Company gardens (and garlic) are on the riseHaberman gardeners are already enjoying the first signs of growth at the Dude Ranch – a small crop of garlic. If that’s not enough inspiration to get growing, check out Fortune.com’s "Gardening at Work is Sprouting Up All Over." From Timberland to Hewlett Packard, gardening with co-workers is all the rage. Join us in 2011 and tell us your story.
Gardens at Work: 2010 ReportAs Haberman gardeners pick bumper crops of tomatoes and cucumbers (and prepare for an onslaught of fall squash), stories of employer gardens across the nation are coming in by the bushel. Faced with great abundance on all fronts, we whipped up a batch of Tomato Cucumber Salad for nourishment and compiled a summary of workplace gardens from coast-to-coast and many points in between.
Chef-Turned-Gardener Breaks New Ground for TargetThe brainchild of one chef, two gardens now provide some of the fresh ingredients in meals for nearly 7,000 Target workers each day. With a spatula in one hand and shovel in the other, Shaun Holtgreve anticipates the plots will add more of what his team is seeking: ingredients sourced locally. Holtgreve is an executive chef for Bon Appétit Management Company, the onsite café and catering company that prepares Target’s breakfast and lunch. Like his counterparts at more than 400 locations in 29 states, Holtgreve is driven to create food that is flavorful, nutritious, and prepared from scratch using authentic – and whenever possible – local ingredients.
Our 2010 Favorites: Salad in a Pillowcase and MoreA repeat of last year’s crop failure (peas) had Dude Ranchers second-guessing our ability to grow this Minnesota garden staple. Thankfully, new (and old) favorite techniques have given us a needed ego boost. Salad in a pillowcase. After cutting greens, we have a “rinse once, package promptly” policy before we deliver to Haberman. We used to towel off greens to remove excess moisture. Too time consuming. This year, we adopted the pillowcase method. Harvesters loosely pack a clean cotton pillowcase with rinsed greens and swing it over their heads, releasing unwanted water – and the stress and tension of the day. Please, try this at home. You’ll love it.
Farm To Office: Young Gardeners Harvest Food, Life LessonsThis week’s Dude Ranch harvest took exactly two hours under the watchful eye of our fearless garden manager, Stephanie. Courage and optimism is required when your harvest team consists of eight kids, ages five to 14, and the mosquitoes are moving fast (and the air isn’t).
Stephanie divided the eager workers into groups and called a steady
Garden Starters, Tutorials, Food ShelvesA recent shout-out from Holly Hirshberg of The Dinner Garden, an organization that gives away free fruit and vegetable seeds to anyone in the nation who wants to start a garden, introduced us to three more organizations worth knowing.
If you have extra produce on your hands, Ample Harvest connects you with the closest food pantry accepting donations. Encourage food shelves in your neighborhood to register with Ample
Basil is the bomb, but now it's under attackPosted on Twitter yesterday, this NPR story about a fungus disease that attacks basil plants caught our attention, and we pass along the link for pesto lovers everywhere: There's bad news for gardeners who grow basil to sprinkle over Italian food or Thai dishes — or anyone who thinks pesto is the best flavor on Earth. A potentially fatal fungal disease called downy mildew has been attacking basil plants in New York, New Jersey, Ohio and Florida. Gardeners are worried that it could spread farther throughout the summer, turning delicate green basil leaves an ugly shade of brown, yellow or gray.
First Harvest, Last Planting: The Numbers Are In.The Dude Ranch is abuzz. A handful of hard-working gardeners harvested a few radishes, mustard greens and lettuce this weekend, a welcome task after our last and biggest planting this season.
We're wordsmiths, but we like to crunch numbers, too. The stats are in: Of our 24 storytellers, 18 are members of our “garden team.” While every Haberman employee takes home Dude Ranch bounty, members of the team earn first dibs on produce for working in the garden, contributing to our blog and Web site, and delivering food to food shelves.
Parking Lot Garden?Every conversation about a company garden starts with where the garden will be planted. Why not ask where your garden could be parked? Truck Farm, a CSA that operates out of a '86 Dodge pickup, might have you planting tomatoes between wheel wells.
A Supplement to the New York TimesThe Dude Ranch’s crooked beans and a meager crop of peas have made the New York Times. That’s big news to us and the likes of PepsiCo, Google, Yahoo, Aveda and many more workplace gardeners. ‘Tis “The Rise of Company Gardens!” Footnote: What’s with the crooked beans? This little gardener tells all. “The Journal of Pioneerosis,” Haberman’s look at the pioneering mindset, has the the skinny.
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Employer Sponsored Gardens is a project of Haberman.
