So I was happy to discover that other Floridians have reached the same conclusion I have: that it makes sense, in as difficult a climate as ours, to emphasize foods from native plants, especially tree crops.

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BUT, for the really adventurous out there - I did find this wonderfully endearing YouTube clip of a man (the language barrier won’t matter) delighting in showing the world how he fashions apples, carrots and even asparagus into musical instruments. It is music so good you can eat it! (Sorry … couldn’t resist).

It is a little weird - but what a fantastic way to take the fear out of vegetables. I don’t know that I can pull off this trick with my paring knife, but I might give it a try. If nothing else, this will provide at least 10 minutes worth of hysterical laughter from my son. 

Enjoy the clip after the jump. 

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Farm Fresh is a series of recipes
designed to showcase produce gathered
from local farms or grown in my own garden.

It’s only April but I’m already thinking about breaking out my grill. My grill is, well, not something to really write home about, or, for that matter, to write a blog post about. I got it for about five bucks from some big box store a few years ago. But, when there are fresh young vegetables to be cooked up, it’s my weapon of choice. Nothing beats grilled asparagus, zucchini, eggplant, and peppers. Nothing, that is, except for Grilled Baby Bok Choy.

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The term “antioxidant” is one of those vaguely scientific, overly used words that makes my eyes lose focus. It’s up there with “nutraceutical” and “isoflavanoid.” But I decided to make a bigger effort to include antioxidant-rich food in my diet, so I decided to figure out exactly what it meant.

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“The HDVG system grows plants in closely spaced pockets on clear, vertical panels that are moving on an overhead conveyor system. The system is designed to provide maximum sunlight and precisely correct nutrients to each plant. Ultraviolet light and filter systems exclude the need for herbicides and pesticides. Sophisticated control systems gain optimum growth performance through the correct misting of nutrients, the accurate balancing of PH and the delivery of the correct amount of heat, light and water“.

If you haven’t seen one of the many news stories on TV about Glenn’s system, you can visit the Valcent site and watch a video with Glenn on the High Density Vertical Growth System.

Despite the fact that we run Inn Serendipity B&B and “breakfast” is part of our business, we find the average American breakfast is, well, boring. With the same old, same old about everywhere you go, we wanted to give breakfast a makeover with a dash of serendipity: spinach and egg stuffed burritos; fried green tomatoes; a side of beets and root crops roasted with thyme. The delighted look on B&B guests’ faces when served a plate of the unexpected inspires us to keep experimenting creatively with the most important meal of the day using a smorgasbord of seasonal produce.

Breaking the rules a bit and leaving room for the unexpected proves to be Inn Serendipity’s appeal. Most of our guests are experienced foodies, flavor and health-conscious sleuths who appreciate the difference between heirloom tomatoes and those found on supermarket shelves wrapped in plastic. We’re eager to savor cuisine prepared in unique ways, or combinations. Foodie travelers don’t want a cookie-cutter motel room, cable TV and continental-style doughnuts for breakfast. They seek out places like our B&B, where a homemade cordial and chocolate greets them for a bedtime nightcap and our young son leads enthusiastic s’more making sessions around the campfire. They smile when roasted turnips and rutabagas appear at the breakfast table from the fall harvest. Authenticity drives culinary travelers off the Interstate and a few of them through our doors. Our tastebuds and our souls crave the real thing.

Wisconsin leads the nation in recognizing this growing market of travelers seeking authentic experiences that don’t ruin the planet in their process of enjoying them. Spearheaded by the Wisconsin Department of Tourism, Travel Green Wisconsin (travelgreenwisconsin.com) invites tourism-related businesses to undergo a certification process based on a range of environmental and social criteria, from sourcing food locally to adopting energy conservation measures. Restaurants showcase local cheeses and lodging establishments like ours are powered by renewable energy. Travel Green Wisconsin leads travelers to places that offer unique experiences that may help sustain, restore or enhance the very features that attract visitors, be it natural or cultural.

The movement is also afoot in Minnesota, spearheaded by the non-profit organization Renewing the Countryside under the moniker Green Routes (greenroutes.org). Their website provides an easy-to-use tool to help you find one-of-a-kind places to eat, play, shop, sleep and learn in Minnesota (and soon, to a place near you).

This green travel movement, echoing that of the organic foods movement, revitalizes small family farms and fuels interest in real food and flavors. Local farms are the ones saving seeds and sowing the Cherokee Purple Tomato and Royal Burgundy Bush Green Beans. Taste some, and you will be a believer in God’s true intentions. The real thing doesn’t come in the form of a dark-colored soft drink.

By stripping away packaging, processing and predictability, authenticity shines through. Jump-start your day with a dose of something different and smile when a turnip turns up on your breakfast plate. This flavorful, unusual recipe from our cookbook, Edible Earth: Savoring the Good Life with Vegetarian Recipes from Inn Serendipity, prompts folks to rethink their assumptions about rutabagas. Be sure to boil turnips and rutabagas first till they are tender yet firm since they don’t cook as fast as the other root vegetables.

Roasted Root Vegetables (Vegan)
Ingredients:
8 c. beets, turnips, rutabagas and potatoes, cleaned, peeled and chopped into bite-size pieces
2 ¼ t. garlic salt
2 ¼ t. dried oregano
1 ½ t. sugar
1 ½ t. dried thyme

Directions:
* Mix spices and oil in a glass jar and let set for about an hour or more.
* Place veggies in a 9-in. x 13-in. baking pan. Drizzle spice and oil mixture over veggies and toss to coat.
* Bake at 425 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally.

Serves 8.

No meal plan results in – you guessed it – our falling into the convenient fast food, heat-and-eat processed foods and the pricey take-out trap. Like clockwork, we know roughly the times during each day when your body screams "feed me." For most of us, this may be breakfast, lunch and dinner. Granted, we live in a fast-paced, fly by the seat of your pants paced world, but just a little thought today for what and when you eat tomorrow can build into long-term better eating habits, save money, and often reduce our impact on the environment. After all, preparing a salad with ingredients you already have on hand cuts down on resources used up by calling in a delivery for pizza.

Some thoughts on developing a meal plan:

• Prioritize pre-preparation. When you’re famished, the last thing you want is to dice and sauté onions. Instead, decide to have stir-fry for supper the night before and washing and chopping up the vegetables that evening, storing in Tupperware in the refrigerator overnight. When you get home from work, you can quickly sauté up supper.
• Defrost efficiently. While a microwave can save both time and energy for quickly heating leftovers, it is not the place to efficiently defrost frozen food. Think of your bag of frozen mixed vegetables as a mini cooling unit: By slowly defrosting your food overnight in the refrigerator, the food lets off cool air into the place you want it: your refrigerator. This is where the old timer term "ice box" comes from. Your refrigerator then needs to work less (i.e., use less energy) to keep cold.
• Stock up on portable snacks. For those times when you’re rushing out the door for the day and the last thing you have time for is packing a sandwich for lunch, keep a stash of portable ready-to-eat-yet-healthy snacks for an on-the-go meal so you’re not tempted by the fast food drive though. In a pinch, we’ll grab a jar of peanut butter, a package of crackers and a butter knife for a filling snack that stores easily without refrigeration. Dried fruit and granola bars also work well.
• Stick with simple, core recipes. Have a small selection – three or four – of core simple, favorite recipes that you can whip together quickly. When "what’s for dinner?" is just one more decision you need to make after a busy day, having limited options from which to choose makes things easier.

This quick and easy pizza is a last-minute meal staple in our house, since the dough for the crispy crust is not yeast-based and doesn’t need to rise. The dough can even be made in the food processor. This recipe from our cookbook, Edible Earth: Savoring the Good Life with Vegetarian Recipes from Inn Serendipity, can be made even quicker by shredding cheese and chopping toppings the night before.

Quick Pizza

Ingredients:

2 c. all-purpose flour
½ c. whole wheat flour
1 ½ t. baking powder
½ t. salt
¼ c. butter (½ stick), chilled and cut into pieces
1 c. milk
3 c. tomato sauce
Pizza toppings of choice

Directions:

• Place the two flours, baking powder and salt into the container of a food processor and pulse until mixed. Drop in the butter pieces and pulse until large crumbs form.
• With the motor running, pour in the milk and process just until a clump of dough forms.
• Scrape the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Form 4 balls. Roll out each ball with a lightly floured rolling pin into an 8-inch circle.
• Place two circles on a greased baking sheet. Top with the toppings of your choice and bake at 450 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden on top and bottom. Peek underneath the crust to make sure it’s golden brown.

Yield: 4 small pizzas.

Keep in mind that the typical consumer is NOT paying the true cost of food. The meat, dairy, and egg industries, in particular, enjoy many government subsidies, which keep the cost of these unhealthful products artificially low. The same goes for produce laden with chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Also, organic fruits and veggies are usually not grown on an industrial scale, so efficiencies aren’t as great. Also, as pointed out in a recent article on the subject, "there are also significant costs involved in switching farmland from nonorganic to organic status. And there’s a lot more manual labor involved, such as weeding by hand."

So it’s not that organic is expensive; it’s the non-organic is cheap.

I’m always struck by the fact that so many people think organically grown food is some new-fangled, trendy idea. To grow plant foods with the least amount of chemicals as possible is to return to a time before industrical agriculture. Supporting local farmers is a very old ideal. As consumers, we should be shocked that an apple from clear across the world costs less than an apple grown a few hours from our home. When you go to a farmer’s market and buy directly from that farmer, you’re paying the true cost of that food.

Buying local and organic is the best thing you can do for so many reasons. First of all, the taste is absolutely superior, because the fruits and vegetables are grown with flavor in mind. When you buy produce that has been shipped in from all over the world, that produce is grown not with taste and flavor as the first priority but rather the ability to withstand the long shipments and sit on the shelf for long periods of time.

Also, when you purchase local produce, you’re purchasing produce that is seasonal - grown according to the climate of the region in which you live. And seasonal veggies are generally cheaper than purchasing out of season fruits and vegetables. But cost doesn’t refer only to dollars. As with the health costs that comes from eating an animal-based diet, there are also environmental costs, and when you buy locally at a farmer’s market or through something like Community Supported Agriculture, it means you’re paying for food that was driven down from a couple hours away as opposed to shipped from thousands of miles away. That’s a huge savings in terms of the resources required to get that food to your table – resources that include oil and electricity.

In terms of organic produce, when you purchase organic, you’re supporting a growing system that works with the Earth rather than against it. You’re paying for sustainable growing methods that enrich rather than deplete the soil. When you purchase out-of-season produce that was shipped in from other countries, there concerns about food safety, as well. The growing standards in other countries may not be the same as those in the U.S. or more specifically as high as those of the farmers you can talk to at the markets. I mean you can find out exactly how they grow their food, and in many cases you can also visit the farm yourself.

Having said all this, as we adjust to paying the true cost of food, it’s helpful to know which fruits and vegetables are the most highly sprayed so we can make informed decisions when we simply cannot purchase organic. Certain produce, termed the "Dirty Dozen" by the Environmental Working Group, is so highly sprayed with toxic chemicals that, many experts recommend eating them only when they’re organic. These include:

• Apples
• Cherries
• Grapes, imported (Chili)
• Nectarines
• Peaches
• Pears
• Raspberries
• Strawberries
• Bell peppers
• Celery
• Potatoes
• Spinach

The U.S. Department of Agriculture found that even after washing, some fruits and vegetables consistently carry much higher levels of pesticide residue than others. The produce you can get away with purchasing as non-organic includes:

• Bananas (though I do recommend purchasing "Fair Trade" bananas)
• Kiwi
• Mangos
• Papaya
• Pineapples
• Asparagus
• Avocado
• Broccoli
• Cauliflower
• Corn
• Onions
• Peas

When I have the opportunity, I do tend to purchase many of these as organic anyway, mainly because I shop at farmer’s markets and also because I want to support local, organic farmers. But it’s helpful to have this list on hand (or in your memory) to help you make the best choices possible.

To make it even easier for you, the Environmental Working Group has a handy little guide called Pesticides in Produce that you can either download from their website Food News, or order a wallet-size version of to keep with you at all times.

Ingredients
1-1/2 pounds tofu, extra firm or super firm*
1/2 cup eggless mayonnaise (Nayonnaise and Vegenaise are great, but Wildwood’s Garlic Aioli is my fave)
2 red bell peppers, finely chopped
4 scallions (white and green parts), finely chopped
2 carrots, finely chopped
3 stalks celery, finely chopped
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, finely chopped
4 teaspoons pickle relish
1-1/2 tablespoons prepared mustard
¼ teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon sea salt or to taste
Black pepper, to taste
10 slices good-quality sliced bread

Directions
1. In a large bowl, mash tofu with a fork, potato masher, or your hands.

2. Add remaining ingredients and mix well.

3. Spread a few tablespoons of the tofu mixture on the bottom bread slices. Top with remaining slices of bread. (Toasted slices make this even more scrumptious!)

4. Carefully cut the crusts off the sandwiches with a sharp knife. Cut in half diagonally, then cut in half again so you’re left with small triangle-shaped finger sandwiches. (Throw the crust out to the grateful birds.)

*A word about tofu: There are many different types of tofu available, ranging from silken and soft to firm and extra firm - and even super firm, in the case of my favorite brand, Wildwood Organics, but there are also differences within those variations depending on the brand you buy or the way it’s packaged. The perfect textured tofu for this dish is one that is very firm. I recommend an extra-firm tofu (in the refrigerated section of the grocery store). Wildwood brand is my favorite, but if you can’t find it or can only find one that is in a tub of water, you might want to press out the water first. To press tofu: just dump the water and give the tofu a quick rinse. Wrap the tofu in a towel and place on a plate. Place something heavy on the tofu and leave it there for about 20-30 minutes; the towel will be soaked through.

Serving suggestions:

*Wonderful as a sandwich filling on a hard roll or stuffed in a pita
*Serve on crackers as an appetizer or party dish
*Serve as a side salad – great for picnics and BBQs!

Variation suggestion:

*Use cubed, steamed tempeh for a “better than chicken” salad.
*Use potatoes for a tasty potato salad.
*Use garbanzo beans/chickpeas for a “better than tuna” salad. (Grind the beans in a food processor for a tuna-like size and texture.

Other tofu recipes can be found at www.compassionatecooks.com

Also on GO:

All About Tofu - Part 1

Summer Vegetable Risotto
Use this recipe as a model for many of your favorite seasonal vegetables, so long as those on the sturdy side (bell peppers, artichoke hearts, broccoli, beets) are precooked until not quite tender, either by blanching, steaming, or roasting. As a general rule, for every cup of rice, you will need about 3 cups of simmering broth.

Cooking time: The total cooking time from the first addition of liquid to the rice to the completion of the risotto containing vegetables is typically about twenty-five minutes. But let your taste buds be the guide. Risotto is not as complicated as many think. It just requires some time at the stove. Use that time as an opportunity to engage in "cooking meditation." It really is very therapeutic!
Makes 4 main course servings

INGREDIENTS
6 cups vegetable broth, plus additional (if necessary)
½ cup dry white wine
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped, about 1 cup
3 garlic cloves, crushed or chopped
1 yellow summer squash, diced
1 or 2 zucchini squash, diced
4-5 ears corn enough for 3-1/2 cups kernels (you may used canned or frozen)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh mixed herbs (basil, dill, sage, etc.)
1-1/2 cups arborio rice
Salt and pepper to taste
Toasted pine nuts (optional)
Yellow pear tomatoes, for garnish (optional)
Fresh herbs, finely chopped (optional)

DIRECTIONS

1. Remove husks and silk from corn. Working over a large bowl to catch the corn kernels and juices, cut kernels from corncobs with a sharp knife. (If using canned or frozen, just drain the water.)
2. Heat the broth in a large pot.
3. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over high heat and saute the zucchini and yellow squash until lightly browned. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.
4. Sauté the onion and garlic in the remaining oil until tender but not brown, about 5 minutes.
5. Add the rice and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes.
6. Reduce the heat to medium-low and add ½ cup of the simmering broth mixture to the skillet. Cook, stirring constantly, until almost all of the liquid has been absorbed. Continue adding the broth mixture ½ cup at a time, cooking and stirring until it is almost completely absorbed and the rice begins to soften, about 15 minutes.
7. When down to last two cups of liquid, add corn kernels. Continue cooking, adding liquid 1/2 cup at a time.
8. Stir in the squash and another ½ cup of the broth mixture. Continue to stir constantly until the liquid has almost been absorbed, until the mixture is creamy, not runny, the rice is tender yet firm to the bite, and the vegetables are heated through, about 5 minutes.
9. Remove from the heat and stir in the herbs. Serve at once, garnished with the pine nuts, pear tomatoes, and finely chopped fresh herbs, such as basil, parsley, and tarragon, if using.

Optional: Add non-dairy butter in the last 10 minutes of cooking. Earth Balance is the best non-dairy butter out there! No GMOs, no hydrogenated oil, no saturated fat, no animal protein, no cholesterol. Some variations (like the whipped) are organic.

More recipes and resources at Compassionate Cooks.

A new study American Journal of Preventive Medicine confirms this: Americans are eating fewer vegetables than ever. Researchers evaluated data from two large national health surveys and reviewed how many people ate three or more servings of vegetables a day. (French fries counted!).

In the first survey, 35% met the goal; in the second survey, 10 years later: 32%. So, why are we ignoring the most consistent message of our childhood? I have a few ideas.

In the many years I have been teaching vegan cooking classes, I have discovered that so few of my students know what to do with a head of broccoli or a bunch of kale. Many don’t know why white rice is white or that vegetables contain protein (38% of the total calories in asparagus, for instance, is protein). Most of us were raised on a meat-centered diet, where vegetables played a minor role and either came from a can, were boiled to death, or were drowned in cream sauces and butter. It’s no wonder we didn’t get hooked on veggies.

We’re also ridiculous creatures of habit, and as the researchers discovered, most people demonstrate very little diversity when choosing vegetables. Here’s a secret: when I switched to a plant-based diet, I actually found more options. With meat, dairy, and eggs out of the way, a world of plant foods opened up. There is an inaccurate assumption that a plant-based diet is limiting, and vegans are often asked – in exacerbated tones – “What do you eat?” The implication is that non-vegetarians eat a huge variety of foods, but in truth, most of us rotate the same dishes over and over - and over again.

We tend to look in one direction when it comes to how, what, and who we eat. We order the same things in the same restaurants, we prepare the same meals at home, and we rarely use those spices that are collecting dust on those cute little spice racks hanging on our kitchen walls. We're often completely unaware of what's even in the other direction. That's one of the reasons the transition to a plant-based diet can be daunting and exciting at the same time: an entire world of new foods, cuisines, ingredients, menu items, and recipes open up that weren't in view before. People often feel overwhelmed by the process, but that's what's so exciting about it: the options are endless.

I've seen so many people discover how much more expansive a plant-based diet is than an animal-based one, as they realilze that animal-based products continually displaced plant foods in their daily meals. They discover that every time they chose meat, dairy, or eggs, they were not choosing healthful plant foods.

In the many years I've been doing the work of empowering people to make informed food choices and debunking myths about veganism, I have had the pleasure and privilege of witnessing thousands of people change their diets, change their minds, and change their lives. And as I guide them through this process of transformation, I remind them that as we begin to make new food choices, not only do our options expand but our palates (as do our perceptions and minds) change as well. When we get heavy, fat-laden, processed products out of our diets and replace them with healthful, whole vegetables, fruits, mushrooms, nuts, seeds, grains, herbs, and spices, our palates become resensitized to taste and we begin to crave the things we never thought we would.

Here are a few other tips and tricks I give to my students and podcast listeners about incorporating more plant foods into their diets:

1. Shop by color. (Ketchup doesn’t count!) The health-promoting antioxidants are in the colors of plant foods.

2. Add diversity. Try a new vegetable from the farmer’s market each week.

3. Buy a steamer basket. Steaming veggies is a healthful age-old method of cooking vegetables.

4. Make vegetable-rich stews. Add a can of beans (rinsed and drained) and a veggie bouillon cube.

5. Prep in advance. If we chop up vegetables before storing them in the fridge, we’re more inclined to eat them. Take 10 minutes to chop when you arrive home from the market.

6. Prioritize. We all complain about how we’re too busy to cook, but I wonder: if we don’t have just 15-30 minutes a day to nourish our bodies and create healthful meals for our families, then perhaps we need to re-structure our priorities.

7. Re-sensitize your palate. Our palates may need some time to become re-sensitized to less fat and salt. Remember: it takes 3 weeks to change a habit. Just stay committed and trust that a process is taking place.

8. Keep essentials on hand, including various vinegars, tamari soy sauce, dried herbs, dried spices, fresh herbs, garlic bulbs, fresh ginger root, lemons. Simple ingredients are all you need for delicious vegetable preparation.

9. Increase pounds. Aim for a pound of raw and a pound of fresh vegetables every day; even if you fall short, you’ll be way ahead of the curve.

10. Be reasonable. Though fresh is always best, frozen vegetables (and sometimes canned) are better than no vegetables at all.

Finally, call your mother and give her the opportunity to say “I told you so.”

(Visit Compassionate Cooks' website for resources and recipes on healthful eating.)

We couldn't help think of Dana Carvey & Chopping Broccoli on this tip. He could have delivered it so much better! The times when it makes absolute sense to implement this is when you are preparing something that will eventually be pureed.

For vegetables that you will actually eat, you'll have to figure out what size works best for you. Size and shape somehow affect our taste buds. If they didn't, there would be only one kind of pasta! It will save you time on the cooking end, however, if you take a few extra moments to chop your veggies smaller in the first place.

Rebecca says: In order to make sure that you chop as fast and as efficient as possible, use a good knife. Until I had decent knives, I had no idea how much time I was wasting in the kitchen. A good knife can slice a tomato and a carrot with ease.

If your garden has a spot with good access to the sun throughout the day, you can use a cold frame to start your plants earlier in the year than you would otherwise. A cold frame is a very simple item. It is really just a small greenhouse. Daytime sun will warm the air and the ground inside, making it easier for plants to start growing. Nighttime temperatures inside the cold frame may fall back close to outdoor ambient temperature, but the extra heat gained during the day and the wind protection the encosure provides will help keep the plants alive even if there is an overnight frost.

Building a cold frame should be a simple project. An elaborate structure is not required. It should cost little or nothing to build and nothing to operate. Plants can be started close together while they are small, and then, as they get bigger and the weather gets nicer, they can be moved out of the frame and put into the garden.

Last year, I built a pair of new windows for my garage using architectural glazing samples. When I took out the old windows, I salvaged them rather than breaking them up and tossing them in the trash, so now I have two windows which are the basis for my cold frame. You can also build a cold frame using acrylic or other plastic sheets held in a wood frame. As I said, cold frames don't need to be elaborate.

This article explains how I built my cold frame, but you should be able to easily adapt it for your own materials and needs. I would be very interested to hear from other DIY builders about their cold frame projects. It would be very useful to gather other hints and compile them for a future edition.

Materials:

• (2) salvaged windows, 22" x 28-1/2" each
• 24" x 24" sheet of plywood, 1/2" thick (for sides)
• 18" x 44" sheet of plywood, 1/2" thick (for back)
• (3) 1×4 or 1×6, cut to 43" long (2×4s or 2×6s would also work well)
• scrap wood or 2×2s for corner blocking
• nails or screws
• (2) 1×2 strips, about 12" long (for cleats)

Assembly:

1. Cut the sides for the cold frame from the 1/2" plywood. The window needs to be angled toward the sun to gather the light. My plywood had already been ripped with a 6:12 slope. But cutting a 24" x 24" sheet of plywood at an angle with the smaller side matching the height of the front cross piece makes efficient use of the material.

2. Nail or screw the blocking to the ends of the long pieces of wood.

3. Nail or screw the long pieces to the side pieces. If you are using 2×4s or 2×6s it is possible to omit the corner blocking and directly fasten through the side pieces into the middle of the 2x. But nailing into the end grain of the wood is not a strong connection, so screws should be used.

Cleat holds window onto frame4. Fasten cleats to the top of each window with 2 or 3 screws. The cleat needs to overhang the window frame at the bottom so that it will catch the top of the cold frame and hold the window in place. I prefer using cleats to hold the windows in place because this way they can be completely removed and set aside in order to work inside the frame. The windows can also be attached with hinges, which makes it easy to crack the windows open to allow ventilation and prevent overheating.

5. Prepare the soil in the garden. It is also possible to set the frame over seedling trays or starter pots, particularly if you plan to relocate all of the plants elsewhere in your garden.

6. Set the frame in place. Most wood exposed to ground contact will start to rot, and most gardeners don't want to use treated wood near the soil they are using for growing food. Even painting the wood can help protect it somewhat. I used paver bricks set in the ground around the garden to keep the frame from direct contact with the soil. Other options would be to use cedar or another wood that resists rotting.

7. Plant your plants.

Diagram 2

Alternatives:

Optional materials:

• corner brackets

• hinges

• thermometer

• rigid insulation

Metal corner brackets and screws, instead of nailed connections, could be an alternate way to put a cold frame together. This could also make it possible to disassemble the cold frame for storage when it is not needed, and then quickly reassemble it later on. Hinges can be used to fix the windows to the frame and still allow access to the plants.

Hinges can be used to connect the windows to the frame. But, as noted above, having windows that can be completely removed makes it easier to work inside the frame.

If there are clear sunny days, it is quite possible for a cold frame to overheat during the day. To help moderate the temperature inside, you can prop one window open slightly to let the warmest air out at the top. Just be sure to close it back at night, especially if cold overnight temperatures are expected. Also, since you are putting a roof over the soil and heating the air inside, you have to remember to regularly check and water the plants in your cold frame.

If you want to do some data gathering and monitoring, you can put a thermometer inside the frame to measure interior temperature. It's best to put this on the front of the frame (on the inside) where it will be shaded as much as possible, so that your readings will not be affected by direct sun on the thermometer.

Put the cold frame into storage during the summer, but the cold frame can also be used in the fall to help extend the season for some plants as frosty nights return.

Putting insulation on the sides of the cold frame doesn't do much for it, because so much of the heat captured during the day will be lost through the uninsulated window once the sun goes down. However, building a back wall for the cold frame from stacked bricks can serve as a heat sink to store more heat gathered from the sun, to help keep the temerature up through the cold night. Building a cold frame against a wall, or into a hillside, where there is more thermal mass to store the heat, can also be a strategy to push it even further. But for the purpose of just extending the season for a few weeks, a simple cold frame will be more than adequate.

If you want to try growing hardy, cold tolerant plants throughout the winter using your cold frame, you could put insulation on the sides of the frame and leave space for an insulated lid which could be installed inside to cover the plants during overcast days. I recommmend looking at the Brines Farm site (which I wrote about earlier) for more information and suggestions about year round food growing. Shannon has also posted a video in the Convenient Truths contest where he discusses some ideas about growing local food.

Sources for further information:
http://www.doityourself.com/stry/oldwindowuses
http://www.newsobserver.com/385/story/222309.html
http://www.extension.umn.edu/yardandgarden/ygbriefs/h137seasonextenders.html