(Re) Chic

My Husked Tomato plant I first became acquainted with Husked Tomatoes last year at Wilmington's Tomadah Paradah event.  The plants are more low growing and shrub-like than your ordinary tomato and the fruits are surrounded by husks such as those you would find on a tomatillo.   According to Trade Wind Fruits they are,  "Small orange fruit similar in size and shape to a cherry tomato. The fruit is covered in papery husk. Flavor is a pleasant, unique tomato /pineapple like blend. The ground cherry is very similar to the cape gooseberry, both having similar, but unique flavors." I would definitely agree that they have a unique flavor I wouldn't have said pineapple but reading it that's not a completely inaccurate description.   The fruit In the above picture you can see the husks that form around the fruit.   The fruit are quite a bit smaller than a normal cherry tomato would be (even smaller than most grape tomatoes I think) and are m...

Well, this isn't exactly a guest post but in some ways I'm going to feel like a guest for a little while because I'm about to get thrown into some new experiences! I just got offered a job at the London Public Library this morning and I'm starting June 1st!  Which means after a year and a half my VISTA service is finally coming to an end.  Which is both relieving (in that I'm going to get a job that pays above minimum wage) and so sad in that I have a feeling the 45 minute commute is going to cause me to leave Wilmington and leave all of this work that I've spent all of this time doing.   I mean let's look at what I've accomplished both personally and professionally in the past year:  Coordinated a Culinary Job Training Class Fed hundreds of people at Sugartree Ministries Found a family here in Wilmington, OH Assisted in the creation of a Hunger Walk that is slated to become an annual event here in Clinton County. Ate my 1st Banana Split .   Adopted...

In lieu of writing about books (I don't really read books about writing anyway) I have posted a picture relating to them. This is a photo of the sculpture in front of the Wilmington Public Library.  I find it to be really charming, yet somehow sad at the same time.  

Once again my Hunger Action Month posts are written the week after they happen but its the Action not the post that counts right? My AmeriCorps*VISTA position has me working very closely with a food pantry/soup kitchen called Sugartree Ministries.   Sugartree Ministries serves over 1200 hot meals a week and touches approximately 500 people during its weekly grocery distribution.  As part of my position I am responsible for getting student volunteers over to Sugartree on a regular basis.   Saturday we celebrated the 9/11 Memorial Day of Service by hosting a clean-up project at Sugartree Ministries.  Usually when I plan projects like this I get about 6 girls and we do basic things like wipe down the tables and chairs and sweep in the kitchen before its time to go.   This Saturday I had 30 student volunteers!     Not only was it completely overwhelming to supervise 30 enthusiastic students who were more than happy to do the dirty work; ...

September 1st marked the 1st Day of Hunger Action Month so my coworkers and I celebrated by having a "Pumpkin Planting Party" so that we could hopefully have a few pumpkins to donate during the holidays. We planted "Sugar Sweet" pumpkins which are meant for eating instead of the usual Jack-O-Lantern variety.  They also grow a little faster, maturing in only 105 days.  Unfortunately, unless we get an early crop of pumpkins that still won't be in time for Thanksgiving...can you tell we're still new at this garden planning?! We were only able to plant a few places however, we now have pumpkins at a few of the school gardens, at the City of Wilmington Denver Park Demo garden, Sugartree Ministries and (really exciting) around the ECO houses on campus!  Since my contract is up before the pumpkins will have a chance to grow I really hope they get put to good use!  Everyone deserves a pumpkin pie for the holidays! Pumpkin sprouts in my office window. ...

Awhile back I wrote a post about mow-less yards and then today I read an article in the Chicago Tribune Editorials about a great gardener who has turned his front yard into a garden and his neighbors complained!   I personally think turning your lawn into your own personal vegetable garden is a great idea.  Not only will you probably grow enough produce to feed you and your family and your neighbors you might even grow enough to share your bounty with a local food pantry!  And that of course, is the most important thing.   The garden beds I planted and tend (thanks to Verizon Telecommunications) as part of my VISTA position.   Tomorrow, September 1st marks the beginning of Hunger Action Month .  And as a VISTA focusing on poverty and food access this is an issue I deal with everyday.  So here is my pledge to you...ever loyal blog readers.   I, JessicaCRB , pledge to (through my work as a Grow Food, Grow Hope AmeriCorps VISTA) take ...

I was talking to Bonnie, who is the wife of the director of Sugartree Ministries which has been amazingly blessed with so much from the Rachael Ray special. She was telling me her concerns that people are going to give less because as Rachael said on her special "the shelves will be full for months to come" because Sara Lee has promised food to be donated for a year. Which is of course fantastic but as always, there's a catch. Sara Lee as we know does not make every type of food known to man and so having food only from Sara Lee leaves holes on the shelves. However, because people are seeing that there has been a years worth of food donated, they're not donating because they don't see a need therefore the holes remain empty spaces on the shelves. However, I just read this article about how Xanterra Parks and Resorts is donating $2 for every reservation made in December to Sugartree Ministries so that the work can continue and hopefully the holes will...

Hello again! Here's the link to the Rachael Ray show's page on Wilmington's episode. "Thanksgiving on Main Street" Check it out, I'm going to be working with Sugartree Ministries which is the food pantry that now looks like a food network set!

I know that since my blog has moved to a new location a lot of my readers are new and haven't heard a whole lot about the huge new move in my life. I have started this week at Grow Food Grow Hope in Wilmington, OH. Grow Food Grow Hope is a Community Garden Initiative with 9 VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) volunteers working to raise awareness of the benefits of backyard gardening and all the great things that happen when you have fresh produce at your disposal. For those of you who haven't heard we just won a HUGE grant from Tom's Of Maine where we get to spend $20,000 to work with this initiative. I believe all the great press happened because Sugartree , the food pantry and soup kitchen I will be working closely with, was featured on Rachael Ray where they completely redid the entire inside and basically made it look like a food network set. For Rachael Ray's trailer click here and of course check your local listings because it should be airing t...