Tag Archives: Gardening

Those Amazing Trees

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If you thought this summer was hot, sticky and are hoping that next year the weather is just a little more balanced, then you might want to think about one of the most natural air coolants out there:

The tree.

Simply put, if we had more of them left, we would have more opportunities to experience their amazing powers of cooling and shading.

Think I’m exaggerating?  Well here are a few interesting facts about trees that I learned from the David Suzuki Foundation email newsletter this week:

Sun-Fried Plants: A Summer Tragedy

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I guess we should have known by the oddly warm and early spring we had this year that we were in for one hot summer, but this is crazy.

It is insanely warm.  Not only are people having a hard time in the heat, but so are the plants.

Take my poor little herbs I potted in May.  All was well with them at first.  Then at the end of June I went away for a few days to help with kitchen reno (by help I mean watch) and then off to my Dad’s wedding.  And while I was away that blaring sun got to my herbs.

I came home to pots of dying and, in some cases, downright fried little herbs.  I cut back what I could and took good care of them..

Some of them are almost recovered.  Others, though, I am pretty sure are dead.

Sorry Dill, Tarragon and Cilantro.  It was good while it lasted. Continue reading →

Organic Chicken Rotisserie and Stock

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Last Wednesday, along with picking up our usual CSA veggies from Dalew Farms, we received our July order of organic chickens. This was our first time ordering their chickens and we were very excited to try them.

Obviously there was only one way to taste test the meat:

ROTISSERIE!

First thing we did was make a basting sauce:

1/2 c olive oil

1/2 c lemon juice

2 tbsp fresh rosemary (gently pressed with a rolling-pin to release oils)

We set the barbecue to 350 and then began the rotisserie.

And by we I mean the Dreamboat.  There is something about barbecuing that demands male attention. Continue reading →

Recipe for CSA Goodies: Creamy Goat’s Cheese Brushetta

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The Dreamboat and I have been excitedly going through our Community Sustained Agriculture (CSA) box each week to see what’s inside.  For the most part it is laden with tasty veggies that I already know the name of, but sometimes there is a new surprise in the mix.

One of these surprises was a large handful of garlic scapes in our first two boxes.

I had never heard of the scapes, but it is simply the top part of the garlic plant.  It looks like a closed flower waiting to bloom, but apparently if you leave it to do so it will sprout small garlic bulbs that you can then plant into the garden.

If you do this, though, the plant will have to divide nutrients between the stalk and the bulbs, so farmers and gardeners tend to cut the scapes off.

So what did we do with the garlic scapes?

We chopped them up and added them to my famous (slash taken from my best friend’s recipe box) Goat’s Cheese Brushetta.  Generally the recipe calls for a chopped up clove of garlic, but I substituted a handful of chopped garlic scapes in its place. Continue reading →

30 x 30 Fun: Week 4

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I can’t believe four weeks has gone by already.  Time flies when you’re outside, I guess.  Here is what happened in week 4 of the David Suzuki Foundation’s 30 x 30 Challenge:

Friday

By Friday we were pretty drained of energy.  Little Man started getting sick and was pretty tired of being away from home/in his carseat.  We spent some time Continue reading →

Victoria Day Long Weekend

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Victoria Day long weekend (or May 2-4) is one of my top long weekends throughout the year.  It is the first long weekend that, more often than not, has great weather for outdoor shenanigans.

When we were much younger, this weekend was about finding a place to throw a party.  Now it is all about fun outside and resisting the urge for mid afternoon naps.

To kick of our weekend, we took Little Man to visit Grandma N and Grampa A on Saturday.  Grampa A had a huge pile of manure to mulch into his gardens, and we had an exciting surprise for Little Man.

Tools!

Not crappy plastic tools to dig and rake to his heart’s content, but real metal and wooden tools. Continue reading →

The Unwitting Plant Killer

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Our front porch is currently home to a sad cluster of dead potted plants. Their shriveled, lifeless, little souls cry out to me whenever I see them; as if to remind me that I am a neglectful, amateur parent. I am racked with guilt whenever I glance out the window and see those dried out masses. It makes me wonder how I can love nature so much, and yet be so inept at maintaining it.

Just last week I wrote about our adventures planting the seed paper from one of Little Man’s books. Already I have forgotten that very pot outside overnight as the temperature dipped dangerously towards zero.

Is Little Man’s plant to suffer the same fate as those on the front porch? I hope not. I have to believe that I am capable of figuring out how to not only grow a plant, but also keep it alive as long as possible. I have figured out how to do this with Little Man, so one would assume that plants would be a tad easier.

I’m sure it just comes down to knowing what a plant does and doesn’t need to thrive.

Needs: sunlight and water.

Doesn’t need: being left outside in temperatures cold enough to turn it into a plantsicle.

So I am making it a goal to not only plant herbs this spring in small pots, but to grow them outside throughout the summer and inside this winter. Surely Chives won’t get the best of me.

If any of you have any tips for beginning gardeners like myself, I would love to hear them. At least for the sake of Little Man’s plant!

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