BFF is hosting an online fundraiser to gather resources for urban agriculture projects. Funding is to benefit rainwater collection, solar energy, food mushroom cultivation, and much more! By completing these projects, the BFF will expand its capacity to teach the Baltimore community about sustainability. Check out our video and make your contribution by clicking on the image below!
We want to thank the Baltimore City Master Gardeners of the University of Maryland Extension for presenting us with this year’s award for “Best Community Vegetable Garden.” Thanks so much to everyone who has made our projects possible through their hard work and donations.
Also, don’t forget to come out to the Free Farm this Sunday, August 5th for a really great show. We’ll have key lime pie, iced tea, and natty boh for you to enjoy in addition to four awesome bands. Click here for more info!
p.s. Follow us on Twitter for updates about our shows, events, and garden news!
Right about now(or in the near future!) you probably have a ton of eggplants ready to go from your garden. What to do with them? Roasted eggplant can be tasty, but it’s not my favorite. The only eggplant dish that I absolutely LOVE is Baba Ghanouj.
If you’re not familiar with this dish, it’s a slightly sweet, smoky, really tasty dip made from eggplant which originates from Middle Eastern countries.
So, how to make really delicious Baba Ghanouj? Well, if you’ve never had it before, then your first step is to taste Baba Ghanouj as made by someone who knows what they’re doing. Head to your local middle eastern restaurant to get an idea for the flavor you’re going for!
Then get yourself these ingredients:
1-2 Large Eggplants or Several Small Eggplants
Juice of 1 lemon
2-3 TBSP Tahini
1-2 Garlic cloves (minced)
Salt & Pepper to taste
2-3 TBSP Olive Oil
First, pierce the skin of your eggplants a few times with a fork or knife.
Preferably, you want to cook the eggplants with fire, but if you don’t have a grill or a gas stove to work with, you can bake them in a very hot oven(350 – 400 degrees farenheit) for 30 minutes to an hour. You won’t get that smoky flavor that fire instills in the eggplants, but it will still taste fine.
If possible, use a grill and cook your eggplants directly over the flame, turning occasionally, until the outside is completely blackened and the inside is very soft. This should take between 30 minutes and one hour. If you’re using a gas stove, roast the eggplants directly over the burner.
Allow the eggplants to cool slightly. When you are able to handle them, remove the skins and place eggplants in a blender. Blend the eggplants until smooth. Alternatively, if you are lacking a blender you can mash them by hand with a fork or other mashing utensil.
I don’t generally measure the ingredients for dishes like this. The above measurements are suggestions and are intended to be experimented with. Use them as a guideline but don’t be afraid to add more or less of any ingredient until the flavor is satisfactory to you.
Add lemon juice, garlic, tahini, and salt & pepper and mix well. If the flavor does not taste quite right to you, add more of any ingredient you think is lacking in small increments.
Pour in olive oil and stir. Serve with pita bread or fresh veggies for dipping, or use as a spread on sandwiches.
Baltimore Honey and BFF will be hosting another series of “All Natural Methods & Practices of Honeybee Stewardship” workshops this Fall!
Online Registration NOW OPEN!
First workshop starts September 16 at 11am!
Dates of each of the 5 workshop sessions: September 16 & 30, October14 & 28, and November 11. Sunday Hours 11am to 2:30pm except first session ends at 4:30pm
Workshop Cost is $100.00
Student Discount available with Valid and Current Student ID – receive a 50% off the workshop cost! (minimal age 14)
Baltimore Honey inspires and teaches how to steward honeybees naturally in urban environments.
We are not BEE-Keepers…because Honeybees keep us.
For more information, visit the Facebook Event Page or contact Baltimore Honey
Phone: 443.857.8748
Email: queenbee@baltimorehoney.org
www.baltimorehoney.org
Join us at 3600 Ash Street from 8AM to 2PM this Saturday and Sunday for our first big yard sale!!!
Kitchen Items
Furniture
Gardening Supplies
Tools
Housewares
Clothes
Seedlings
And much much more!
Proceeds from the sale will benefit Baltimore Free Farm projects, your support is needed, come find some deals!!!
Many exciting new developments have been taking place on Ash Street recently. We have been expanding our growing spaces, building 20 new garden plots that will eventually turned over to the community this last Tuesday alone. Harvesting and planting is daily occurring right now and we are still working with much momentum on making improvements to our warehouse, improving the homesteads, and developing infrastructure projects.
We have two interns right now from Johns Hopkins University that are working with us to make improvements on the ground and in the office as well as teaching us from their wealth of experiences.
The summer is the time to be here at the farm. The rest of the year can’t even come close to comparing with the vibrancy and life of this project during the summer. Its hard work but the many rewards are here to be found.
Wondering what kind of shows we have planned for the summer? Here is a list of events that are booked so far. Attending our shows is a great way to support BFF as well as other projects throughout Baltimore!
July 22nd: Metal show
July 27th: Show! Featuring Mornin’ Old Sport (Oakland), Neutron Bomb, Her Fantastic Cats, and The Highland Hill Boys
August 5th: A fabulous show featuring The Fabulous Flea Market Band (Norway), Liz & the Lost Boys (Philly), the Dead Whale Ramblers (Baltimore), and the Barrage Band Orchestra!
August 25th: Asshole Fest. Day two of this 2-day festival will be held at Baltimore Free Farm on August 25th. Starts at 2:00 pm and will include a mix of musical styles including ska/reggae.
Sign making workshop thurs 4/5, Screenprinting workshop 4/12. 5pm
Getting ready for Localize It….
Join Baltimore Free Farm as we partner with Baltimore Green Currency for the second annual Localize It! This event celebrates the value of local artists, musicians, food, and social movements. Our motivation for Localize It! is to encourage sustainable choices in the decisions you make every day, including where you spend your money, where your food comes from, what artists and musicians you support, and where your brew comes from.
This year’s Localize It! will feature:
-Chilibrew V! Anyone can be a judge in this homebrew competition(21+ only!) and chili cookoff organized by BaltiBrew. http://baltibrew.org/chilibrew/
-Local craft & food vendors
-Live music(more details TBA)
-Workshops
-Facepainting
-Street performers
-Kid friendly atmosphere!
..and more!
Have you just roasted a chicken(or duck, turkey, any kind of bird!) for dinner, and you’re about to throw the carcass in the trash? You’ve been throwing all those onion skins and vegetable ends into the trash? Stop! You can still make use of those bird carcasses and veggie scraps. Making your own chicken or vegetable stock is incredibly easy, but it does take several hours.
Here are instructions for how to make a tasty soup stock.
Note: If you’re a vegetarian or just don’t have any bird carcasses laying around, simply omit the carcass and add extra veggies to your stock.
Ingredients
1 or more chicken carcasses and leftover bones (optional)
carrots
onions
celery
whole garlic cloves
peppers
your favorite herbs and spices, fresh or dried both work fine (I like to add rosemary, thyme, and marjoram but you can add whatever herbs are your favorite!)
salt & pepper to taste
Keep in mind that the veggies will get thrown out or composted after the stock is done, so if you’d rather avoid wasting whole veggies just save up a bunch of the ends of carrots, onions, etc. as well as things like onion skins to use for making stock later.
1. Chop the veggies into quarters, and leave any skins on. Garlic cloves can be left whole.
2. Throw the chicken carcass(es) and all of your veggies, herbs, and garlic into a large stock pot. Add just enough water to cover all of the ingredients.
3. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and let simmer uncovered for approximately four hours. If any foam rises to the surface, skim this off. After the stock has had time to simmer, you can add salt & pepper if necessary(avoid doing so at the beginning so that you don’t over-salt your stock).
4. When you think that the flavor has developed enough, remove the chicken carcass(es) and strain out all the vegetable matter. Put this vegetable matter into your compost!
Now you have a pot of delicious, homemade chicken or veggie stock. You can either make soup right away by adding chopped veggies, beans, or anything else you’d like and simmering until the veggies are soft, or you can put it into a container to refrigerate for later. If you’d like to save it for a long time, toss it in the freezer and thaw out when you’re ready to use it.
