the most amazing backyard garden i've seen

I promised more about J's mom's garden and on this rainy, muggy day I feel I could use a little sunshine, so let me lay it down.

Sharon has been an amateur gardener for all her life. It started with house plans, exercising her green thumb in the limited space of her home. She has a knack for plants, something she noticed when friends started bringing her their sick houseplants and Sharon was always able to nurse them back to health. Eventually, Sharon moved to the country(ish). She lives in a sweet little house on a corner lot with her husband Andre west of the west island.

As Sharon's collection of indoor plants grew, the plants themselves began to outgrow the house. She takes them outside in the summer and the space inside was becoming cramped. Andre built Sharon a solarium on the back of the house so she could take proper care of her plants throughout the winter and begin all her seeds for her garden in the early spring.

Sharon's outdoor garden beds now practically equal her house's interior space. She grows everything, without fertilizers or chemicals of any kind. The first bed in the main garden is almost entirely spinach. Sharon says it's taking over and she'll be pulling lots of it out in the fall. The only thing that can stand up to the bully-spinach is the equally aggressive dill weed.

Together they grow green and healthy. Whenever I go outside she tells me to pick more spinach. I think I'll go for one big harvest and then turn it all into spanikopita...

All of her salad greens are thriving. She has butter lettuce, red and green leaf lettuce. The leaves are small and supple. It would be a sandwich maker's dream to have that kind of a garden. "Hmmm, this could really do with a few tomato slices and some lettuce. Oh I know, I'll walk right out my back door and get some." Mind you... if I were the sandwich maker, I might be inclined to hire an assistant to get the cucumbers... they're prickly.

What impresses me most about her garden is the nightshades she grows. I've heard about people buying pepper plants and the like, but not Sharon. She grows peppers (hot and sweet) and eggplants of all kinds all from seeds.

I've never even seen some of the varieties she grows. There were albino eggplants (are they still aubergines?) and little mini globe ones. To see them all so healthy and thriving is a marvelous sight.

Andre even built Sharon an arbor for grapes. Much of that was lost in Hurricane Irene. I've never experienced a weather system like that, coming from the prairies. I haven't been back to her garden to survey the damage since, and Sharon said her sunflowers really took a beating from the wind and rain.

On the other side of the yard Sharon dug a big mound for her squashes. She grew mini watermelons this summer but they weren't doing very well. As far as I could tell that was a lot more watermelon than I have ever grown so I say they look damn fine to me.

Also growing in the squash patch: green and yellow zucchini, patty squash, butternut, and acorn. Oh yes, and in the middle of her flower beds in the front she's got a great big pumpkin growing slow and steady.

I forgot to mention the tomatoes. Holy ketchup, does she have tomatoes! Big red ones, round yellow ones, weirdly shaped pink ones, red cherries and grapes. They sort of pop up between the cucumbers and all along the fence. Sharon says she starts so many tomato seeds each year that she eventually loses track of which one is what.

The only thing better than a wonderful mother-in-law is a wonderful mother-in-law who has a bountiful garden and wants to share it.

Here's to Sharon and her green thumb.

exploring a new kitchen and a new city

When we arrived in Montreal the air was warm and the sun was shining, already a dramatic departure from where we had been. The last month in Edmonton was too busy to recollect in any great detail. Sisters returning home from far away lands like Berlin and the mountains of Appalachia; days and nights spent on a hillside listening to guitars a-plenty; plumbing the depths of my organizational skills as I packed up one life to begin another. Suffice it to say that the events of this past summer will take a while to sink in.

When we arrived in Montreal, we picked up our rental car and made our way to J's best friend's house, which would become the base of our operations for the next week or so. As hard as I tried, I couldn't find us a place to live from the other side of the country, so in that first week we had an important task at hand - find an apartment within our budget and geographical constraints. It was essential that I find a place close to my classes if I was going to make it to any of the ones that start before noon. By some divine intervention or alignment of the stars, we found our place at the corner of Madison and Somerled in just two days of intense looking.

The Madison is a cool building, dating back to 1951. There are a few little retro touches here and there, most obviously the vintage customized welcome mat at the front of the building and art deco steel railings through the stairwells. Our little home had just finished being refurbished with a brand new kitchen and bathroom and refreshed paint and hardwood throughout. There is more than enough space here for J and I to have our own separate work spaces, and miracle of miracles, my office is just off the kitchen with a door that leads out onto our balcony!

The best part of this kitchen, without a doubt, is the brand new gas range. I've never cooked with gas before but I know after just a little over a week that I'll have a hard time going back to electric. The heat is instantaneous and the flame gives a clear read on the actual temperature. No more guessing based on the glow of the coil. J has been something of an angel helping me to make sense of the space. He has a much keener eye for design and somehow found all sorts of clever ways to make my work space (both culinary and academic) function well.

Somerled Avenue is already proving to be an untapped well of gastronomic delights. The other night J, his brother, and I had a late dinner on the terrace at Anancy, a Jamaican restaurant that seems to be a mainstay of the community. Amazing fish and unforgettable festivals. We've found super cheap and delicious calzones at Molisana, the Italian bakery, and delicious food and good conversation at the deli and fromagerie Tranzo. The day we moved in we were also amazed by the expansive menu and friendly service at B & M restaurant. It's sort of a weird throwback to another time. The place looks and feels like an old deli/luncheonette sort of joint. Two senior couples were mulling over their scrambled eggs and toast at around 3 pm. Breakfast, we learned, is served daily until 4. The dessert option was jello or chocolate cake. But they serve wine and smoothies and my meal consisted of homemade chicken noodle soup to start and the daily special of mussels in a garlic and white wine sauce and we were brought hot, fresh baguette while we waited. An enigma, to be sure, and certainly a place I will have to report back on at greater length another time.

To summarize, I am happy, healthy, and well fed. This place is already feeling like our home. I already have the start of a pretty wicked herb garden growing in our living room window (thanks to future mom-in-law slash gardener extraordinaire) and I'm back to blogging again. I hope such a long hiatus will not happen again.

Until next time...

Planting a Vegetable Garden: Seed Starting Explained

Get yourself a greenhouse kit - ours came in a large-ish box and required no screws or tools or anything.

If you are at all like me when it comes to building things, you may want to call in some assistance. J does most of the putting together of things in our house. And then I turn the things into other things... usually dinner.



Make sure you find yourself a relatively bright location, though direct sunlight is not good for new seeds and baby seedlings.


Our dining room window was a perfect location to get our
garden started. The basil plant we picked up at the Farmer's Market a few weeks before was thriving quite well on that window bench.


With the plastic "glass house" cover stretched over the frame it was time to do some seeding.


Choose seeds that match the amount of sunlight to get in your garden. If the yard is shady all through the morning, you may not want to plant beefsteak tomatoes throughout. Some plants, like lettuces, like partial shade. Their delicate leaves get burnt by too much sun.

Also important to keep in mind, would you like to be harvesting throughout the growing season or are you waiting for a large crop right at the end of summer.

If you are like me, life's vicissitudes take you away from projects at times. For example, I got into grad school out east, which is great. Except it means I have to leave my summer garden here in Edmonton to go look for an apartment in Montreal before the beginning of fall term.

Pole beans and sugar snap peas sprout quickly and as long as you water them, will grow like crazy. They are easy to cook and are fun to pick as they grow taller and climb up things.

I like things that keep growing as you pick them.
Swiss chard and spinach are great. Butterleaf and red
leaf lettuces are also wonderful to have freshly picked for
sandwiches and salads.

Working in dirt is obviously rather dirty. Minimize the mess by purchasing handy little seed pods. They are compressed little pucks of dehydrated earth. When you pour hot water over them they expand and the outer netting can be broken away to make little holes for your seeds.

Don't be shy about the seeds. Best to put a few into each pod since not every one will take. You can thin them out as they grow.

Keep the plastic covers over the trays of seed pods
while they germinate. In a week or so you'll start seeing this!

Little Early Riser Beets (quite aptly named!) pushing themselves up out of their earthy beds. I think the beet shoots are the most exciting because of their so easily identifiable red stalks.

It makes me think about the early crop we hope to harvest later this summer before we leave for Montreal.

Keep your seedlings sheltered as they grow inside your greenhouse. It's very clear how delicate they still are and will need to be watched closely for the first little while.

When they get a little bigger and there are some obviously stronger seedlings, and this is one of the saddest parts about gardening, you have to thin them out and give the strong ones room to grow.

If they remain crowded in the little pods, their roots will all grow together and have to split the nutrients three ways. These poor little bok chois will meed a sad fate soon enough...


As it happened, this little seed nursery was started shortly before my 25th birthday.
As a gift, a good friend from work brought me plants that she had started from seeds as well.

Three separate containers of beefsteak tomatoes, each with several little seedlings, and a very special treasure: a container with three zucchini seedlings - all very healthy and strong. Zucchini should always be planted in three's, on a mound of dirt is best. Because you never know if you've got male or female plants, putting three together gives you the best chance at having your flowers pollinated to bring forth actual fruit.

One thing that we do not plan to plant here is lavender. I've seen some amazing lavender fields in my travels, most memorably in France, but I know how many years it takes to grow these sparse little plants into those marvelous domes of purple and green. I think someday when we have a house and a yard of our own we will put some lavender in to watch it grow year by year. But not in this house. Not when we're leaving in just a few months...

When you can be almost certain that any risk of frost has passed, prepare your garden bed.

Rake out any weeds that may have grown in. Remove large rocks and small stones and pieces of bark - anything that might get in the way of delicately growing roots.

Our soil here is a bit dry - with clay, sand, and coal deposits. We picked up some new garden top soil to mix in as well as sheep manure. J says it's better than cow because it doesn't smell as bad. I love that he knows these things...

We'll put everything in by the end of this weekend and see what happens. To be continued...

giving thanks for this time of year

I have so much to be thankful for.

I have people to love who love me. We share interests, exchange ideas, help to make each other better, and hold the memories to a lifetime together. These people also happen to give and enjoy good wine. I am certainly thankful to friends who bring over nice wine when they come for dinner (or anytime for that matter).

I am supported in my choices by this same network of love and trust and it seems to continue to grow and strengthen as I get older and have more interesting impulses, ideas, and things to say. I hope they know that I thank them every day for this ongoing support.

I am extremely thankful that I live in a place that has clean water and air and my food is relatively safe to eat. I am not, for example spending my Thanksgiving exposed or in limited shelter, escaping from a deluge of red poison. I send my prayers to anyone who is not warm and being made welcome at someone's table this weekend.

And, of course, I am thankful for the food that I get to cook and eat - let me not forget to acknowledge my thanks to the people who have grown and cared for the food that I try to prepare as artfully as I may. I am also thankful to have friends and family to cook for and eat with, which is a joy to me always.

On Saturday I hosted my very first Thanksgiving meal since returning to the prairies. It was actually the first real sit-down dinner party (and I think probably the largest of it's kind) that I've ever hosted here. I will not take full credit for the success of the evening. My sister, Sarah, and the every constant and culinarily inclined Joey were the secrets in the sauce. Thanks to all of my friends and readers who came over. You're the best. Seriously. Someone compared the first few moments of the meal to that scene in Chocolat with Juliette Binoche - you know, the one where everyone suddenly starts eating silently and in slow motion and then they all break out into laughter. It was, admittedly, reminiscent of that scene.

Thanks to Marius and Four Whistle Farms for cutting me a beautiful leg of lamb. Weighing at almost 6 pounds it was enough to feed the fourteen of us and then some. I made slits in the meat just under the fat and inserted fresh organic garlic from Peas on Earth farm and big rosemary leaves from our own garden plants. Then I applied a rub made from grainy mustard, extra virgin olive oil, copped garlic, garden rosemary and oregano, kosher salt, fresh ground pepper, and a splash of maple syrup. I was actually quite rushed to prepare all of this in the 45 minutes between leaving the market and having to get back in the car to run to work for my 3-hour Saturday afternoon shift. So I know that this can be done quite quickly. I placed the meat in a roasting pan under 4 red onion halves, wrapped the dish tightly in plastic wrap, and refrigerated it for about 4 hours.

My other major cooking triumph that night was the vegetarian shepherd's pie. I got the idea when I was on the bike at the gym (watching food tv, of course). Hrm, side note, must get back to the gym after this weekend....
Chuck Hughes hosts the show Chuck's Day Off. I've never seen him before but I certainly approve of the butter, cream, and chevre that are used in the mashed potato part of the recipe. Switching lentil for ground beef is easy and super cheap and healthy. Lots of fresh wild mushrooms from the downtown market really gave the dish its character and texture. I roasted the spaghetti squash and garlic the night before to save time. It was possibly my favourite part of dinner and I still had tons to send home with friends and for my own leftover supply.

Joey made mashed yams with a maple candied walnut top. There was none left at the end of the night. And he made as much of it as I made of the shepherd's pie. Sarah and her boyfriend brought wine and made an arugula salad with dried currants. So many friends brought cheese - proof, if ever I needed some, that they love me.

Oh yes, and there were incredible devil's food cupcakes that Joey's friend made. Apparently she got the recipe from Joy of Cooking. They were so good and I got so many compliments about them I am planning on making sure she starts working at a bakery very soon. Has anyone seen help wanted signs at any nice little bakeries in town?

Other dessert items included a late night apple upside-down cake that I cranked out with roasting, cleaning, setting, and generally stressing the night before. There was also the requisite pumpkin pie, and other super sweet cakes and goodies.

If you were there, tell me what your favourite dish was. Or tell me what you’re thankful for. If you weren’t there, tell me what you had at your Thanksgiving this weekend. Or what of this harvest you may be thankful to receive this year.

planting a vegetable garden - stage 2

It has been a rainy couple of weeks. Living on the drought-ridden prairies, this ought to have been a great thing. But it has meant that I have yet to put any tomato plants in. They need a lot of sun and heat and I figured that all the water would just drown them. So I am now going to have to wait until I get back from New York next week. Hopefully July and August will be enough time for them to get settled into the garden and start producing fruit.

In the meantime, the things I did get in the ground before Victoria Day weekend are doing very well. To begin with, the sugar snap peas are exceeding my wildest dreams and have just shot up. They are already tall enough to reach the trellis. Indeed, my concern for their safety has been mounting as I've spied several fearless jackrabbits puttering around the yard. The last thing I want is for them to discover the veritable salad bar that is my little vegetable garden.

So the other night I got down to business and built a little more protection for my peas. The trouble is, I'm not particularly handy, and even though I was working with bamboo garden rods and green garden netting, it was still a project and a half to construct.
For one thing, I kept getting tangled up in the netting. Another trouble was I didn't have any garden tape; so fixing everything together was a challenge. Eventually I figured it all out and now, I hope that the peas have a safe home to continue to grow and eventually bear lots of sweet pods.

I also discovered that all is not lost with the scarlet runner beans on the other trellis. There are three (yes three!) little shoots that have started to come up. As soon as I saw them my chest puffed up with pride and I went over to beam at my little bean sprouts. They are going to be beautiful when they grow up.

I hope there are lots of bright red flowers and that they bloom after the lilacs have all come and gone. Right now the scent of these lilac bushes under the front windows wafts all the way up to my bedroom window. As you approach my front door, you are immediately undone by them. They are intoxicating. Lilacs are magnificent flowers. When mine are in full bloom, the colour is so intense that they seem to be blooming just for the world to know what lilacs ought to look and smell like.

Salad greens continue to grow slowly. They get quite a bit of shade from the big stupid air conditioning unit that sits in the middle of the garden. Some day that thing will get moved and then there will be so much room to grow things here. In the meantime, the butter crunch lettuce is coming along nicely. I will have to thin them out soon, but I want to wait to see which ones are the strongest. The arugula may have been discovered. I feel like there are less little green guys here than last week. Maybe all the rain and then the one intense day of sun burned them up.

I think the slow bolt cilantro is starting to come up in the back herb box. The tulips are mostly done blooming, except for a few remarkable crimson ones I planted last fall. I want more of them and more white ones for next spring.

planting a vegetable garden - stage 1

Today I planted seeds in the garden beds around my house. I did some preliminary reading in a book I picked up out east. It's called Starter Vegetable Gardens: 24 No-Fail Plans for Small Organic Gardens. Though I didn't copy author Barbara Pleasant's garden plans precisely, there is a great deal of valuable information and useful tips to starting small but thinking long term about the use of your garden space. With lots of useful diagrams and beautiful garden photography, this book is a valuable addition to my food library.

Most of my edible plants were planted on the south side to maximize sun exposure. Tomatoes are especially fond of direct sun and heat. I'm waiting on leads for heirloom seedlings to put in after the long weekend. If you know of any nurseries nearby I would gladly promote them on my blog. I will check out the downtown farmer's market as soon as I have a work-free Saturday morning.

Other things I planted:

Lettuces risk burning their leaves if droplets remain on them as the sun comes overhead. They need a bit of morning shade. I planted Boston butter crunch and arugula behind the shade of our big stupid air conditioner and have already resown once.
Along a trellis in the yard I started sugar snap peas a week ago and then planted scarlet runner beans today. My strawberry plants took a licking from the unexpectedly hot temperatures and my ineptitude at getting outside to keep them hydrated. Some made it and I'll pay extra close attention to them, I promise. My dad replanted his rosemary plants outside after a long winter on the kitchen windowsill. They are hardy mamma jammas and I think will do even better now that they have all the extra sun and fresh air.

Around the back of the house there is a large box planter that I visited last fall with an abundance of tulip bulbs. I seem to have only used one side of the bed though, and now it is home to my little herb garden. Today I planted Genovese basil, slow-bold cilantro, Greek oregano, and garlic chives. The chives have incredibly aromatic purple flowers when they go to seed. I don't know if the oregano will mature this year. It might do better next summer, but the seeds are in the ground at least. I am very excited for the basil. This varietal produces big sweet leaves that make amazing pesto if your crop does well. I think I want to pick up some mint and sage too. There is a bit of room yet in the box and the tulips wont mind.

I'll keep you posted on whatever comes up and any more additions I make to the garden. Maybe some nightshades... or some sunflowers. In the meantime, get out and enjoy the sunshine!