It's Spring! Time to Start the Ground Cherries

It's official. The first day of Spring. To celebrate I am going to start the ground cherries.
Ground Cherries are in the tomato family. The ones we grow in the BCCD Cultural Heritage Gardens have a pineapple/strawberry taste. They are in a paperlike husk and when ripe the husk falls off the plant. That's when you pick them off the ground. Try not to eat them as you are collecting so you have enough for a pie or preserves.
The seeds you see here are from the BCCD Cultural Heritage Gardens.
Last Fall Pat and I gathered some ground cherries. When they started to rot we processed the seeds by placing them in water. We let the water get moldy, slimy smelly, then strained and rinsed them. We then dried them and packaged them for our sale. Pat was the patient one who cut out the squares of waxed paper, placed the seeds in the middle, then folded it into nice packets.
I am starting my seeds by presoaking them. It is a good way to give them a head start. Seeds need to soak up water before they can sprout, so by presoaking I can save a few days in the sprouting process.
I wash old plastic containers from yogurt, margarine, whatever I have, in the dishwasher to sterlize and then drill 1/4" holes in the bottom for drainage. I add my soil mix which is not potting soil but seed starting mix which you can buy in bags at the local hardware store. I even out the soil, add my seeds then put a light layer of soil on top of the seeds. I set the container in a pan of water till the soil turns dark. That means the soil has absorbed the water and is wet. I then put the container in a plastic bag, seal it up and put it in a warm spot. On top of a refrigerator works great. Keep an eye on them. As soon as they sprout you need to move them to full sunlight or a grow light. Remove the pot from the bag, place in a tray (I use sterilized old Styrofoam or plastic meat trays)and fill with a small puddle of water to keep the pots moist.
That's how I start my tomato and pepper plants too. I use my ground cherries to make a great custard pie. I got the recipe from an old 1800's cookbook I have.

Ground Cherry Pie
2 unbaked pie crusts
3 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg white
2 1/2 cups scalded milk
2 cups ground cherries

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Mix together eggs, sugar, salt, and vanilla. Stir well. Add the milk
3. Line pie pans with pastry, and brush inside bottom and sides of shell with egg white. Divide custard mixture in half and pour into piecrusts. Put 1 cup of ground cherries on top of each pie.
4. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a knife inserted near center comes out clean. Cool on rack.
Enjoy!

The Heirloom Seed Sale

Saturday we woke up to SNOW! The one day of the week we wanted, no needed, sunny skies, we got snow. Despite the blowing, drifting and sometimes heavy snow in the morning, by noon it seemed that it would let up. So we opened the office for the sale and then the snow started falling again.

Gardeners are a hardy lot. Tempt them with free seed catalogs and they will brave snowy, drifting roads. And that's what 52 gardeners did! We were very pleased that despite the weather we had a decent turn out. We had catalogs available from Seed Savers, Baker Creek Seeds, Territorial Seeds, and Sand Hill Preservation Center. By the end of the sale we had only 4 catalogs left, and those were being saved for people who had called and couldn't make it to the sale. We sold over 200 packages of seeds. Considering the weather it was a good turn out.

We have a good variety of seeds left. They are for sale in the Roger Gustafson Nature Center at 603 Appleton Road, Belvidere, IL. Office hours are M-F 8:00-4:30.

Also because of the weather the Gourd class was rescheduled for March 14. There are still openings for that class.

The Legend of the Corn Beads

In 1838 the Cherokee people were forcibly removed from their home land and their homes. As the soldiers came to each house hold to gather the Cherokee people for the removal, many cried tears of sadness over the loss of homes and personal belongings. Most were only allowed to take what they could carry. As the people were taken from their homes they would cry out asking the Creator to send a miracle.

As they walked along the trail, their tears fell to the ground. At the place where the tears fell, a shoot that looked like a cornstalk grew. As the plant bloomed and opened up, seeds of gray fell to the ground. Creator said, “This will be a sign unto all who pass that my children will always be a part of this land. The cornstalk represents life for my children and the seeds of gray represent suffering and sorrow.”

The trail the Cherokee people walked is now known as the Trail of Tears and the seeds are known as corn beads.

Corn Beads are actually Job's Tears or Coix lacryma-jobi a plant in the grass family.

This plant comes from Asia and has been naturalized in the southern United States. The tears or seeds are hard shelled but have a natural hole in them which makes them perfect for using as beads. They have been used to make necklaces and rosaries.

I received these corn beads from one of our volunteers who grows them in her garden here in northern Illinois.

Below I show the beads being strung on stretchy cord and being made into a bracelet. I added some green stones that had holes drilled in them.

If you would like to be entered into a drawing to win this bracelet, e-mail your name to bccdheritagegardens@gmail.com. I will pick a winner on March 17, St. Patrick's Day.

Heirloom Seed Sale

Here is a copy of the flyer that we are sending out for our seed sale on Feb. 21. The sale will be held at the Roger Gustafson Nature Center, 603 Appleton Rd. Belvidere, IL. Time 1-4 Feel free to copy the image and print it out.

The sale will be held in the afternoon because in the morning we are having a gourd craft class. For $5 you get a large gourd and learn how to transform it into a bowl, vase, water bottle, birdhouse, or whatever your imagination comes up with. Space is still available. Call the BCCD office to sign up at 815-547-7935.

Inaguration Day

Today starts a new day in the history of our country. Like any Inauguration Day we come to the event full of hope for the future of our country. This time we are being asked to give. To volunteer our time and talents. As gardeners we can volunteer by sharing our knowledge or by sharing some of the food we grow. The Winnebago Master Gardeners have joined in to help with a national program called PLANT A ROW. This is an easy way for us to get involved and help feed the hungry. Another way to use your talents is to volunteer in the Boone County Conservation District Cultural Heritage Gardens. There are plenty of weeds to go around. You can also volunteer at the Boone County Conservation District helping with prairie restoration, building projects and a host of other needs. To volunteer, contact Bev Kalas, Volunteer Coordinator at 815-547-7935

You can also donate open pollinated heirloom seeds to the gardens. We are always looking for new (old) varieties.

Wherever and however you volunteer, remember that by working together we can make a difference.

The Gardens in Winter

It is cold, bitter cold today. There was a thaw a few weeks ago and a lot of the snow melted. What was left behind was a dirty gray mess. Then it got bitter cold and all the melted snow turned to ice. Pretty it was not. Last night we got a nice dusting of snow. Not so much as to be hours of shoveling but enough to make everything look clean and fresh.

I decided today was the day I would go out and take pictures of the gardens in winter. No one had disturbed the snow yet. So off I went camera in hand. The first picture I took is of the Murray cabin. The Scottish gardens are located behind the Murray cabin.

I walked over to the site of our Norwegian garden next. This garden is huge! It is the full size that a normal family in the 1800's would have planted to feed themselves. As you can see in the picture one of our shovels is out there standing guard. One of our volunteers had been in the garden digging up some root crops right before Thanksgiving and left the shovel there for us to collect. We forgot and there it stands frozen in the ice and snow. In the background you can see the Newhouse cabin. It was built by a Norwegian family in the 1830's. It was also moved to our site in the 1980's.


I walked over to the Potawatomi Garden area where the wigwam, drying rack, tobacco circle and sweat lodge are located. It was there that I discovered the sheet of ice lurking under the snow. I was down so fast I couldn't even react. I was sore for days!


I decided to head into the office after that and sat next to the pellet stove and thawed out. I will wait till we get another snowfall before I venture out again.

The Mystery Squash

This is the mystery squash,. It was planted last spring and after a group of children visited the gardens we noticed that some of our tags had disappeared. Then we noticed squash growing in with the Noir de Carmes Cantelope. We identified the extremely large green striped squash as Cushaw but this one has us stumped. It has a pale orange skin with webbing on it almost like a cantelope or melon. As you can see it has a beautiful bright interior with lots of seeds. I cooked it in the oven then pureed the flesh and it has a very good taste. I made a low fat pumpkin loaf which turned out very tasty. I think it might be a Winter Luxury Pie Pumpkin. Does anyone agree?
Low Fat Mystery Pumkin Loaf
1 cup organic or sucanut sugar 1tsp. baking soda
1 cup cooked pumkin 1tsp. baking powder
1/4 cup canola oil 1/2 tsp. salt
3 egg whites 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
3 Tbsp. low fat milk 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
2 cups sifted unbleached, unenriched flour 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Combine sugar, pumpkin, oil, egg whites and milk. Mix well. Add dry ingredients. Blend well. Stir in nuts. Pour into a well greased large loaf pan or 4 small loaf pans. Bake in 350F oven for 1 hour for large loaf.