Between the showers today I managed to grab a few shots around the garden.
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I’ve got a few seedlings going in the front room. We get a lot of light from these big windows, so it’s the perfect spot to start my spring seedlings, assuming you don’t mind turning the living room into a green house. Here’s what’s going on most afternoons when I’m not paying attention.
The time-lapse was taken one afternoon this week – it’s about 2 hours compressed into 30 seconds. I took one frame every 5 minutes, thinking the plants wouldn’t actually move that much. The ‘jerky’ motion is because they’ve moved quite a bit in the 5 minutes between shots, so I’m going to try again taking the images closer together. The light changes are just the variation in sun/cloud on that day.  Before Gardening in December – sort of. We’re converting a strip of lawn into edible garden – and sheet mulching is one way of getting the lawn out and the veggies in. I’d always intended to do this in November, but we had so much rain, I just couldn’t get to it. With +10 degree C temperatures in the forecast and the promise of a rare clear sky, I finally got the sheet mulching going last Saturday, December 19th. There are plenty of ways to convert lawn to garden. In the past, I’ve deep tilled lawn when converting to grow space. By deep tilling, you can compost the lawn by laying it green side down into a trench, then you just keep working your way ‘back’, dropping the sod into the trench you’ve just dug. It’s hard work. To be honest, I was originally a skeptical of sheet mulching. The idea is to use a barrier – like cardboard or newspaper OVER the lawn, then cover that with manure or straw or other organic matter. The barrier cuts daylight to the sod, essentially killing the lawn and more importantly, the weeds (and we had plenty). Everything, dead lawn, weeds, and barrier coat will decompose. So, over a few months time, the earth worms do their stuff and the entire area composts out to a nice, planting ready garden plot. My friend Spring Gillard, queen of compost, suggested it the first time she saw my lawn. She didn’t really assuage my skepticism mind you. I was listening attentively (as always) until she went on a tangent about using a futon for a barrier, since, after all “you can compost a futon.” Always with the compost this one. In any event, I parked the idea, until I saw the results at Cam McDonald’s urban garden in Mount Pleasant. Cam sold me on the idea, and I decided to give it a try. The internet provided lots of different approaches to sheet mulching, further convincing me that it’s way better to let the earth worms do the work. In my usual fashion, I’ve decided to keep in simple. For one thing. No futons. GoodBye Lawn  Laying Down the Daily News as Barrier
We’re not taking up all the front lawn, at least not this year. The area I’ve picked is roughly 8 feet by 50 feet, so it’s a good size. Our front yard is extremely sunny, and by taking out this strip along the front, we’re more than doubling our veg growing space. What we don’t eat or give way to neighbours, goes to the Edible Garden Project here on the North Shore. The prep work is minimal – the grass is already cut short, so me and my helpers set about laying down the barrier coat. We used newspapers, dutifully collected for us by one of our neighbours our luscious, sexy neighbour (amended at her request). It should be reassuring to all those struggling media magnates to know that The Globe and Mail is now hard at work on my front yard. Next, I covered the area with about six inches or more of manure. I say “I” because oddly enough, once the newspaper had been spread out on the lawn and it was time to haul manure, my two teenage helpers disappeared. I had 5 yards of manure dropped the day before we started. Every time Roberge Trucking comes by with a load, I think of my uncles and cousins on the farm. They spent every day shoveling manure out of the barn and generally trying to get rid of the stuff. They’d be laughing their heads off to see me paying some guy to dump a load in the front yard.  Manure A Go Go Aside from costing $190.00 delivered, 5 yards is a good healthy pile of manure. It’s in the background of the 2nd photo, under a blue tarp. Even though it’s a short wheel-barrow trip to the new garden, I was pretty bagged by the end of the afternoon (there’s another yard or so still left under the tarp, waiting for me when the rain stops). One of the most rewarding parts of the work was talking to neighbours and passers-by who stopped to see what we were doing. Spreading newspapers out on the lawn in December has a way of attracting attention. The rain held off until the end of the day, just as forecast. I’ve got a bit of clean-up work to do, but most of the work is done. I celebrated by ordering some seeds ! Now we just let it all sit through the winter, and if everything goes right, we’ll be planting right in to our newly ’sheet mulched’ garden in the spring. I’ll keep you posted on how this all works out – and whether I get to that last bit of manure before spring !  Done Just as Dusk and the Rain Come
Just wrapping up its 4th year, the the project encourages residents to share their bounty with people in need, as well as putting together a variety of urban agriculture and community garden projects. This week, Heather and team opened the Queen Mary Community Garden, located in the City of North Vancouver. Those of you who aren’t from the North Shore may not be aware that there is both City of North Vancouver, and a District of North Vancouver. Heather’s project involves both municipalities. I spoke to Heather about the project and where things are going with urban agriculture on the North Shore. We met up at the Lower Lonsdale Community Garden, and here’s our conversation… click to play Runs: 11:01
Two firsts this week. One involves Rhubarb – the other Yoga. In the Rhubarb I’ve got some lovely organic rhubarb growing near the front of the house. I moved it up into the sun this year and it’s a lot happier than when it was in the partial shade of the backyard.
I was a bit stumped though. The stalks look the right size for picking, but the rhubarb hasn’t turned red, other than a bit at the base. After reading about rhubarb online, apparently this isn’t that unusual. So, I decided I should make a pie with some of that lovely rhubarb. Problem is, I’ve never made a pie from scratch before. No better time than now to try. EB pointed me to a baking powder pie dough recipe. Things didn’t start well. I screwed up the directions. Step 2 says “place 1/2 cup of flour mixture in a small bowl, and stir in water until smooth”. I read it as “place 1/2 the flour mixture…”. Much panic ensued – on my part. After EB talked me down the the scary place, I continued on. I can’t say the pie crust was a piece of art, there was substantial patching required after I placed it in the pie dish, but I feel this simply adds character… Now for the rhubarb. When I was a kid, the rhubarb grew near the ditch in the corner of my grandmother’s garden. Neglected, and occasionally assaulted by the neighbours riding lawn mower, it never failed to produce pounds and pounds of rich red stalks. We’d cut them, pour some white sugar into a bowl, and dip+munch our way through 2 or 3 stalks at a sitting. My mom and all my aunts made rhubarb pie off those plants, and I loved the tart taste of those red summer pies. I knew going in that my pie wasn’t going to be red. It may be green, but that rhubarb smells and tastes right, so onward. I found a couple of different recipes, but opted for the simplest of the lot since it seemed closest to what my relatives made (though I’ve got to try this Amish Rhubarb Pie Recipe next).
60 minutes later – the pie came out of the oven, looking and smelling pretty darned good.
We let it cool, and later than evening GB and I enjoyed the most amazing Rhubarb Pie EVER ! I was so relieved it actually tasted good I think I drove the entire family crazy showing them the pie. “Look Look ! and it tastes GOOD!” GB’s the only one in the family who likes rhubarb pie – so we’ve each had plenty of this lovely vegetable pie. Did You Say Yoga ? EB’s been very persuasive about getting me to try yoga. For one, she looks darned hot in her little yoga outfit, and she’s always pretty relaxed when she comes back, her cute little mat under her arm. So, today, I tagged along, hoping I wouldn’t feel too intimated by the whole thing. OMG. It was fantastic. We were at the Body Harmony Yoga studio in North Vancouver, and all my fears were put to rest the moment I took off my shoes and got down on my (rented) mat. And here’s the thing. You have to absolutely LOVE any kind of exercise routine that ends, after an hour, with a little lie down complete with blanket. I mean, where’s this been hiding my whole life ? I’ll be heading back in a couple of days. But right now I’m trying to perfect Downward Dog with Rhubarb Pie…
After yesterday’s winter-like-but-not-yet-winter-rain-here-to-remind-you-what’s-coming rain, it was sensational to soak up the sun today. I had wonderful session with my RMT at Complement in the West Van Rec centre. I’ve been seeing her for a couple of years now, and today was one of those magic sessions where I left feeling like a different person. Nice. My newly-married-sister-in-law and her new husband are returning from leg 2 of their honeymoon in Quebec City, so thoughts of heading out on the boat to chase the sunshine for a couple of hours, had to be put on hold. They’re here overnight then head back to Portland Oregon, having now spent more of their married time in Canada than in their home country, the grand old USA. Ha! With a small early afternoon window, I decided to do up some dill pickles. I’ve got a seemingly endless supply of fresh organic cucumbers in my garden. I love an old fashioned garlic dill pickle, and found what looks like a promising recipe/post called Dillicious! Homemade Dill Pickle Recipe the Mennonite Way. The thing is, I’m trying this recipe with a bunch of lemon cucumbers, and a couple of Suyo Long variety – not exactly dill material, but what the heck. I love the smell in the house – that awesome combination of vinegar and pickling spices that reminds me of when I was a kid, watching my aunt Simone in the kitchen. I spent most of my summers hanging out at her house with my cousins. She somehow always managed to do wonders in the kitchen while holding a cigarette in one hand and a Black Label beer in the other. There always seemed to be an endless supply of chips and pop, which we’d get after helping her in the garden. We’d pull fresh corn and peas for dinner, then shell what seemed like bushels of peas (for freezing) while sitting in the living room watching daytime TV. I can’t eat fresh peas from the garden without being reminded of The Price is Right, The Dating Game and the Newlywed Game. Hmm. That gives me an idea. Maybe tonight over dinner with my sister-in-law, I’ll have to give them a Newlywed Game quiz.
I know, when we open up one of these pretty little jars of dills later this winter, that the memory of my aunt Simone will be right there as well. Sunset Gardens (the neighbourhood) is a lovely residential area, surrounded by creeks and ravines, nestled as we are at the base of the North Shore mountains. We also have a lot of wildlife. We’re in black bear country, and they tend to wander into the neighbourhood on a fairly regular basis. Unfortunately, they’re also very interested in our garbage, and it’s just sensible to keep garbage bins hidden away in garages and sheds. It’s also the law here on the North Shore. We don’t have a garage, so our big green municipally approved garbage bin lives in one of our garden sheds. We keep in closed by jamming an metal pole – New York apartment style – between the door and the interlocking brick patio. After being away for a couple of days on a sailing trip (which also included some bear adventures), we returned home to find a bit of a bear renovation job on our shed door. For some reason, the bear stopped just short of ripping the entire front off the door, and left without getting at the prized garbage can. Ironically, the bear ignored the garden and the compost bin. I’ve had a go at putting the door back together. I’ve also added a second metal pole just as a safety, but think I may have to go to something a bit more substantial. From the Bear Aware web site: The rule of thumb is that if it can be dismantled using a crowbar then it is not bear proof. Sheesh. I knew I should have taken that welding course at BCIT last year.
The last of that 40 pounds of BC peaches we bought are now sitting in the cupboard, looking awfully tempting. There are still tons of fresh lemon cucumbers coming off a single plant in the front yard, so I sterilized a few extra jars and put up another dozen half and quarter litre jars. The last batch I did was with a french vanilla recipe, but these are straight pickles – it’ll be interesting to see which we prefer.
I also managed to do another half dozen 125 ml. jars of those lovely hot jalapeno peppers. They’re doing to make a cold winter evening hot and tasty,  A sink full of marvelous BC peachesd Cold, hard rain woke me up early this morning. I’d been hoping to get off on the sailboat for a few hours this morning, but when the fall rains hit the lower Mainland, they don’t mess around. So, we took advantage of the wet weather to tend to some of the 40 pounds of peaches we bought this week. BC peaches are the best in the world. They’re a favourite of mine, particularly since we can get them fresh picked. Growing up in Manitoba, we had no such luxury. Every fall though, my mom would buy a few big boxes as fresh as we could get them, straight off a truck from BC. She’d can dozens of quarts. I remember many a brutally cold winter day in Manitoba that was made fresh and alive by spooning out some of those golden peaches – on ice cream, on toast, or just on their own. The two boxes of peaches we bought this week haven’t all quite ripened – but I was able to find a sink full that are ready. EB peeled while I got the canning jars and syrup ready. Well before lunch, we had 7 litres of peaches done, and the kitchen cleaned up. There’s probably another 16 to 18 litres worth of peaches to go – I’ll do them up in batches as they ripen. I’m thinking these are going to be pretty darned tasty on one of those cold wet days – it’s never Manitoba cold here in the lower Mainland, butI know the peaches will brighten up whatever we get. And I’m also thinking these are going to be a real treat on the sailboat.  A good morning's work  Newly planted strawberry plant Sunset Gardens is a neighbourhood in North Vancouver BC Canada where I live. I’m slowly converting parts of my yard into edible garden. For one, we love the taste of fresh organic vegetables. For two – what’s with cutting the lawn all summer anyway ? Our small backyard garden has given us a bountiful harvest, with fresh greens every night that taste like nothing you find in the store. We’ve pickled beets and cucumber, frozen tomatoes and accented every meal this summer with fresh vegetables from steps outside our door. This used to be the norm. This site will update our progress as we convert more of our residential property into edible garden, and experiment with different food crops in our urban environment. |
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I spent the morning sterilizing jars, peeling and quartering peaches, and picking some fresh lemon cucumbers to pickle. EB helped with the peeling, she’s very adept at it since she abhors peach skins. Personally, I like the peach fuzz, but canned peaches really do better without the skins.
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