Life Lessons From Gardening: There Are No Mistakes

I love gardening for so many reasons, not least of which because of everything gardening has taught me. Anyone who has tried to grow something can tell you something that they have learned through the process. Some speak of the appreciation they have for nature, for being witness to the life around them. Others speak about the time spent outdoors and the meditative effect of daily tasks and chores. Then there is the satisfaction of growing one's own food and being intimately connected to the earth.

My favourite gardening lesson is also my favourite life lesson.

There are no mistakes in gardening, only learning experiences.

It is all a matter of perspective, really, as is most of life. Glass half empty or glass half full?

Sure there are posts and books about common newbie gardener mistakes, like not giving plants enough space, under or over fertilizing, or planting in the wrong location. I have read many of them, and when I started container gardening many years ago, and then gardening in my raised beds 5 years ago I did what I do when I start anything new: I read up on how to do it.

But gardening, like life, cannot always be anticipated perfectly, and sometimes things do not go as planned. Of course it feels like a mistake when the garden does not turn out the way you intended it. 

But there are no mistakes, only learning experiences and happy surprises.

An example is my backyard garden so far this season. I was very excited to plant asparagus for the first time this year because I love perennial plants that are plant once and go. I wouldn't be able to harvest any spears this year to allow the plants to establish themselves firmly in the soil, but oh the wait would be worth it for delicious, fresh homegrown spring asparagus. I read the information packet that came with the roots I ordered from a local seed company, did a quick search on the internet to read a little more and then I planted them quickly before heading off on a family vacation.

Asparagus crowns: the roots are the long dangly parts. You
maybe can see why I thought the part of the crowns in the
bottom of the photo were the beginning of the roots,
rather than the future spears. Basically this is upside down.

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Autumn Garden

Tomorrow will be the first day of autumn and I am looking forward to the official end of summer. I feel alive during the summer and I revel in all the outdoor activities we can easily do during the hot months, but like many people, autumn may be my favourite season. This year I have more reasons to say good bye to the summer than in previous years.

The leaves have begun to show their first blush of autumn. On the eve of what should have been the first day of school we spent time at my old alma mater, Simon Fraser University, and enjoyed the beautiful leaves. 

We are fortunate here in the pacific northwest because we can often have an extended summer in September and a long autumn with cool, crisp mornings and warm afternoons well into October. We make up for it in November with the famous Vancouver rain. 

While the intense growing season of the summer has all but ended, I like to extend the backyard harvests with colder season growing. In fact, last year I harvested various Asian greens and kale on December 1st. 

Bok choy, kale, sui choy, turnips, cabbage, marigolds and sunflowers.

I began planning and organizing my fall garden back in late July and early August when I started seeds in a mini shelf greenhouse unit in my backyard. I had to finally say goodbye to the summer and yank up some plants to make room for the new ones, which was hard. 

Beans and tomatoes in the mini greenhouse in the spring.

At the moment my garden beds are looking a little shaggy as I wait for the remaining sunflowers and cucumbers (which as still producing).

Things are looking a little sad with the squash gone and droopy sunflowers.

Growing in Two Raised Beds:

four varieties of kale 

bok choy

sui choy (Chinese cabbage)

leafy lettuce

spinach

turnips

chard

cauliflower and cabbage (for the spring)

garlic (to be planted in October)

parsnips (very hard to germinate; out of two dozen seeds I have three seedlings so far. I don't have high hopes that they will survive)

* This is my first year not growing Brussels sprouts. In the past I have harvested some for Thanksgiving dinner and the rest for Christmas dinner, and now I am regretting not growing them.

Lettuce, spinach, chard, bok choy, sui choy, parsnips, cauliflower

I have plans to build hoops and cover two of my beds with plastic when we have regular frost. I was able to harvest through mid fall frosts last year because we had a warm season and the frosts were intermittent. However, once winter hit we had to wait until late January before the kale was defrosted and edible again. I am hoping to have kale through to the spring with covered beds, as well as cauliflower next spring. 

Cheapskate Soup Stock

I have already shared my love of freezing the excess summer bounty to eat during the cooler months here, and I am going to share more freezer love.

I love composting kitchen scraps, but sometimes I like to freeze them instead.

Why would I do this, you ask? I like to use leftover vegetable scraps in homemade soup stock when I am able to instead of buying new vegetables.

Image source

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Chocoholic Black Bean Brownies

I am a straight up chocoholic. If a sweet treat doesn't have chocolate, I don't see the point in having some, so I have been very intrigued by the black bean brownie recipes I have been seeing all over Pinterest and Facebook lately. I have made a pledge to try more gluten free recipes this year, not because I have gluten sensitivities, but for more general reasons like cutting back on carbs. I know that when I am cleansing I need to cut out wheat, and flours in general, so the idea of using black beans instead of a flour sounded perfect. The cherry on top was that I might get my family to eat more beans if they liked the brownies.

I am on spring break with my daughters and now that I have had sufficient time to de-stress I feel like tackling some items on my one little word "to make" list. We decided to have a home day today, which gave me the time to try making the brownies. I couldn't find a single recipe that I liked completely; some used sugar or brown sugar, others were vegan, using egg substitutes (I prefer eggs), and most called for canola oil, which I do not like using (it is a PUFA, poly-unsaturated fatty acid, read about why here). I knew I was going to have to substitute and mix & match recipes to get what I wanted, and cross my fingers everything would turn out.

I substituted coconut sugar for white and brown sugar, so feel free to use either in place of the coconut sugar. I like coconut sugar because it is low on the glycemic index and a healthier sweetener that can be used 1:1 in place of other sugars or sweeteners. However, I ran out and had to use some raw cane sugar (still sugar, but a little better because not as processed as white sugar). In place of the canola oil I used melted coconut oil, but I suppose olive oil could be used instead (it should be used only at lower temperatures).

The only unhealthy part was the chocolate chips which are a must!

Ingredients:

• 1 can (450 mL or 15 ounces) of black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/4 cup of semisweet chocolate chips (I may have used more)
• 3 tbsp of coconut oil (or oil of choice)
• 3 eggs
• 1/4 cup of coconut sugar (or sweetener of choice: sugar, maple syrup, etc)
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 1tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/8 tsp salt

* I try to use all organic ingredients when I have them, including vanilla extract and unsweetened cocoa. I also try to find fair trade cocoa and chocolate because of child slave labour in the chocolate farming industry.

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 350 F. 

• Combine all ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth. Some recipes blend the first three ingredients before adding the rest, but I skimmed too quickly and missed this part. As mine still turned out wonderfully I think I will stick with my mistake and declare it intentional.

• Pour the mixture into a baking pan. I use stoneware so I do not need to coat mine with oil. I have learned, however, that if I use stoneware for baking I need to put it in the oven while I preheat it. While most people say that stoneware does not need to be preheated, I have found that it takes longer to cook and is less moist if I do not. 

• I sprinkled many chocolate chips over the top for extra chocolatiness (I'm declaring this a word). 

• Bake for 20-30 minutes, depending on your oven and type of baking dish you use. A knife should come out clean when inserted. 

My daughters, aged four, seven and nine loved it and kept asking for more squares. I think they may have sneaked a few behind my back because as of tonight there are only three squares left. 

This photo was taken a half an hour after I took them out
of the oven. Yes, I would say this was a hit.

Enjoy delicious, healthy, fibre filled brownie treats fit for a chocoholic!

Boxing Day Quinoa Salad

It feels like a hangover day today, the day after Christmas. We had a delicious dinner last night that was a group effort shared between my husband, my brother and myself, with dessert made by my mother.

I ate (and drank) a little too much last night and I'm feeling the effects today. My poor stomach needs a break, so I decided to make a nice clean salad for today. I make variations of this quinoa salad quite frequently but I decided to add pomegranates for a festive touch of red. I like the fresh crunchy pop it adds; I will definitely be adding them again. The parsley, a left over from last night's meal, added a splash of green in keeping with the Yule season. 

Ingredients for Boxing Day Quinoa Salad:

• 1 large bowl of cooked quinoa (I use a mixture of red and white quinoa)
• 1 ripe pomegrante, seeds separated 
• 1 ripe avocado, cut into small pieces
• 1 ripe tomato, diced
• 1 bunch of parsley, finely chopped
• 2 cups chick peas (I soak mine from dried, then cook them, drain and leave to cool)
• optional: feta cheese

Dressing:

• 1/2 cup of fire cider (see my recipe here) - made from apple cider vinegar, onion, garlic, hot peppers, and horseradish
• 1/2 cup of almond oil (or any cold pressed oil of choice)

Directions:

Add all ingredients into a large bowl, keeping a small handful of parsley aside. Whisk together the dressing ingredients then add to bowl. Gently mix salad to incorporate dressing. Add additional parsley for garnish. Enjoy!

'Twas The Night Before Christmas

… and all through the house, all the kiddies were anxiously following Santa's journey on NORAD Tracks Santa.

My girls following Santa's route on the internet.

It's been a busy few days here, in the mad dash to the finish line of preparing for Christmas day. We don't do anything special in our family for Christmas Eve, although we do celebrate the Solstice with new pyjamas.

I've been frantically finishing homemade presents for family and neighbours. Knitting dish towels and cloths, knitted cup sweaters, lavender bath salts (from my own lavender), organic honey vanilla lip balm, and beeswax food wraps. I've finished everything from my DIY holiday gift list that I had hoped to complete.

This afternoon we finished cleaning the house, wrapping presents (we tried to put most presents into bags this year, with reusable gift tags) and setting the table for Christmas dinner. I'm tired.

The last thing on my list was to bake Santa cookies with my girls, which are almost finished. I made an executive decision to make shortbread this year because they are my favourite holiday cookies and no one in my family makes them anymore. Even if I do say so myself, they are are delicious. I decided to use organic cane sugar and maple sugar (made from organic maple syrup), which has given them a lovely hint of maple.

It's almost time to put the kids to bed, have a relaxing drink and enjoy the peace of the evening. If you celebrate Christmas, I wish you a wonderful day with your family and those you love.

Late Fall Garden

This year I expanded my fall garden to include more greens that we enjoyed in the summer (mustard, kale, chard), as well as some new ones to try growing (gai lan and pak choy). I also did some carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, and turnip. The last item into my garden was garlic. My fall garden is somewhat limited because it is in a north facing backyard with very little direct sunlight.

The broccoli, cauliflower and gai lan are not faring very well. Maybe when the warm weather returns in the spring the broccoli and cauliflower will give me a nice early harvest. Fingers crossed. I hope whatever ate my gai lan enjoyed it.

Although I am not going out into the backyard frequently enough, I am pleased with how things are going. The kale and chard from the summer are still going strong and we use these whenever we remember to go out before dark. With the early evening in the northern hemisphere in November, I had to go out with a flashlight this past week to get some greens for my pasta sauce.

I planted red mustard in the early fall and it is doing well. I am pleasantly surprised to see that the green mustard that I let go to seed in the summer reseeded on it's own as well. 

The Brussels sprouts are filling out and getting big and round. I harvested some for our Thanksgiving dinner in October but made sure to leave the stalks growing so I can harvest the rest for our Christmas evening dinner with the family. It always makes me proud to have homegrown food for such a special family dinner.

My turnips and pak choy are the surprise hits of the fall garden this year! I shouldn't be amazed, yet I am delighted at the difference fresh pak choy tastes compared to the store bought variety. It tastes perfect sautéed in some oil, garlic and ginger. And oh the turnips! I realize that they aren't to everyone's taste, but they have so much flavour when served garden to table. I was raised with them either boiled or steamed, then mashed with cooked carrots, but I want to try roasting them, as an Instagram friend suggested.

Next year I want to remember to add cabbage to my fall garden.

I regularly post in-process photos of my garden and its results on Pinterest, as crustyroll35.

Winter Squash Soup

I realized recently that I have not posted anything on this blog for three weeks because of so much going on with my kids, my job and my family. I thought autumn was a time to slow down in preparation for the long winter months ahead?

My spirit may come alive with summer, but I think autumn is my favourite season. The smell of the crisp air on an autumn morning should be bottled up to enjoy all year long. I never tire of the changing colours of the leaves that make the walk to school with my girls an adventure. Around each corner is a new sight that I feel compelled to capture with my camera and post on Instagram. We have had an unseasonably dry fall and this has been a bonus for outside time, but in some ways I miss the typical Raincover that can feel like a hug from an old friend. That's not to say that we haven't had some epic rainfalls recently that have temporarily flooded streets. The extended period of foggy days in October were wonderful while they lasted, with the eerie fog horns bellowing on the Fraser River.

With the change of seasons I have been delighted to get out my knitting needles and try some new projects. I call myself an advanced beginner who is still getting used to all the possibilities of knitting in the round. The couch blankets have also made their return to the tv room, along with my favourite pair of slippers.

Even though life with three busy daughters, a job and volunteering has taken over my time recently, I have tried to find the time to continue to make as many of our meals from scratch as I can. On this eco journey that I am traveling I try to make as many homemade meals as possible to avoid needless packaging and additives. Of course this can be a challenge when life gets out of control with commitments, as it has recently.

One of my favourite fall foods is soup. Prior to marriage and kids I made huge pots of soup all the time, freezing them into single serve portions, making an easy quick meal for a single person living alone. My husband enjoys soup but not in the same way I do, and my children are definitely not open to some of the more adventuresome soups I enjoy making. I love making soup because it is so easy.

Winter squash soup is a must as far as I am concerned, and I have made it with pumpkin, acorn squash and butternut squash. This time I made it with kabocha squash, which is a Japanese "pumpkin." We had roasted kabocha squash for one of our Thanksgiving dishes and I enjoyed it so much I bought another. It has a lovely soft orange colour that I think makes for a pretty bowl of soup.


Ingredients:
one winter squash (your choice of kabocha, acorn, butternut, pumpkin), roasted
one medium cooking onion, chopped
several cloves of garlic, chopped finely
one inch section of ginger (approx), chopped finely
salt and pepper to taste
one to two tablespoons of butter (can substitute with olive oil or coconut oil)
a handful of corriander seeds, toasted and ground
one to two cups of whole milk or cream (add to achieve desired creaminess and thickness)
fresh cilantro as garnish (optional)


To soften the squash, which ever variety is used, I roast it at 400 degrees F (200 C) in the oven for approximately thirty minutes until it is to the desired softness (I like browned bits on mine). Sometimes I roast it in wedges with the outside left on.

A must in any soup, or any meal as far as I am concerned, are onions and garlic. For winter squash soup I like to add ginger for a delicious zestiness,  sauté everything with butter for richness. If you are afraid of butter I urge you to do some reading about the benefits of butter. I have also used coconut oil but for this soup I wanted the flavour of butter. I suppose olive oil could be substituted but in my humble opinion fall and winter soups should be made with butter.

I like to make my own soup stock because of the rich flavour and overall health and eco benefits. If I use my own stock I do not need to add salt or pepper as it has already been seasoned to my preferences. In a rush, however, I use organic stock from the store. Pour the stock in with the browned onion mixture and add the roasted squash. At this point I would add salt or pepper to taste.

While the soup is simmering I toast coriander seeds harvested from my summer garden, then grind them with a mortar and pestle to release the aromatic flavours. With the ginger, garlic, onions and corriander added to the soup the kitchem smells amazing at this point.

I let this simmer on a medium low heat until it is starting to bubble, then I use a hand held blender and pulse the soup until it is smooth and creamy in appearance. The soup can be eaten at this point but I like to add some milk or cream to add to the smooth texture of the soup. I like to pulse with the hand held blender once more.

Before enjoying, I like to add some fresh cilantro from my fall garden to go with the coriander seeds.

Garlic Planting Time

A sure sign of fall is planting bulbs in the garden. I have a bunch of daffodils and tulips I need to get into containers, and some new bulbs that I bought from my daughter's preschool fundraiser that I am excited to try. My big bulb project, however, is planting my garlic.

This is my second year planting garlic so I am still a newbie who has much to learn, and I hope to apply what I learned from my experience over the past year for next year's garlic.

Last fall I planted five rows of hardneck garlic in one of my raised beds, with about 5 bulbs in each. I added some of my own compost to the bed, but no other fertilizer. A few weeks after planting, when I was cleaning up my yard and raking leaves I added some dried leaves to the pile for mulch (to protect the bed from frosting, to keep weeds down, and to retain moisture because raised beds drain easily).

I was both pleased with and disappointed by my garlic this summer.

As the garlic began sprouting above the soil in the spring I noticed that many of the plants were being smothered by the leaves, which I had not mulched into small enough pieces. By the time I took all the leaves off the bed it was too late for some. Others that sprouted did not thrive, and I have to wonder if I didn't do enough to prepare the soil in the fall. Garlic is a heavy feeder and I planted them in a bed where I previously grew summer squash, which are also heavy feeders. I was worried that I wouldn't have any useable garlic at all!

I planted garlic from two different sources - West Coast Seeds and The Sharing Farm. Initially I thought the garlic from The Sharing Farm was doing better (was thriving more), but in the end the garlic from West Coast Seeds had a higher success rate when I harvested them. I was thrilled with the garlic scapes that I harvested in late June / early July, and for I while I was thinking hat this was all I was going to get out of my garlic. I made scape pesto and sautéed the scapes in stir fries as I would with garlic cloves. So fresh and summery!

In the end I pulled about fifteen bulbs out of the ground, but after drying only about eight or nine were edible. I could have saved all my precious garlic bulbs for myself, but what fun would that be? I shared with garlic loving family members and they all reported that the garlic was pungent and delicious.

So this year I did things slightly differently.

I didn't have any of my own compost ready so I bought organic manure and added it to the beds. Turning the soil and taking out all the left over plants and weeds was a back breaking job because I had some volunteer grape tomatoes in my squash this summer. There were so many little green and rotting tomatoes that I had to pick out because I don't want my bed to be overrun by them next year, as much as I want to encourage tomatoes in my garden.

Next I dug five troughs lenth-wise in my bed, rather than 5 width-wise as I decided to increase the amount planted. Then I added a commercial organic fertilizer liberally to the troughs before adding the cloves.

Before planting, I separated all the bulbs into individual cloves, selecting only the healthiest and largest cloves from each.

Into each trough I planted about a dozen cloves, making sure to plant the cloves the correct way with the pointed end up and the rooting end down. Two thirds of my garlic bed is hard neck garlic again because I love the bonus of scapes before the bulbs are ready. The remaining third is some soft neck varieties because I want to experiment with braiding the garlic.

After covering each of the troughs, I covered the entire bed with glacial rock dust just to be sure that I'm adding back essential minerals to the soil.

The last step was to mulch the garlic bed. This time I decided to use good old fashioned straw, just like all the books and websites recommend. The straw will not smother the seedlings but it will retain moisture. I bought some at our local pumpkin patch and I am using the remainder of the bale as part of our Autumn / Hallowe'en display in the front yard.


To summarize the steps I followed this year:

• prepare the soil by removing weeds, plants and adding in compost and fertilizer
• dig troughs or holes approximately a few inches deep
• separate the garlic bulbs into individual cloves
• add additional fertilizer to each hole
• plant the cloves root end down and pointed end up
• cover holes
• add any additional fertilizer or glacial rock dust 
• cover garlic bed with mulch, preferably straw, although leaves could work if they are mulched into small enough pieces. 
• cross fingers and wait patiently for next spring to see the results

I have recently learned about people planting their garlic on the full moon for increased production! Too late to try that this year - already something to add to the list for next year's garlic planting.

.............................

Disclosure: I did not receive compensation for any of the products shown in this post. I purchased them myself and included them because I like them.

Lazy Composting 101

After reading Eco Novice's post seeking suggestions for a lazy composting method, I decided to share how I compost. I have avoided talking about what I do because it didn't seem interesting or blog-worthy. I don't do funky, cool composting like worm composting, bokashi or even one of these rotating compost bins. I don't use a compost pile because we have neighbourhood "friends" like rats and raccoons. I have read that this shouldn't be a problem but I don't want to risk it because we live close to a river and ditches, and rats are an ever present problem. I really don't do much, and that suits me fine. Despite being passionate about gardening and composting, I am really lazy, and I do things in bursts of energy, interspersed with great periods of inaction. I need a method that works with my natural tendencies.

What I do is really very simple.

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Sharing Farm Garlic Festival

This Sunday my family and I spend time at the Terra Nova Sharing Farm for their 5th Annual Garlic Festival. I have had this date marked on my calendar for months in eager anticipation. I like spending time at the Sharing Farm and supporting the good work that they do for my community, growing in season local produce for the food bank. I love garlic more than I can express, and I look forward to sampling the garlic treats they make at the farm each year - garlic ice cream, roasted garlic and garlic bread. This year did not disappoint because they had enough activities to keep all ages interested, with music, crafts, food, and workshops.

I made a beeline for the garlic ice cream, which we unfortunately missed out on again this year. Luckily we managed to get some salted caramel ice cream just before that sold out, too. Next I had to check out the market with goods produced at the Sharing Farm: honey, dried herbs,  lavender bath salts, vegetables, plants, and more. I bought honey from their own beehives, which they increased this year with a grant. One of the volunteers shared with us their plans for expanding the types of flowers they plant to attract more bees to increase production.

Of course I bought garlic! Last year I planted garlic in my garden from both West Coast Seeds and the Sharing Farm, but I think the Sharing Farm garlic did better because it was grown in my specific area and well suited to the growing conditions. I loaded up with $25 worth of both soft and hard neck varieties. I loved the garlic scapes from my garden last year, from the hard neck varieties I grew, but I would really like to do some garlic braids, which require the soft neck garlic.

We watched a braiding demonstration where these beautiful garlic braids were made.

We didn't get a chance to try out the garlic treats being prepared by the cob oven (roasted garlic and garlic bread) because of the long lineups. There is no way my youngest would survive a long wait. There were several how-to workshops that I would have enjoyed attending if I didn't have wee ones in tow.

I am so pleased to see all that the Sharing Farm does to promote local, organic food, but also how to make environmentally friendly choices.

The City of Richmond water station, which encourages people to
drink our high quality tap water and fill up reusable water bottles.

There was a kid friendly area of eco-minded activities to complete to earn stamps toward a smoothie and gummy treats. These included upcycling crafts, matching game with trivia about green transportation choices, and a recycling race. The craft activity has inspired my girls, and as I type this I can hear them going through my recycling materials in my kitchen and making more crafts. My favourite part was watching the volunteers make the fruit smoothies with a pedal power blender.

In the other activity area my girls enjoyed the 4Cats art activities, which included a spinning paint craft, and participating in a group painting of Vincent Van Gogh's "Starry Night". I geeked out a bit because last night we watched the Doctor Who episode where the 11th doctor and Amy meet Van Gogh.

I think my girls' favourite activity was braiding garlic necks to make garlic crowns. We noticed some boys making garlic neck swords, which I thought was a cute idea. What a great way to make use of all parts of the plant!

Before we left we had fun in the hay pile and I saw a photo opportunity. 

It was fun running into people I know and getting caught up on our summer's events.

Before we left, we wandered around the Sharing Farm garden, and various community and school gardens to compare what they were growing to our garden at home. We have made a list of a few things we would like to try growing next year. Check out the amazing bean towers!

This year seems even bigger than last year, with bigger crowds than I remember. I really appreciated how the Sharing Farm and their sponsors handled all the added people by having valet bike parking, and a bus shuttle from the city works yard by the dyke to alleviate the parking and traffic congestion.

I'm already looking forward to next year's garlic festival. We'll have to go nice and early to get the garlic ice cream!

Save Seeds, Save the World

Over at The Green Phone Booth I'm blogging about the whys and hows of seed saving.

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Organic Garden Pest Control

Hop on over to The Green Phone Booth to read how I deal with ants, aphids and caterpillars that plague my garden.

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Cabbage moth caterpillars and aphids...grrr!