May 2021 E-Newsletter
Gardens are not made by singing ‘Oh, how beautiful,’ and sitting in the shade. –Rudyard Kipling
Featured Instagram Photo of the Month: The Stunning Chantilly Butterfly Snapdragon
Upcoming Garden Events:
May. 8 - Saturday Workday - 9:00 AM - Noon
May. 15 - Board Meeting - 9:30 AM
May. 30 - Sunday Workday - 1:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Editor's Note:
April and May are the most beautiful months at Ocean View Farms. I hope you get a chance to take some time to walk around and enjoy all the brilliant colors on display. The orchard is full of small summer fruit and fall buds. This is such a fun time to garden when many plants grow quickly with the extra light and warmth. It’s been and extra treat to run into so many of my garden neighbors each time that I visit.
If you’ve got bare dirt in your plot, this is a great time to plant it. Gardening in LA has a list of things to plant in May if you need ideas. Yvonne Savio, the blog's author, also has some nice ideas of companion plants to grow together. For example, beans with cucumbers to help keep the cucumber beetles away and potato plants to repel squash bugs.
I saw some interesting spring recipes that I thought I would share. I’d been wondering what to do with the leeks I grew this year when I stumbled upon this beautiful leek and lentil confit. I’m not sure it will be worth the effort but it’s definitely a change from the go-to potato-leek soup. I’m pretty sure I’m going to try to make this caramelized onion dutch baby with my onion crop. My friend makes an asparagus rhubarb couscous that sounds so good right now. I can’t find a link to her recipe but this one is fairly close. If I’m willing to spend a solid day in the kitchen, this pistachio rhubarb trifle recipe is always a showstopper on Mother’s Day. Lastly, It’s a Memorial Day tradition in my family to consume this strawberry pizza for dessert. What are you cooking this spring? Please send your favorite spring/ summer recipes to askovf@oceanviewfarms.net and I will share them in the next newsletter.
-Tara Crow
OVF Announcements:
OVF Elections
Ocean View Farms had a record turn out this year with almost 200 members submitting pandemic mandated online ballots.
Thank you to everyone that voted and especially to those that ran for one of the positions. A very warm welcome to new OVF board members Donn Hoffman, Mary Harrison and Tanya Brokaw.
Below are the results of the 2021 elections. For more information on the elections you can visit the “What’s New” page on the OVF website.
- Vice-president
- Donn Hoffman
- Garden Master
- Ed Mosman
- Membership Secretary
- Mary Harrison
- Independent Project Monitor
- Tanya Brokaw
- Upper Phase I Phase Representative
- Andrew Sacks
- Upper Phase II Phase Representative
- Marie Green
- Upper Phase III Phase Representative
- Ron Fine
- Upper Phase IV Phase Representative
- Steven Reich
OVF Workdays
Workdays are back! Please note, due to COVID rules about gatherings, we are still asking gardeners to RSVP for workdays. The first workday will be this Saturday, May 8th at 9:00am. There are other ways to earn community service hours if you don’t feel comfortable joining a workday. Talk to your phase rep if you would like to hear of other service opportunities.
An Oldie But Goodie
A couple of garden members were thoughtful enough to pass along this classic episode of KCET’s City Walk featuring Ed Mosman and Christy Wilhelmi and of course, Ocean View Farms. If you haven’t seen it, enjoy!
As always: we want to hear from you! Send us an email, reach out on Facebook, or tag us on Instagram @oceanviewfarms.
That’s all for now. Happy gardening!