The green-thumbed spend hours in the summer sun growing delicious food that all seems to be ready to harvest at the same time, in abundance. So, what happens to the over-abundance of bounty once it’s pulled from the ground? We stopped by the Northampton Community Garden — a 420-plot cooperative located on Burts Pit Road, on the former grounds of the State Hospital’s kitchen garden — to ask a few locals what they plan to do with the goods they’re growing.
Steph Vasiliades, Easthampton
“I try to plant a mix of food and flowers. I have a huge Greek family, so I’ve planted everybody’s favorite flowers. That way, it’s like they’re here with me.
My prizes are my raspberries. They’re awesome. I make preserves and hand them out as presents during the holidays. Here are some beets — I’m going to try pickling those this year. These heirloom tomatoes I’ll make into a sauce, and also just eat sliced. And this broccoli is coming home with me today.”
Jim Ferguson, Longmeadow
“Normally I have more vegetables, but this year it’s garlic, tomatoes, and basil. I just chop up a bunch of garlic, sautee it in olive oil and butter. I throw in tomatoes and cook it for five minutes. Then I add pasta and mix it up. It’s so simple, but I could eat it every day for the rest of my life.
See that cherry tree? I’ve nursed it along for 15 years. I’ve photographed the robins that nest in the tree, but it’s never produced good fruit. Finally, this year, it did. You should have seen that tree a week ago. It was beautiful — totally red with gourmet sour cherries. I just made a cherry jam, and now I’m going to try for a pie.”
Angie Gryszan, Easthampton
“I don’t plant too much. I’m 85. I can’t be here all day! But I grow a lot of flowers. String beans, zucchini, summer squash, dill. And yellow tomatoes — I eat a lot of tomatoes. Always fresh, in my salad. Anything I don’t use I donate to the Northampton Survival Center.”
Lisa Bertoldi, Williamsburg
“I’m really interested in corn. I grow it mostly for corn meal, and also some sweet corn to eat off the cob. But this here is a kind of decorative corn called pod corn, which can look really unusual — it can vary from white to dark purple. I sell this at the Hadley Garden Center, and I give a lot to friends who take botanical illustration classes in Easthampton and in Florence.
I’m also a weaver. I work with flax, linen, and wool. That’s why I’m growing a dye plant called woad. It’s a traditional blue dye from the British isles. I’ll collect those seeds in the next few days. I use the dye in my high-end kitchen towels, which I sell at the open studios at One Cottage Street in Easthampton.”
Dawn Baker, Northampton
“Every year I get a ton of rhubarb. People love it. I give it away. And this is going to be butternut squash. I should get about 20 of those. I’ll save them for Thanksgiving and Christmas — you just mash them up with butter and maple syrup.
But my favorite thing to make is tomato juice. I have a lot of tomatoes here. I just pick them, rinse them off, chop them up, put them in the blender, and strain them. Then I add a little salt and a bunch of basil, and I freeze it in plastic containers. It’ll stay all year.”
Debbie Kehne, Northampton
“I have all kinds of things growing here. Some flowers, mostly zinnias and nasturtiums, but also French beans, tomatoes, dill, mint, zucchini, strawberries. I’m trying an heirloom variety of bok choy, but it hasn’t been working this year.
See all these leeks? I freeze them and eat them all winter. They go into a chicken dish I love to make, with lots of garlic. And the rhubarb just finished for the season — I make that into a strawberry rhubarb sauce. I put it on yogurt, oatmeal, ice cream. You can really eat it with anything.”
Contact Hunter Styles at hstyles@valleyadvocate.com.
