One Day it Will Blossom

Last spring a gardener started a butternut squash plant from seed and planted it in the garden. One day it blossomed.
That blossom made a teeny, tiny, baby squash. Hello, little baby squash!!

Slowly, all summer long, that squash grew and grew. Late last summer it was finally big enough and ripe enough to harvest and bring inside.

It lived next to its cousin for a while. Then the cousin went to live with the ADG.


But the squash wasn't lonely because it had so many other friends to be near. Over the winter however, the squash noticed that some of its friends began to disappear. Often, one of them had grown a little soft, or maybe grew some mold and the next day they were gone. The squash didn't know what happened to them, but it had a sense that somehow they had fulfilled their destiny. And really yummy smells came from the kitchen whenever another one left.

The winter went on and on. The squash's friends left one by one. It was happy for them, but it wondered if it would ever have the chance to fulfill its own destiny.

Eventually the sun came back, the snow melted and the squash could hear the song birds through the open kitchen window. The squash was mostly alone by now. Somehow it managed to make it through the winter and well into spring with nary a soft spot, nor trace of mold. In fact the squash had never felt in better shape, but it stilled yearned to one day go where its friends had gone and fulfill its destiny.

The squash started to notice some interesting things going on around it. A big bag of organic soil moved in next door, along with pots. Those pots got filled with the dirt and out came packets of seeds. Little did the squash know that a full cycle of seeding, planting, nurturing, harvesting and storing was coming to a close and a new one beginning. That meant something very special was about to happen to the squash.

One day the squash got packed up and taken on a long trip to a cottage in the country. Fun things happened to it there. It spent some time on a swing.


It lounged on the deck by the water.
It got a lovely sun tan.

And even though there was still ice on the lake, the squash wanted to test the water.

Braving the icy temperatures, the squash went for a swim.

Soon, it drifted just a bit too far from shore,

and it started to panic.

Thankfully, a quick thinking bystander was able to help the squash out.

This near death experience caused the squash to reflect a little. The squash had lived a long time. Its life was full of meaning and rich experiences. But the squash yearned to go where all its friends had gone. The squash understood that the cycle of its life wouldn't be fully complete until then. It was ready to fulfill its destiny.

So you can imagine that it was with a sense of peace and contentment that the squash gave itself up to be made into this delicious recipe, that was thoroughly enjoyed by the ADG, friends and the gardener who planted the seed that grew into a squash.



And tucked carefully away in a small packet, are more seeds that came from the squash. In a few weeks the gardener will start a butternut squash plant from seed and plant it in the garden. With luck, one day it will blossom...

Wild Food in the City

Please excuse the shameless self-promotion but I'm excited to tell you all about the weed walk I'm hosting in a couple of weeks. As part of a Transition Ottawa initiative and connected with Jane's Walk, I'll be leading folks on a short tour of urban green space. We'll identify some common edible weeds and medicinal plants, and end with some wild snacks and beverages.

I think it's going to be a lot of fun! If you live in the Ottawa area, come on out and say 'hi!'

The Things I Carry

I pack my backpack for work, as I do every morning.

I check to see that the cloth and mesh shopping bags are there.

At the bottom of the pack is a little, leather pouch with two knives and a Leatherman multi-tool. I also carry a pair of mini-binoculars. You never know what kind of nature you might find, even in an urban environment. It's good to be prepared to take a closer look at something, or to take a sample of a plant to bring home and identify.

Another permanent item in the bag is my trusty utensil carry-all, that my dear friend made me. Forks, spoons, knives, chopsticks and cloth napkins for two, are neatly rolled up in a pretty package that I never like to leave home without.

Into the bag goes the book I am returning to the library. I will exchange it for another book that I put on hold and is ready to be picked up.

Next in is my lunch: leftovers in reusable containers.

Then my travel mug full of hot tea, and a glass bottle pulled from a recycle bin, filled with today's herbal infusion: stinging nettle.

Those are the standard items I carry on any given day and if they were on Monty Hall's "Let's Make a Deal" list of what's in your purse, I'd be a wealthy woman.

This morning however, I added a pair of rubber tipped garden gloves, a trowel and a plastic bag to my pack. As soon as I'm done work today I'm heading to a place I know right in the heart of the city. Surrounded by a busy road, the transit way and a shopping mall, there is a small stand of trees on a hill and growing in amongst those trees are trout lilies. Erythronium americanum. I grew up knowing them as dog's tooth violet. They are an early spring flower, very pretty, with uniquely mottled leaves and they are edible. Sam Thayer gives the best treatment I've found so far of the whats, wheres and hows of trout lilies, in his book Nature's Garden. I highly recommend it.

My quest today will be to gently harvest some bulbs and the newly emerged leaves to bring to a potluck.

I love that my growing knowledge and intimacy of the landscape I inhabit leads me on these adventures on a Tuesday afternoon in April. I love that you won't find credit cards, a makeup compact or an iAnything in my bag. I live in the city and work at a desk job in an office, but at any given moment I am fully prepared to get down and dirty in the nearest patch of earth!

Image Source

Forged

You can see a billhook being forged in this episode of Edwardian farm.

In the Garden

Knowing my love for all things hedge related, the ADG gifted me with a billhook for my birthday! Traditionally, its use is most often associated with laying hedges, although the tool is well suited for removing small shrubs, branches and the tough, woody stalks of large weeds. Since I don't have anywhere to lay a hedge yet, that's exactly my plan for my billhook. I've had to wait for two long months to use it, but I finally broke it in last weekend.

Here is a section of one of our plots before.

And here is what it looks like after taking the billhook to it.

Before

After
It's a very satisfying tool to use and I'd say the billhook did a fine job of cleaning up the place.

And here are a few more shots of other parts of our garden. We did a lot of sheet mulching last fall and I'm really excited about having fully prepped beds ready to be planted this spring.


The ADG protecting his awesome dude guy identity.


Part of our first harvest of 2011.

The bike ride home as the sun sets. I look forward to many more of these skies over the coming months.

Armoracia rusticana

"...used as a sauce with country people and strong labouring men in some countries of Germany."
~Parkinson, 1640

The International Herb Association has declared horseradish the Herb of the Year for 2011.

In honour of the occasion, I dug some out of the garden last weekend. It wasn't easy. Horseradish roots go deep.
I dug and dug until I had quite the hole.

But it still did not want to come out.

This root is tenacious!

Finally, I guess I got a little impatient and careless with the shovel blade and snapped the root off near the bottom. That's ok though, the piece left behind will grow again.

I also severed the crown and replanted it back into the horseradish patch.

The root I harvested is destined for one of Sandor Katz's kimchi recipes. Yum!

Aside from its use as a condiment, horseradish has a long history of medicinal use as well.

I Heart Ruth Stout!

This weekend was a real milestone of the season for me. It marked the first harvest of the year (1.5lbs of sunchokes and 9oz of horseradish) and the first good chunk of time working in our allotment plots! I nibbled raw, stinging nettle leaves. I got in a tussle with a raspberry cane and have scratches on the tip on my nose to show for it. I relished the feel of tools in my gloved hands, reacquainting myself with their heft. I emptied soil and straw out of an upturned boot and left the dirt under my nails as a badge of honour. It all felt so unbelievably good, and I'm eager to go back for more. If all goes well, we'll have peas in the ground by the end of the week. I've lots of pictures to show from this weekend, including a pretty epic unearthing of the aforementioned horseradish root, but I've got to sort through the pics yet.

In the meantime check out the story of amazing gardener Ruth Stout. The woman didn't even start gardening until she was 45 and kept at it well into her elder years. She seems to have been quite the gardening renegade, advocating a no-till, no-weeding, no-watering, no-fertilising style of raising up vegetables at a time when plowing, chemical inputs and irrigation were the order of the day. Her story is an inspiring one and has me dreaming about pottering in the earth until the end of my own days.





You can read more about her methods here.

The Crows of Alta Vista

It looks like the Alta Vista crows have made the news, though the news isn't that great. Most residents find the crows to be a nuisance and are complaining to our ward councillor to do something about them.

"Alta Vista is plagued by the annoying black birds and residents want Councillor Peter Hume to do something about it."

"The abundance of crows is not welcomed by staff [of the Ottawa Hospital], who don’t like the crow poop all over the sidewalks and their cars, but there is a bigger problem. The crows can interfere with the medevac helicopter. When it lands or takes off, the roar of its rotors causes the crows to surge into the air, creating the possibility of damaging the helicopter or even disabling it."

Not surprisingly, some of the comments on the article struck me as a bit..um..uniformed. Now I don't profess to be anything close to an expert, but I couldn't help myself, I had to leave a comment in the hopes of balancing out the views somewhat and reminding people of how connected we are to the ecosystems we share with other living things, including crows. The crows are here in part because of the choices we humans make in how we live. Anyway, here's what I said:

"Crow Planet: Essential Wisdom From the Urban Wilderness by Lyanda Lynn Haupt is an excellent and well-researched book about crows, their behaviour and the role they play in urban environments. Increasing crow populations signal environmental degradation and loss of biodiversity, as crows become one of the few species resilient enough to survive habitat destruction and increasing amounts of toxic chemicals and pollution. They are also highly susceptible to avian flu, so large populations mean that the virus is not widespread in our area currently. Crows are an indicator of the health of our bioregion. Trying to eradicate them or move them along is an overly simplistic response to a situation that urbanisation and modern society has created. Whenever I see the crows (and I live in Alta Vista) I stop and think about what they are telling me about the environment I live in."

If there is any response to it, I'll probably be branded as a leftist, communist, hippie, tree hugging, crow lover. Whatevs.

Also, here's a couple of videos of the crows.

The Winter is Past

"The winter is past, the rain is over and gone;
the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the
singing birds is come, and the voice of the
turtle is heard in our land..."
~The Song of Solomon, II 11-12



My belly is full with a yummy stew that cooked in the sun oven this afternoon. I just confirmed with an area farmer our delivery to the garden tomorrow evening of 20 straw bales. The trays of Welsh onions and Scottish leeks (both new crops for us this year) have sprouted and are out in my neighbour's greenhouse. Seven different varieties of tomatoes have taken the place of the onions and leeks inside. I've got garlic chives, basil and sage seeds soaking in water and lined up for planting next. Earlier today, I spent an hour outside in the sunshine at a makeshift washing station where I gave all my planting pots a thorough cleaning. I think it's safe to say gardening season is officially here!

Identity Crisis!

Guys!!! I was pretty darn sure that the other tree I'm observing for the Tree Year is a balsam poplar (Populus balsamifera). But now I'm not so sure.



I was looking closely at these pics I took last year of some branches that came down in a storm and I noticed some differences from the pictures of balsam poplar I've seen online and from the tree I've visited at the arboretum in Ottawa (I know for certain the tree in the arboretum is a balsam poplar because it has a label!)



Here's a pic of balsam poplar leaves. And another picture.

The balsam poplar leaves are quite a bit narrower than the leaves on my tree.

So I started looking at other poplar species and ruled out the obvious ones, like white poplar and quaking aspen. I ruled out the Lombardy poplar too. Then I came across the Eastern cottonwood or Populus deltoides.

Check out this pic. I think I might be on to something here.

Now, I had always just assumed my tree was a balsam poplar, because the sources talk about the distinctive and tell-tale scent of the balsam poplar being one of the ways of identifying it. I've spent enough spring days inhaling the perfumed air around the poplar trees in my park to figure I had a correct i.d., and I previously ruled out the Eastern cottonwood because I found no reference to a distinctive scent in the sources I looked at. But then today I found this reference that notes, "The buds have a resinous strong scented odor." This source limits the range to New York, but Wikipedia has the range into Southeastern Ontario and Quebec.

I guess I'll wait until the catkins and later the leaves come out on my tree and compare them with samples from the tree in the arboretum and see if I get any closer to a correct i.d. I'll go back to my guide books and try and key out exactly what species I've got. To complicate matters somewhat, I've read that balsam poplars hybridise easily on their own and by human intervention.

I'm excited to solve this mystery and I really love how this project is helping me to get to know these trees so intimately. The more I look and observe, the more I see. More questions arise, which leads to more understanding. This is so fun and satisfying.

Oh, and as always, if anyone has any insights to add, I'd love to hear them. J.G. do you think your tree lady might know what tree it is I've got?

Your Backyard is a Scary Place Just Waiting to Kill You!

There's an article in yesterday's Globe and Mail about backyard herbalism. (Full disclosure: I was interviewed for it!)

I think the journalist did a good job of presenting viewpoints from many different perspectives and highlighting the concerns as well as benefits. But I find some of the arguments- especially from the ethnobotanist- border on fear mongering.

One of the things I repeatedly emphasised in my interview, which didn't get included in the article, was the importance of thoroughly educating oneself and doing your research if you plan on really delving into plant based medicine. My own studies include a course with a botanist who taught her students how to identify edible, wild food. I spent a year apprenticing with a Registered Herbalist. I continue to educate myself by studying with herbalists online. I read a ton, from many different sources, including scientific and botanical literature. And then I read some more. And I use plants and work with them regularly, making observations and gaining experience. There is no way I'm going to mistakenly identify Foxglove and accidentally ingest it. Nor would I correctly identify it and use it medicinally, because I know it's too strong a plant for me to use safely with the current knowledge I have.

I'm also really cautious about the environments I wildcraft and forage in and cultivate my own plants as much as possible. I'm fanatical about ethical foraging practices. I have a better understanding of what's in or on the plants I harvest and how they are sourced, than any commercial preparation I might buy.

Basically, I use good research, common sense and the knowledge of experienced elders to ensure I am always making safe and healthy choices for myself and others.

The thing with backyard herbalists is that we mostly use plants that are essentially food. Dandelion, burdock, mallow, plantain, nettle, violet leaves..guess what? They're all food. We use herbs and spices you find in the kitchen cupboard like sage, thyme, ginger, cinnamon, pepper....

If you've ever had a cup of chamomile tea to calm jangled nerves, or peppermint to soothe an upset tummy, you're using plants as medicine.

See, you don't even need a fancy education or hours of study to engage in very simple, yet very profound herbalism.

Sure there are risks involved. Take oxalic acid for example. Ingesting it depletes the body of important minerals like calcium and can lead to kidney stones. You know what plant has oxalic acid in it? Spinach.

I guess what I'm getting at, is that a lot of the fear that "backyard herbalists with minimal training" are running around doing harm to themselves and others is largely unfounded.

Nor are we all Big Pharma haters. As mentioned in the article, I am trying to reduce my dependence on pharmaceuticals, not trying to eliminate them entirely. I believe that many pharmaceuticals have an important and necessary role in health care. For instance, I really don't want to have to go without a tetanus vaccination. And I always keep some acetaminophen and/or aspirin on hand for acute or emergency situations. Just used some yesterday in fact.

But like Mr. Patton said at the beginning of the article, "People needn’t rely on pharmaceutical drugs to treat every minor ill." And the plant world is not a big, scary and dangerous place waiting to kill you at the first misstep. All that kind of thinking does, is further alienate people from the natural world.

Using reliable information from reputable sources and good old fashioned common sense will keep you safe and healthy! (It's good advice in herbalism and good advice for life in general.) If you do any less, maybe you'll be eligible for a Darwin Award. :)

For a really great perspective on wild foods and poisonous plants check out this excellent article by Samuel Thayer.

Cook What Is

I read the best quote on this cool blog I just found.

"Cooking this way reverses the modern relationship between a chef and an ingredient. Rather than writing a menu and then going shopping, the chef walks through a garden or market; goes foraging, fishing or hunting; and cooks what is. This approach can deliver vibrant flavours and lively meals. Responsive cooking is not only a way to approach dinner. It is a way to approach life, grounded in what is, eyes wide open to what could be." -Molly O'Neill, from The Blackberry Farm Cookbook.

Yes! How delightful and beautiful is that? Cook what is...grounded in what is, eyes wide open to what could be. Love.

And the blog is pretty awesome too. There are posts about wild foods and herbs, medicine making and fermentation. Double love!

The Tree Year- Catalpa Observations

I spent some time with my Tree Year trees last weekend. The balsam poplar is loaded with buds, which will soon turn into pretty little catkins. I'll post about that another day. But today let's take a look at the catalpa tree I'm observing for the year.

As you can see, not much is going on here. Nary a bud in site. While plenty of other trees put out buds in late winter through early spring, the catalpa is truly a late bloomer in this department. But once she does finally leaf out, she'll be the prettiest tree in the park. I'm excited to watch for the first signs of this!

In my last post I expressed some concern about the splits and cracks I noticed in the bark. I went to see Diana Beresford-Kroeger give a talk recently and afterwards I asked her if she had any insight into what might be going on. She said that it was a common problem with catalpas and had noticed it on her trees. She thinks it's a fungus that weakens the bark and then it splits. The good news is, she doesn't think it does any long-term, or life threatening damage to the trees and they seem to recover and thrive well enough. Phew. That's a relief. And from the looks of things, this tree seems to be recuperating. The exposed inner bark is no longer raw looking.

However it appears that some creature has decided to take advantage of the openings. There are two construction sites going on. Something trying to carve out a home perhaps?

I have no idea what creature might be at work here. The two sites are about four feet up the trunk. The second site has a gnawed on look which makes me think it might be a squirrel as opposed to a bird. Any naturalists or wildlife experts out there who might have some thoughts on this?

Well, it won't be the first time this tree has had some mod work done on it. Do you see the wire cable anchored into the trunks up there? My guess is the city was worried those two trunks might break and split apart, so they took preventive measures here. My mom has catalpas in her yard and over the years the upper trunks do tend to break off.

This large branch has four water sprouts growing out of it. I wonder if that's a stress response from the splitting and gnawing? Water sprouts are undesirable on a tree, and not just for aesthetic reasons. The are more susceptible to pests and disease and weaken the tree. I'm thinking of maybe pruning them myself.



Finally, I just had to include this pic of some of the bark. I love the texture and lines of it.
Stay tuned for more tree year posts!

Update: Uh, I guess I should make an effort to get my tree anatomy correct and learn the difference between a trunk and a branch. I don't think this tree has 'two trunks' rather it has a forked trunk. And when I referred to the 'upper trunks' of my mom's catalpa trees, I actually meant large branches. I think.

World Water Day

Today is World Water Day.

It started in 1993 to raise awareness of the importance of access to and conservation of freshwater around the world.

In the West, especially in Canada, we tend to take water for granted, assuming that we have an abundant, inexhaustible supply of safe, treated drinking water. It's easy to forget the massive amounts of water used in tar sands oil production, and the problems associated with that. Most Canadians don't live on any of the 100 First Nation communities that lack access to clean drinking water and appropriate infrastructure. Many of us don't live near pristine lakes that are slated to be turned into tailings ponds. We might not be aware of the 1 trillion plus liters of untreated sewage that gets released into our waterways every year. (Blue Gold)

According to Conference Board of Canada, the country as a whole gets a 'D' grade for water consumption compared to 16 other countries. The average individual Canadian uses over 300 liters per day. Compare that with the average person in an African country who uses 30 to 40 liters of water per day.

You can find a lot more global water statistics here.

Over the last few years I've incorporated a number of water conservation practices in my home.

My landlord recently installed a dual flush toilet in my bathroom. I usually only flush it once a day, since I've started composting my urine. When I do flush, I use the rinse water from washing dishes that I've collected in a bucket next to my kitchen sink.

I take staggered or 'navy showers'.

I always turn the tap off when I'm brushing my teeth.

I conserve water when washes dishes by keeping smaller dish buckets inside my sink and not filling them all they way up.

I only fill the kettle with the amount of water I need.

I use the appropriate water setting on the washing machine.

I never, ever buy bottled water.

I'm committed to learning and using gardening techniques that require the least amount of extra watering.

I don't put chemicals into the water by using natural cleaning products and personal care products. I avoid over the counter medications and other pharmaceuticals as much as possible. I don't use pesticides or chemical fertilizers when gardening.

And finally, because that largest amount of water use is embedded in the manufacturing process of the products we buy and the food we consume, I limit the total amount of stuff I purchase, buy second hand as much as I can and try to source my food with as much awareness as possible in terms of water consumption.

If you have any water saving tips, I'd love to hear about them!


Image source