August 2020 - Greenacres Foundation

17 Aug 2020

Recipe Jen Langdon 0 comment

Grilled Turkey Burgers

Grilled Turkey Burgers

Our pasture-raised ground turkey is the perfect start to a juicy, meaty burger. These instructions are for grilling, but burgers can also be cooked on the stovetop in a skillet, or baked in the oven. Top with our spicy microgreens for a bit of crunchy zip!

Print Recipe

Course Main Course

Ingredients

1 pound Ground Turkey
1/2 cup Unseasoned breadcrumbs
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 cloves Garlic, minced
1/4 cup Sweet onion, minced
1 egg
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Black pepper

Instructions

Gently combine all ingredients in a large bowl.
Divide mixture into your desired number of burgers (we like 4 burgers per pound of turkey) and gently form into patties. Shape them a little thinner and larger than you want your final burgers to be, they will shrink a little on the grill.
Grill over medium heat until turkey is thoroughly cooked. Cooking times will vary based on your grill, but 5 minutes per side is a good starting point.
Serve on toasted buns with microgreens, tomato, and your favorite condiments!

Keyword Burger, Turkey

07 Aug 2020

Local Food Peter Wheeler 0 comment

Growing Summer Lettuce

Growing Summer Lettuce

Lettuce prefers the cool days and chilly nights of spring and fall in Southwest Ohio. Some of the lettuce we grow can tolerate temperatures as low as 28 degrees! This is why you find tons of lettuce in the store during the spring and fall (what we call our shoulder seasons). During the heat of summer, lettuce quickly becomes stressed and bolts (goes to seed) in the field. When lettuce bolts the flavor becomes VERY bitter – it isn’t that sweet crunchy leaf we expect. We know lettuce is a favorite of our Farm Store customers, which is why this year we decided to experiment with techniques to grow summer lettuce.

See how our tunnel is covered in shade cloth in the picture above? This keeps the full force of the sun off the tender leaves. Next you will notice the black woven plastic under the plants. This is called landscape fabric – it helps to keep the soil moist and cool, and also suppresses weeds. The last thing we do is water the lettuce, briefly, twice a day. This part is important to cool the lettuce down and keep it from going to seed.

Out of all of our experimenting this year, the most important part has been choosing the proper lettuce variety. We have experimented with a few “heat tolerant” lettuces and landed on one called Muir. Muir has been sweeter, crisper and more productive than any of the other lettuces we have grown this summer. So when you see lettuce in the Farm Store next to those tomatoes in the summer, know that a lot of work, care and thought went into getting that lettuce on to your plate in July and August. We hope that you enjoy every tasty bite!

06 Aug 2020

Research Jennifer Mansfield 0 comment

What’s in our Wetland?

What’s in our Wetland?

At Greenacres we strive to provide education opportunities in all forms. One way we do this is internships. Our interns are responsible for helping with daily tasks and developing an independent project. This year’s intern surveyed our education wetland by collecting data on vegetation (aquatic and surrounding upland), water chemistry (pH, dissolved oxygen, nitrates), and macroinvertebrates (benthic and water column).

The surrounding area was dominated by black and brown eyed susans and partridge pea, followed by late boneset and an unknown grass species (Figure 1). There were a total of 54 species identified and 18 of which were planted or seeded. The 18 planted or seeded species had the highest densities and had a very successful establishment. Due to sampling timing, it is likely that some planted and seeded species had already bloomed or were not in season yet. Consequently, sampling in multiple seasons will be needed to help capture the wetland as a whole.

We really enjoyed the macroinvertebrate sampling portion of this project. We collected data on benthic (bottom) and the water column macroinvertebrates using a 10 inch diameter stove pipe. Macroinvertebrates are good indicators of water quality and overall wetland health, so sampling these is a must! The majority of what we found (leaches, water crawling beetles, etc.) were pollution tolerant species, but we had two groups (mayflies and dragonflies) in high abundance that are pollution intolerant (Figure 2). These data showed that our wetland can support a diverse population of macroinvertebrates and is in good health. As we continue to sample the wetland, we will make necessary changes to keep it thriving for our education programs.

–Chad G.