Author Archives: Megan

Fall 2014 Community Garden

Posted in 2014, Cedarbrae Community Garden by

The scene over at the Cedarbrae Community Garden is a bit different from last time I wrote about it. At that time, every plot was exploding with color and fresh produce. Now there isn’t a lot left except a few strawberry plants. Let me back up a bit and talk about what a horrible community gardener I am (which will also be a recurring theme throughout this post). I think I could count the number of times I visited my plot this year on both hands. I didn’t water it, I weeded it maybe twice, and I didn’t volunteer to do anything. Except keep a blog specifically about the community garden, but proof of my delinquency can be found on this blog (I posted once back in July and now I am posting again in the middle of October). And what excuse do I have? None. I live a two minute walk away from this garden. Also, probably the worst thing was that I was actually supposed to have my plot cleaned out nearly a month ago and I did not actually finish cleaning it until about an hour ago. And as you can see in the photo below, I was the last person to clean their plot out. Yes, I am sometimes a terrible, neglectful gardener. Oh well.

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Yes that one plot that is full of kale – that was mine.

I learned awhile ago that I should not plant anything in the community garden that is high maintenance or desirable to vegetable thieves and vandals. In September I received notification from our coordinator that there was an incident at the community garden and we should probably start cleaning up what was left of our plots. At this point, the only things I had remaining in my plot were some pathetic beets (so small), the old bean plants that had stopped producing (and that were slightly frost-bitten) and a whole lot of kale. No one wants to steal kale (I keep saying that, but some of my kale actually did disappear – not heart broken, because kale). The incident left our plot mostly untouched while other plots suffered some loss to vandalism – apparently throwing squash and tomatoes at the community centre is really fun. Actually, it does sound kind of fun. Anyway, at that time I pulled out the beets and bean plants and decided the kale could stay for a bit longer. And then it snowed and then I forgot about the garden and neglected to visit it for several weeks.

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Skip to when I remembered a few days ago that I had kale left in the garden and that I was supposed to clean my garden weeks ago. We walked over this morning to see what was left and to clean up our plot. As you can see above, the purple kale was well enjoyed by dirty little cabbage loopers. We salvaged what we could and then threw the rest in the garbage bin. Our community garden currently does not have composting. It used to but it was an unmaintained mess – partly due to not being able to handle the capacity of 30+ plots but also because we volunteered one year to maintain it and did a really awful job at that and no one touched it again until it was dismantled this spring. Why do they keep renting to us?

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But the curly blue kale did really well so we came home with a whole bunch of that to make into salads and delicious kale chips. You can find the best kale chips recipe ever here.

I’m already starting to think about next year’s community garden. I need to add some good compost first thing in the spring because the soil in this garden is not as good as the soil I have at home – I haven’t had great luck with root vegetables there for a few years so I don’t think those are meant to be – it doesn’t bother me too much since those things are readily available and cheap at our local farmer’s market. I will definitely continue to grow bush beans at this garden, as well as kale, because both do extremely well there with minimal care. I may also try some new things like fava beans and cowpeas which are supposed to be easy to grow.

This is all of course on the assumption that I will be rented a plot again.

Shameless Self-Promotion

Posted in Herd of Cats, Products by

Several years ago I decided to take up sewing as a hobby. I borrowed a sewing machine from my mother-in-law, and my husband taught me the basics. It seems a little odd that my husband would be teaching me this skill, but where I grew up, there were not a lot of options in school for “fun classes”. You either took Art, Drama or Forestry (I despised Drama so I went with Art and Forestry). There was no Home Economics. A little weird since I grew up in a rural area, but whatever. The only other time I’d done any machine sewing before my 20’s was for a “small” craft project in 4-H (it was a denim backpack which was horrible to make and that I never finished). So I’m going to say I went in having no sewing skills whatsoever. I started off with a few small projects and then decided I really liked sewing, so I went ahead and bought my own sewing machine. That’s when my obsession with making aprons started. Aprons were my favorite thing to make because they are extremely cute and functional at the same time – and although most people primarily use aprons in the kitchen, mine get worn all around the house and garden. I kept making aprons for myself until I realized that I probably didn’t need any more for myself, but since they were my favorite thing to make, I had to figure out a way that I could continue making them, but not have a million of them in my pantry for myself. Plus you can only give away so many aprons as gifts before friends start faking excitement for yet another apron. So that’s when the idea of becoming a hobby seller was born and Etsy came into the picture. I’d been an Etsy buyer for several years, but only recently expanded into being a seller. I’m sure everyone knows what Etsy is, but for those who may not, it is an online marketplace for artists and sellers offering unique goods from around the world – I’ve purchased many amazing and affordable art prints, vintage wares, and arts and craft supplies over the years from Etsy sellers.

Setting up my shop has been interesting – I’ve made a few side sales outside of Etsy, but I’m still patiently waiting for my first Etsy sale! So with that said, I am currently offering $5.00 off any purchase for the week of October 17th-24th with coupon code 5FALL2014 – visit my shop here. And the other fun part is that my Alberta Etsy Team is also participating in sales for their own shops during this week! More information on the shops and sales can be found here.

Here is a sampling of the aprons that I have available:

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Here is a photo of me in my favorite apron.

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All aprons are made from start to finish by myself from a pattern designed by myself – I do not currently offer international shipping on my Etsy listings because they vary so wide country-to-country, but if you’re interested in a shipping quote, please contact me directly via Etsy. Thanks for hanging in there, we’ll get back to gardening next week!

Casual Fridays Part 2

Posted in Casual Fridays by

The weekend is finally here! I’ve got a ton of stuff planned for the weekend and my sister is visiting as well, so I’m sure we’ll get up to lots of mischief (tame, of course). Not too much happening in the garden right now – we’re working on getting through the last of the kale by making lots of kale chips and also giving away as much as we can. Here are a few things that have caught my attention lately:

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1. Canning, Pickling, and Freezing with Irma Harding by Marilyn McCrae. I first saw this book on Food in Jars and immediately added it to my Amazon wish list.

2. Jolly Rancher Infused Vodka via A Beautiful Mess. My first reaction was “OMG gross” because I confused Jolly Ranchers for Starburst but then realized my mistake and changed my reaction to “OMG amazing”. I have a fantasy of throwing a teeny bopper birthday party (for myself) that is horse/cat themed and I think this candy-infused vodka would be perfect for my weird fantasy birthday party.

3. Pear Cranberry Jam via Food in Jars. I actually made this a couple of weekends ago and added in cinnamon and black pepper via a suggestion in the comments, but I also added a splash of vanilla to put my own take on it. I’m hoping that it will replace the canned cranberries I usually serve with turkey dinner (you know the kind, that slurps out of the can and then you present on a platter with the tin can mold still completely intact? So classy.).

4. Chocolate Pot de Cre’me via Sweet Paul looks unbelievably amazing. And easy to make! Plus I have tons of preserved sour cherries to go with it!

5. Fish Peppers via Garden Betty look so neat! I’ve added these to my seed purchase list for the next growing season (along with like 15 other hot pepper varieties). I love the story behind them as well – it really hits home how important seed saving is.

Have a wonderful weekend!

2014 Tomatoes Part Three

Posted in 2014, Harvest, Vegetables by

Looking back on the tomato season, I would say that this year was weird. It could have been better but it also could have been much worse. Several young tomato plants met a terrible demise early in the season due to savage squirrels and some tomatoes didn’t perform as well as I’d hoped (a few plants producing only one or two tomatoes!). An early morning wind storm in July knocked a few pots of tomatoes from my deck on to the ground, surprisingly not breaking the pots but doing some damage to the plants inside of them. Aside from that, the plants did not suffer from any blight or insect infestations. Then almost all of the tomatoes had to be harvested several weeks early and brought into the house to ripen due to a freak summer snowstorm. But some plants did perform quite well – Black Cherry, Green Zebra, Indigo Rose, and Tumbler. My overall tomato harvest was big enough to last a couple of months and I was also able to roast and freeze a lot of tomatoes for use over the winter. Even though I’ve been growing tomatoes for as long as I’ve been gardening, each year brings new surprises and I learn new things – no two growing seasons are ever the same, especially in Calgary (or insert your location). I’ve made lots of notes for next year and I’m constantly exploring new methods to try (next year I will be experimenting with the disgusting fish head method). On a positive note, I did discover quite a few new-to-me varieties that I will be absolutely growing again, so even though the season was weird, I think it was successful.

And now on to the last tomatoes of the season!

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Doesn’t that cat bowl make you squeal in delight?!

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Chocolate Cherry

This was my first year growing Chocolate Cherry and you may confuse it with Black Cherry that I featured in an earlier tomato post because they look quite similar except Chocolate Cherry is quite a bit smaller in size. The harvest was just okay – it really could have been better, especially for an indeterminate plant. I got maybe a small bowl full of tomatoes, but this may have been the result of me trying to jam as many plants into a small space as I could – I’m blaming me, not the plant. Regardless of the small harvest, this tomato is really tasty – very sweet with very little acidity. The flavor is very pleasant and the texture is ideal for me – I will absolutely plant these again.

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Blondkopfchen

Say that one three times. For the life of me, I couldn’t remember what this plant was – I had to dig through my seeds to figure it out because the label got lost somewhere but once I figured it out I loudly said “Oh, of course!”. And I definitely won’t forget this one because although the tomatoes are teeny tiny, they taste amazing! They almost remind me of a currant tomato, size-wise. These little tomatoes are unlike any other yellow tomato I’ve had – they are very flavorful and have a really nice texture. They have a great balance between sweetness and acidity. These have also gone on my “must plant again” list. And I’m so pleased that I finally found a yellow tomato that I love.

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Riesentraube

I grew several small red tomatoes this year but only chose to feature Riesentraube because it was by far the worst. Riesentraube is larger than a cherry tomato and smaller than a paste tomato but the name actually translates to “giant bunch of grapes” in German. My harvest was not a “giant bunch” of grape-sized tomatoes, it was more like a “small bunch” of elephant grapes (if that’s a real thing), and the tomatoes themselves were nothing exciting. I was not a fan of the texture, they were not very sweet and fairly acidity which left me very disappointed. I juggled whether or not I wanted to include Riesentraube in my post but decided that maybe someone was considering it and I should warn that person to not bother.

That brings my 2014 tomato posts to an end. Read Part One here and Part Two here. Now to start planning for next year! I have my eye on another blue variety and several dwarf varieties and I’m always up for suggestions.

Chocolate Cherry tomatoes seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, Blondkopfchen seeds from Urban Harvest (no longer available) but also sold at Seed Savers Exchange, Riesentraube from Urban Harvest (no longer available) but also sold at Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds.

My Favorite Harvest & Storage Products

Posted in Products by

For about a minute, I get excited about autumn. I’m tired of watering the garden, I’m out of canning energy, and I just want to be inside my house, under a pile of blankets, surrounded by cats, binge watching some BBC period drama on Netflix while knitting. The novelty wears off pretty quickly, but that is another story.

But before I can settle in for the winter, I need to focus my energy on harvesting the last of the bounty and storing it for winter. Last week I felt like I was finished with preserving but then I got a burst of energy and decided to do some canning. I pickled a pile of peppers and preserved a pot of pear & cranberry jam with cinnamon and black pepper. I’m feeling exhausted again but maybe I’ll have another burst later this week and I can deal with the last of the fresh herbs as well as oven roast a metric tonne of tomatoes for freezing. And with that, I’ve put together a little round-up of my favorite products or things that I would love to have – to make the transition just a little easier.

 

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1. Opinel Garden Knife $17.00 – Mountain Equipment Co-op – I have this knife and I love it. Very sharp! And compact for easy keeping in your pocket or garden apron.

2. Orchard Rack $89.95 – Veseys – I don’t have this but I would love to have it for winter squash storage. I’ve already instructed my husband that when he perfects his carpentry skills, he will be building me something similar.

3. Garden Hod $75.00USD – Beekman 1802 – I also don’t have this, I just use a plastic ice cream bucket, but isn’t this so much prettier?

4. Cardboard Boxes – I use shallow cardboard boxes for storing my unripe tomatoes in the basement (keep any lids open or off). Various ripening methods work for other people, but this seems to work the best for me.

5. Herb Drying Rack $28.50 – Williams Sonoma – This has been on my covet list for like 4 years. I need to just buy it.

6. Le Parfait Jars $9.95-$18.95 – Crate & Barrel – I am obsessed with pretty storage jars so I already have a bunch of these in my pantry. They are perfect for storing your dried herbs.

7. Seed Envelopes $10.23 – Kaufmann Merchantile – You could just use regular kraft envelopes but why would you when these exist? I’m a sucker for beautiful typography.

If you live in Canada, have a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend! Do you have any big projects for the extended weekend?

Note: All of my product posts are my personal recommendations – I am not paid for these posts or associated with the products in any way besides personally loving or coveting them!