Rooted

We can't stop thinking about our last garden night - Bandit Tacos SHOWED UP with a whole team plus some friends from Lazy Jane's Cafe, and cooked tacos until we sold out. All sales went straight to Rooted to help support Troy Farm.

We loved seeing folks of all ages enjoying food, music from Dj Mojo, the gardens in bloom, and hands on play--together. And a special shoutout to our friends over at Kennedy Heights Community Center for bringing your crew!

We've got once last chance to get together on the land this season, at Harvest Fest this Saturday: https://rootedwi.org/event/harvest-fest-2/

We couldn't share these free Garden Night events without the help of our sponsors, including: Bandit Tacos, W***y Street Co-op, IBEW Local 159, and Lake Ridge Bank. Thank you!

Our Badger Rock gardening & culinary arts classes have been learning about seed saving with open-pollinated seeds! The students are observing how plants flower, are pollinated, then form seeds, learning about cross-polination and how we can prevent it, and exploring choosing the vegetables they like the traits of best (great taste, early ripening, resistant to pests, adaptable to changing climate) to save seeds from. With seed saving, over time you will end up with varieties that have the best of the traits you want and are best suited for the conditions in your own garden or farm! Saving your own seeds also means you don't have to rely on seed companies to grow your own food. Our classes saved seeds from tomatoes, cucumbers, dill, marigolds, beans, milkweed, sunflowers, mustard and more at the Badger Rock urban farm.

A special thank you to Madison Gas and Electric for being a Harvest Champion level sponsor of Rooted's community events! MG&E is generously sponsoring our monthly CommUNITY Dinners at Badger Rock, as well as supporting Farm to School Aid. We love our ongoing relationship with MG&E, and their support of youth environmental education across Madison is incredibly meaningful to us at Rooted. Thank you, Madison Gas and Electric!

Our last Garden Night of the season is TODAY--with tacos! Meet us in the gardens at Troy from 4:30-7:00pm for hand-made, wood-fired tacos from Bandit Tacos. There will also be drinks, scones from Lazy Jane's Cafe, farm tours, kids activities, live music, and more! See you there!
https://rootedwi.org/event/troy-garden-nights-4/

Lazy Jane’s scones:
Lemon cream
Orange cranberry walnut
Vegan lemon lavender poppy seed
GF pumpkin chocolate chip

Farm to School Aid is all about bringing community together, and that's what we did! We're so grateful to all our sponsors who made this event possible. Thank you for your commitment to your community and the promise of school gardens!
Madison Gas and Electric
TruStage
IBEW Local 159
W***y Street Co-op
Old National Bank
Dane Arts
Organic Valley
Edible Madison
WORT FM
Delta Beer Lab
Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream Co.
City of Madison Water Utility
and last but not least, Bike Forward WI !

On this first day of fall, we're looking back at summer programming at the Troy Kids' Garden! A highlight from this summer was visiting Troy Farm with our students from the Northside community centers. Troy Farm donates produce to these community centers as part of the Purpose Grown Project, and the students got the opportunity to see where all that food is grown, help with harvesting, and even taste some veggies fresh from the farm. We also made seed art and gourd monsters, and wrote thank you cards to the men at Oakhill correctional facility who donated hundreds of plants to us! Of course, we still found time to cook things like okra creole (with the farm's 3 pound tomato!), feed the chickens, and harvest flower bouquets (sometimes in the rain!).

This Thursday Bandit Tacos is joining us in the garden for Taco Night at Troy Farm! Check out the menu:

🌮Tacos: on freshly made Wisconsin corn tortillas with a side of pickled veg
Pork taco: Coffee, cocoa and pasilla rubbed Fox heritage pork shoulder with pickled melon and cilantro
Veggie taco: Troy farms roasted beets with salsa Macha (nuts) and chimichurri

🥑Chips, salsa (roja or verde), guacamole

🍹Yerba sunset: Yerba mate and hibiscus tea with lemonade

See you in the garden!
Event details: https://rootedwi.org/event/troy-garden-nights-4/

The early signs of autumn are beginning to arrive at our farms! We've been harvesting apples, pears, and the first of the salad greens, said goodbye to our cucumber vines, and started planting cover crops for the end of the season. But the summer produce isn't done yet--we're also still harvesting tomatoes, peppers, and other summer favorites!

It's our last Farm to School Friday (for now, at least), as Allison and Erica's beekeeping class comes to an end with their honey harvest 🍯

From Allison: "Working in Farm to School, I always want to learn about and participate in local food production so I can better understand the time, work, and care that go into producing our food. Learning beekeeping with Erica was especially fun, as we could “talk shop” while learning together. We brought home 24 quarts of honey, 12 each! Thank you to our wonderful instructors, Patrick and Matt, and to the Farley Center Beekeeping Program!"

Thanks for coming along for the ride!

Next Thursday, September 24th is our final Garden Night of the summer! The September Garden Night is in partnership with Bandit Tacos and Coffee--the Bandit team will be on-site, using the wood fired oven to serve fresh tacos on handmade tortillas! All Bandit food sales directly benefit Rooted. Join us at Troy for food, live music, farm walks, guided kids’ activities, and community.
Event details: https://rootedwi.org/event/troy-garden-nights-4/