Garden 2017: Reflections

I finally found time to harvest the last of the carrots, so this year's garden season is officially over. I thought it would be nice to reflect on how it went and some of the successes and failures.

It was an interesting garden this year, because it was our first year in a new place and my first time with a real garden (since I moved out and stopped helping mom with her garden). I got to try out a lot of new things, and had to identify what was already growing in the garden—not always an easy task!

Failures: Learning opportunities:

Probably the biggest disappointment this year was the potatoes. I tried growing potatoes in wire-cage towers lined with newspaper and gradually filled up with dirt as the potato plants grew. Unfortunately, we only ended up with a few tiny potatoes. My guess is that I didn't water the towers well enough and the plants dried up and died too early.

Quite a few of the things I planted didn't do very well, including the lettuce, cucumber, zucchini, and sunflowers. There are a couple reasons, I think. When we first moved in we only had a short hose that couldn't reach the whole garden, which made it a lot harder to water the garden properly, and in my enthusiasm to have a big garden I used an additional garden plot that had clearly not been used for much by the past tenant since it didn't have very good soil and was full of rocks. I tried getting the worst of the rocks out, but it still wasn't that great for growing things.

Successes:

Although many of the things I tried didn't work out, there were still some that did! The peas did very well, and so did the carrots and the kale (which is still growing and being harvested). My strawberries were very happy to be in the ground rather than a pot and they did quite well. One of the plants that came with the garden, the sorrel, also deserves to be mentioned since it did very well too!

Honourable mentions:

I was pleasantly surprised with how well my tomatoes did this year, considering I grew them from seed—something I had never tried before. Although they did very well, unfortunately we didn't get much of a harvest, for two reasons: the kids. Steven absolutely loved the cherry tomatoes and regularly ate all the ripe ones right out of the garden. And as soon as Kenneth became mobile he discovered the joys of picking unripe tomatoes and throwing them around the yard.

My goji seedlings are continuing to do well. Next year I may get a couple berries, but apparently it is the third year when they really start producing. I'm looking forward to that!

So ends my 2017 garden! Now I'm just praying that our landlords will let us renew our lease so I can enjoy gardening here next year too!

Grape Fruit Leather

I don't makes things with grapes very often, because grapes tend to be expensive. But at the moment I happen to have access to a lot of Concord grapes, so I thought it would be fun trying to make something with them.

Since I also have access to a dehydrator, I decided on making fruit leather. I haven't really made fruit leather before. In the past we have generally used our dehydrator to dry apple slices and other fruit. But drying grapes would just make raisins, so I thought I should try something a little different.

The first task when making something with Concord grapes, I have learned, is removing the seeds. How you go about doing that is by "popping" the grapes - squeezing each grape until the insides pop out of the skin. You save the skins for later and all the insides go in a pot to be cooked briefly then put through an applesauce strainer.

Once the seeds have been removed you add the skins back in, along with some sugar, and cook the mixture on the stove for a while. Once it was cooked I used a blender to puree it.

The grape puree filled two trays in the dehydrator. I used one fruit tray that came with the dehydrator and I put parchment paper over a second tray and left it to dry overnight. Interestingly, the parchment paper tray did better than the other tray!

I thought it would be fun to roll the fruit leather up in long strips with wax paper, just like fruit roll-ups from the store! Kenneth wasn't sure what to think of it, but Steven really liked the "grape chips". I consider the fruit leather to be a success. Since there are so many grapes, maybe I'll make another batch!

Sorrel Pesto and the Mystery Plant

We love pesto, but it's definitely not cheap. That's why the idea of making our own pesto has always interested me. I tried making a kale and walnut pesto once, but I forgot to add salt and it didn't really turn out. But that was a long time ago, and I decided it was time to try making pesto again. Before I share the recipe I used, I first need to tell you the story of the mystery plant.

We moved into our current home in January—while there was snow on the ground—so we didn't have much of an idea of what we'd find growing in the gardens. We were told there would be tulips, and we could see a couple rose bushes and hydrangeas, but other than that we got to be surprised as things came up. As the spring and summer progressed we were able to identify most of what we found in the gardens, but one thing had us stumped: a set of three large plants that looked very much like spinach. The problem was that they came up from root balls that have clearly been there for a long time—and spinach is an annual plant, not a perennial. We made guesses and asked around and did some Google research, but nothing seemed to make sense. So I just gave up for a while. I felt sure that they must be edible because they are growing in what had clearly been a vegetable garden, but I didn't want to harvest it unless I knew what it was. The plants grew and went to seed and died back. But then once the cooler weather of fall arrived, the plants started growing again, and once again I got the motivation to find out what they are. I decided to try eating a leaf, and found that it was sour and lemony and tasty. That gave me something to work with, and after some research I came to the conclusion that it must be sorrel. It looks right and tastes right, and sorrel is a perennial plant. Mystery solved!

Now that I had three large sorrel plants, I really wanted to do something with them! I looked around for recipes and discovered that you can make sorrel pesto! I knew that I had to give it a try.

The recipe for sorrel pesto is very simple: two cups of packed sorrel leaves, half a cup of slivered almonds, two cloves of garlic, some salt and pepper, and a quarter cup olive oil. You mince the first five ingredients in a food processor and then add the oil. You can find the recipe I used here.

Apparently two cups of packed leaves is a pretty vague measurement. I think I managed to fit a lot more sorrel into my two cups than I was supposed to, because my pesto definitely needed more almonds, and oil, and everything else really. But it was easy to make the additions, and turned out beautifully!

I put the pesto in a canning jar in the fridge and we have enjoyed it for a couple different meals now. You can definitely taste that it is made from a plant, more so than pesto from a store, but it is still really good! I consider sorrel pesto to be a success!

Rain!

Fall weather is here, and we are loving it! These kiddos love water in any form, and they have been having a blast making giant splashes in their pool, "watering the garden", and making mud pies. For the last few days, our times outside have involved getting thoroughly soaked, then going back inside for hot chocolate. Give us wind and rain over a sweltering summer day anytime!

Garden 2017: First Harvests

We are able to harvest things from our garden now, which has been really fun! We've had lots of peas, as well as some lettuce, kale, radishes, strawberries, and the carrots that we are thinning. One of Steven's favourite things to do right now is go out to the garden and pick peas for supper. But then he wants to eat all the peas himself and not share with anyone!

We have lots of flowers blooming right now too, which I have really been enjoying!

Baby carrots!

Salad time

Our front garden in full bloom

I've always been partial to red roses, but these are beautiful!

Garden 2017: Seedlings

Nice weather has finally begun on the west coast! It's been kind of crazy, normally our springs are a lot nicer, but this year it stayed wet and cool for a really long time. I've been enjoying spending a lot of time in my garden, so I thought it was about time for an update!

The seeds that I started indoors did surprisingly well! About 90% of what I planted came up, and most of what did has survived quite well. For some reason most of my cucumber and zucchini randomly died, but now that it is warm out I have also planted some seeds directly in the garden.

Most surprising to me was how well the tomatoes did. I planted quite a few seeds thinking that only a few would grow, but I have ended up with at least twelve healthy plants (and a couple more that might not make it). So all going well, it looks like we are going to have lots of tomatoes this year!

I have also planted potatoes in wire cage towers. They are blue potatoes - I'm looking forward to trying them out! So far they are growing really well.

Steven and I have also planted peas, lettuce, carrots, and other things like that in our garden, most of which are coming up.

The only seedlings that I still have in pots are my goji plants. I am planning to put a couple of them in the garden eventually, but I will also be keeping some as potted plants.

And the rest of the garden continues to grow and bloom, like these lilacs - so beautiful! I am so thankful to have such a wonderful yard and garden where I can spend time with my kids.

A Myriad of Colours 2

April 27, 2017

A Myriad of Colours

March 31, 2017

Just the Beginning

This is the end

Buried in the ground

Surrounded by darkness

Lost and alone

But wait

A stirring

Deep within

A whisper of hope

Growing

Swelling

Bursting

Exploding

This is just the beginning

The inspiration for this piece came from my garden. As I was planting the first seeds of spring, I began reflecting on what that experience would be like for a seed. It must feel like the end, buried, alone in the darkness. But instead, new life begins to stir within, and that stirring grows and swells until the seed is ready to burst. What would that feel like? Perhaps like a wild hope rising within it, as C.S.Lewis has said. I think that experience would be very similar to what it must have been like for the disciples on that first Easter: Certain that it is the end, but then suddenly, beyond hope, the whisper that there may still be more to come.  A “burning heart” within them. And in our lives too we sometimes feel like that seed. We feel trapped, alone, buried, forgotten. But one day hope begins to whisper into our hearts, and suddenly our whole lives are transformed.

Garden 2017: Planning

As spring approaches, I've been continuing to get ready for my garden. On nice days I've spent time outside, weeding and transplanting. Steven is generally outside with me too, so while I have gotten some work done, it is liberally interspersed with trading garden tools (he always wants whichever one I happen to be using), trying to teach him that you don't throw dirt, and inspecting all the creepy crawlies that we find. My personal favourite is when we find a ladybug and Steven holds it on his finger. He becomes so still and gentle.

I have been doing a lot of planning, trying to decide what I want to plant this year. I've never had this much garden space just for myself to use before, but I still want to try to make the best use of the space that I can! I'll mostly be growing traditional vegetable garden plants, but I will be trying out some new (to me) things too.

I have also started some seeds inside this year, including basil, tomatoes, cucumber, and one of the new things I am trying - goji berries!

I discovered that our new house is within walking distance of a nursery, which is fun. I walked over with the kids yesterday and we enjoyed looking around the store, watching their fish and turtle ponds, and visiting with their store cats! I think we will be going back again soon.