What
Are They Growing Down There?
The Bozone - September 2009
Have you seen the greenhouse & garden at Norris Hot Springs?
From the road it looks like a ghost of a garden with flapping white
fabric over organized rows. Owner / gardener Holly Heinzmann reports
that the white fabric is called Agribon, a commercial garden product.
She says that it has greatly benefited the garden at Norris by
protecting it from both the hottest of the summer sun and from the
regular winds, both of which desiccate tender annuals.
And to answer the question;
they’re growing table grapes, pumpkins,
raspberries, blackberries, snow & shell peas, tomatoes, corn,
garlic, squash, broccoli, cauliflower and cabbages, strawberries,
onions, carrots, beet, turnips, spinach, kale, chard, lettuce, Asian
greens, herbs, edible flowers, asparagus, and eggplant, in that order,
left to right, as seen from the entrance. And all
of these succulent and delicious garden items are or will be on the
café menu.
Fresh garden of the gods
options this week: one can sample snow peas
cold and garlicky, or hot and crispy right off the grill; baby arugula
salad with roasted beets, local goat cheese and toasted walnuts;
broccoli in peanut sauce on whole wheat fusilli, veggie burritos with
sautéed kale, fresh farm eggs, and local organic potatoes;
mixed
lettuce or spinach salad with carrots, radishes and edible flowers,
and/or a grass-fed beef taco served with fresh-picked spicy greens and
cilantro.
Water of the Gods believes that
soaking is good for you and that eating
food grown both locally & organically will make you even
healthier.
They serve up their own garden harvest in salads, sides and grilled
seasonal vegetables to supplement their local protein offerings of beef
and bison burgers. In fact the majority of their grill menu is grown
within 30 miles. Everybody likes a burger and fries, but just wait
until you try Sabo’s Harrison grown, grass-fed beef burger
with Kimm’s
Manhattan farm’s organic, grill-roasted potatoes. P.S.
– don’t forget a
side of snow peas. You can’t get that at McDonalds. Heinzmann
says
she’s always surprised when people who care about what they
and their
families eat choose to go out for a meal and no longer question the
source or growing practices of the food being served. Her goal is to
provide food that people can trust to nourish them and their families.
And of course, it should be and is delicious.
To that end, much of the garden
continues to be an experiment in
deliciousness — there are 15 varieties of cherry tomatoes, 9
varieties
of slicing tomatoes, 7 varieties of peppers and over 30 varieties of
lettuces being grown in the garden this year. The plan is to find the
varieties that are both prolific and the very tastiest. The brains and
brawn behind the cooking / food preparation, Rebecca Heemstra, says
“everything coming out of the garden this year is
sweet.”
Heinzmann says her favorite
from the garden this year is the asparagus.
Asparagus is a perennial that needs two or more years to be fruitful.
Two varieties planted this year for future grilling plans are nutty and
delicious, just a shade more interesting than normal supermarket fare.
Likewise the fruit, raspberries, grapes and blackberries will be
productive in a year or two — with several varieties of each
for
delicious diversity. If you are someone who looks forward to their next
meal — there is much to look forward to at the Water of the
Gods. Fresh
garden fare all summer and fall, fresh specials and entrees made from
their canned, frozen or stored fresh garden tomatoes, squash, garlic,
eggplant, peppers, greens and herbs all winter, and even more delicious
options in upcoming years as the perennial gardens at Norris mature.
Get healthy – eat local.
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