Join us at Rita's Water Ice (1356 E. Passyunk, on the corner of 10th and Reed) on Thursday, May 31 6-9pm. Show your Co-Op spirit while getting your water ice fix! A portion of all proceeds benefit the co-op - the more water ice we eat, the more money we make. So round up your friends to stop by. South Philly Celebrities Scooper to be announced!

First of all, thanks to everyone who came to the container gardening workshop this past Sunday!  It was fun and hopefully informative and we planted some seeds.  My little sunflowers are juuuuuust starting to sprout in my front window:

These sunflowers sprout very quickly so don't be worried if none of your seeds have sprouted yet.  In general seeds tend to sprout in 7-10 days, depending on the seeds.  Just be sure to keep the soil moist and put them in a place with light once you see the first sprouts, since they need the sun.

I've finally moved all of my plants outside for the summer and they are so much happier (yes, they told me.)  Just remember that it's quite a transition for them going from inside, where the temperature stays relatively stable all the time and the sun isn't very strong, to outside, where the temperature fluctuates wildly and there is wind and rain and lots of strong sun.  My seedlings I put out in the sun right away since they need all the sun they can get.  But if you have a plant that was not getting lots of sun over the winter you'll want to start it off in a somewhat shaded spot outside.  Then you can move it to a sunnier spot and it won't be too shocked by the transition.  Here's one of my figs that I put out in the sun for its portrait but will be staying in the shade of the tree for a few more days before it goes to full sun:

This fig (from the Rittenhouse Square farmer's market last summer) has always been the strongest of my two figs and I'm not showing you the other fig because it has all of two leaves on it.  This one, though, in addition to all the leaves also has buds at the end of each branch.  It's crazy how two plants of the same species (different cultivars though) can behave like two totally different plants:  one I have to baby and watch closely and this one just keeps on going.  I'll repot this one soon because it's getting a little big and looks like it needs more room to grow.

I'm sharing this picture of my thyme because it's embarrassing how many times I've gone to the grocery store and bought a little thyme plant to use in one recipe and then let it die by forgetting about it (same goes for basil and rosemary.)  I keep reading that it's not worth it to grow herbs from seed since they're so readily available but I loved all my basil last year and this thyme hopefully I'll be able to keep alive.  It's really simple - there's not even any repotting needed for this thyme because I planted the seeds in a fairly big pot.  The basil I will have to eventually repot but that's pretty easy, too.  I've just learned that if I take the time to start things from seed I won't forget about them; if I just buy a little plant I will almost definitely forget about it and then feel like a monster for killing it.

I still do have some stuff inside, mostly because I've run out of pots for transplanting.  Here are my peppers, which I'm growing mostly for pest control but maybe they will be delicious and change my stance on peppers, which right now is that I'll eat them if they're in something but I'd rather avoid them.  These are little yellow stuffing peppers:

And here are some more tomatoes; these are Jersey Giant which is another kind of Beefsteak:

It's high time these little giants (HA) got repotted.  You don't want to let them go too long since the roots will get crazy and all tangled in each other and it won't be pretty.  Of course you can also avoid this by using actual seed starting trays with a separate spot for each seed but really, that would be far too easy.  Also I don't feel the need to buy things just for starting seeds when I've done well enough just starting them in my many containers that would otherwise sit empty and take up precious space.

I'll leave you with a shot of my chives, which would look awesome in one of those planters shaped like a head because look  how hair-like it looks:

 

Volunteering at some of our upcoming member recruitment activities that will also help raise money for our start-up costs and spread the word about the Co-op is another great way to help out. Member-owner households can take care of part of their yearly, 8-hour volunteer commitment while not-yet member-owners can come and hang out with some really great volunteers and committee people. See below for upcoming opportunities. Coffee with the Co-op When: Saturday, May 12, 9am  noon Where: Red Hook Coffee & Tea in Queen Village (765 South 4th Street, 19147) When: Saturday May 19, 9am - noon Where: Ultimo in Newbold (1900 South 15th Street, 19145) A great way to meet your neighbors and future co-op members!  Volunteers will distribute information about the Co-op, answer questions, distribute membership applications, and accept equity payments. Volunteers will be paired with an experienced committee member. These have been very successful so far in recruiting members and volunteers who have participated have reported that people really enjoy the interaction (and that there are plenty of nice dogs to pet). Lo-Mo Flea Market When: Saturday May 19th, 9am - 3pm (there are two shifts) Where: Broad and Snyder Volunteers will staff a flea market table, helping to sell kitchen related items that have been donated to the Co-op, as well as distribute information about the Co-op, answer questions, and accept member applications.  Volunteers will be paired with an experienced committee member. Shift 1 - 9am to noon (will help with set up) Shift 2 - Noon to 3pm (will help break down) ***We are also looking for donations of kitchen items to sell at the flea market. Gather your extra garlic press, your neglected napkins, your mismatched mixing bowls and we’ll resell them, with all proceeds benefitting the Co-Op. No kitchen items are too large, too small, or too weird. Drop your items off at one of the following locations and times:

• Leigh’s House: Tuesday, May 15 7-9pm at 1409 S. Franklin Street (look for the garage on S. Franklin, off Reed between 7th and 8th Streets)
• At the Flea Market: Saturday, May 19, 9am-3pm at Broad Street between Snyder and Jackson. Find the SPFC table (We'll update Facebook with a morning specific location that morning), say hey, and drop off your wares!

South Philly Food Co-op General Meeting When: Tuesday May 22nd 6:00pm - 8:30pm Where: South Philadelphia Older Adults Center (SPOAC) We need a few volunteers to arrive early and help set up at 5:30pm and/or stay until 9pm to help clean up.  You'll receive an hour of volunteer time for arriving early or staying late (or two hours for helping with both!). Spirit Night at Rita's When: Thursday May 31 from 6:00pm - 9:00pm Where: 1356 E Passyunk Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19147 Rita's will donate a percentage of total sales from 6pm-9om to the Co-op.  The more water ice sold, the more we money make!  Volunteers will distribute information about the Co-op, answer questions, distribute membership applications, and accept equity payments. Volunteers may also "scoop" if they  wish. Volunteers will be paired with an experienced committee member.

Answer. Yes. A very good food (or drink, whatever). Some local guys have put together a great film called Beeradelphia which is headed to the 2012 Monaco Charity Film Festival as an official feature documentary. I heard this news while listening to WXPN earlier this week which led me to track down some info about the movie. I was able to find one trailer on the filmmaker's YouTube channel and judging from the sheer number of people who appear to have been interviewed for this film, it's a pretty comprehensive look at the past, present and future of the Philly beer scene: What does this have to do with the Co-op? Sadly, we're unlikely to be able to sell beer at the Co-op no matter how local and awesome the beer is because of some pesky laws here in PA. But we're all about supporting local filmmakers AND brewers so we encourage you to check out the film whenever it might be showing and go buy some PBC or Yards or Troegs or Victory or Dogfish Head or any of a number that I'm probably leaving out. Please add names of other locally brewed beers and brewpubs in the comments section to further educate me and our readers. Enjoy your weekend. Now... it's beer time.

Here's a fun post for Friday afternoon. Hat tip to Co-op Board Member Stephanie Rupertus for sending along this film. If you have about 12 minutes, I highly recommend you check it out. The film will make you step back and question a lot of how our economy and our lives are organized and what motivates us. Though much of the recommendations in the film are unlikely ever to come true, if it can help people start to reprioritize and really think about what's important in life, then it has done its job. The author of Sacred Economics, Charles Eisenstein,  makes the point that we didn't earn any of things that gave us life or keep us alive including our conception, birth, the air we breathe, the water we drink, and a planet that produces food to sustain us. Films like this can remind some of us why this Co-op is so important. It's a whole different, and in many ways better and more sustainable, way of organizing our economy and helps strengthen the community that some day any or all of us might come to depend on.

Ready to clean out your kitchen and make way for summer? We want your gently used kitchen items to sell at the LoMo Flea Market! Gather your extra garlic press, your neglected napkins, your mismatched mixing bowls and we'll resell them, with all proceeds benefitting the Co-Op. No kitchen items are too large, too small, or too weird. Drop your items off at one of the following locations and times:

• Container Garden Workshop: Sunday, May 6, 2-4pm at Passyunk Gardens
• Leigh's House: Tuesday, May 15 7-9pm at 1409 S. Franklin Street (look for the garage on S. Franklin, off Reed between 7th and 8th Streets)
• At the Flea: Saturday, May 19, 9am-3pm at Broad Street between Snyder and Jackson. Find the SPFC table, say hey, and drop off your wares!

We need volunteers to staff the table at the FLEA, 2 at a time in 2 shifts - 9am-noon, noon-3pm. Please contact [email protected] if you're available to fulfill your work requirement.

Do you want to try your hand at growing plants but don’t have lots of space? Think you need a yard or raised bed to grow food? Think again! Join Sarah DeGiorgis, who’s been blogging for us for over a year about growing in containers, as she shows you what type of containers to use, what plants to choose and information about sun and watering. We’ll also cover transplantation and maintenance of your new container garden. We’ll have soil, seeds and tools and attendees are encouraged to bring their own containers - they don’t have to be traditional pots! Anything that can hold soil and water, has drainage holes in the bottom and is made of something non-porous is just fine. This event takes place the day after Passyunk Square Civic Association's annual Plant Sale at Urban Jungle on Saturday, May 5. Buy your plants on Saturday and learn what to do with them on Sunday. Passyunk Gardens, E. Passyunk and Wharton, Philadelphia, PA 19147 Sunday, May 6, 2012, 2-4pm $5 suggested donation will go directly to the Co-op. RSVP not necessary but please visit our Facebook Event page and let us know you're coming (and spread the word to others).

There are a lot of ways to get food into your face. A fork, for example, is pretty classic. But forks don’t taste particularly good, and they can hurt your teeth. So we move on to things like fingers, which can be a mess, and again, painful. But bread and tortillas are pretty handy. So is lettuce. I forget about lettuce wraps sometimes. Lettuce wraps are ideal for spring, I think, because they give you a vehicle for moving food from plate to face without overwhelming whatever bright fresh flavors are in your dinner. Plus, the lettuce is pretty good right now.

Also, everyone I know is getting married right now. Friends were married this past weekend and more friends will be married this coming weekend. This happened a hundred years ago too, but I was part of everyone then. Now, it seems like every other week someone is announcing an engagement or having a wedding. The first time I had lettuce wraps was on my honeymoon, a hundred years ago, in some fake-fancy themed restaurant in Las Vegas. So maybe that’s why we went for it tonight. I think it was Sous Chef Brian’s idea.

These are seitan lettuce wraps, and they’re vegan and delicious, but you could do the exact same thing with chicken and please the meat people. It’s also – like an egg roll, or a lasagna – a great way to use up whatever’s hanging around the fridge.

I started by marinating my seitan. You could so whatever fun sauce comes to mind, but this is just tamari and mirin, equal parts. Let that sit and get to the veg.

The veg go in order of cooking time, because we’re stir frying and some things need more time. I have carrots today, so they need a head start. Carrots, diced small, in a tablespoon of oil (I used safflower, but use what makes you happy), over high heat.

Give them a minute to soften, and just a minute, and dial it down to medium and hit it with some ginger and garlic.

What other veg do you have, and how long do they need to cook? If it was bell pepper time, some red peppers would be great, again, minced small, but really, what you have will be great. I had a few stray mushrooms, and some claytonia, and scallions (there has to be some sort of onion, I think).

The claytonia just needs to wilt, and the scallions go on at the end, so I added my seitan and mushrooms. The marinade from the seitan went in too, and I used a spatula to hack at the larger pieces of seitan. I wasn’t aiming for minced, but this had to fold neatly into lettuce.

Once the seitan was warmed through and those carrots were really ready to go,

I added the claytonia. It subbed well for sprouts, but sprouts would be great here. Flipped that a few times to wilt, and then turned the heat off and added the scallions. Also, a quick drizzle of toasted sesame oil and a sprinkle of red pepper flake (to taste).

That’s it, all you need to do now is wash and dry some large lettuce leaves and make it a taco. Last week I had some awesome local bibb lettuce, but this week all I had handy was spring mix and spinach, so I sent my spouse out to The Grocery Store and the best they could do for us was romaine. Romaine is fine, way better than spring mix, for this, but if you can get some butter lettuce or bibb, you’ll be doing alright.

Pro tip: If you are using romaine, break off the crispier stems and you'll have a much more foldable wrap.

This recipe is cross-posted at Saturday’s Mouse, where I’m working on making food out of food.

Garlic Ginger Seitan Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound seitan


• 6 big leaves lettuce (bibb, butter, romaine)


• 2 cups claytonia, sprouts or misc. greens


• 1 inch ginger, minced


• 3 cloves garlic, minced


• 3 large carrots, minced


• 1 cup mushrooms, chopped


• 1.5 tablespoons mirin


• 1.5 tablespoons soy sauce or tamari


• 2 medium scallions, chopped


• about a teaspoon red pepper flake (to taste)


• .5 teaspoon toasted sesame oil


• 1 tablespoon oil (safflower, or whatever)

Instructions

Marinate seitan in mirin and tamari while prepping veg.

Heat oil on high heat in wok, add carrots and stir fry a minute until they begin to soften (longer for larger carrots).

Turn to medium, add garlic and ginger, and toss.

Add mushrooms and seitan, breaking seitan up with a spoon. Toss.

Add claytonia (or sprouts, or greens) and toss to wilt. Turn heat off and add scallions, red pepper flake and toasted sesame oil. Toss.

Wash six large lettuce leaves and dry. Serve hot seitan mixture on leaves, wrapping like a taco.

Details

• Prep time: 5 mins


• Cook time: 15 mins


• Total time: 20 mins


• Yield: 3 servings

It may be a little early but my tomatoes were getting too big for their little pots so it was time to give them a little more space:

This year I tried to make sure I got most of the main stem up to the first real leaves underground when I transplanted so that each plant has a chance to grow more roots (better for water retention which is a major problem in the summer.)  You just pinch off the two little baby leaves, which are the first to sprout but don't look like real tomato leaves and are usually much lower on the stem than the rest of the leaves:

If we wanna get real scientific here, those leaves are also called cotyledon leaves [end science.]  I pinch them off and then attempt to get the plant out of the dirt with minimum root damage:

Then (or before, if you're smart) you get your new pot and prepare it for planting.  Drainage is key:  trust me, tomatoes don't grow in standing water (and neither does much of anything unless you're growing water plants or moss.)  Most pots already have drainage holes in the bottom but if yours don't you'll need to make some.  Last year I made some just using some old scissors and lots of upper body strength but it's far easier to use an electric drill and less upper body strength.  Whichever way you choose, you're going to want holes that are big enough so that they won't get clogged with clumps of dirt and I always err on the side of more holes because you can always add water but getting rid of excess water is a bit harder.

Regardless of how you make the holes, you then need to make sure that all the soil doesn't just fall out of the drainage holes.  You need to water to drain but you don't want all the nutrient-rich soil to drain also.  You can use various things to keep your soil inside the pot; I like a layer of stones or old broken pots:

The only thing to watch with stones is that they don't get stuck inside a drainage hole - if you're worried about that, larger pieces of cement or broken pots work especially well.

All that's left is to plant!  So cover your drainage material with soil and whatever else you like (I add compost) and soon you'll have a little corner garden like this:

As soon as you plant each pot, water it until you see water coming out the drainage holes in the bottom - this will ensure that there's enough water and also that your drainage holes are working.  Then I usually water everything one more time to make sure.  Things'll look a little droopy at first (see above) but in a few days your plants will get used to their new homes and perk up.

If you're interested in potting or re-potting some things or have questions on any of this, please join me on Sunday, May 6th from 2-4pm at Passyunk Gardens for the Container Gardening Workshop!  There was some info on it in the latest SPFC newsletter and here's the link to the Facebook event page.  I'll be leading everyone through container gardening basics and offering some insights of my own (naturally.)  Bring your own container and plants/seeds but I'll also have a few containers and extra seeds as well.  It'll be a planting party, which is fast becoming my favorite sort of party.  Hope to see some readers there!

Passyunk Gardens, E. Passyunk Ave and Wharton Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147 Saturday, April 28, 2012 1pm to 4pm Join us at the Passyunk Gardens to celebrate our 2nd Anniversary with a pot-luck including live music, and raffles. A cake and cupcakes will be provided by the CherryBomb Bus, a brand-new food truck run by Chef Jennifer Zavala (Top Chef) & Pastry Chef Christina Clark.  Live music provided by Liam Gallagher and Dani Mari. This event is free and open to anyone. If you're not a member-owner yet, please consider bringing your completed application and check or credit card for your member equity payment. Volunteers will be on hand to receive applications and answer questions. Special thanks to Passyunk Gardens for inviting into their beautiful space and celebrating with us.  April 28 is also the official opening of the garden, so come on down to see what’s growing! If you haven't already done it, follow Passyunk Gardens on Facebook.

2nd Anniversary After Party at Devil's Den

11th and Ellsworth, Philadelphia, PA 19147 Saturday, April 28, 2012 4pm to 7pm We'll continue the 2-year anniversary celebration with drink and food specials at Devil's Den. 20% off food and $1 off drinks from for Co-op members with wristbands or member cards. Not a member-owner yet? Don't wait until the 28th to get in on the fun. After all, we'd like to be celebrating achieving our first goal of 250 Founding Members. Go to our website to use our super simple online application.