Tuesday, July 31, 2012

a tractor & traveling farm folk with a cause

John Varty and Molly Daley have traveling across Canada on their tractor to raise awareness of issues faced by our country's family farms, as well getting stories from farmers across the country.

You can track them, see photos of their progress and the building of their cute home for the road, and more over at their website.

CBC also has a great digital archive entitled What is Happening to the Family Farm? that addresses some of the issues that these folks are trying to raise awareness about. The archive is definitely worth a look.

Sláinte!

Laurel

amazing new local community garden

{capture from article}

The Gathering Place, a North Bay soup kitchen has started a community garden {!!!}:
Using a soup kitchen for the first time doesn't mean giving up garden salads.

"They're my favourite," says Bernadette Bellaire.


"We're getting more variety of food, and I enjoy it."


"The soup kitchen has healthy food for families when they don't have food at home," said Joady Langlois.


The Gathering Place opened its garden on Saturday as the province announced $58,200 over two years so the soup kitchen can continue putting fresh vegetables on the menu.


One-third of the garden is completed, with several varieties of peppers, buttercrunch lettuce, cabbage, broccoli and cucumbers among the first batch of vegetables growing on a parcel of land at Algonquin Avenue and McLaren Street.

You can read the rest of the North Bay Nugget article here. You can also see more about the garden and view a plan over at The Gathering Place's website.

This is so great! I intend to go over and check it out, and perhaps I will snap some photos to share with you all here. :)

Sláinte!

Laurel


Saturday, July 28, 2012

a refreshing summer salad


With the kind of heat that we have been getting, I really want nothing to do with stodgy foods nor cooking. But I sure as hell will nom fresh fruit and veggies all day. Here is something that I threw together for lunch/dinner {best part, it's all local or right from our backyard}:

bed of nasturtium leaves
cantaloupe
blueberries
green tomatoes
cucumber
drizzled honey
topped with nasturtium flowers

Please feel free to share your salad ideas! :)

Sláinte!

Laurel

luverly of the week: harvest time again by victor bezrukov

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

dinner from the garden

After an afternoon of intensive weeding {yes, I actually do weed sometimes!} we had some squash blossom soup and salad for dinner. Because it has been such a challenging gardening year so far, I think that every meal that we get from our wee patch of dirt is extra special.


I hope that all of my fellow growers are enjoying a bounty in their gardens as well!

Sláinte!

Laurel

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

corporations & rock stars to the rescue!

It is pretty old news now that Bono has hopped into bed with Monsanto and friends for one big GMO fuckfest, all in the name of "saving Africa". Here is a video of a rant that I think has summed up everything that is wrong with this, straight from Bealtaine Cottage.



Sláinte!

Laurel

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Monday, July 16, 2012

Friday, July 13, 2012

a new life for old tools


Don't know what to do with those old garden tools? They can help support tomatoes. {especially the wild n woolly indeterminate heirloom varieties!} ;)

Sláinte!

Laurel

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

the gmo film project

It looks like another interesting film is coming out!

GMO Film Project Sizzler from Compeller Pictures on Vimeo.


A little bit about the project {from the video page}:
The GMO Film Project (Untitled) tells the story of a father’s discovery of GMO’s through the symbolic act of poor Haitian farmers burning seeds in defiance of Monsanto’s gift of 475 tons of hybrid corn and vegetable seeds to Haiti shortly after the devastating earthquake. After a journey to Haiti to learn why hungry farmers would burn seeds, the real awakening of what has happened to our food, what we are feeding our families, and what is at stake for the global food supply unfolds in a trip across the United States in search of answers.

Go to the film's website to find out more information.

Sláinte!

Laurel

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

midsummer garden


Hi there folks!

This is my "obligatory" garden update post, which is a tad image heavy so I hope it doesn't take too long to load.

All the sod has finally {!!!} been dug up...

{sod pile}

and everything that needs to be planted is pretty much been planted. I say pretty much because there are somethings that I have had to keep re-planting thanks to some dastardly pests eating the seedlings.

Trusty staples such as beans and sunflowers have been mowed over in an evening. They were not the only victims though! My peppers, watermelon and cukes as well as new perennials have been nommed to shit as well. It took me a few days to figure out who the culprits were and a few more days of frantic experimenting on how to take care of them. It turns out my arch-enemy the earwig has shown up. In droves.

After talking to some other local gardeners, apparently they are over-ran with these little nasties as well. One fellow gardener said that he hasn't seen so many before on his property, which he has been gardening on for 17 years. His peonies are just about done. So I guess I don't feel so bad now.

Anyhow, I have tried some earwig traps in the past, but it turns out that some olive oil and water in a shallow dish works wonders. I have laid out dozens of these traps and have been catching hundreds. I exaggerate not.

Some of the targeted plants now have a chance, and I will keep on starting seeds and laying traps and hope for the best. And I will have to find replacements for my poor aconite, Jacob's ladder, and mayapple.

It has not been all doom and gloom though. We have been getting a steady harvest of greens and herbs {another post about that to come}.


All of our greens and other shade-loving veggies such as radishes and peas are being grown on the balcony in containers. It is quite nice to have a home with a variety of growing conditions {our front is North-facing and the back looks to the South}.





In the back we have three veggie patches and we have some edibles being grown in containers.

{tomatoes: black krim, roma, tigerella, red plum cherry, and orange blossom}


{red and orange sweet bell peppers before they were pretty much destroyed by the earwigs}

{summer ball squash}

{acorn squash}

We are growing a variety of edibles in our backyard: squash {winter & summer}, pumpkins, corn, various pole and bush beans, nasturtiums {climbing and bush}, corn, potatoes, carrots, turnips, beets, parsnips, tomatoes, peppers, cukes, watermelon, dill, cilantro, borage and sunflowers. There are also other different annuals being grown out back such as wild tobacco, datura, cosmos, poppies, scarlet runner, and sweetpeas.

{poppies}

{datura before opening}

{datura again}

{datura seed pods}

There are also three perennial beds in our backyard with different pretties in them.

{turkey tail on a log}

{moss, columbine, and sweet woodruff}

{a "rescued" wild rose coming back to life}

{mullein}

{daisy}

{comfrey}

{comfrey again}

{chives}

{feverfew}

{the foxgloves the day before they were blown over in a storm}

I am also quite smitten with the lane way in the back that I have shown before. Right behind is a gaggle of raspberry bushes and other pretties.

{bittersweet nightshade}



{foxtail grass, I believe}

We are still working on gussying the yard up, adding more plants and working on the front {lower} garden as well. Updates will come eventually.

In the meantime wish me luck! ;)

Sláinte!

Laurel