Organic Granny

This is the bitter-sweet time of the year when parents are sending their kids back to school ... or when kids have made the actual flight from the nest.  Sweet for some parents who are overwhelmed with responsibilities and jobs and who are happy to see the kids "safely" back in school... but bitter when parents are not ready to release their quickly maturing child to a non-familial environment, like a school, a college, a work place, a move far away from home for whatever reason. These are some of the schmaltziest, most gratuitously sentimental songs ever recorded.  They exploit the tenderness that a parent (or grandparent) has for a child, the fears they have for their loss, and subconsciously, hark right back to a time when the listener was negotiating his/her own passage to independence from her/his family of origin. Some of this music will sound downright cornball, but you will likely catch a phrase that will touch you heart, and you will generally begin tearing u

In our yard we have a little green fig tree that has launched into an abundance of fruit-bearing over the recent past.  In its initial 8 or 9 years, it languished.  Its little buddy expired fairly early on (not unusual for fruit trees in our front yard soil, which could be described as a gravel bed with a slim overlay of topsoil. An idea of how many figs this tree is putting out-- every branch is laden like this with a couple of crops. And a shot of some of the 'baby' figs that will form the second crop later in the summer/early Fall. The same fig tree just four years ago-- barely hanging on, and only producing a few figs that year. We have fertilized/amended the soil around its roots with lime and rock phosphate.  Those mineral nutrients have made a huge difference. Here my d.h. is demonstrating that the tree is about 6' in breadth, not that the big one got away. What do you do with your harvest of figs?  I would appreciate some more ideas. Comment below

It could have been another day lounging around with the tablet on Facebook... but, twigged by something someone said (or inferred) about how lazy I am, I suggested to dear hubby that we might check out the new-ish Cumberland Farmer's Market .  It is open from 11am on Sundays throughout the summer.  Off we went. These gorgeous hydrangeas greeted us at the entrance to Village Square Park where the Cumberland Farmers' Market is located. I personally have never seen this sort of hydrangea before.  Have you?  It was gorgeous... The Cumberland Farmers Market at the Village Square Park, Dunsmuir Rd., Cumberland BC Sundays 11AM-2PM This is really a pretty little Farmers' Market -- it's new-ish (just opened this year) so really doesn't seem to have caught on yet.  The bonus is that it is a little less cheek-to-jowl with people and vendors, for those who prefer a bit of a stroll and a chat vs. a push and a shove and jostle for the coin.  The Market operates 11AM-2

Okay, who has a spiralizer sitting in the bottom of their cupboard?  Is that because you don't like eating yummy zucchini spaghetti? No?  Is it because there were no instructions with your spiralizer and you ended up frustrated and maybe even with a ripped open thumb?  Oy.  So much for all those wonderful intentions to increase your daily dose of veg! Let us rectify that situation by watching this very helpful video seminar on spiralizing zoodles: I recommend:   Paderno World Cuisine A4982799 Tri-Blade Vegetable Spiral Slicer Now, let's quickly review some of the pointers the demo made: Set the Spiralizer up on a clean, flat surface and position at large bowl behind the blade insert (to catch the noodles) Cut off the end of the zucchini (or other veg) and attach the cut end, center, to the little metal spool.   Slide the disk with the prickles right up against the other end of the veg (or zucchini) and make sure there is a nice firm fit, nothing is slipping

This Sunday, March 20, 2016, my husband and I attended the Seedy Sunday event in Edmonton, Alberta , the city where our son and family live, and where we are visiting while the grandchildren are on their Spring breaks. I feel so blessed since this is my second opportunity to attend a Seedy Sunday this year, actually, this March!!   If you look back to the previous blog post, you will see that I posted about going to the Seedy Sunday on March 6th at Nanaimo, Vancouver Island.  What is really fun is introducing my daughter-in-law to the Seedy Sunday concept.  She has done a masterful job of gardening in her backyard to the point that her freezer is full of produce through the entire winter.  How many people can say that about their urban kitchen garden?  She really enjoyed herself and came home with some new ideas. We attended a couple of the lectures: the last half of the Food Security panel (with encouragement to not only focus on Food Security, but to also encourage schools

This weekend, on Sunday, my husband, Zoe dog and I drove down Island to Nanaimo for the annual Seedy Sunday. Seedy Sunday (or Seedy Saturday) is a gathering of gardeners, local small seed companies and nurseries, in a low-cost local venue where they can learn from one another, exchange ideas and seeds and plants in a comfortable, social setting-- a 'fair' would be another way to describe it.  Nanaimo is located midway up (down) Vancouver Island.  The first Seedy Saturday happened on Vancouver Island 23 years ago, in Victoria.  There are now over 140 Seedy Saturdays/Sundays across Canada. You can find out more about Canadian Seedy Saturday and Sunday schedules by going HERE .  I am happy to see that we will be able to attend another Seedy Sunday this year when we visit our kids and grandkids in Edmonton. Carolyn Herriot was one of this year's Seedy Sunday's speakers.  She has authored The Zero Mile Diet: A Year-Round Guide To Growing Organic Food    

Today is rainy and foggy.  We must eat a delicious, nurturing, nourishing, healthy hot soup to be revived!  I have innovated to create the following: Chunky Three Sisters Soup ... the Three Sisters are, of course, the hearty indigenous fruits of our North America: Corn , Squash and Beans .  I have also added in Tomato Sauce, Onions , and fragrant Brown Basmati Rice .  This recipe will serve 6 people, or 2 people, if it is spread over a couple of meals for my husband and I. Ingredients: 1 C. Brown Basmati Rice Water to cook Rice in (according to your rice-cooking directions on your package) 1 medium size Squash , your choice, split in half, and roasted in the oven 2 medium Yellow Onions , roughly chopped and toasted in oven with squash 14 oz/398 ml can of Organic Black Beans (or beans soaked and pre-cooked by you) 1 C. Organic Tomato-Basil Pasta Sauce (or 1 C. of your preferred Tomato Sauce) 1 C. Frozen or Fresh Organic Corn kernels 4-8 C.  Water or Vegetable Stock 1/2 tsp

Growing stuff from your lunch fruit and veggies is a great idea! That lettuce and tomato sandwich you are planning for lunch could potentially give you back several times more lettuce leaves and tomato slices than you started with. And showing a friend or grandchild how you grew your tomato from seeds that you gently removed before you made a sandwich, well, wouldn't that be fun? Before you get going with the growing, here are a few tips: Choose a nice ripe heirloom variety of tomato to purchase ... the riper, the better, and if it is a heirloom (very old strain of seed that hasn't been tampered with, we're assuming) the seeds will more likely germinate, and grow into a "true" fruit-- something you will recognize as being like the tomato you had on your sandwich.  You may have to pay a little more, but you will enjoy the tomato on your sandwich, plus you will be assured of its 'coming back'.  If you buy it in tomato harvest season from a farm gate (t

Most of us avocado-lovers have at least tried to grow an avocado plant from a pit with 4 toothpicks resting along the rim of a jar of water .  As below: Courtesy of Wikipedia Some of us have had luck in that the pit sprouted within about six weeks and we were able to transfer the sprouted pit to a pot of soil and have a "tree" grow in the container.  Some of us faithfully kept the tepid water going and never saw a sprout, ever, until we finally faced the music and threw the fruitless pit away! The avocado plant was a big hit in the 70s when I was at University.  As I recall, avocados had only fairly recently been introduced as edible fare into our Vancouver mindsets, and we were thrilled and excited by any sort of potted plants that would grow in our cozy apartment windows.  The exotic pit of the avocado suspended over tepid water, broad end down, brought up all kinds of fantasies of producing our own prolific avocado trees, in a container in said cozy apartment.  T

  Growing an apple tree from seeds seems like a no-brainer way to grow an apple orchard- - or at least one great gnarly tree you could sling up a swing on for the future grandkids. Didn't that dude Johnny Appleseed just go about the USA flinging his seeds into the breeze, and aren't like 75% of all apple trees growing today a result of that expedition?  Well... no. No. Growing an actual APPLE-BEARING apple tree from the seeds you just popped from your coffee-break fruit into a hanky is a lot rarer an experience than you might think. BUT you can grow a tiny tree with shiny green leaves , and if you want to do a little more work and study, you can use this small tree as "root stock" for growing an apple tree that will possible produce edible apples (suggested: a dwarf apple tree). BUT in the meantime, why not go ahead and root those apple seeds just for the fun of seeing the little thing grow in a pot on your windowsill or deck? And maybe you will prove m

So, you want to grow a garden using food scraps -- the parts of fruits and veggies that get tossed after the good bits have made it into the stew or the salad. It makes so much sense, doesn't it? You don't have much room, in fact you don't have a yard. You don't have much spare money, but you do have all these leftovers from your last shop at Wholefoods, some have gone hairy in the fridge, some never did make the grade for the school lunch.  Or maybe you do have a yard and you would like it to contain an orchard of your favorite apples or a luscious cherry tree dripping fruits onto the table on your deck.  Well... let's take a look at 15 (at least) veggies and fruits that it is possible for you to propagate from scraps (the parts of the fresh fruits and veggies that you are not using when you cook or snack on them) or through cuttings from generous neighbours and various other fun and free sources ... Just click below on the fruits and vegetables you are in

Recently a Facebook friend posted a picture of her supper: a spaghetti squash enchilada just oozing cheese from all angles... she apologized that it wasn't a fancy presentation. It looked so comfort-food yummy that I knew that it would be my next planned meal. I have made quite a few 'adaptations' to the ingredients, and you can too. Just know that it turns out absolutely delicious with very little effort!  I went shopping and found Amy's brand canned chili (vegan)(organic) on sale at my local wholefood store ( Edible Island in Courtenay, BC) You could make your own chili-- maybe you even have some in the fridge?  Amy's Medium Hot Chili made with tofu has all the spices and ingredients that I was looking for, so I liked the convenience of opening the can this one meal. Ingredients: Squash (I used an Acorn Squash) Red Bell Pepper 14 oz can Amy's brand Organic Medium Hot Chili with Tofu 1 C. Frozen Corn Niblets Daiya Cheese shreds (I used Mozzarella

Yes, Fig-Quince-Ginger Jam sounds pretty darned exotic from the blog of a granny living on the currently rainy Vancouver Island off the West Coast of Canada.    Especially exotic when you realize that I didn't even know that I was growing a quince tree in our backyard! We thought we had planted a PEAR tree.  This is the first year that these hard, furry, bulbous fruits produced more than a couple of little fall-offs.  And I still thought they were pears until I saw a friend's show piece on quinces that she harvested. A second crop of Green Figs Katsikopoulos Dimitris So, this is brand new territory!  I also have a fig tree , as you will know from blogs past, so I went looking for fig-quince jam recipes.  We have a second crop of these little green figs.  My husband is a real "fig pig" but I'm kind of 'meh' about them.  Jam is always good though. If you don't have a quince source and just want to make some Fig Ginger Jam