Wordless Wednesday

Greetings from my Garden!

Sometimes this is what, "stopping after work to pick up something for dinner" looks like for me.  Instead of freezing in the frozen food section and waiting in line at the checkout while a musak version of the Beatles' 'Michelle' is piped through tinny speakers at the grocery store, I find myself biking in a pencil skirt and strappy sandals, to my allotments.  There I'm greeted by the live-wire hum of cicadas, birdsong and a light, refreshing breeze.  I feel the heels of my sandals sink into the earth as I meander between the garden beds.  I pull a few carrots that need to be thinned from one bed, two summer squash from another.  A quick weeding rewards me with purslane, lambsquartes and amaranth, all delicious.  Added to the handful of chard, kale and turnip greens I gather, it will make for a tasty and nutrient rich vegetable dish.  A flash of colour catches my eye and I quickly pick a bunch of flowers for the table at home.  Grocery shopping done and bag full, I take a few moments to notice my surroundings, feel the sun on my skin and give thanks for the gifts of my garden.  Back on my bike I head home to make dinner from fresh-picked, organic ingredients still warm and damp from sunshine and earth.  And I didn't have to stand in line.  Only thing is, without the tabloids at the checkout, I have no idea how little Suri is handling the split between Tom and Katie.  Darn!    ;)

Greetings from my Living Room Chair

"To understand the profound importance of regenerative agriculture, the kind of farming that builds natural capital, we need to see it not as a fringe or retrograde activity- "unable to feed the world", as conventional agronomists would claim- but as a heroic and undersung achievement in the face of overwhelming institutional neglect, cultural dissipation, economic monopolies and dire ecological challenges from chemical, nuclear and genetic pollution, climate change and an eroding resource base in the land and in society."
~ Peter Bane

The practitioners I work for gifted me with Peter Bane's new book, The Permaculture Handbook: Garden Farming For Town and Country. I read the first chapter yesterday. It made me feel all tingly and excited inside.

The book was a parting gift.  My job ends in a couple of weeks.  I've got plans for what I'll do next.  Garden farming is one of them.

Wordless Wednesday

Grettings from My Parking Spot!

Our lease agreement includes access to a parking space.  I don't own a car, so I'm putting the space to better use.  The spot gets great south-facing sun for most of the day so it's perfect for my sun oven and new solar dehydrator.  (More on the solar dryer some other time.)

I wasn't sure I would able to use the sun oven and dryer at the new place, so I'm really happy that this arrangement is working well so far.  Response from the neighbours has all been positive too.

Yesterday my herbal decoction simmered all day, while my homemade fruit and nut bars dried nicely.

I love that I'm reducing electricity use and not adding extra heat to my AC-less apartment!

Greetings from the Allan Gardens Conservatory!

I travelled out of town this weeken to attend the funeral of a dear family friend.  It was a bittersweet celebration of a beautiful soul who left us too early.  The ADG came with me and since we were at the mercy of the bus system,  we dedcided to spend a night in Toronto and play plant nerd tourists for a day.  Our hotel was right across the street from the magnificent Allan Gardens Conservatory, so that was our first stop after breakfast. 

I envisioned this as a kind of whet-your-appetite side trip leading up to the main event of the day, our trip to the Toronto Botanical Gardens.  Instead it turned out to be a real show stopper!  For all you plant plantophiles out there, if you're ever in T.O. this is the place to visit.  The domed palm house is just stunning.

The Toronto Botanical Gardens were quite lovely too, but they just couldn't compete with the dramatic lushness of the Conservatory.  Granted the conservatory is a climate-controlled greenhouse and the botanical gardens are all outdoors and struggling in this hot, dry summer.  I did enjoy the Herb Garden with its healing plants and the Nature's Garden.   The main building also houses a wonderful library .

Access to both these locations is free (the TBG appreciates donations) and I think they make great options for a frugal staycation.

Unfortunately I forgot to bring my camera on the trip, so I don't have photographic evidence of all the gorgeous plant life I saw.  Guess I'll just have to go back and visit these places again! 




Image Source

Greetings from the Fletcher Wildlife Garden!

One evening a week, most weeks, I volunteer at the Fletcher Wildlife Garden.  This shot was taken a few steps away from the Butterfly Meadow  where our crew is working hard planting many native species and nectaries, weeding out invasives like DSV and making sure newly planted sections are getting enough water in this drought.  I have to come to really enjoy and look forward to these few hours each week of physical labour, getting to know the fellow volunteers and checking in on the plants that I put in the ground, to make sure they are thriving.  I love to hear the excited gasp of someone who discovers a caterpillar on a milkweed plant, or when someone can identify a bird by its song alone.  I love the time I get to spend with the plants, working with them and observing them.  And I love the end of the evening, when we pack up our tools as the sun is setting and I walk out of the garden back to my bike, tired but feeling content, peaceful and grateful to be a small part of an important project.

If you want to follow the goings on at the garden, check out their blog and photo blog.  It's a real treasure in the heart of the city!

Greetings from my Kitchen Counter!

Switchel- "A pleasant and wholesome liquor"

"Ma had sent them ginger-water. She had sweetened the cool well-water with sugar, flavored it with vinegar, and put in plenty of ginger to warm their stomachs so they could drink till they were not thirsty. Ginger-water would not make them sick, as plain cold water would when they were so hot."  ~Laura Ingalls Wilder, The Long Winter

This has become my new favourite treat of the summer.  Switchel is an old-timey beverage traditionally made with molasses, ginger and cider vinegar mixed water.  Yes, you read that right.  Vinegar.  Also, known as 'haymaker's punch', it was thought to be a healthful, restorative drink especially for field labourers working all day under the hot summer sun in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Check out this article, for an excellent history of the drink and how it came to be.  There's a recipe too.

My 21st century version goes like this: 

I mix some powdered ginger with a finger or two of local maple syrup or honey.  Then I add a finger or two of one of my many herb infused vinegars.  Pictured above is my dandelion flower infused apple cider vinegar.  I've also made it with my mugwort vinegar and nettle vinegar.  I think my violet flower infused vinegar will be lovely too and plan to try that next!  Oh, and my lemon balm vinegar too!  Don't use white vinegar, ACV is best. To this mix I add a sparkling mineral water from Quebec.  I taste a little and adjust the vinegar to sweet ratio as needed.  I'm not a huge fan of super cold drinks so I may or may not add ice.  And that's it!

I know the addition of vinegar probably makes the whole thing sound highly suspect, and it might not be to everyone's taste, but I am seriously addicted to this drink.  It's sweet and tart and refreshing and I find it a wonderful alternative to soda and juice.  On the really hot days, especially after I've been working in the garden or out wildcrafting, I crave this drink and get excited about going home and making me some switchel!

Wordless Wednesday: Linden Flowers, Yoga Room, Food Forest Homework, Sumac Path

Greetings from my Kitchen Counter!

It's scape season in Ontario.  Scapes are the cool, curly-Q flowering stems of hardneck garlic.  It's good to cut this part off before it goes to flower, so as to redirect the plant's energy into producing bigger garlic bulbs.

Scapes have become quite popular the last few years, and you can find them all over the farmer's markets and shops.  They have a delicious garlicky bite and I look forward to harvesting the scapes from our garlic plants every year.

You don't have to dig deep into the internet to find all kinds of recipes and ways of using scapes.  This pile got turned into a simple pesto with olive oil, black walnuts and salt and pepper.  Insanely good!  I added a dollop to a heap of steamed veggies and topped it off with my pickled milkweed flower bud 'capers'.  Yum.

So get thee to a farmer's market near you and pick up some scapes this weekend.  And here's a fun tip: Stick a few in a vase for a quirky looking table centrepiece.  Your dinner guests will 'ooh' and 'aah' and you'll feel clever.

Would you like a side of dirt with that? Yes please!

Cool article on the bacteria that live on and in us, and why we need them.

After you read the article, you can listen to this interview with Jeff Leach about the human microbiome and then while you're at it, have a read of his op-ed piece too!

Now go out and get dirty, before you need a fecal transplant!




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Wordless Wednesday: Looking Back on Spring

Greetings from the Rideau River!

A friend is selling one of his canoes and the ADG and I are going to buy it!  My friend and I took the canoe out for a test paddle on the weekend.  This is just down river from my apartment.  We saw blue herons, a green heron, Baltimore orioles, ducks, and the Rideau River swans.  We saw yellow and purple water irises, Joe Pye weed, arrowhead, water lilies and cattails.  I've been up and down both sides of this section of the river countless times on foot and by bike, but it was like discovering a whole new world just from this simple shift in mode of transport.

After work the other day, the ADG and I went out for an hour before dinner.  Again I was struck by how different it felt to take in the views from on the water.  I also couldn't help but notice the cars at a standstill on the bridge, as we made our way back.  It was a sweltering hot day, but we had a nice cool breeze coming off the water.  I suspect I was having a very different experience from the people stuck in traffic on the bridge.  We might as well have been on different planets.  I made a silent wish that they would all have cool breezes, slow moving water, rustling leaves and dappled shade in their future.

I can't wait to explore more of the river from inside the canoe!

Greetings from the park a few minutes from my apartment!

The other evening after dinner I filled a backpack with my ID guides and foraging books and grabbed a basket, gloves, camera and my botany kit.  I sat down amongst the weeds to see what I could see.  I finally got a positive ID on one of the wild lettuces I've had my eye on.  Lactuca serriola.  Edible when very young, but apparently not as tasty as Lactuca canadensis, according to Sam Thayer.  I also spent time with some plants of the Tragopogon genus, but I have to wait for a flower before I get a positive ID on the species.  I suspect T. pratensis or T. dubius.  I had a nibble of the flower buds and peduncles.  Not bad.  Will try some cooked next.  Also had my first taste of wild carrot flowering stalk.  Delicious!  Don't worry.  I was quite certain it was wild carrot and not one of the deadly poisonous members of the family.  Soon the sky turned very dark to the North West, with an approaching storm, so home I went.  IDed a chicory on the way!  Wish you were here.

On Vacation

Guys!  Summer is nearly here.  What with all the packing, moving and unpacking, I feel like I the whole spring season pretty much passed me by while I was inside putting away clothes, hanging pictures on the walls and arranging book shelves.

I also feel like I have been spending far too much time in front of the screen.  I love the indulgence in winter, but it is a bad habit the rest of the year; one that I need to break.  I mean, I 've been watching Beverly Hills 90210 everyday on netflix ferpetessake!  I'm not 17 anymore.  Sheesh.  Although, I do have to say that aside from the fashion, 'car phones' and huge camcorders, the show holds up reasonably well after 20 years.  And you know what else?  I don't recall the show being all that influential or important to me when it originally aired, but now that I'm watching the series again, I  remember all the episodes and I'm like, "Oh yeah, this is the one where Brenda pretends she's in college and dates an older guy and gets in over her head." Or, "This is the one about teenage drinking where we learn that Dylan is an alcoholic."  Crrraaazy!

And it's not just 90210.  It's Games of Thrones.  It's Mad Men.  It's the Walking Dead.  It's Facebook.  It's online Scrabble.  It's blogs.  It's too much.

So I've decided that I'm going on a screen holiday, a strategic treatment interruption if you will, in the parlance of the medical establishment.  I'm going to cut way back on how much time I spend online in favour of the great outdoors.  Less screen time = more green time!

So this here blog is going on vacation too.  For the rest of the summer my plan is to send along virtual postcards.  They'll be short and sweet, with a pic and about as many words as can fit on a postcard.  No pithy content or weighty matters.  Just a quick 'Hi!  This is where I am.  This is what I'm doing.  Wish you were here.'  That sorta thing.  First one's coming up next....

Have a great summer everyone!