Herbal Steams

Herbal Steams for Winter

A hundred years ago, people didn’t have the medications available today for curing coughs, colds and flu. They relied on herbs grown in the garden and found along sunny edges of forests and by roadsides. Every house had its own ‘kitchen garden’ growing vegetables as well as herbs to spice the soup. Those found growing wild are what we today call ‘weeds’, a highly mistaken term considering that these plants store vitamins, minerals and other properties that make them excellent healers.


One of the remedies our ancestors used for winter ills was the steam. In a large pot of water on the wood stove, they added herbs carefully dried and stored from last summer. Breathing the steam of the herbs brings relief, as decongesting sinuses and bronchial passages open the airways and allow for easy breathing. The steam also replaces moisture in the lungs that become dried out from extreme outdoor temperatures and dry indoor heat.






Coltsfoot- Coltsfoot helps loosen and expel phlegm.
In a steam, Coltsfoot will break up congestion in the
sinuses, bronchial passages and lungs.

Comfrey- Comfrey relieves swelling and produces
mucous to sooth scratchy sore throats. In a steam,
Comfrey is a lung tonic and used for colds, bronchitis
and laryngitis.

Eucalyptus- Eucalyptus is an aromatic herb with
disinfectant properties. Used in a steam, Eucalyptus
will reduce the inflammation of colds and flu,
decongest the airways, and help bring down a fever.

Goldenrod- In a steam, Goldenrod is used to reduce
inflammation in upper respiratory conditions such as colds
or flu. (Contrary to the myth, Goldenrod does not cause hay
fever, in fact it reduces bronchial inflammation.)

Mullein- Mullein reduces inflammation in the respiratory
system. Use Mullein in a steam to relieve congestion and
tone the lungs, as this plant is good for colds, bronchitis,
laryngitis and flu. Turn your ears to the steam and Mullein
will help to relieve earaches.

Peppermint- Peppermint is an aromatic plant with strong
oils that relieve congestion in the sinuses, chest and lungs
when used in a steam. Peppermint will also bring down
fevers by promoting perspiration.

Sage- Sage is an aromatic plant used for cleansing and
purification by the Native people. When used in a steam,
Sage soothes inflamed mucous membranes and helps
relieve congestion in the sinuses, chest and lungs.

Stinging Nettle- Stinging Nettles strengthens and supports
the entire body through a high concentration of vitamins
and minerals. In a steam, Stinging Nettles stimulates
the respiratory system and helps rebuild damages tissues.

Healthy recipes for you and your family.

Now that the days are getting longer and the kiddos will be out of school soon, picnic's, play dates and fun times outdoors will be common. 

It's easy to make cold cut sandwiches or get take out for these days but here are some healthy options and ideas to bring along with you to the beach park or anywhere else you might be headed. 

Healthy snacks are great for kids and adults alike on fun days out. 

Here are some helpful hints to make heathy snacking a breeze.

1. Packing your snacks in snack size bags makes them easy to grab and go and also helps with portion control. You can even snag some reusable sandwich bags or snack containers which are great, that way you wont have to worry about tossing them if there isn't a trash can around and its better for the environment. 

3. Keep healthy snacks and treats in separate areas that way kids can help themselves to the healthy snacks but have to ask you for treats. 

4. Planning ahead will make a healthy day out a breeze. Prepping your snacks beforehand will help make sure you don't have to stop and grab unhealthy snacks on the run. 

3. Rethink left overs and plan todays meal for tomorrow's day out. This can be a creative way to use the day before's left overs to help you with a healthy meal for your day out with the family. For example you could make chicken for dinner and use your leftovers to make a healthy chicken salad. 

Here is a great recipe to use for a healthy version of egg salad.

Home Made Egg Salad

8 Large Eggs
2/3 cups plain Greek Yogurt
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
1 teaspoon paprika
Kosher salt & fresh ground black pepper to taste
( feel free to leave this out )


-Place eggs in a large saucepan and cover
with cold water by 1 inch. Bring to a boil and
cook for 1 minute. Cover eggs with a tight-fitting lid
and remove from heat; set aside for 8-10 minutes.
Drain well and let cool before peeling and dicing.
-In a large bowl, roughly mash eggs with Greek yogurt,
-mayonnaise, seasoning, salt and pepper, to taste.

Have fun and be healthy! 

Community Gardening

The day is so beautiful that it had me thinking about gardening! If you don't have the space or time to commit to a full garden of your own community gardening is a great program to get involved with. There are many ways to get involved with community gardening . 

1. Volunteering is great!! Volunteers make these gardens possible. This doesn't even have to be structured volunteering. Basically if you see a weed in a community garden feel free to pull it, just make sure its not actually a plant someone planted there ;) As always if you are interested in volunteering with the CCRM feel free to call our offices at 716-366-1787.

2. Start seeds- for your local food pantry or other organizations in the community, such as a church or school program.

3. Grow a row. This a great thing to do to help your local pantry have healthy local fruits and veggies to offer to those in needs. You can do this by simply donating a row of the crops you grow to support healthy nutrition in your community. This can really make a difference to a family that would otherwise go without fresh food.  

4. Spending family time- Gardening is a really great way to get outside with your kids and enjoy the sunshine, while teaching them where their food comes from and how it grows. This is also a great way to disconnect from their technology and reconnect with nature.  

Okay, now go enjoy the beautiful sunshine & garden :). 

Tis the season

Tis the season to being getting your gardens ready to plant ( up north anyway, I know you southerners have been enjoying the bounty of your gardens already.)

We have been working hard at the CCRM getting our community gardens in shape for this season.
We worked with the local Boys and Girls Club and cleaned the gardens as well as turned over soil to get our garden boxes ready to plant.

Check out these hard workers!

We also began some work on the BOCES garden with their hardworking students. We tilled the garden, added in some much needed manure and built some raised bed. 

Check out the before and after photos. 

 (Before)

 (During)  ( excuse my finger ) 

 (After) 

Using garden beds are great to grow an abundance of vegetables in a small space. These are also most effective in areas with contaminated soil or where flooding is common to allow for drainage. 

These beds are also great for your little ones because it allows a trench or path for them to admire the garden without stepping on or harming the plants. 

Hope you are all having a wonderful spring and are working  hard on getting your gardens ready for planting. 

Upcoming Events in April!

Greetings Everyone!

It is finally APRIL and the weather report promised me above freezing temperatures.  

Seeds are started, nestled away in their little pots and snow drops are emerging amid tufts of brown grass and we have a slew of workshops and events coming up this season.

April 7th - Starting Seeds and Gardening Basics at BOCES Fredonia with Jack Dugan's class.  His class has their own garden right next to the school so all the students can watch the progress of growth.

April 9th - Preserving Food Through Dehydration at Lake Shore Family Center in Silvercreek.  We will be teaching families how to dehydrate gleaned garden goodies and to make the dried food into delicious meals and snacks.  

April 21st - Homemade Granola Bars at the Boy's & Girl's Club in Dunkirk at 3:45 P.M.  We will be making enough healthy granola bars from scratch to give all the kids there a wholesome snack.  This way, we can teach the children what's in their food and how to make it better for them.

April 22nd - EARTH DAY! Get out and play.

April 25th - Adopt-a-Beach Clean Up Day at Point Gratiot in Dunkirk at NOON, hosted by Dr.Sam Mason of SUNY Fredonia.  Get out and show your support for your community and the environment by helping to clean up the beach.  

April 26th - Backyard Salsa Cooking and Nutrition Workshop 3:00 - 4:30 P.M at the Friendly Kitchen in Dunkirk (131 Central Ave.).  Sarah, Kelsey, and Kathleen from Enactus Greenwave at SUNY Fredonia will be hosting a workshop on growing a salsa-themed garden and we will be sampling various typed of salsas made in our kitchen!   

If you would like to volunteer at any of these events, please email me at ccrmgleaning@gmail.com

Take care!

Teaching Kids to Garden (& Surviving to Tell the Tale)

Q: WHY TEACH KIDS TO GARDEN?
A: Because we can't afford another generation of children who grow up without the essential knowledge of how things work.

Q: DOES IT REALLY MATTER IF KIDS KNOW HOW TO GROW FOOD? I MEAN, WHEN WILL THEY ACTUALLY USE THAT KNOWLEDGE? 
A: Whether they have a garden or not when the grow up, it is SO IMPORTANT to give them an appreciation of their food and a respect for the people who grow it. 

This being said, there is nothing more TERRIFYING than teaching a room full of 23 children (all under the age of twelve) how to plant seeds.  Sounds pretty simple, right? All you have to do is fill up

a cup with wet dirt, put a seed in it, and take care of it.  Easy, right? ... RIGHT?

Wrong***

Recently, I visited one of the after school day care programs to teach children there how to start seeds and take care of them.  I do this each spring and it is always a very rewarding experience because the kids appreciate trying something new and getting a little messy in the process.  

***It is also important to note that kids have the amazing, incomprehensible ability to amplify their voices 20x's louder than mine while thrashing about in a massive swarm of arms, legs, and dirt.  Children travel in swarms, did you know that?  

This is not to assume that children are always crazy and difficult teach!  They absorb information like little sponges and remember every. thing. you. say... so be careful.  Besides, kids are generally interested in how things work as well as what it takes to grow a big pumpkin, an itty bitty pepper, or a pretty  petunia.  Out of the massive swarm of children, a few of the kids took a big interest in gardening and asked me all sorts of questions about how things grow.  

Children who had experience with gardening told me stories of growing cucumbers with their grandmas, picking oranges from their old backyards in Puerto Rico, and finding HUGE worms in between carrots and beets.  

Gardening has a lasting affect on kids which (hopefully) carries on into their adulthood.To this day, I still remember weeding around the hostas with my mom and carrying stones from the woods and laying them around the garden beds.  Gardening is a life long process and you never stop learning and teaching others about it.  

IN CONCLUSION. Teach your kids how to grow food.  Teach your friends' kids how to grow food.  Teach your friends', friends' kids how to grow food!  And don't be scared of swarming children as it is just their natural habitat... but do bring earplugs.  

An image from Penrose Kid's Art Garden in Detroit. 

ALSO! Encourage kids to make art in the garden.  Have then paint stones to look like bugs, beetles, or bundt cakes.  Cut up old garden hose and paint them to look like snakes!  Make sculptures out of paper and mud and watch as the water washes them away.  Use old broken dishes and make a mural.  There are so many ways to engage children in the garden; all we have to do is use our creativity!  

Growing Food in Containers

I grew up in the boonies.  There were hundreds of acres to choose from where I could pick a little plot to grow anything under the sun.  Needless to say, the concept of container gardening is somewhat new.

A view from my parents' home.

Now, after 5 years of moving around from apartment to apartment, I have begun to understand that most people living in the United States do not have the access to land in which to grow on.  Community gardens and yardsharing are all great answers to this problem, but what if there are none around you?

Lo and behold container gardening!!!!  Maybe not the perfect solution, but it is a great and super simple way to supplement your grocery bill and bring a little greenery into your life.

Here are some basics on container gardening to help you on your conquest to world peace!!!  Or where ever it is you're going next.



Figure Out Where You're Going to Grow:  Plants need light (in case you didn't know) so pick the sunniest spot in the house if your starting (and/or staying) indoors.  Preferably, choose a south facing window or invest in grow lights in case you're home is lacking in natural vitamin

Picture gleaned from MyClimateChangeGarden.com

D.  You can actually use normal houselights to supplement natural light, but they are not effective as lights made specifically to mimic the sun.  

Choose the Right Container for the Right Plant:  The container must be large enough to support the plant you're growing, and it must allow for drainage.  Don't feel restricted to using store-bought pots: You can use 5-gallon buckets, cracked coffee mugs, window boxes, etc...

Pick a Good Soil Mix:  Purchase a good quality soil mix from a local provider or make your own by following the link in the heading. 

Create or Purchase an Eco-Friendly Fertilizer: There are recipes all over the internet for compost tea and other useful fertilizers.  Or make friends with farmers who have animals or a horse backing riding establishment to glean manure from them. 

 

Water: It's a pretty simple concept.  If you don't water often then your plants will die but if you water them too much then they will also die.  If you don't understand this then you don't deserve to have plants.  

Illustration by Elayne Sears of Mother Earth News

Please click on the links throughout this post to get a thorough understanding of container gardening!  Container gardening is a great way to bring the outdoors inside and to create a healthy environment to live in.  

How to Start Seeds

THE ARRIVAL OF SEEDS!

Evidence that the holy grail exist and that Monty Python's knights were looking in all the wrong places. Yes... I'm talking about the seeds.

The seeds are in and we are so happy to once again have them available for those looking to garden and grow their own food in their backyards, community gardens, and windows boxes or patios.  

We will also be using them for garden education once again this year, with a SEED STARTING WORKSHOP coming up in March which will be held at the Fredonia Farmers Market.  

Pole and bush beans donated in bulk by Park Seed Company of Greenwood, South Carolina.

If you live in a tiny apartment without room to grow your own, please contact me at ccrmgleaning@gmail.com and I will help to hook you up with a community gardening partner.  

A wealth of vegetable and flower seeds donated to the Gleaning Project from Burpee! 

If you have a wealth of land to plant on, think about growing a few beds or rows of edible plants to donate to a soup kitchen or food pantry nearest you!  

Even some organic seeds for our community and educational gardens.

And finally, if you work for a non-profit or other human services/mental health agency; please contact me to acquire seeds for your clients.

Getting Ready to Garden

Yes. I know it is only January.  And yes. I am aware that the high temp. for the day is 20 degrees F. but I CANNOT HELP thinking about our 2015 gardens.  

Dunkirk Weather Report >.<

My cat, he's cute, no?

Will there be rows of beans or carrots, or both?  Will I have to fend off ravenous deer, mega rude rabbits, or old people who can't remember taking all the tomatoes?  Will the kids at BOCES and the Boy's and Girl's Club want to grow potatoes, peas, or gigantic pumpkins?  SO MANY QUESTIONS... maybe that's why I can't sleep.  Actually, no, the reason I can't sleep is because my cat is an extraordinarily vocal jerk.  

So, back to the gardens.

Some commonly asked questions:

1.) Why Do We Grow Food?

Here in Dunkirk, there is a fresh food scarcity due to the small number of groceries, ridiculous amount of convenience stores, and lack of transportation and funds from the people who live in this area.  38% of the overall population lives in poverty, while the childhood poverty rate is 48%.  The county average is 18%, which coincides with NYS poverty rate.  Point being, Dunkirk needs more access to fresh, organically grown food and we are happy to provide that!

2.) How Do We Do It on a Tight Budget?

Honestly, it requires a lot of mailing, a few too many phones calls, and a TON of thank you notes to make the Gardening Program what it is.  This time of year, I mail over 30 seed companies across the country asking for seed donations from their excess supplies.  In mid-June, I call greenhouses to see if they have any extra vegetable and flower plants that are overgrown and not-selling.  Then, when all the supplies are acquired, I head out to the garden plots armed with my shovel and allergy medicine to grow food for the soup kitchen and food pantry.  

Students at the BOCES Education Garden incorporating soil amendments (i.e. goat poop) into the garden.

3.) Is This REALLY My Job?

Yes, yes it is.

As gardening season draws closer and I get more obsessive about where exactly I am going to plant the tomatoes, feel free to drop a call at (716) 366-1787 asking for gardening tips, sourcing ideas, and extra seeds and plants. 

A box of seed donations from Heirloom Seed Company!

We ALWAYS have free seeds to hand out starting in April, as well as free plants to giveaway around early July.  Whether you're a home gardener in Chautauqua County, or you work for an agency that you think would benefit from gardening supplies, you qualify for free seeds!  

Looking Back on 2014

Gleaning grapes in Fredonia.

2014 was a big year for gleaning.  Farmers from all over the county contributed to helping those in need by donating portions of their farms and fields to feed the hungry.

Below are our year-end statistics for 2014.

TOTAL POUNDS OF PRODUCE GLEANED

35,915 lbs.

FOOD RECOVERED (from bakeries)

2,278 lbs.

COMPOST RECOVERED

1,300 lbs.

AND A TON OF FLOWERS!!!

Flower donation from Westfield Nursery in Chautauqua County.

Here in Dunkirk, NY, we also hosted over 40 cooking and nutrition workshops reaching out to low-income families and individuals.  

TOTAL ATTENDEES

620 persons

WORKSHOP TITLES

-Cooking out of the Cupboard

-Preserving the Harvest: Canning and Christina

-Going Gluten-Free: Part I & II

-Springtime Cooking

-Eating Local in Chautauqua County

-How to Make the Perfect Quiche

-Real Food Fall Time Favorites

-Eating with Type II Diabetes

-How to Make Applesauce

-How to Make Grape Juice

-What's in Season? Ratatouille

AND MOOOOOOORE!

Easy as Pie Workshop with Christina Jarvis and Jeanne Frerichs.

No Better Time than Pumpkin Time

It's the time of year where all you want to do at the end of the day is sit down with a steaming mug of hot cocoa and a darn good book to read.  Perhaps you imagine yourself in an oversize snuggie, or maybe cuddling with your cute, fluffy, semi-evil cat.  Where ever your imagination takes you, it should be a mission of yours' to keep this recipe in mind.

Pumpkin-y Goodness Cocoa Full of Yummy-ness and Sunshine
Serves 1
Ingredients
     -2 tbsp. pumpkin
     -3/4 cup soymilk, cowmilk, or whatever milk you like
     -2 tsp. cocoa
     -3-4 drops liquid stevia (you can use 3 tsp. of sugar in place of stevia)
     -1 tsp. molasses
     -a dash of nutmeg

Heat up milk in a saucepan. Add remaining ingredients and heat through. Pour into your favorite mug and enjoy.  

And this one! Don't forget this recipe!

This is my favorite recipe in the whole wide-world for when company comes over.  It is soooo tasty and it tricks my friends and family into eating more good-for-you garlic than what they know!  

Go to your local farmers' market and stock up on winter veggie staples like potatoes, onions, garlic, and squash for this recipe.

Roasted Winter Veggies
Serves 8 to 10
     -5 to 6 cups chopped potatoes, red. yellow, purple, fingerling, whatever
     -3 large carrots
     -2 large yellow onions
     -1 large red onion
     -1 to 2 bulbs garlic
     -5 to 6 large beets
     -2 to 3 delicata squash (the small yellow squash with green stripes)
     -1/3 cup olive oil
     -1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
     -2 tbsp. dried Italian herbs
     -salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Chop everything up to around the same size and place into a large, preferably glass baking dish.  Pour olive oil and vinegar on top and toss to coat.  Sprinkle herbs, salt, and pepper, to taste.  Place in oven and set timer for 15 minutes.  After timer goes off, stir veggies and place back in for another 15 minutes.  Repeat 2 to 3 times until veggies are tender. 

Gleaning: Our Numbers So Far

We are halfway through the gleaning season, busily racing to pick aging corn, softening melons, and mammoth zucchinis.  Already, I have tapped out my volunteer list serve with notifications of gleaning opportunities, and the few volunteers that do occasionally show up appear haggard and impatient for the season to be over. I can't blame them! 

As of today, we have gleaned 21,681 lbs of produce in Chautauqua County from farm fields and gardens this year, with 74% of the total from the month of August alone! Needless to say, August has been a busy month!

Gleaning beans at Anderson's Produce in Jamestown

So... What are we doing with all this food?

Here's the list:
-Freezing it
-Handing it out to soup kitchen visitors
-Distributing it in our food pantry
-Cooking it into the soup kitchen meals
-Dropping it off at other soup kitchens, food pantries, and human services agencies
-Giving aging produce to farmers for their livestock
-And handing it out to anyone who will take it!

And even though our numbers are great and we are constantly busy with gleaning, distributing, and preserving produce, we can always use new places to glean!  If you have a fruit tree, a garden, or a farm where some of the food goes to waste now and then, please let us know!  We are always happy for a call to glean, no matter how big or small the job.

Know What You're Buying

Found this awesome information for buying produce at a grocery store!!!!!  Write this down on a piece of paper and slip it into your wallet or post it on your refrigerator at home to help you remember!

Chautauqua County Farms VS NYS Farms

Roots and Wings Family Farm Recipe for Garlic Scapes

It is almost GARLIC SCAPE SEASON! Let's celebrate this joyous time with a little recipe from a local farm in Cherry Creek, NY.   Check out the farm's website here.

GARLIC SCAPES!!!!!

Grilled Garlic Scapes from Roots and Wings Family Farm 

Garlic Scapes, as many as you desire

olive oil

salt

what ever seasonings you desire

1. Toss garlic scapes in olive oil, salt, and seasonings.

2. Wrap loosely in tin foil and place over the grill or at the edge of your camp fire. 

3. Roast until tender (10-15 min) depending on how hot your grill or fire is.

4. Enjoy!

Green Cleaning Supplies: Do It Yourself

Ever wonder what's in Windex?  Or perhaps in your toilet cleaner, sink cleaner, shower curtain cleaner, counter cleaner, tile cleaner, wood cleaner, drain cleaner, linoleum cleaner, dish and clothing detergent?  No?  

Do you know what's in here?...
Do you WANT to know what's in here?

Here in the states, cleaning products (in fact, ALL of our PRODUCTS including personal care products, medicines, childrens' toys, and even our food) follow the super logical, morally-incorrupt principle of "Innocent Until Proven Guilty".  This means that chemicals used in the production and synthesis of our products do not undergo rigorous, unbiased testing for the sake of the consumers health.  

What is the Gleaning Project's reaction to this? BOYCOTT!!! I know it may be hard for our consumer-based society to wrap our brains around this idea, but believe me, it's for our own good!  

So put down that toxin-laden sponge and squirt bottle full of mysterious blue liquid, and pick up a rag, a bottle of vinegar, a box of baking soda, and hey, why not an apron? Let's get started.

Here are some go-to recipes for all-around the house cleaning.

P.S. You can purchase Borax (a mined mineral) essentially at any grocery store and it is super cheap and lasts for a long time.  

Scouring Powder

• 1 C baking soda
• ¼ C borax
•  Drops of essential oil (optional)

In a bowl, mix the borax and baking soda with a few drops of essential oil. Store in a shaker and shake onto that pesky soiled surface slated for cleaning.

All-Purpose Cleaner

• A spray bottle (if you don't have an empty one, just go to the dollar store and pick one up)
• 1 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup water
• 10-20 drops of essential oil (if you'd like, I use lemon or peppermint)

Put the lime in the coconut and mix it all up. Meaning, just mix it all together in the spray bottle.

Alice’s Wonder Spray

• 2 t borax
• 32 oz. hot water
• ¼ C white vinegar
• 20 drops essential oil (optional)
• ¼ C liquid dish soap (look for a biodegradable, non-petroleum based product from a company above. We used Dr. Bronners Castile soap. Find it in Tops’ natural cleaning section.)

Dissolve borax in hot water. Add to a 32-oz spray bottle along with the vinegar and water. Then add the liquid dish soap and essential oil (optional). Shake it up and apply to sinks, tubs, tiles and floors.

What cleaning your drain looks like at the molecular level

Drain Cleaner

• Baking Soda
• Apple Cider vinegar

Fill your drain with baking soda. Pour down apple cider vinegar.  Watch the magic happen. If you need to, take a plunger to your drain (it helps!).

Beans, Beans, They're Good For Your Heart... And They're Also Super Easy to Grow!

mmmmm...beans.  They are quite literally one of my favorite foods <3 and most versatile veggie.  You can saute them fresh in a stir fry, add them to a soup, dry them and make curry, chili, southwestern bean salad, or stuff them up your nose if you are a one year-old.

Bean plants growing in our Cornerstone garden
in Dunkirk.

Fortunately for us, they are also ridiculously easy to grow (and I'm hoping most of us have matured to the point where we don't care for sticking miscellaneous objects up our noses)!  Which brings me to the subject that I'd like to talk with you about, and that is...

TODAY IS THE DAY WE PLANT BEANS FOR THE SOUP KITCHEN!!!!! 

and then blog about it ^_^ mwhahahaha

So, truth is, is that I just got back in from planting beans (and peas) and completely forgot to take pictures that I wanted to show everyone! Argh, life, don't I have it hard?  Anyway!! Today was a great day to plant them because it's about to raaaaaaain! Why is this good? I will explain if you continue reading... if you give up on this blog post then you are a lost cause and NO BEANS FOR YOU!

Heirloom variety of beans gleaned from Greystone Nature Preserve
in Brocton, NY.  

I like bullets and numbers. I'm assuming you like bullets and numbers.  SO>>> Here is a 'how to' guide to planting beans using bullets AND numbers!

HOW TO PLANT BEANS (for dummies, or post-graduate students, or mothers, or over-ambitious, plant-killing fathers, or children who decide that their noses are in fact NOT a grand place to grow beans)

• 1.  Get yo' beans.  We glean all our beans from local, organic farms and nature preserves who let their extra beans go to seed.  Here at the Gleaning Project, we then have volunteers shuck the thousands of beans picked.  Beans that we don't plant are distributed throughout the county to food pantry, soup kitchen, community, and personal gardens.

• 2.  Soak yo' beans. It's good to let your beans soak in water for at least two hours before planting. This loosens up the skin and re-hydrates your sad, little parched bean friends.

• 3.  While your beans are soaking; Prep yo' soil!  Loosen up the soil with a hoe (or whatever) and draw lines with the end of the hoe (or whatever) about 2-inches deep and 8-inches apart.

• 4.  Plant yo' beans.  Drop your beans into the little baby trenches 6 to 8-inches apart then gently cover them with about 1.5-inches of soil.  

• 5.  Water yo' beans.  Soak 'em.  Like, super soak them. Soak them so much that you find yourself on the edge of an existentially crisis. Only then will you achieve inner peace, I mean, have your beans successfully planted.

TADA! Now get out and PLANT THOSE BEANS!!!!!  

You have until late June...

now GO!