ROOFTOP FARMERS MARKET OPEN!

Welcome! It’s the perfect time of the year to enjoy Core El Centro’s Rooftop farmers market’s comfortable atmosphere and have a blast with vendors, locals, family, or friends!

Open every Monday night 4:00pm-8:00pm through October 13^th the roof top market enables people to relax openly, appreciate food, and share delicious recipes or preparation tips with our farmers!(We even host cooking demonstrations throughout the season as well!)

We offer people the opportunity to take the time to enjoy the garden as a whole, search through the variety of goods and services at the market, eat a snack, read a book, converse with friends or folks around, and enjoy the great view!!

Most importantly, we believe the rooftop farmers market to be an important element towards our mission at Core/El Centro which is to give the opportunity for the community to seek locally grown nutritious food and live a more prosperous and healthy lifestyle. We also believe our farmers market to be a place where people can learn from one another, share new ideas, and take time to appreciate the world around us. Our farmer’s market utilizes the beautiful rooftop space we have to celebrate food, healing herbs, community gifts, and more!

We now have an exciting and new Roof top Farmers Market Rewards Program and the purpose of the program is to thank community members for their use of the market! As a member of the rewards program, an individual will receive one stamp on their Edible Skyline: A Rooftop Revolution card for attending the market and making a purchase. Also there will be a secret “code word” that will be included in our Facebook page in our Newsletter which offers the chance to receive a second stamp on your card!

*Once an individual accumulates 10 stamps, they can exchange the card for a $5 voucher to use towards CORE/El Centro produce.*

Plus receive one raffle ticket per week to be entered in a drawing in June, August and October.
Raffle ticket prizes include:
(Food processor---> Raffle Drawing June 29th)
(Chocolate and Cheese basket---> Raffle Drawing August 31st)
(Mystery Prize---> Raffle Drawing October 13th).

(Also thanks to a generous sponsorship from United Healthcare we will match EBT/SNAP purchases up to $20/week and we accept EBT/SNAP, credit, and debit cards!)

Children in the Garden: Every Friday Night! Ninos en el Jardin: Cada Viernes!

Last Friday our Children's Activities participants came up to the rooftop to help us plant over 40 seedlings in our rooftop garden!  Join us every Friday night (weather permitting) 4:30-7:30pm through October. 

El viernes pasado los participantes de Cuidado de Ninos visita el techo para ayudarnos con plantar mas de 30 plantas en el jarden del techo!  Unirse con nosotros cada Viernes (con clima buena) 4:30-7:30pm hasta Octubre.

Planting basil, celery, and tomatoes.

Tomatoes go in next to the peas.

Watering the seedlings.

As the sun set, watermelon transplants go in while other continue to water.

We emptied one rain barrel, but there are three more to go! 

Making sure our new rooftop tenants have sufficient water for the warm weekend ahead.

Once the work is done, it's time for snack!  Tonight's healthy snack was cucumber with chile.

Seed Saving 101

For those who were unable to make it to the Seed Saving workshop this month, here are some tips, notes and photos!



Why save seeds?

• It's Cheap! And you end up with basically a free crop for next year
• It's an important way to save heirloom varieties that are otherwise being lost from our food system
• Plants adapt to local conditions and can grow better next year

What do I need?

 

Depending on the seeds you are planning to save, basic tools you'll need are knife, cutting board and paper towel. If tomato seeds are on your list, then you'll also need a jar with lid and water.

Which seeds to save or not save?

• Squash and sweet corn (male/female flower parts) can cross-pollinate and may not necessarily be good the second year
• Carrots/beets are biennial plants, so it takes two years for them to go to seed. It's possible, just more difficult.
• Tomatoes, peppers, beans and peas are easy plants to save seed from.
• F1 hybrid seeds were cross-bred and may not produce desirable results (or not even produce at all!) Open pollinated seeds are heirloom varieties that will yield 'true' generations.

How to save seeds, some common examples:

• Save seed from the most vigorous, healthy plants as these will have the 'strongest' seeds (e.g. natural selection)
• Tomatoes/Cucumbers (see photos below): allow fruit to fully ripen and scoop out seeds and pulp. Place in jar of water for 24-76 hours, to ferment (this releases the lining on the seed, allowing for future germination), stirring the seeds every day. Once seeds have sunk to the bottom, pour liquid away and rinse. Dry on paper towel (preferably out of sunlight) and once completely dry (up to 3 weeks!) place in envelope.
• Peppers: Let pepper fully ripen on fruit and wait until skin starts wrinkle. Remove from pepper and let dry on paper towel. Then place in envelope.
• Peas/Beans: Allow pod to ripen on stalk and start to dry and turn brown. Spread them out on a tray indoors to dry, waiting at least two weeks before shelling. Or you can leave them in the pod until next spring when ready to plant.
• Carrots/Beets: As a biennial plant, carrots (like beets) won't flower until early into the second year after planting. If you want to collect carrot seeds, leave a few in the ground to overwinter and collect seeds once the flowers have seeded and dried the following spring/early summer.

How to store seed:

• Seeds are best stored in paper envelopes in a cool, dark area where temperatures don't fluctuate much.
• Make sure to label your envelopes well with variety type and year. You may even want to leave a few  notes for yourself to remember for next year.

Tomato Seed Saving Photos

When you cut open your tomatoes, you'll see the seeds surrounded by their pulp/coating.
Squeeze all of this out into the jar.

After you squeeze out the pulp and seeds into your jar, throw the rest of your
tomatoes into a blender to make a quick salsa or add them
to your compost pile for next year's crop.

Planting Seeds for our Future

This year was one of many 'firsts' for CORE/El Centro's Garden and Nutrition program, including our first annual Kids Camp, held August 5-9th.  The 40-hour camp covered a number of topics through a variety of activities - from videos and coloring pages, to hands on soap making and composting.  Our 18 participants learned a lot, made new friendships and all left eager to return next year.

I'm including just a sampling of photos from the camp - more to come via video.  Enjoy!

Getting their hands dirty with Kompost Kids

Campers work to cut out pictures for their MyPlate project.

Finding pictures of the 5 food groups: Dairy, fruits, vegetables, grains, and protein.

All Finished! 

Painting the inside of their pizza box with black paint to absorb the sun's heat

Campers fill their solar oven pizza boxes with paper for insulation.

Solar oven pizza melting in the sun

A group shot after a presentation by Charlie, from Beepods. 

Decorating seed pots in preparation for planting

Cooking On The Rooftop

This past Saturday, we had a brand new attraction. A cooking demo on the rooftop! Everyone was very excited. A few dishes that were prepared included whole wheat pasta with sauteed tomatoes and kale fresh from the garden, a quick pickle which used fresh dill from the garden, and a roasted red pepper crostini with cheese from Clock Shadow Creamery which is located on the first floor of our building.

After the zumba class let out, everyone eagerly rushed up to the rooftop to check out the delicious meals being made. There were samples for everyone to try. The dishes were very delicious and nutritious.

We also had local honey available at the market again last Saturday. Next to the honey, there was one of the bars from our beehive for people to observe. You could even see the queen laying eggs if you looked close enough.

Be sure to stop by the market next week for all natural soap from Kat! She is coming back next Saturday.

Written by Samantha.

Rooftop in Bloom

Our honeybees are happily buzzing with the recent bloom of rooftop sedum.  Soon rooftop market patrons will be equally happy as we begin to harvest the first major salad greens of the season!

Thanks to the Victory Garden Initiative, we added a blackberry bush and two grape vines to the rooftop bounty this year. I'm excited to report that they're already blooming in their first year!

Here are more delicious pictures of our rooftop in bloom!

Our blooming blackberry in front of a row of nasturtium. To the right we have zucchini, ground cherries, and raspberries.

Purple bush beans just starting to flower!

One of four Three Sisters gardens featuring Hopi blue corn, Kentucky pole beans and  Winter squash.

Snap peas!

Salad-lovers delight: heirloom lettuce varieties and daikon radishes

Raspberry buds sparkle against the skyline