A very interesting article about growing food in Svalbard, a spot midway between the north of Norway and the North Pole. The article features Ben Vidmar, founder of Polar Permaculture.

Achieving The Impossible: Growing Food In The High Arctic

Through Polar Permaculture, he aims to solve one of the biggest headaches of life at 78 degrees north: obtaining fresh food while reducing waste. However, deciding to do something about the problem and making that happen are two very different things. The headaches are many. Average temperatures – while rising fast – are low year-round. In the winter there is no direct sunlight for four months, and no light at all for more than two of those. Even at the height of summer, mountaintops surrounding the settlement are topped with snow.

Swiss Chard is one of our favorites! We will be offering chard seeds in our free seed give away on May 4.

This article describes the benefits of chard *and* provides instructions for cultivating it.

Gardening Etcetera: Swiss chard: A truly remarkable vegetable

One remarkable attribute of Swiss chard is that it’s packed with nutrients. “The World’s Healthiest Foods,” a website run by the nonprofit George Mateljan Foundation puts Swiss chard near the top of its list of “total nutrient rankings,” with only spinach and broccoli surpassing it. One cup of chopped, cooked Swiss chard provides 636% daily recommended intake (DRI/DV) of vitamin K, 60% DRI/DV vitamin A, 42% DRI/DV vitamin C, and many of the B vitamins. Even more impressive is the assortment of minerals loaded into each serving, many of which are difficult to derive from other foods.

Nearly 7,000 vegetable and herb plants have now been transplanted into what will be there homes for the next 3-4 weeks.  Prior to the May 4 Celebration of Spring and Community Plant Sale people can pre-order their plants and on May 4 people can come to get plants and partake in education and networking. This project is truly a community endeavor with about 20 volunteers, hundreds of hours of volunteer work, witnessing the growth of plants from seed, and excitement over growing food.

 

Swedish Couple Builds Greenhouse Around Home to Stay Warm and Grow Food All Year Long

We love basil! This is an interesting article on a scientific experiment that demontrated the highest density of flavor when exposed to 24 hour light.

Basil gets tastier with 24-hour light

‘The scientists, who grew basil in shipping containers and monitored every moment of the experiment, thought the basil would do better with some time in the dark to become the best basil it could be. They were surprised they were wrong.

“The highest density of flavor molecules was produced by subjecting the plants to all-day light,” they wrote in their findings. Quantitatively, the light-drenched basil had more flavor.’

 

20 volunteers, over 3600 more plants, and a lot of tea, laughter and hard work…. almost finished transplanting!! Feel the community love. 💓 #dirt2table