Gainesville welcomes Trader Joe's!

Trader Joe's opened a Gainesville location this past Wednesday, December 12th, at 8 AM. My manager at my work gave out cool reusable grocery bags from the store to all the employees yesterday as little Christmas presents. Look how cute!

I decided to call them and get a feeling for what they were about before I shopped there; I had never heard of this chain before! I actually got to speak with Store Manager Jodi McCollough, who explained to me that TJ's is known for its healthy food options at affordable prices (apparently notably cheaper than Fresh Market's prices). Trader Joe's offers basic foods that one would find at any grocery store, as well as unique gourmet and/or organic food options. The store's slogan is "a neighborhood grocery store"; the wall decor of TJ's is unique to Gainesville, representing Gainesville "landmarks" such as the UF bat house and Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Safe to say I can't wait to visit during my day off tomorrow!

garden maintenance pt. 5

Alas, my final blog post! This semester has flown by. I have throughly come to enjoy gardening and I have actually signed up for FRC1010 in the spring, a fruit gardening class! This week in the garden I harvested the rest of my zinnias (they appear to have already "peaked" this season), another cucumber, and the last of my eggplants. I don't like cucumbers, so I bought some pickling supplies and I'm going to attempt to pickle my cucumber. The first cucumber I picked I cut into slices and put the slices over my eyes for a few minutes to unwind 8) (that's a smiley with cucumber slices over its eyes). I'm also waiting for one of my bell peppers, which is HUGE, to change colors before I harvest it. I'll probably cut it up and include it in a salad. I really wanted to pick one of my sunflowers this week, but there were several bees pollinating on it, so I just let it bee (pun intended!). Aside from harvesting, I just did some general weeding and raked between my beds.

garden maintenance pt. 4

This week, gardening class was cancelled due to Veteran's Day. However I went and visited my garden Wednesday afternoon to do some general garden maintenance: weeding, building up the beds, raking. I unfortunately had to compost one of my eggplants because caterpillars had begun to burrow into it (nasty!). I picked about one dozen zinnias and some of my beans as well. I am going to visit my garden again this afternoon to pick some hot peppers, my other eggplant, my zucchini, one of my bell peppers, and the rest of my beans so that I can bring these fresh goodies back home to Pensacola, Florida with me on Saturday and prepare some yummy pre-Thanksgiving meals to eat with my family.

Here is a link to link to one of the recipes my mom and I have agreed to try:

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/grilled-vegetables-with-balsamic-vinegar/detail.aspx

It incorporates my eggplant, my zucchini, and my bell peppers! My mom and I are obsessed with balsamic dressing so I'm sure it will be delicious. These grilled veggies will be a good side to some pasta and garlic bread! :)

The second recipe my mom and I are planning to prepare the day I come home:

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/moms-zucchini-bread/detail.aspx?event8=1&prop24=SR_Title&e11=zucchini&e8=Quick%20Search&event10=1&e7=Recipe%20Search%20Results

ZUCCHINI BREAD! I remember having a version of it a long time ago and I can't wait to make it using the fresh zucchini from my garden!

garden maintenance pt. 3

This week in my garden I got to harvest a few of my vegetables! I picked some zinnias for the second week in a row and I also picked a green bell pepper, one of my hot peppers, all of my lettuce plants, and some of my beans. Luckily for me there were not a ton of weeds to pull and my beds didn't need much reshaping. I sprayed BT and Neem (aphids are attacking my okra plants!) on various plants and fertilized as necessary.

This week our discussion topic was organic/sustainable agriculture. I personally eat whatever is cheapest/most convenient, and as a consequence I rarely buy organic. Stores such as WARDS or the farmer's market are inconveniently located across town, so I am not able to shop at those locations for my produce. I instead shop at the Publix, located a short, 2-minute drive from my apartment. If the price of organic produce is too high (my rule for buying organic is it must be no more than twice as much as non-organic produce), then I will not purchase it. I am more concerned with buying locally rather than buying organic, so I do visit the farmer's market on occasion. When I buy locally I can usually notice a fresher taste when compared to outsourced fruits or vegetables. Contrastingly, I do not think that organic produce tastes better than non-organic produce.
To me, sustainable agriculture includes agricultural practices that benefit or otherwise do not cause harm to the environment. A good example of sustainable agriculture, in my opinion, is the use of biological pest control, rather than spraying harmful chemical pesticides on crops to kill pests. Although these chemicals may not affect the crop's toxicity, making it safe for human consumption, these pesticides may be detrimental to the environment. This EDIS article states that UF is developing an Integrated Pest Management program for strawberry production. Some common garden pests, including  Thrips, Aphids, and Spider Mites, are to be biologically controlled using Minute pirate bugs, Aphidius wasps, and Persimillis, respectively. These natural predators do not harm the environment, like chemical pesticides might.

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/hs180

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garden scavenger hunt!

I made a collage in word, but for some reason I was unable to upload it to my blog! So I took a picture of my collage with my phone (two pictures, to account for scrolling) and tried to fuse them together as best as I could. The above photos picture items I had to find in my garden. 

Starting from top left: photo of (3.) caterpillar, photo of (4.) eggplant flower, photo of (6.) squash flower, photo of (1.) aphid and (2.) whiteflies, photo of (5.) tomato flower, photo of (10.) simple leaf, photo of (7.) weed flower, photo of (8.) bean flower, photo of (9.) tendril, photo of (11.) compound leaf, photo of (12.) red plant tissue, photo of (14.) purple plant tissue, photo of (13.) green plant tissue, photo of (20.) plant you would eat the fruit, photo of (21.) plant you would eat the root, photo of (23.) plant with a virus, photo of (18.) plant you would eat the leaf

prepping for garden check #2

This week in the garden I prepared for my second graded garden check. Since I wasn't able to do much to my plot last week, this week I had twice as much weeding to do. Also this week I had to do my least favorite gardening tasks: building up the beds with a hoe and evening out the walkways in-between beds with a rake. I'm happy to say I've noted some flowers as well as vegetables on some of my plants!

hopefully this zinnia flower will bloom by next week!

a purple flower on my eggplant plant!

the first sign of a red knight pepper!

Other plants that began to flower include zucchini, squash, and both types of tomato. I fertilized all the plants on my plot that looked stunted and need a little boost. Lastly, I sprayed both insecticides. I was especially sure to spray my bean plants with BT because they are getting demolished by tons of caterpillars! The caterpillars munch on the leaves and then cover themselves with the leaf edge (like a blanket) to conceal themselves.

In lecture this week we learned about various garden pests. A pest is essentially an organism that can cause injury or loss to a garden. The main pests I encounter in my garden are caterpillars and whiteflies. Caterpillars are chewing pests (refer back to my bean anecdote) while whiteflies are sucking pests. Whiteflies are so detrimental to plants because they are vectors for diseases. As I explained in previous posts, BT is used to kill chewing pests, namely caterpillars. BT is a digestive insecticide; when caterpillar larvae digest the insecticide, BT crystals become toxic specifically within the larvae's gut. Contrastingly, Neem is sprayed to kill whiteflies. It is a systematic insecticide, meaning the plant absorbs the insecticide and the pest intakes the insecticide when sucking on the plant. Neem messes with the whiteflies' lifestyle, producing hormonal changes that ultimately kill the pests. These two insecticides gradually kill insects. This weekend, my gardening teacher applied an insecticide called Admire Pro to my plot. This is a soil-applied insecticide that paralyzes the muscles of insects, killing them very quickly.

garden maintenance pt. 2

Unfortunately this week it began to rain during our gardening time, so I didn't accomplish as much as I normally do during gardening hours. Due to several midterms this week, I wasn't able to return to the garden and tend to my plot, so this upcoming Monday I'll have to weed twice as many weeds and give my plants/beds some extra attention and TLC! This week was exciting, however brief, because I noticed several yellow flowers sprouting on my tomato plants! I didn't spray my plot with any pesticides because the rain would have washed away the pesticides before they could protect my plants from insects.

Looking through the vegetable crisper in my fridge in my apartment, I tried to figure out exactly where my produce came from. A bag of lettuce that I bought at Publix was stamped, "Distributed by Publix Super Markets, Inc. Lakeland, Fl 33802".

A pepper mix I have actually had an address label on the underside of the container: "Product of USA 4206 Mercantile Ave. Naples, Fl". I googled the address and discovered that the pepper mix was actually distributed by FreshPoint, North America's largest fresh produce distributor. Upon researching the distribution company a little, I learned that they buy from local companies that support local family farmers.

http://www.freshpoint.com/services/environment.html

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