic bag in the refrigerator crisper where they should keep for about seven days. Green beans can also retain valuable amounts of nutrients for 3-6 months after freezing, so if you choose the freezing option, rinse them in cool water, drain, cut to your desired size, then place them in freezer bags and storing them in your freezer.

If you are lucky - like Merchantville - you have farmer's markets in your area. But that can get very expensive and take time - driving to the market, parking, then make your way through others trying to get their fresh produce in the few hours that the market is open. So what is the alternative? Growing your own food. It's possible on a small scale, regardless of time, space, money and knowledge. And, encouraging children to grow their own food is one of the best things parents can do. It teaches them responsibility for a living thing, that vegetables can taste good and that they can become more self sufficient and not reliant on big food companies. If you need help getting started message us at IE Merchantville!

What can an Incredible Edible group do relating to the business plate? Just by growing food in public places, allowing people to see plants in the ground and harvesting the produce when it’s ready, you’re encouraging people to think about where their food comes from – and that isn’t a vacuum packed plastic tub from the supermarket. There are other things you can do so people think about where their food comes from when they decide what they’re next going to spend their well-earned money on. Our own Eclipse Brewing is a super example spinning the IE business plate.

Here's a video update on how the three bean varieties  and the pollinator garden along the Wellwood Park tennis courts are progressing after the first month. Several of the beans are just beginning to bloom with a sweet light purple flower - good news that those plants have fully matured and are ready to begin reproducing. The west side of our tennis planter area gets significantly more sun than the east - something to keep in mind next year - but, I expect those east side stragglers to catch up.

Mother Earth News shares a great article on how you can simply recycle your own grounds and expect to produce a few pounds of beautiful oyster mushrooms a week—at which point you’ll need to create an oyster mushroom dressing, sautéing your harvest in a balsamic vinaigrette and tossing it over fresh greens crumbled with feta cheese. Step-by-step instructions.