January 25th 2010
So after a lovely meal of Peking duck at a trendy Beijing restaurant, I headed with several friends to what tourists call “snack alley.” This narrow street is lined with small booths offering adventures in gastrointestinal delights… for some. Scorpions, cicadas, cocoons, centipedes, caterpillars, starfish and the like await the daring.
I thought I would try anything. I love bugs. The fried scorpions we sampled first had a lovely seasoning and were really quite good. The cicada nymphs provided my first indication that maybe I wasn’t cut out for this. Oh, I choked it down… I wasn’t going to be considered a chicken, but it was a toughie.
We met some fun young people from New York who offered a bite of starfish. Nope…I found my line in the sand. It smelled awful. And the young men confirmed that it tasted awful, too.
There is a term for this practice of eating insects – entomophagy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entomophagy. It was pretty cool. But I’ll steer away from the juicy things next time.
January 25th 2010
While in a taxi in Beijing, I was reminded that some of our Michigan plants need a little winter protection too. Some boxwood varieties are especially susceptible to winter injury from snow.
After a particularly big and heavy snow, it is always a good idea to shake branches that may be looking a little saggy from the weight. This can prevent breakage. Rhododendrons and azaleas benefit from a burlap cover to block the wind. This is about as close as we can get to a snuggie for plants.
January 25th 2010
How do 20 million people here get their food? Anywhere and every where – from street vendors to fruit carts, kiwis on bikes and little grocery stores on every block.
How do Flint residents get their food? On non-Farmers Market days, that trip could require at least two bus transfers to the nearest supermarket, likely outside the city limits.
Not that I want to buy a swordfish hanging from a kiosk like I see here in China…ok, maybe I do. But it does make me stop and think about how we take for granted going to a large box store for our food. 
January 21st 2010
I was visiting Yu Yuan Gardens today in Shanghai and was quite taken by the beauty of the Chinese style of landscape design. One of the great aspects of this style of design is the many rooms that are created. Entering one such room I observed a sweet scene-a man and his daughter “fishing” for Koi with a willow branch. The Yu Yuan Gardens were created in 1559, and I bet the landscape designer never anticipated this use!
Today’s public gardens are sometimes over-designed to direct ways that families will interact. If we just yield to our imagination-and children do that so easliy-gardens can inspire all sorts of fun family activities.
January 16th 2010
- Street vendor noodles
- on a stick
Welcome to Shanghai! There are already vegetables I can’t identify. The food-on-a-stick looked intriguing, but many of the vegetables were unknown to me. I went the easy route and ate flat noodles first, for the equivalent of $1 US.
I got to choose the level of spice from dried chilies, which were added to fresh bok choy, bean sprouts, egg and several spices that are new to me. And I was reminded of my inadequacies using chopsticks!
January 9th 2010
Today at Divine Wines at 
the Flint Farmer’s market I picked up the cutest mini chicken eggs! Bantum chickens http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bantam_(chicken) lay eggs that are 2/3rds the size of chicken eggs we buy in the store. I had to show them to everyone I ran into at the market and couldn’t help brainstorming the possibilities. I mean what can you use mini eggs for? An egg cooked for an english muffin that is perfectly sized? ooh I hadn’t thought of the possibilities of ukranian egg decoration.. how adorable.
Any ideas on what I could use these for?
October 30th 2009
Squashes and pumpkins are my favorite fall vegetables, simply because of all the varieties. I love all the choices! Did you know that pumpkins are really squashes? Most of the wonderful heirloom varieties can be adapted to any of your favorite squash recipes. The Australian butter squash makes a fantastic squash soup because of it’s smooth flesh. The mini pumpkins are my favorite single serving squash. A great book to discover squash and pumpkins is Amy Goldman’s The Compleat Squash (www.rareforms.com).
September 29th 2009
I’m Erin Caudell, outreach coordinator for the Ruth Mott Foundation in Flint, Michigan. I’ve been writing a gardening column for the past two and a half years that is published in the Flint Journal and two other east Michigan newspapers, and this blog seemed a natural next step.
Gardening is a passion of mine. So is Flint. I’m proud of this community and the ambitious initiatives in Genesee County related to gardening and urban agriculture. This will be a great place for us to talk about them while we share ideas for making our gardens and our lives more productive, more sustainable, and more satisfying.
Look for new postings every few days. Occasionally you’ll hear from other members of the foundation, too. They are a talented group. For more information about the Ruth Mott Foundation, you’ll find a link on this page.
Thanks for checking in!
