LIVE Green!
Love’em and Juice’em
This week I dusted off my 'new juicer' and tried some of my old favourites. This … [Read More...]
Microgreens
I've spent the last several days going through my old seeds and deciding what to … [Read More...]
February 13th – Liberation Day
Today, Christine was liberated from her own mind. Imagine the freedom! Happy … [Read More...]
Winter Fun
It is usually a struggle to get a decent rink made in time for Christmas. We bought … [Read More...]
The Fine Print
The choice to reproduce, for those of us fortunate enough to have one, is supported … [Read More...]
Wombicus squishticum
Our first was born with what some health professionals may have called a "mild deformity". … [Read More...]
Kids
A friend of the family once told me: Having one is like having none. Having two … [Read More...]
Throwin the Nasty Out With the Nappy
A word about baby poop. Like most middle-class North Americans, I was first taught … [Read More...]
Home-canned Baby Food
Better late than never. The best time of year to make baby food is late summer … [Read More...]
Polytunnel Panic
I was worried that my beautiful greens might take a wee bit of a hit tonight (-2 … [Read More...]
EAT Green!
Range Update
The oven works! However, we only lasted week before I started shopping for a … [Read More...]
cos i fig tat balm be dande
I cut my first full salad today: tatsoi mustard, red oakleaf, spinach, cos, and … [Read More...]
If you can’t take the heat, stop using the range
My range blew up today. It could be a sign that we're ready to make the leap to … [Read More...]
Labellabellabel
I don't want to be a "raw foodie". I want to eat raw food. Why? I want … [Read More...]
Top Five Ways to EAT Green!
How does one "EAT Green"? It's a popular topic, and everyone has an opinion. … [Read More...]
Juicing Green for Beginners
The basics of 'how to juice' are in every manual and at every keyboard; what is … [Read More...]
Juice Me Green Too!
Tonight for supper, we had a raw taco salad and a green juice. The juice was one … [Read More...]
Juice Me Green Baby!
I've been having a green juice every day for several days now. My favourite concoction … [Read More...]
A Juicing Garden
Herb gardens, salad gardens, cutting gardens, butterfly gardens, knot gardens, rock … [Read More...]
Love’em and Juice’em
This week I dusted off my 'new juicer' and tried some of my old favourites. This … [Read More...]
GROW Green!
Rabbits and Raccoons Reaping my Roughage
So our old raccoon is back and, clearly, is no longer deterred by my little green box. He knocked down half my corn stalks last night. There were little nibbles where the ear would have developed. I decided to pull all remaining plants, leaving nothing for the little b-----d to get his fingers on. I've never felt so intensely dark about another living species, but there it is: I despise them. Rabbits, less so. I chased another … [Read More...]
Mid-season Report
June was a blur. But the garden grows without me, now, so there's little to do there except wait for the harvest. The peas are just finishing, the beans are just starting, the greens are continuing, and the tomatoes are full size and ready to change colour. I have never had such a lush vegetable garden at this point in the season. On the other hand, the other peas that were to have shaded my cilantro from the afternoon sun never … [Read More...]
All You Can Eat Buffet
Miscellanous updates for the past week: Fertilized the tomatoes. Replanted (third time) yellow beans; eleven of the original twelve plants had been chewed off by a furry foe. Lost one pepper plant to some critter that left the plant mostly intact, but nibbled on the stem just enough to make it flop over in despair. Planted pumpkins today. I wanted to use up half a dozen old seeds, so I threw them in where my brassicas had … [Read More...]
Plan G
It took all winter to come up with a decent garden plan, but at this point, it's mostly gone to hell. It happens every year, though this year it's comical. The tomatoes are in the general vicinity of where they were planned to be, as are the peppers and summer squash; there are fewer of them, though. The lettuces, greens and roots are in their allotted beds, but they're not really organized as they should be: some are planted … [Read More...]
WALL-WE
All tomatoes are planted - only 18 plants this year, less than half of the previous year - but with a little extra care and diligence I could end up reaping the same harvest. We shall see. I lost one tomato to a cutworm, another to a raccoon. To fend off more cutworms, I decided to make collars for the smallest of the tomato plants, and absolutely all of the peppers. I also hot-capped half of the peppers with 10-litre water jugs, … [Read More...]
Tomato Transplant Time
It's been an amazing week for gardening, weather wise. On Monday, I sowed cilantro, green pole beans, yellow bush beans and shelling peas. I also finally transplanted my ailing onions and leeks, and my stellar parsley; they should have been put in the ground ages ago. Wednesday, I sowed more beets and carrots; also chard, corn and sunburst squash. Today, I transplanted a dozen tomatoes, turned my compost pile, and made the decision … [Read More...]
Dandesparabarb
I like manual labour. I like to see immediate results of my efforts. Weeding dandelions is a perfect example. I've been pulling them almost daily. It's very satisfying work. I already have a fridge full of leaves, so today's harvest went straight to the compost pile. My first planting of beets did not germinate. Have to replant. Asparagus has arrived full force. Last night, we had asparagus pizza, with red pepper, chives and … [Read More...]
Down and Dirty Nice and Early
My records indicate that the earliest I've ever planted is April 2. That was in 2004. This year, I beat it by one day. On April 1st, I sowed the following: Lolla Rossa Lettuce Red Oakleaf Lettuce Tatsoi Mustard Sylvetta Golden Detroit Beet Early Wonder Beet Easter Egg Radish Sparkler Radish In the two weeks since, I've added: Jade Cross Brussels Sprouts Bronco Cabbage Red Express Cabbage Oregon Sugar … [Read More...]
Spinach Reborn!
I have spinach in my garden! The one bed that was to have been my "winter greens" experiment (but was ultimately destroyed when my hoop house collapsed under a foot of snow) is waking up and producing green, baby! In celebration of the discovery, each of us sampled a perfect tiny little leaf, then went and played soccer. What else were we gonna do? … [Read More...]
A Juicing Garden
Herb gardens, salad gardens, cutting gardens, butterfly gardens, knot gardens, rock gardens, water gardens, rose gardens, wildlife gardens, potagers. What about a juicing garden? I've reorganized and replotted my garden four times already. The latest version includes a juicing garden, designed to ease my transition to an 80% raw foods diet. Some of the best juicing choices are beets, carrots, cucumbers, celery, cilantro, parsley, … [Read More...]
Microgreens
I've spent the last several days going through my old seeds and deciding what to use and what to toss. I generally have no trouble germinating seeds that are three or four years old. I don't even store them under particularly 'seed-friendly' conditions, and yet many of them still produce. Now, that's fine, of course, if I'm starting transplants. I can plan for a certain quantity, and if they don't all sprout, I can adjust my garden … [Read More...]
It’s Never Too Early
Three weeks into the year and I've already received all of my seed catalogues. I've spent the last few days laying out my garden plan on the computer. Already the list of jobs to do (outside of planting, seeding, etc) is a mile long. We usually begin with whatever jobs weren't finished last year. Makes sense. These are as follows: Remove the Manitoba maple at the north end of the garden, where the compost pile is. Finish … [Read More...]
Polytunnel Panic
I was worried that my beautiful greens might take a wee bit of a hit tonight (-2 predicted), so we rigged a temporary mini hoophouse over the garden bed. It was a very last minute decision - made at about 4pm - and I think we did well. We happened to have several yards of 3/4 inch flexible black pipe, so we cut five ribs to a length of seven feet, and sunk them into the ground, about every two feet, inside the bed frame. We used … [Read More...]
A Balmy Lack of Beans
Today was a balmy 13C and I took my first cuttings of my winter greens. I never eat my salad greens until I've washed, spun, and crisped them up in the fridge, so unfortunately, I won't be tasting them until lunchtime tomorrow. For supper, I made vegetarian Boston Baked Beans. I won't be tasting them until tomorrow too, because they're still in the crockpot. The recipe told me it would take 7 to 8 hours and it's been almost 12. They've … [Read More...]
Put the Cob Down and Back Away From the Compost
With all of the tomatoes ripening on the counter, it was no surprise to find a few fruit flies flitting around. I detest them. So, in a mild panic, I decided to get every scrap of food off the counter and into the fridge, and I put the kitchen compost outside on the back step. I planned to take it down to the garden when I was finished my "Salsa Verde!" Well, it's still pouring outside so the plan remains a plan, and now I sit here … [Read More...]
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