The Art of Thinning

By: Elizabeth Beals

As the days grow longer 

and the cold drifts away 

the earth slowly warms 

ready to welcome

new seeds 

and new life.

One of the hardest parts of this garden business hits you right out of the gate.
You've beaten the odds and successfully germinated your carefully chosen seeds. 

Good for you by the way. 

Your instincts are to let them all live and grow into big, beautiful veggies. I doubt you
have ever been warned that you will be faced with Sofie's choice each spring.
In the gardening world, it's called thinning. Sounds harmless, right? Possibly even pleasant.
Thinning, though sometimes difficult, is a necessary evil. Kill the weak and the crowded!
Why kill such a young and helpless little seedlings you ask? They haven't hurt anyone. 

Well, not yet they haven't, but given time and they will.
You must defeat the seedlings before they defeat your garden! 

Dramatic, sure, but I was surprised how difficult it was to do. 

From seed to plate these plants are like my children.  

Which baby beet plant in this picture would you want to kill? (None please!) 

(Answer: sadly, all but one) 

We as gardeners must grow a thick skin, suck it up, and pick the best of the best!

Give our energy towards that seedling and hope it grows into a plant. That will then feed 

and nourish you and your family in return.

If we want a big FAT beet you can't have two of them growing right next to each other. 

You end up with two small flat sided beets. 

Thinning is an important part of vegetable gardening. 

There are good reasons for planting more than one seed in each hole. 

You plant a few seeds in each hole hoping that at least one seed will germinate.  

If more than one does become a seedling, then you need to make a choice. 

Pick the strongest and healthiest when they are only a few inches tall. It's best to cut the stem 

at the soil line so you won't disturb the roots of other young plants you wish to keep.  

It may be hard, but many of the sprouts in your garden are edible and extremely nutritious in their 

young state. Think of alfalfa sprouts on a sandwich or salad. Otherwise, you can 

always throw them in your compost pile and let them live again. 

There are even some cases where you can save the life of your young plants by 

transplanting them. 

Leeks, garlic and some onions are examples of plants that can be moved as they grow, 

but more on transplanting later.

I hope you give a few seeds a chance to feed you and your family. It was what they

were born to do! Come on, what's the worst that could happen, you kill the plant?

Been there (still happens sometimes) but, as a friend told me once "You can't let fear stop you."

Energy Packed Granola

By: Genevieve Melzer

I love making homemade granola because when you make it yourself it doesn’t have any weird additives or animal byproducts. Store bought granola can be packed with crazy high amounts of sugar, when all you really need is a little maple syrup to sweeten your oats.

When I make granola at home I use whatever I might have lying around that would taste good in granola like flax seeds and coconut oil. I like to make granola as filling and energy packed as possible by adding different nuts and seeds.
It is also super easy to make granola and doesn’t take much of your time at all. You basically just combine all the ingredients and mix together and voila your very own homemade granola.

Energy Packed Granola

You will need:
2 cups oats
½ cup dried cranberries
½ cup raw pecans
½ cup raw almonds
1 tbsp flax seeds
1 tbsp chia seeds
1 tbsp hemp seeds
2 tbsp maple syrup
2 tbsp molasses
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tbsp of coconut oil
Pinch of sea salt
Pinch of cinnamon

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl combine oats, dried cranberries, pecans, almonds, flax seeds, chia seeds, hemp seeds and sea salt and mix together.
3. Then add the maple syrup, molasses, vanilla extract and coconut oil. Stir together until completely combined.

4. Spread mixture evenly on an ungreased baking sheet.
5. Bake for 30-40 minutes, halfway through baking stir the mixture and heavily sprinkle with cinnamon.
6. When mixture is golden brown (30-40 minutes) remove from the oven and let cool for 10-20 minutes. Then serve with almond milk poured all over it. Makes 5 to 6 servings.

I like to store my granola in a large mason jar when it’s done cooling; it keeps it good for a long time. This granola’s shelf life is probably a couple of weeks, but mine never lasts that long because I eat it so fast.

This granola doesn’t need any added sugar, the maple syrup adds enough sweetener to it, and you can’t even tell it doesn’t have some form of sugar or artificial sweetener in it because it tastes so good.

Feel free to change this recipe as you see fit. If you have some other ingredients lying around that you would rather add go ahead and do it. Other ingredients I sometimes use are coconut flakes, carob chips, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, etc. Be creative but make sure to add only the foods that give you energy since granola is a great healthy way to start the day.